I look up at Uncle Jaime—my dad’s only sibling, and basically a slightly older looking, slightly tanner version of myself. What in the galaxy? And then I see the tall willowy blonde behind him. Her eyes the same ice blue I remembered them being the night before she eloped with my sister. Amber Bellard Corkoran.
I swallow hard. “So…since you all apparently thought I was dead, does anyone care to explain why?”
“Wait, let me get this straight, you waited a whole Terra-week before you thought something might have happened to me?” I ask, pulling a clean Henley shirt down over my head. Almost offended it took them that many days. “When have I ever been gone that long?!”
Jaime’s lips quirk up to the side as he says, “Junonian rhythmic gymnasts.”
A slight blush spreads across my cheeks as I remember the three of them. “Right…”
The smirk disappears from his lips as he says, “To be honest, I didn’t suspect anything was wrong until they started broadcasting that they’d found your body.”
“But I’m not dead, so whose body was it, and why did they think he was me?”
“They’re still not sure whose body it is, but he was wearing your IdentiBand,” Jaime answers as he stands, his expression unreadable.
“Well, I sure as fekk didn’t kill him.” I pause, feeling a bit nauseous when I remember the ripped shirt and bruised jaw I had when I woke up on Quantum. “Okay, I’m mostly certain I didn’t kill him.”
“How could you not know something like that?” Kaela asks almost hysterically from the sectional sofa in the lounge area of my suite.
“Because, Kae, I woke up in a shipping container in the cargo hold with no memory of how I got there,” I answer irritably.
“What’s the last thing you do remember?” Jaime asks, leaning against the wall beside Kaela. He never did like Amber, and it’s clear from his body language that he’s already had as much of her as he can stand.
“Being at Club 2020 when you called about…the Pine of Terraformia.”
“The Vulpine of Terragonia,” Jaime corrects as his frown deepens.
“Yeah that.”
“Do you have it?”
“If I did, I certainly don’t now. All I had when I woke up in the cargo hold was Dad’s pendant, and the clothes I was wearing.” I run my fingers momentarily over the soothingly familiar raised details of the Pendant of Kalona before letting it fall back to my chest. “Which reminds me, how exactly did you know you’d find me on this ship?”
Jaime grimaces. “I’d rather not go into that?”
I almost laugh. “You lollie-talked someone at the Galactic Authority office into looking the other way didn’t you?”
“You say that like he’s done it before,” Kaela says before her eyes volley between the two of us. “You know what? I really don’t want to know. The less things I have to lie to Mom about the better.”
My IdentiBand buzzes and a message scrawls across the band.
Tarou: Where the fekk are you?! Nalani will lose her shit if she realizes you’re not here yet.
I grimace at the band before looking back up at my family. “Look…I hate to cut this short guys, but can we meet up in like three Terra-hours? ‘Cause I have a show at the cabaret starting real soon.”
“It’s a show, Kea, just skip it,” Kaela says in disbelief. Using my family nickname as if to make me feel more guilty.
I groan, running my hands through my still damp hair. “No you don’t understand, I’m not watching the show, I’m in the show.”
“You’re in the Cosmic Cabaret?” Amber asks with skeptical disinterest coating her tone. Breaking her unusual silence. And I finally look over at her. Something I’ve been avoiding since they ambushed me outside my suite.
Amber stares back at me with that same look of smug indifference she used to employ to beguile me into doing something reckless. I brace myself for the familiar urge to please her, but I feel… Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It’s almost as if someone took every trace of power she once had over me, and just jettisoned it out of my heart. And I see it in her face, the moment she realizes she’s really and truly lost her hold on me.
“Yeah…it’s a really long story,” I reply distractedly. Still coming to terms with it all.
“You being in this show wouldn’t happen to be because of a girl, would it?” Jaime asks as he shoves his hands into the pockets of his brown LabLeather bomber jacket.
A slight blush spreads across my cheeks. “Well…not exactly…”
“I can’t believe you, Kea!” Kaela shouts, rising so quickly to her feet she bumps Amber aside. “So who is she this time? A topless barista from Alpha Sen? Or maybe a kink fashion model?” she asks furiously, her arms folding across her chest. “And let’s not forget the Thanarian ambassador’s daughter in the bot closet!”
“Hey, she dragged me into that closet!” I counter defensively, my volume rising to match hers. “And so what if I like to have a stellar time? I’ve taken all the proper precautions,” I state, yanking down my IdentiBand to reveal the two tattoos on the underside of my wrist.
“Taking the proper precautions is not the same as engaging in a relationship that lasts longer that a Terra-week, Kealan!” she shouts indignantly.
I glare at her for a long moment. “And who’s fault is it that I have trust issues when it comes to long term relationships?” I ask in a deadly calm voice.
Both of Kaela’s eyebrows shoot up. “Gods, Kea, that was over three Terra-years ago, you can’t possibly still be vexed about that?”
“You ran off and eloped with my girlfriend, of course I’m still vexed!” I counter as I gesture toward Amber. But I’m not really vexed about Amber, not anymore. I’m angry because Kaela was my best friend, and she just up and abandoned me.
“You were my twin sister for fekk’s sake. The least you could have done was have the decency to tell me you were in love with her. But no, I had learn about it a Terra-week later from the Secrets Gossipcast!”
“I didn’t know how to tell you, okay? Is that what you want to hear?” she shouts back, her volume rising even higher.
“You could have tried, Kaela! Frankly anything would be better this fekkin’ awful family reunion.”
“And it’s about to get worse,” Jaime comments with a heavy sigh.
“How could this possibly be worse?!” I shout in exasperation.
“Your mother just arrived on board Quantum,” Amber answers with a slight hint of glee in her voice.
“You have got to be fekking kidding me.” I round on my sister. “You told her I was on the ship?!”
“Don’t look at me,” Kaela replies indignantly. “I wanted to make sure it was you before I said anything.”
“Jaime?”
“Fekk no! The less I have to deal with your mother, the better.”
I turn to Amber as my IdentiBand buzzes again.
Tarou: Seriously where the fekk are you?! We’re starting like now!
I huff in frustration. “Look I’d say it’s been grand, but it hasn’t. Jaime, whatever you do, don’t let my mother near that cabaret.”
“How exactly am I supposed to do that? Your mother loathes me!”
“I don’t know, be creative,” I call over my shoulder as I rush toward the door.
Kaela grabs my wrist as I enter the hallway. “Kea, wait.”
“I cannot express enough how much I really need to leg it right now. So if it’s really that important, say it while we’re walking.”
Kaela lets me pull away, but after a quick look back toward my suite she trots to catch up with me.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I should have come back sooner, but…well I was afraid you might still be in love with her.”
“Because you thought I’d try to steal her back?” I ask derisively as I quicken my pace.
“Because you’re my baby brother, and I didn’t want to hurt you further.”
I stop abruptly, causing Kaela to nearly collide with me. She looks up at
me warily as if she expects me to call malarkey. I let out a slow heavy sigh. “You ignoring me for over three Terra-years hurt worse,” I admit reluctantly. “And I'm not your baby anything—I’m twenty-five centimeters taller than you.”
“And fifteen minutes younger.”
I roll my eyes at her, and continue walking toward the auxiliary lift.
“I’m not, by the way—in love with Amber, I mean,” I divulge quietly as we walk. “I was for a good long while. Even if I wasn’t always willing to admit that to myself. But I’m over that now.”
“Because of this girl?”
A small smile tugs at the corner of my lips. “Her name’s Nalani. And she’s not an ambassador’s daughter, or a kink fashion model, or a stripper—”
“Topless barista,” Kaela corrects.
“Whatever, I’ve done both.”
Both Kaela’s eyebrows rise up. “Just how many woman have you—? You know what, don’t answer that.”
“The point is,” I sigh, rolling my eyes. “She’s the creative director of the show, and one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met. Oh and she’s my girlfriend…I think.”
After a long moment Kaela asks, “Do you love her?”
“I’m still sorta trying to figure that out,” I admit with a crooked smile as I step into the auxiliary lift, and input the info. “But it’s probably a yes.”
“Nalani…” Kaela repeats slowly. “Wait you don’t mean Nalani Kirikiri do you?”
I slam my hand against the Hold Door sensor. “Yeah she went to the Regional Academy of Dance same as you and Amber. Well, before she got kicked out, anyways.” I glance at the time on my band. “But seriously, if I miss my cue, she’ll jet me for sure, so byes! Oh, and whatever you do, keep Mom away from the cabaret. Because holy fekk, I do not want to have to explain this all to her.”
Seventeen
KEALAN
“You almost missed your cue, where were you?” Nalani asks, removing her elaborate feathered headdress in a riot of oranges and reds as she steps into the trap room that houses the cabaret’s unique fully retractable stage.
“Dealing with issues,” I answer as I jump down from the spacecraft set piece. Not waiting for the circular stage lift to finish its descent to the trap room floor.
“Issues? What kind of issues?” she asks with a frown. The music from the intermission entertainment beginning to play as the secondary stage smoothly locks closed above us.
“Nothing you need to worry abou—”
“Kealan Corkoran!” an authoritative female voice calls out, and my blood runs ice cold. I look slowly past Nalani into the green room to find my mother in full chancellarius regalia with the angriest expression I have ever seen on her face. She looks disapprovingly around the green room, and the performers occupying it make themselves scarce.
“Mom…what are you doing here?” I ask unevenly as Kaela comes running up behind her with Amber a distance behind them, moving at an unconcerned pace. Looking all the galaxy like she just stepped off the red carpet.
My mother bristles at the question. “What am I doing here, what are you doing here?”
“Your—your mother?!” Nalani sputters. “Your mother is Chancellarius Talulla Corkoran? You’re Chancell Kealan Corkoran?”
I grimace, turning toward her. “Yeah…”
Nalani grabs me by the arm, and drags me a short distance away toward the dressing rooms. “And you didn’t think this was relevant to mention before we stripped down stark naked and got intimate in bed?” she grinds out under her breath.
“To be fair, not all the times were in bed,” I say stupidly before I can stop the words from coming out of my mouth.
Her jaw drops as her face flushes brilliantly scarlet. But her shock only lasts a brief moment. “You wanker! That isn’t even remotely an excuse!” she admonishes me, hitting my arm.
“Ow, I’m sorry, okay? I’ll explain after the show,” I promise, holding up my hands to block her attacks.
“You better, or so help me, I’ll—” A hand encircles Nalani’s wrist, halting her attack, and I look up to find Vespasien, my mother’s personal Protectorate guard.
Coming out of nowhere like always.
“Let Nalani go, Vesp,” I command firmly in Daemotic. He ignores me, his black-blue eyes shifting to my mother instead. He waits until she nods.
My mother moves purposefully toward us, giving Nalani an icy look. “You can go,” she states, the dismissal clear in her tone.
Nalani looks defiantly back at my mother, rubbing the wrist Vesp grabbed her by. She opens her mouth as if about to say something, but then closes it again, turning toward me. “Solve your drama, Kealan. I don’t care how, but I expect them to be gone before we go back up in twenty,” she orders before walking a short distance away to talk with Tarou who is eyeing my family with growing concern.
“Go back up where?” my mother asks, her eyes narrowing.
I swallow hard. She may be a good deal shorter than me, but that never made her less formidable. Oh for the love of, why did this have to be now?
“He’s a dancer in that kinky little cabaret above us,” Amber pipes up with malicious glee as she comes up beside my mother.
“Amber,” my sister admonisher her.
“What? Kealan’s as likely to have answered your mother as he is to tell her about his salacious sex life,” she replies with a snort. “The stories I’ve heard about his exploits make Jaime’s look tame.”
My mother’s eyes volley between me and Nalani and Tarou before zeroing back on me. “Oh, no you’re not. I’m under consideration to become the next Empress of the Kalodaemon Empire. I can’t have my own son gallivanting around the galaxy with a courtesan!”
“Whoa, hold it right there,” Nalani interrupts. “I might be a working girl, but I’m not that kind of working girl. I may entertain people for a living, but I do it fully clothed on a stage.”
“You can’t honestly expect me to believe that,” my mother scoffs derisively as she turns. Her eyes scanning over the exposed flesh not covered by Nalani’s costume.
I open my mouth to say something, but Nalani beats me to it. “Frankly, I couldn’t give a bucket of stardust what you believe, Chancellarius Corkoran,” Nalani snaps, lifting her chin. “You’re not my mother, or my superior, and in case you failed to notice, we’re nowhere near Sashai Var. So why don’t you take that pompous, entitled attitude, and jet before I have ship security remove you.”
And with that bold statement Nalani turns on her heel, and storms off toward the dressing rooms for her costume-change. The brilliant marigold-orange fabric of her mermaid costume fluttering behind her dramatically. And I just stare at her disappearing back in awe, still trying to process what’s just happened.
Nalani just stood up to one of the most powerful women in the Galactic Coalition of Planets like telling off a chancellarius was something she did every day. Like it was nothing. And it’s in that moment I know—that she’s the One I’ve been looking for.
“How dare she,” my mother hisses as she glares after Nalani.
“It’s to be expected from Undercity trash like her,” Amber states with derision.
“Come along, Kealan, we’re leaving,” my mother huffs in Daemotic. When I don’t follow her or even acknowledge her words she lets out a long heavy sigh. “I can see how she might seem an alluring choice. But pursuing a relationship with a girl who sells her body for bitz, honestly, Kealan, what would your father say?” my mother states disapprovingly in Versal, loud enough for everyone moving through the green room to hear.
I finally turn toward her, my heart lashing against my ribs at the thought of what I’m about to do. “Dad would have adored her,” I counter challengingly. “Nalani’s dedicated, and hard working, and I don’t know what Amber told you, Mom, but she’s not a courtesan. She’s the creative visionary of this show—which is brilliant by the way if you could be bothered to see it. But most importantly, the fact that I love her, would have
been enough for Dad to accept Nalani. So why isn’t that enough for you?”
My mother raises her chin at my rebuke. “I won’t apologize for having standards.”
“Standards…right,” I repeat, the anger I’ve been trying to suppress since I was eleven, finally breaking through to the surface. “I’m a Toresha Astari, Mom. Do you honestly think one of your preening socialites would have dared to be with me? I mean sure, Amber slummed it with me for awhile for kicks, but the moment things started to get serious, she bolted,” I rant, laying it all out in the open. “So let’s be honest here, you’re not ashamed of my choices. You’re ashamed of me. For something that wasn’t even my fault. And I’m done apologizing for who I am.”
Eighteen
KEALAN
I walk shakily down the corridor to Nalani’s tiny dressing room, my heart still lashin’ against my ribs. I did it. I mean, I actually did it! For the first time in my life, I actually stood up to her—my mother.
I slip silently into the room, leaning against the wall beside the dressing room door. Enjoying the way the glittering nude costume hugs Nalani’s ass as she leans over to adjust her LyteGrav dance shoes, their MultiChroma tech making them blend perfectly with her skin tone. In the novel, The Mermaid was naked when she transformed into a human, but like Nalani said—this is a performance, not a porno.
“You know, this is a show I’d be happy to watch all night.”
She freezes before whipping up to glare at me.
I push off from the wall, walking toward her. “They’re gone by the way, as requested.”
“You lied to me!” Nalani hisses accusingly as she punches me in the arm.
“Ow, I’m sorry. I swear, on She Most Brightest in the Sky, I was going to tell you,” I state, putting my hands up in defense. “Look, I didn’t mean to deceive you, really I didn’t. Mishra was an identity my Uncle Jaime setup for me when I was younger so I could leave the Embassy without alerting the paparazzi.” I suck in a breath and let it out slowly before admitting the next part. “And then, well, I got used to people liking me for me, and not because they felt obligated to. I mean tell me honestly, would you have even believed me if I told you who I really was?”
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