The Thirteenth Man
Page 38
To Janice’s surprise, Charlie never did “do duke shit”: start wars and kill people, though she wouldn’t have held it against him if he had, because that’s what dukes did. She and Becky and Trina eventually found husbands and got out of the business, though they took great pride that their daughters were chosen to follow in their footsteps, and the young girls benefitted considerably from their mothers’ years of experience.
Because of Charlie’s near-destitute status, the other nine dukes were quite comfortable with his betrothal to Delilah, and they were married in a magnificent ceremony to much celebration throughout the Realm. When the Ten forced Lucius, because of his follies, to abdicate, Charlie and Delilah were crowned king and queen. It surprised no one that Charlie turned out to be a strong king, though it did surprise some that Delilah was an equally strong queen.
Within a few years, because of the instabilities in Syndon, and as it leaked out that Charlie was a far stronger and more powerful king than anticipated, several of the independent states petitioned King Charles for protectorate status. And from that day the Lunan Empire was born, with Charlie and Delilah the first emperor and empress.
Delilah, mercifully, did not have the willpower to wait for the nuptials before fulfilling her civic duty, much to Charlie’s delight—and hers too, for that matter. In fact, performing her civic duty was a responsibility she and Charlie took quite seriously throughout their lives.
Del and her spacer finally did have that dance, at Momma Toofat’s, and it was no sedate waltz.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to thank Betsy Mitchell for whipping both me and my book into shape; Karen for both supporting my dream and being my most valuable critic; and David Pomerico, and the whole team at HarperCollins, for believing in an indie, and turning the book into something to be proud of.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Trained as a scientist with a PhD in Electrical Engineering (specializing in laser physics), J.L. DOTY has been writing science fiction and fantasy for over thirty years. He has nine published novels, including the three series: The Treasons Cycle, The Gods Within, and The Dead Among Us. Born in Seattle, he now lives in Arizona with his wife and three cats. He writes full-time now and continues to focus on speculative fiction, but never with lasers as a weapon, since most writers invariably get that wrong.
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Also by J.L. Doty
THE TREASONS CYCLE (hard science fiction)
Of Treasons Born (prequel to A Choice of Treasons)
A Choice of Treasons
THE GODS WITHIN (YA epic fantasy)
Child of the Sword, Book 1
The Steel Master of Indwallin, Book 2
The Heart of the Sands, Book 3
The Name of the Sword, Book 4
THE DEAD AMONG US (contemporary urban fantasy)
When Dead Ain’t Dead Enough, Book 1
Still Not Dead Enough, Book 2
Never Dead Enough, Book 3
Note: sample chapters for all of these books are available on the author’s web site at www.jldoty.com.
COPYRIGHT
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE THIRTEENTH MAN. Copyright © 2016 by J.L. Doty. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.
EPub Edition AUGUST 2016 ISBN: 9780062562081
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062562104
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