Shadows of the Night (Kingdom Key Book 2)

by TylerRose.

  “You know how horrendously your timing sucks, don’t you?” he said rather than hello.

  “I don’t care that your newest lover is sucking your dick,” she replied. “He doesn’t have to stop. What is the name of the sect on Sistair that is about intentionally removing emotions from themselves?”

  “The Extirpationists.”

  “Thank you.”

  She hung up on him and began a search for the sect through Voranian ambassadorial channels. She found the entry in the Sistarian databases and read what was available. Finding the contact information, she called to extend an invitation for the Dastoor to come talk with her about their practices.

  “Your husband is awake,” Pisod said, looking at his phone. “He’s asking where we are. What shall I tell him?”

  “The truth. I’ll see him when he gets home, whenever that might be,” she replied, turning off her vidpad.

  She changed into a nightgown and went to bed. She may have appeared to sleep at Baener’s, but that was not anything restful. She needed real sleep, and was out within a minute. She woke some five hours later to find several messages waiting for her.

  The Dastoor would be happy to come speak with her at her convenience.

  “Pi, call the palace and have our room opened and aired. Tell Fennica we’ll be arriving in an hour. I’d like to see her.”

  He got to it while she listened to a message from Shestna. Yet another apology.

  “You’re right. It was callous and thoughtless of me. I am sorry.”

  Having no answer just yet, she left a new message with the Extirpationists that the Dastoor could join her in the Voranian royal palace for a private lunch in five hours. She took a quick, cool, bath. She remembered having read an article in a magazine on Earth that soaking in a hot bath for even a short time could hurt the child. She couldn’t remember what the condition was called.

  Sitting in her robe afterward, she decided what to say and left a message for Shestna. “You are right also. I am carrying your first official Royal heir. I should take more care. I’ll see you when you get back.”

  She dressed in the court gown kept in her house for arriving at the palace. Hair done up, she even wore the circlet that came with her marriage to Shestna. A thin silver circle with pearls and milky white opals surrounding rubies the size of small peas. Two small links of chain dangled a larger heart-shaped ruby in the center at the top of her forehead.

  “You certainly know how to impress when you want to,” Pisod said with a smile of approval. “I have your current journal, a blank and your vidpad. Anything else?”

  “Thank you. No. Let’s go.”

  She followed the preferred protocol of arriving in the main entry. Though they had advanced technology, the palace preferred the old way of announcing arrivals. Shouts went man to man down the corridors until it reach whatever chamber the Emperor was in. She followed the path of the shouts.

  One of the guards outside the door went in to tell the highest ranking official present. Today, that was Dorn. Dorn saw the eyes looking for him, left his father’s side to receive the message.

  “The First Daughter has arrived, Your Highness,” the guard said in a hushed tone. “She is on her way here.”

  Dorn looked at him as though he’d just turned into a toad. There were no plans for her to come to the palace.

  “Thank you. Back to your place. She walks fast.”

  No sooner was Dorn back in his place that the First Daughter was being announced. All those sitting down had to stand up to bow or curtsy to her. All except the Emperor and Empress. A sweep of her eyes as she walked through to the thrones. She curtsied politely but not very deeply to Encito, tilting her head just enough that it would be proper.

  “A delightful surprise, Daughter, to have you join our court this day.”

  “With your permission, Your Majesty, I will be staying for a few days until my husband returns from his current work.”

  “Nothing would please us more. Our meal is being served. You will join us.”

  She hesitated, the idea of going through the water thing not to her liking.

  “Have no fear, First Daughter. We have installed a water distillation system. All water in the palace and on the grounds, including the fountains, is safe for you. All foods are cooked with it. There is no natural ground water used in any of our residences anymore.”

  “Thank you, Encito. That is remarkably kind of you to do just for me.”

  “You are important to us, thus the effort is well worthwhile.”

  He gestured over the table. It was placed and set within a minute and Encito insisted she sit as his right hand. Dorn sat across from him, Pisod next to him. Fennica sat at the Empress’ left.

  Knowing she had another meal coming within a couple hours, Tyler ate only enough to hold herself over.

  “Has Sta spoken to you in the last day?” she asked the Emperor.

  “No. Is there something I should know?”

  She could not prevent the small smile and he guessed its meaning but kept the secret.

  “I figured I would spend some days within the walls of the palace when my husband is gone. I have some learned men coming to tell me things I want to know. If you will please excuse me, Encito? I would like to make ready to receive them in the gardens somewhere.”

  “Certainly. There is a gazebo roughly in the middle. Few of my wives venture that far into the garden. You will be assured your privacy. Dorn will assign an escort to keep a perimeter,” he nodded to Dorn.

  “Of course, Father.”

  “It’s not necessary. Pisod is enough, I’m sure,” she said, leaving her seat.

  “Necessary is beside the point entirely, First Daughter. All the appropriate protocols and ceremony must be in place, especially if you are to receive guests while you are here,” Encito explained.

  She let it go, curtsying her exit and going out to find that gazebo. The plot of land the palace sat on was immense. To one side lay a large pond with dock and boats for rowing. Walking paths wound their way through the huge garden, gazebos dotting the landscape.

  Pisod knew which one, and took her directly to it using a golf cart-type vehicle. The gazebo was easily quarter of a mile away from the rearmost wall of the twin wings, was larger than the others. It had chairs and a dining table already set for two, a chaise, and wood shades that could be pulled down for privacy or to block out the sun.

  She wasn’t there long before another cart came. Dorn was driving, another person in the other front seat. As they neared, she recognized the visitor as the little man who had brought her the Sanctuary ring on Crecorday. She fingered it on her pinky remembering that moment.

  Cart parked some ten feet back from the gazebo, the two men and Fennica got out. Fennica curtsied to her and came up into the structure to pour the cold mint tea for Tyler and her guest.

  “Your Highness, First Daughter of Voran, please meet the Dastoor of the Extirpationists,” Dorn made introductions with Tyler on the top step and himself and the guest on the walk.

  “Madam,” the little man bowed giving no indication that they’d ever met. “How may I be of service?”

  He looked almost exactly the same. Maybe a little younger. Maybe he was going to do that in his future. She let it go for now.

  “Come tell me about your sect and its philosophy and practices,” she gestured him up to a seat away from the table.

  Fennica served the drinks and curtsied to leave.

  “Sit, Fenni. We will have a class of two,” Tyler said.

  Fennica smiled bright with surprise and happily pulled up a piece of floor near Tyler’s seat while Tyler waved the men away.

  Tyler held her cold glass and sipped in silence while he talked about certain negative emotions and how they did not serve to clarify the mind but to cloud it. He explained how self-doubt and fear caused more problems when people were already in too much discord to think straight. The first steps to ridding one’s self of a detrimental emotion were to
gain control over it and master setting it aside when under duress. That alone could take twenty years.

  His manner said he was accustomed to a larger class but he soon modulated his voice for this close company. Tyler let Fenni’s natural and numerous curiosities ask the questions for her. When Tyler did have a question, Fenni had that same question pop into her head. Tyler listened and absorbed as she had done with Chen when he taught her Kung Fu. She listened not to his words, which rolled in one ear and out the other, but to his energy and thought process. She listened to his own internal dialogue rather than what he chose to say.

  When his initial lecture was finished, Tyler suggested they sit at the table and enjoy the meal.

  “Have you ever been to the space station Crecorday?” Tyler asked him as they selected sandwiches from the center plate.

  “I have never heard of it, Madam.”

  Truth. Complete truth without the slightest hint of deception. He hadn’t been there. Didn’t know anything about the place.

  “What kind of mental and emotional exercises would you suggest to someone who wants to begin this process?” Fenni asked.

  He focused on her while giving his answer, that it was more about practice than exercises. Meditation to calm the mind, certainly, but putting into daily practice a pause button to stop the mind and, more importantly, the mouth before making responses to emotional situations. A moment of introspection, a moment to evaluate the situation and formulate an appropriate response.

  Tyler smirked behind her glass as she tilted it for a sip. All the things Nails had been trying to teach her all along, but taken to an extreme.

  “How many people in ten years actually do discard one of these emotions from their psyche?” Tyler asked.

  “We have several Deacons who are very close to final success. If they have another fifty years to live, they might do it. Longevity of the subject must figure into the equation. Also the number of Initiates who make it past the fifth year, which is fairly few. Five years ago we had twenty start. On this fifth anniversary, only three are left. The more years in, the fewer there are.”

  Which made sense.

  “Who was the last person to legitimately and successfully shed an emotion of their choosing?” Tyler pursued. “Proven by scientific testing.”

  “His name was Keto Dyren. He succeeded after two hundred years in our sect and lived another hundred years as Dastoor. He died at the age of 437.”

  “How long ago?” she asked.

  “He died over three hundred years ago.”

  Not someone she could talk to now.

  “Thank you, Dastoor. You’ve been very helpful. Enjoy the rest of the meal with Fennica,” Tyler said, and left the gazebo.

  She walked the paths at a steady pace, thinking and considering. She had to get rid of the fear that Solomon would appear out of nowhere. Yes, she was able to fight him off last time, but last time she’d been alone. No one else had been there to be hurt or killed.

  “You’re going to be burned if you stay out here much longer,” Pisod spoke up.

  A dark blue parasol appeared in her hand and she raised it to block out the sun. She kept walking, kept thinking. At some point she blinked out of her trance-like focus to see the sun well into its descent. The gazebo was empty, the cart gone. She stopped walking to sit on the next bench she came to.

  “What are you thinking about?” Pisod asked, sitting with her.

  “That I’m tired.”

  They arrived in her suite. She kicked off her shoes, removed the outer layer of the dress, and went to lie down until it was time for supper. No dreams that she could remember this time. Just a coma of sleep that ended when she woke up to see Shestna lying beside her, watching her.

  “When did you get here?” she asked.

  “About half an hour ago. We’ve missed supper. Are you hungry?”

  “Not much. What time is it?”

  “Bedtime,” he told her. “Most everyone has retired to their rooms.”

  “I gotta stop doing that,” she complained getting up.

  “Doing what?”

  “Sleeping through everything.”

  “You’re pregnant and your body knows it’s pregnant. Sleep as much as you can. Once you get to the end, sleep will be hard to come by,” Shestna advised her. “You had a meeting with the leader of the Extirpationist cult. Why?”

  “To understand what they’re about, of course. He wasn’t all that helpful though. Didn’t really tell me much I didn’t already know.”

  “What are you up to?” he asked, short and blunt.

  “Nothing. Let’s go home.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Four more Voranian months she spent listening to philosophers and scientists with Fennica while Shestna went about his various Ambassadorial duties for his planet. He ran for a seat on the AASTT Council but lost. The day after the election, he took a leave of absence from the Congress. One of the brothers took his place as Ambassador while Shestna enjoyed spending more of his time with his wife. She was just beginning to show and he was as pleased and excited as he’d ever been about anything.

  Every night, he lay behind her with his hand on her belly to try and feel the first noticeable movements of the baby.

  “I felt it,” Tyler said, and moved his hand to cup firmly in a different spot. “Right here.”

  Patiently he waited until he felt the vibration. “Yes,” he beamed a smile, and kissed her cheek.

  “Your daughter,” she told him.

  “You’re sure? Did the doctor say?”

  “He doesn’t have to. I can communicate with her. She knows what you look like. She knows your voice. She knows Pisod and Dorn and the Neverseen. She can hear us all when we speak.”

  He was disquieted.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I did not know you could do that. None of our mothers who have telepathic abilities have been able to communicate with their unborn.”

  “You didn’t forget that one bit of information you’re forever trying to get me to accept?”

  He smiled at his own forgetfulness. Of course a goddess would be able to speak to her own unborn. He kissed her cheek again.

  “I believe I did for a moment. Do you have anyone coming to see you tomorrow?”

  “No,” she replied.

  “Good. Dorn will come with us on a picnic and we’ll see how many times we can make a pregnant goddess orgasm out in the middle of a meadow.”

  She giggled in that way he so enjoyed, in that way that meant she very much looked forward to doing exactly that.

  They arrived at the spot first and set up a canopy to shield her from the sun. The meadow was lovely, with a variety of grasses and wildflowers blowing in the breeze. Stands of trees dotted the perimeter. It was a lovely spot to spend some time alone.

  He put down the mat in front of a big, flat-fronted boulder and told her to sit while he brought the small table and basket of food. She could have brought the stuff directly over, but he didn’t want her to use her abilities like that.

  While waiting, she found a caterpillar. Holding her finger out, she smiled when it climbed onto her. She plucked a leaf from the plant and held it so the three inch multi-colored larvae could nibble. He was happy to stay there so long as there was a leaf to munch, and she fed him two leaves through Shestna’s three trips to the car and back.

  As he lowered to take a rest, sitting back against the large boulder, she let the caterpillar crawl back onto its plant.

  “Do you know what that is?” he asked.

  “A caterpillar.”

  “Do you know what kind?” he reiterated.

  “I didn’t recognize it, no.”

  He smiled, shaking his head. “Use some of the water and wash your hands before you touch your eyes. It’s poisonous. It excretes an odorless enzyme that activates when touched to a wet body part.”

  She laughed. “Thank you for not completely freaking out this time like you did over the toad that one day.”r />
  He remembered that day, a few weeks back.

  “Are you happy, Tyler? Truly?”

  “I am, Sta. Bumps and all,” she said, leaning down to lay her head on his thighs.

  His hand went at once to the small bump of her belly. “I did not plan the events that led to our being married, but sometimes it does feel like a trickery.”

  “Not trickery on your part. I know that,” she replied. “Now I have two things I didn’t think I’d ever have. A husband I really love and a baby on the way. Two years ago, I wouldn’t have thought I would have either of those things. I was beating off the marriage proposals with a stick.”

  His phone buzzed. “Dorn,” he said, looking at the screen. “He’s trapped with father for another hour and it will take him an hour to get here.”

  “Will we be here that long?” she asked.

  “Why? Got somewhere else in the galaxy you have to be?”

  They went quiet. Listening to the breeze, the birds, the rustling of the trees, she dozed.

  Popping sounds and bits of hard rock hitting her face brought her rearing up, awake but dazed. Shestna’s chest was peppered with splotches of blood, one of them in the center of his chest. His eyes were wide, breathing labored.

  “Femina. Run,” he managed to rasp through blood bubbles.

  He slumped to the side. She didn’t have time to move. Something heavy and hard struck her in the back, knocking her headfirst into the boulder. Dazed, she fell to the mat in one direction while Shestna fell dead in the other.

  “I said immobilize her, not bash her brains in!”

  Stunned and unable to move she couldn’t fight when someone grabbed her arm and dragged her a few feet onto the grass. The warmth and brightness of the sun.

  “I told you I would come for you,” Solomon said, and ripped the wedding beads from her neck. He gave her one punt to the gut followed by another. “You’re not allowed to have any offspring but mine.”

  The pain was instant, doubling her up into fetal position. He flipped her onto her back to stomp on her belly. She lost consciousness.

  Dorn parked his vehicle next to Shestna’s and walked through the trees to the edge of the meadow. He was looking forward to this time with Tyler, having been much kept by their father these last weeks. He needed to renew their bond, for himself as much as for her.