by J. Naomi Ay
The Two Moons of Rehnor
Book 3
Of Blood & Angels
J. Naomi Ay
Published by Ayzenberg, Inc.
Copyright 2012-2016 Ayzenberg, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
131215
Cover Art by Robert W. Cabell
Also by
J. Naomi Ay
The Two Moons of Rehnor Series
The Boy who Lit up the Sky, Book 1
My Enemy’s Son, Book 2
Of Blood and Angels, Book 3
Firestone Rings, Book 4
The Days of the Golden Moons, Book 5
Golden's Quest, Book 6
Metamorphosis, Book 7
The Choice, Book 8
Treasure Hunt, Book 9
Space Chase, Book 10
Imperial Masquerade, Book 11
Rivalry, Book 12
Thirteen, Book 13
Betrayal, Book 14
Fairy Tales, Book 15
Gone for a Spin, Book 16
Firesetter Series
A Thread of Time, Book 1
Amyr’s Command, Book 2
Three Kings, Book 3
Exceeding Expectations, Book 4
Table of
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1 – Shelly
Chapter 2 – Katie
Chapter 3 – Berkan
Chapter 4 – Caroline
Chapter 5 – Katie
Chapter 6 - Caroline
Chapter 7 – Katie
Chapter 8 – Caroline
Chapter 9 – Shelly
Chapter 10 - Caroline
Chapter 11 – Katie
Chapter 12 – Berkan
Chapter 13 – Katie
Chapter 14 – Leesa
Chapter 15 – Caroline
Chapter 16 – Katie
Chapter 17 – Berkan
Chapter 18 – Leesa
Chapter 19 – Berkan
Chapter 20 – Shelly
Chapter 21 – Senya
Chapter 22 – Berkan
Chapter 23 – Katie
Chapter 24 – Senya
Chapter 25 – Katie
Chapter 26 - Senya
Chapter 27 - Katie
Chapter 28 - Berkan
Chapter 29 - Senya
Prolog
ue
It smelled of decay and the air was thick with the dust. There were no droppings of any sort, just tiny skeletal remains of insects scattered about. The windows and doors were long gone but the lamp was still there swinging above the altar on a rusted chain.
He approached the altar and the lamp cautiously, his bare feet disturbing that which had been untouched for ten millenniums, kicking it up into clouds behind him. Then he turned and surveyed the cathedral, hearing the songs of the ancient people who had worshipped here, who had celebrated their lives and rituals here. He heard the whispered voices of those who had died here too, their bodies and bones vaporized, their molecules joining together in the dust.
He knelt down before the altar and he prayed. This was a tremendous task. This was more than anything he had done before. His resolution faltered.
“I don’t want to,” he said aloud. “I don’t want to do this!”
“You must,” a voice said. “This is why you are here.”
“This is your mission,” another voice added. “This is why you are as you are.”
“You have become too attached to your mortal being,” a third chastised him. “You have forgotten.”
“I haven’t!” Senya protested. “I know, I remember. I want…”
Senya felt the warmth of his companions surrounding him and filling him with their light and their strength. His body surged with the power they bestowed upon him. He would accomplish the tasks that he had been set down to achieve. He would do as he had been bid. He would not want nor would he ask again for his freedom. All would be as it should be. He prostrated himself beneath the lamp and begged forgiveness for his selfishness.
“Goodbye, brother,” the voices called and disappeared into the oblivion.
Senya rose slowly to his feet and dusted himself off. He would start here. He scanned the decrepit ruins of the building once again and then raised his hands. He willed the dust to form into the stained glass panes that had once filled this room with multi-colored light. He willed water to rain down upon the walls and floors and wash away the remnants of insects and cobwebs and to polish the floors until the smooth granite stones glowed with luster. He willed the holes in the roof to close and clay tiles to form in the ridges where they had gone missing. Lastly, he willed the sacred lamp to shine again and he called upon the flame within it to burn forever more. When that was accomplished, he held up his wrist and brought forth his knife to consecrate the sacred Temple with his blood.
His cell rang, interrupting him. He sent the knife away and reached in his back pocket for his phone.
“Hi!” his wife’s voice called. “Where are you? Are you still at the office?”
“No,” he replied softly.
“Ok. Are you coming home soon? I’m leaving the Landbase right now. I was just wondering what you felt like for dinner. Shall I pick up something or do you want to go out?”
“I don’t want to go out,” he whispered, leaving the cathedral. “I want to stay home.”
“Ok, I guess I’ll figure out something. Why are you whispering? Did I interrupt a meeting?”
“No. My meeting is over,” he replied swinging shut and then locking the newly created door. “I will come home now too.”
“Good,” she said. “I’ve missed you all day. Love you!”
“I love you,” Senya replied as the call disconnected. He held the cell in the palm of his hand for a moment as he turned back to the Temple which glowed in the twilight of the coming evening. He could feel the warmth of the sun reflecting off the newly clean granite walls. He would consecrate it another time. His brothers were right, he was too attached to his mortal being. He was too happy in this life, too in love with his wife. Though he said he would not want, he still did.
“Let me be free,” he whispered. “If only for a little while, please let me be free.”
Chapter 1
Shelly
They were arguing and I could hear it because the door to his office was cracked open a bit.
“You had the opportunity to get out of it,” she said. “Don't tell me that you don't want it when it's clearly not true.”
“What I want is irrelevant,” he replied distractedly. “It is what I need to do.”
“Why?” she demanded. “Who said so?”
“God.”
“God?”
“God.”
“What, like you actually spoke to Him or something? Maybe he texted you or left you a voicemail and said, ‘Hey Senya, you need to do this.’”
“More or less.”
“More or less?” she shrieked. “You're crazy.”
“Katie,” he sighed. “I'm busy. I'll see you at home tonight.”
“I thought we were going to have lunch together.” I heard a paper sack rustle. “Forget it," she snapped. “I'll eat my tuna sandwich by myself. You can just go order out for Fois Gras and caviar or whatever in the hell Crown Princes are supposed to eat.”
“You are very clever,” he replied. “Give me my lunch. I want a tuna fish sandwich too.”
“No, I'm not clever,” she cried. “I'm very stupid. I believed you when you said you weren't going to have to deal with this now and besides that I made you egg salad.”
“Katie.” He sounded annoyed. “I hav
e three surgeries starting at 6 AM tomorrow which I have not even reviewed yet. We have a new product release that is scheduled to ship on Friday to more than ten thousand customers that has not been certified for OR use because of a software error. On Monday, I am supposed to be in Talas III to make a presentation on neural synapse repair to the Intergalactic Conference of Neuro Surgeons and I have not given a thought to what I will say. I have a meeting the day after in Altaris VI, where we are going to explore purchasing a 500 unit hospital chain, and then the day after I am to go to New Mishnah for a board meeting. Just because, on occasion, I take a call from Lord Dickon or Loman asking my opinion or advice on a matter, it does not mean that I am dealing with Rehnor now. Please do not start this harping at me.”
“Harping?”
“Yes, harping.” He laughed a little. “Can we just discuss this later? Please?”
“When later? After you purchase another fourteen trillion Mishnese dollars to prop up their economy some more?”
“Katie, I will speak with you on this another time. You will leave now. Ah! Leave me the egg salad sandwich.”
“Yes Sir! Yes, Your Majesty, Crown Prince Dude, Duke of Everything and all the ships at sea. You have ordered an egg salad sandwich and here it is in this solid gold lunch bag before you. You are the boss man, your word is law, and if I don’t like it, well I can just plan on getting my head split by a piece of that window or something.”
“Kari-fa!” he said under his breath. “Are you purposely trying to piss me off?”
“No, not me, Sir,” she replied. “I'm only here to provide your noon entertainment.”
Silence.
“Noon entertainment, eh?” You are indeed very entertaining.”
“What do you think you're doing? I thought you wanted me to leave. You're too busy, remember? Board meetings, product releases, hospitals to buy and people’s heads to cut open?”
“Mhm. I can spare ten minutes.”
A throaty laugh from Katie.
The door clicked shut.
I laughed. Ah, to be young and in love again. Katie had been here on Rozari for several months now and as far as I could tell they were doing fine. The both of them positively glowed when they were together. Only a few weeks ago, Katie had thrown a big barbeque party at their villa and the grandkids finally got to swim at their beach. Katie was due to go back to space in another week though and Ron wasn’t the only one who was going to miss her tremendously. She had been working as an adjunct in my husband Tim’s office and he was enjoying her assistance. Nearly every day he came home and raved about what an excellent officer she was.
Katie came out of Ron’s office about fifteen minutes later. Her face was red and her hair was a tangled mess of blonde curls. Her uniform was a little askew. I smiled at my vid and tried not look at her.
“I am so going to get kicked out of Spaceforce,” she said, straightening her uniform.
“If you go out looking like that you certainly will,” I replied and pulled my hand mirror out of my purse. “Why don't you fix your hair before going back to base?”
“Thanks, Shelly.” She blushed furiously and twisted her curls back into a Spaceforce regulation bun. “Rehnor is nothing but Planet Podunk, right? It’s about as strategic as Monaco. Furthermore, he's got Rozarian citizenship. I'm not doing anything wrong.” I wasn’t sure if she was asking or telling me.
“As long as he's not doing anything wrong, you're not,” I said.
“But all the same, we're not going to tell Admiral Tim, right?”
“I'm not telling him,” I scoffed. “I'm in as deep as you are. Thad and me both.”
She nodded and then came around the desk to hug me.
“Thanks, Shelly. Will you write to me while I'm back in space? Tell me everything that's going on here?”
“Of course I will, honey.” I hugged her back. “And don't worry, you'll be back home in no time. Your contract will fly by.”
“I know,” she nodded, “and Senya's coming to space in a few weeks too. I got him a family pass to come aboard the ship whenever he can.”
“I used to get that too. The boys and I would go aboard for a month at a time to live with Tim. Both Larry and Thad hated being in space. I guess that's why neither one joined Spaceforce.”
She smiled. “We’ll be dark for a little while though. If something happens…”
“Nothing will happen,” I said confidently. “He’s a big boy.” I used to hate when Tim went into the dark but I didn’t tell her that. The families at home were forced to endure months of communications blackout, never knowing if your loved one in space was alive or swallowed by a black hole. I guess it worked both ways, those in Spaceforce worrying about their families back home as much as we worried about them. “Are there a lot of kids on board now?” I asked cheerfully.
“Yes,” she replied. “A kindergarten full of them. All the restaurants even have kid's menus. Of course, they all have to go home when we go dark.”
I glanced at her as she stared off into space wondering if it was even possible for them to have one of their own.
“Anyway,” she said, grabbing her hand bag and heading to the door. “Write to me every day and especially let me know how he's doing.” She pointed at the inner office.
“I will,” I promised.
Katie turned to head out but abruptly stopped. “Shelly?” she said, coming back to my desk. “Have you seen all those little cuts on his arms?”
I shook my head. Rarely did I see him without a lab coat or one of his nice long sleeve dress shirts. “What cuts?”
“Just little ones,” she said, running her finger along her own arm. “There's the big one. That was from when we went to Karupatani but now there's a whole bunch of little ones.”
“It can't be drugs,” I insisted.
“No,” she replied adamantly. “Drugs are pinpricks. I know he's not doing that now. These are cuts.”
“Did you ask?”
“Sure and he replied, it's complicated.”
I rolled my eyes. “Did you expect another answer?”
“No,” she laughed. “But if you find out anything…”
“You'll be the first to know,” I said and turned to answer the ringing vid.
Chapter 2
Katie
“Maybe I shouldn't go back to space,” I said. We were in the kitchen and I was making his favorite dinner which was a dozen eggs cooked as runny as possible. I think he would actually have preferred them raw, shell and all but I insisted they be cooked. “I could continue working for Admiral Tim.”
“You need to go back. We have already discussed this. It is your dream to be a Starship Captain. You are not going to give up your career for me. You must do this while you can.”
“Yes, but I'm very happy here. I'll miss you.”
“It is only for six months. I will come visit you often. May I have more, please?” He held out his plate.
“What about your cholesterol? Or is that not an issue when you have cool powers and stuff?”
“Not an issue for me,” he replied, so I filled up his plate again.
“What is your dream, Senya?” I asked, placing his dinner down in front of him. “To be King?”
“You should know by now that is my nightmare,” he scoffed. “Not my dream.”
“So what is your dream then?” I made him some more toast.
He sat pensively for a moment. "My dream was always to live in a house.”
“Live in a house? Like this one?”
“No. A small house would have been fine. All I have ever wanted was a little house with a little wife who would cook me dinner and match my socks and find me ties to go with my shirts and yell at me when I leave my clothes on the floor and who would let me make love to her all night long.”
“Really? Then you must be a very happy man now.” I sat down on his lap and let the toast harden in the toaster.
“I am happy now.” He wrapped his arms around me. “I have never kn
own this.”
“This?” I kissed his closed eyelids where the skin was so soft. “Happiness?”
“Ay yah. Happiness. This is a very good thing.”
“I shouldn't go back to space. I don't care what I said before. I want to be with you."
“Ach,” he sighed. “Go back to space. I will be right here when you come home.”
“It sounds like you're trying to get rid of me,” I teased. “Have you got something more important that you need to be doing and you want me out of the house?”
“Actually, yes.”
“What?”
“Come,” he said and taking my hand, he led me out into the garden. “I will show you how Takira-hahr and Kalika-hahr have been reclaimed while the rest of the planet is still dust.”
“How?” I followed him through the garden, past my scraggly collection of rose bushes and behind the gazebo to an area that I was going to use for fruit trees. At this point, I was still working the dry, unfertile dirt. I had wanted to get some compost from the home store next to the Fashion Mall but I hadn't had a chance yet. I figured I'd get back to it when I came home from my tour.
“What do you want here?” he asked, stopping in front of my empty plot.
“I was going to put in some soft fruit trees here. I was thinking maybe an apricot or peach. Perhaps some citrus trees like oranges, lemons, or grapefruit.”
“What do you want right here?” He pointed at the ground next to his foot.
“I don't care,” I shrugged. “What do you want?”
“Do you want a lemon tree?”
“That's fine. I'd like an Improved Meyer Lemon actually.”
“Improved Meyer Lemon?”
“I'll pick up one when I get back.”
“No.” He shook his head and repeated. “Improved Meyer Lemon.” He took off the bandage that was covering the long cut on his right wrist and picked at the scab.
“What the hell are you doing?” I cried.
