Bom finished the bottle and tossed it against the wall. It shattered into a hundred sharp shards of clear glass. His senses dulled, he dropped into his chair and closed his eyes.
Dreamless sleep would be welcome.
A solution would be even better.
From a distance, he heard a soft, scraping sound, as if someone swept up the broken glass, probably his aide. He tuned it out, too drunk to care.
“You are mistaken, father.”
“What?” Bom pried his eyes open.
“The fight is not over. Not yet.”
“Who the hells…?”
“Why, father, you don’t recognize me? You don’t know the greatest of your three creations? The Blood of your Blood?”
Bom tried to focus on the young woman standing beside him. She held something clenched in her hand.
Gods, I’m drunker than I thought.
The girl smiled at him. She was young and pretty. Her smile should be appealing, winning, but her smile held only malice and Ika Bom began to shiver. Her smile chilled him to the bone.
He closed his eyes, shutting out the sight of this unpleasant drunken vision.
“Open your eyes, father. Open your eyes and your mouth and watch while I feed you. You want Our Blood, yes? Then you shall have Our Blood, the Blood of your true Abomination.”
Floundering about in his chair, Bom tried and failed to keep his eyes closed. He fought to stay in control, but his mouth fell open despite his brain’s order to keep it closed.
The girl showed him her palm and Bom saw she held a shard of glass. He watched, helpless, as she sliced deep into her wrist. She grabbed his hair and tilted his head back to let a trickle of her dark red blood drip into his open mouth.
He gagged and tried to use his tongue to spit it out, but she stopped him with a mere shake of her head and he was forced to swallow it, like an animal, like a cannibal, like a Gods cursed Chigalla.
“There, there, father. You’re not finished yet. You have a task ahead of you and you need my Blood to complete it.” She smiled again, the same chilling smile. “As the ancients said, Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. You wished for this, father. Enjoy the fruits of your labors.”
“General.”
Someone shook him, someone he would kill when he managed to open his eyes.
“General, wake up. You’re injured. Your mouth is bleeding. You must have fallen.”
Bom pried his eyes open and rubbed his mouth. He stared, bleary-eyed, at the back of his hand. There was no doubt; his hand was stained with blood.
He moved his tongue around gingerly, but he didn’t feel any open wound or a sore spot. He tried to focus on the face before him, but his vision remained clouded and his head spun, sickening him.
Ignoring the man looming over him, Bom forced himself onto his hands and knees and rose to his feet. He stumbled towards the doorway.
“I’ve been poisoned.” He clutched at his abdomen, groaning. “Get me to the infirmary. Someone has poisoned me.”
His assistant grabbed him by the shoulders and called for the guards. Together, the three men dragged him to the infirmary, yelling for help as they rushed through the corridor.
Bom twisted in agony on the gurney as the medic in charge examined him.
“You haven’t been poisoned, General,” said the medic. “Unless by poisoned you mean you drank too much alcohol too quickly.”
“I swear someone was in my office. I swear someone poured something down my throat.”
“General, your aid found a smashed liquor bottle in your office. It was empty. With all due respect, you poured the contents of that bottle down your throat yourself. Your aid reviewed the security vids of your office, interior and exterior. Nobody came in or went out.”
“No. You’re mistaken. There was somebody with me. A girl—my… A girl was there. She made me…” Bom swallowed hard and tried not to gag. “She made me drink her blood.”
Bom saw the medic hide his grin. If he wasn’t so deathly ill he would have slaughtered the man.
“No, sir, there was no girl in your office. I’m going to give you something to settle your stomach and then I suggest you sleep it off in the next room. I’ll station two guards outside the door if you wish.”
Bom gritted his teeth. “Yes, fine. Give me some medicine. I’ll sleep it off. No guards. Guards aren’t necessary.”
He swallowed the two capsules and retired to the adjoining room. He shut the door behind him and lay on the cot, an arm over his eyes, his stomach roiling.
What the seven hells had happened?
Had he suffered some sort of alcohol induced hallucination?
He’d drunk much more on many occasions and never experienced anything of the sort.
That girl, she appeared so young, no more than sixteen or seventeen. She resembled the other one, Aja, his older daughter, but the eyes, her eyes were different. Every woman of the Royal Blood had the same gray eyes, every single one.
But her eyes… The memory made Bom shiver. They’d been red. A dark scarlet red, the color of the blood she’d dripped into his mouth.
No, he shook his head. He’d dreamed her. He’d drunk the liquor while he was thinking about the Blood and he’d dreamed the entire incident. That was the only possible explanation. It was the only thing that made any sense.
He’d passed out, fallen and hit his mouth against his desk.
If she’d walked into his office, she’d have had to somehow slip past the hundred hand-picked Coalition guards he’d stationed throughout the building and avoid his secretary in the outer office. At the very least, she’d have registered on the security vids.
It simply wasn’t possible. Women of the Blood possessed certain abilities, but they couldn’t appear out of thin air. They were the result of genetic enhancement and centuries of selective breeding, creatures of science, not magic.
No, he was merely drunk and the girl had been a nightmare brought on by stress, a lack of sleep, space travel and maybe, just maybe, a side effect of the Blood.
Yes, the more he thought of it, the more convinced of that he became. No question about it. The doctors had warned him injecting the Blood directly into his brain could have unexpected side effects. He would indeed sleep it off and in the morning, he’d call together his military commanders and they’d declare martial law and tighten the screws on the Resistance everywhere.
Book II: Return
“By all the gods.”
A sharp elbow to the abdomen jarred Kyr awake as Aja climbed over his naked body. She leapt out of his bunk and barely made it to the head, where she dropped to her knees and vomited repeatedly into the bowl.
Kyr rushed after her and knelt alongside, supporting her with strong arms as her body was wracked with spasms.
“What the hells is going on? Is this the virus? Were you wrong about it? Hells, Aja, what is this?”
Clutching her abdomen, Aja moaned. She’d grown as pale as the snows on the mountains of his home planet. Kyr grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her. He carried her back to bed and yelled for Davi.
His first mate came at a run, stopping short in the doorway to Kyr’s cabin.
“By the Gods,” he said. “What the hells happened? Captain… Kyr, she looks like—like death.”
Aja sat up and opened her eyes. For an instant, she stared at the wall, her eyes clouded and empty. Then she turned to face the two men.
Kyr sucked in a breath.
Davi made a choking sound.
Aja’s lovely gray eyes had changed. The pupils were red, a deep dark scarlet red; the color of blood. As quickly as it had appeared the red vanished and she was once again Aja. Kyr could tell by her expression that she saw them both. She slumped against him, weak as a basha cub.
“What has she done? My Gods, what has she done?”
“Who?” Kyr asked.
“My sister.”
“Ennat?” He clutched at Aja’s shoulders. “Has something happened to En
nat? Is my brother all right?”
No, not Ennat, my youngest sister, Tem. She’s, oh gods, she’s…” Aja put a hand to her throat. “Kyr, break com silence. Contact your men. Get them away from your base on Kesa. In six days the Coalition will impose martial law and all interplanetary travel will be restricted to military vessels only. Anyone attempting to leave the atmosphere of any planet or supply depot will be shot down on sight. Tell your men to get their families to safety before they meet you at your brother’s station. She’s bought us some time. Tem has bought us time.”
“What about my brother?”
“He’ll know. Ennat will tell him. She knows. She knows just as I do. General Bom is marked. Tem has marked him and we will know where he goes and what he does. Because of Tem, we can stay one step ahead of him.”
Kyr and Davi exchanged glances.
“Marked him?” asked Kyr. “How?”
“I can’t explain,” Aja replied, blinking back tears. “If I do, you will fear me. You won’t understand what she’s done and you’ll hate me. You’ll hate every one of us.”
Kyr sat beside Aja and drew her close. “I could never hate you and I don’t fear you. What has she done?”
“She’s gone forward in time. She’s changed herself somehow, manipulated the Blood. She’s stronger now, more powerful than I could have imagined. She’s made Bom…” Aja swallowed. “She made him drink her blood and now I will know, Ennat will know. Tem has marked him so we can follow him wherever he goes. She’s done it for the Resistance. She’s turned herself into something else, a thing I don’t ever want to become. Oh Gods!” Aja burst into tears. “She’s nothing more than a child.”
“Aja.” Kyr pressed his lips against her wet cheeks. “Can you pilot? We need to get to my brother’s station as quick as possible. You can get us there faster than I can.”
Aja nodded, her movements slow. “Yes. I’ll get us there.” She gazed around the small cabin. “My clothes?”
Davi backed out of the room to allow them privacy.
“I don’t know when we can be together like this again,” said Aja.
“I know,” Kyr replied. “I accept that.”
He followed Aja down the companionway. They entered the cockpit. Aja took the controls from Davi.
“Buckle up, boys,” she said, her mouth set in a grim line, her cheeks still wet. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
Karna called after Ennat. She’d abruptly turned on her heel in the middle of a conversation and sprinted from the galley. He found her in his cabin, in the head, vomiting her guts out.
“Get the medic on the com, now,” he called to the guards. “The Lady Ennat’s been poisoned.” He dropped to his knees beside her and held her trembling body as she wretched repeatedly until her stomach was completely empty.
When she collapsed against him, he lifted her from the floor and carried her to his bunk. She lay there, eyes closed, skin clammy, white as the snows of Calen in the deepest winter.
“Ennat, the medic is on his way. Tell me what’s happened. Do you know? What can I do to help you? Gods, woman, tell me. I’ll do anything.”
Ennat let out a strangled cry and her eyes flew open.
Karna nearly jumped out of his skin. Her pupils were red, a deep dark scarlet, blood red.
He realized she couldn’t see him, couldn’t hear him. It was as if she wasn’t even in the room with him. His heart began to pound. Ennat gasped for air, and he began to fear for her life.
“Medic!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. At last Karna heard the glorious sound of boots on the mesh floor. He grasped Ennat by the shoulders and gave her a quick shake. “Stay with me,” he ordered her. “You can’t leave me now. Get your sweet ass back here, woman.”
Ennat’s eyes closed and she went limp in his arms just as the two guards and the medical team reached the door.
“She vomited and then passed out,” he said. “And her eyes… There’s something wrong with her eyes. They’re bleeding. I don’t think she can see me.”
“I see you, Karna.” Ennat spoke in a weak voice. She opened her eyes and he saw they’d returned to their normal gray color, the color of the Royal Blood.
The chief medical officer held her wrist, feeling for her pulse. “What happened, My Lady? Did you eat something, anything other than what the men ate? Drink anything?”
“No,” Ennat replied. “No, I ate nothing unusual. I’ve not been poisoned.” She looked up at Karna. “Please leave. I need to speak with the Commander, alone.” She pulled her wrist from the medic’s hands. “I’ll be all right.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Karna said.
“In truth, I’ll be well in a few moments. It’s not what you think. I’m not sick.” Her eyes pleaded with Karna. “Commander, please. I must speak with you.”
Although he remained skeptical, Karna agreed. “Leave us, but stay close. If she becomes ill again I want you here in a heartbeat.”
“Shut the door behind you,” Ennat said.
The men did as she requested. Karna turned back to Ennat and folded his arms across his chest. “Explain. No riddles. No rhymes. I want to hear the truth from those lips of yours. What just happened?”
“My sister has done something terrible. She’s no longer…” Ennat covered her face with her hands.
“ Your sister, Aja? She’s done something with my brother? What has she done?” Karna’s voice rose. “Are they alive? Answer me, Ennat. Do they live?”
“No, it’s not Aja. I’m speaking of my younger sister, Tem. She’s gone ahead.”
“Ahead?”
“Ahead, into the future. She’s not… She’s no longer one of us. She’s become something else. Something she shouldn’t be. She’s changed the Blood.”
“You can’t do that,” said Karna. “You can’t travel through time like that. Can you?”
“No. I can’t. Aja might be capable, but she would never do such a thing. Tem did this somehow, and she’s marked General Bom. I can hear his thoughts, see his actions. I know what he plans to do and when he plans to do it.”
“How? Marked him, how?”
Ennat gagged. “She made him… Gods, I don’t know if I can say it.”
“Spit it out.”
“She made him drink her blood.”
Karna grimaced. “You mean, like a Chigalla? Like a cannibal? She made him eat her flesh?”
“No, no. I don’t understand exactly what she did. But Karna, the General is sick. He’ll be sick for six days. When those six days are over, he and the Ruling Council will declare martial law. Interplanetary travel will be banned as Coalition forces go from system to system, hunting down the Resistance fighters and supporters. You must contact the Resistance leaders immediately. The other commanders must organize their men and get everyone to safety or we lose before we even begin the fight.” Ennat reached for his hand. “No riddles, my love. No rhymes. This is the Gods’ truth. Please, believe me and get your men out of harm’s way. Tem has paid a terrible price to buy us time. I’m begging you, don’t waste it.”
Book II: Return
Karna grasped his brother’s arm in greeting. Kyr looked good. Despite everything, he looked Godsdamned good. “That was some landing, brother. When did you learn to drop like that?”
Kyr laughed. “It wasn’t me. It was Aja. She’s quite the stunner pilot.”
Karna stared at his brother. “You allowed her to pilot the Glory, your pride and joy? You trusted her to a woman?”
“Why the hells not? She’s the better flyer. She got us here quick enough. And quick was essential as I imagine you already know.”
“Little brother, I never thought I’d see the day a woman would come before your ship.”
Kyr clapped Karna on the back. “Aja’s not just any woman. Surely you’ve spent enough time with her sister to know that. Besides, I trust her with more than my ship.”
Karna looked up the gangway. “Where’s my friend, Davi?”
�
�Ah, still in the head I imagine. He hasn’t managed to accustom himself to Aja’s quick turns.”
“The man was practically raised in space and he’s got the motion sickness?” Karna was incredulous.
“Let Aja take you for a ride, or Ennat, see how well you manage.” Kyr grinned at his brother. “Or will you manage quite well? You’ve had her, haven’t you? I can smell her on you. It changes a man, you know.”
Karna sputtered for a moment.
“Relax, Commander,” said his brother. “Been there myself. Hard to resist once these women set their minds to something, or someone, aren’t they?”
“Where is she?” Karna asked, in a hurry to change the subject.
“She and her sister are discussing what’s happened. Aja said you’d had word.”
“Yes. This younger sister of theirs, this Tem, did something, marked Bom somehow so they know what he’s planning. I’ve contacted all the Resistance leaders. They’re moving their forces to safe havens as we speak. What about your men?”
“On their way here,” answered Kyr. “Should take no more than two, three days. If we had more pilots like Aja and her sister we could flash from system to system in no time. They can fly through the Tionay Nebula.”
“Like the stories da used to tell of our grandmother, eh?”
“These aren’t mere stories. Women of the Blood are stunners.”
Karna scoffed at the idea. “Gran wasn’t of the Blood.”
“So you say. Aja will set you straight on that. I’m surprised Ennat hasn’t already mentioned it.”
“In truth, brother, the subject hasn’t come up.”
“Been busy with weightier matters I take it, Commander?”
Karna allowed himself a grin at last. “You might say that.” He glanced over Kyr’s shoulder. His eyes followed the two women with interest. “For some reason I expected they’d look alike, but aside from the eyes and hair, they’re very different.”
Aja, tall and slender, was leaner than the more petite Ennat. Both women moved with a feline grace, but while Aja’s power seemed contained and controlled, Ennat’s feminine muscles rippled just beneath her silky skin, and she had that shapely ass Karna found so attractive.
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