Exile (12 page)
Authors: Julia Barrett
Aja’s smile was vague. “You may be coming with me. I’m not quite certain yet. As I said, my plans, my view of the path, is in flux. I’ve seen someone.”
Kyr traced the contours of her cheek with his fingers. “Who have you seen?”
“Your brother.”
“Karna?”
“Yes. He has something for us, something of significance. I’m not yet sure what it is, but I do know we need to head directly to his depot. We’ll drop Davi there, possibly this ship. I’m sorry. I wish I could be more precise, but your brother has veiled himself somehow and my way is shrouded.”
“Is it a trap? Is there a possibility my brother is being coerced?”
“No. There is no man alive who can hide behind this sort of screen. This is a veil is of the Blood. I just don’t know whose.”
Kyr slid over Aja, loving the feel of her taut body and her silky skin beneath him.
“Spread your legs, love, and let me in.”
Aja did as he demanded, arching up to meet him as he entered her.
Kyr closed his eyes. “How much time do we have, love?”
“A few days,” she whispered. “No more.”
“Then let’s make the most of them.”
“Yes, my love, oh yes.”
Coming Soon
Chapter One
“S
he’s seen me. She’s coming.”
“Is my brother with her? Is Kyr alive?”
Ennat kept her eyes closed. “A man who resembles you is with Aja. Yes. I can see him. I can see him because he’s had her blood.” She opened her eyes, surprised. “He’s had her blood,” she repeated, not quite believing her own words.
“What the hells do you mean he’s had her blood? He’s drunk her blood? Do you Royals do that?”
“Of course not,” replied Ennat. “I simply mean he’s, he and my sister… My sister has shared her blood with him. He is Blood of her Blood now. They’re bonded for life.”
“He’s taken a Princess of the Blood?” The Commander was shouting. “Is that what you mean to say? My brother has taken a Princess of the Blood? He’s mad. Kyr must be mad. Or you are imagining things.”
Ennat held her tongue. She was tempted to kick the darrok in the shins.
“Commander Aram, my sister would not let a man simply take her, as you say. If your brother attempted to force himself upon her she would be perfectly capable of killing him. I have no doubt Aja was a willing participant.”
“My brother is an honorable man. I didn’t say he forced himself upon a Princess of the Blood, I’m saying he committed a reckless act, perhaps a treasonous act.”
Ennat shrugged. “My sister obviously didn’t think so. Believe me, Commander, she chose him. Once a Princess of the Blood makes such a choice, it is not treason.”
“Do you think your mother, the Empress, will share your liberal views?”
“My mother is not here, is she, Commander? She has abdicated in favor of Aja, and she has taken the other members of my family and gone into hiding. Therefore, my mother no longer has any say in the matter. Besides…” Ennat shrugged. “I imagine she knows.”
Ennat folded her hands in her lap and watched the tall man pace the room. His braided hair hung to his waist. She watched the braids with interest. They swayed back and forth over his muscular back as he stomped about.
“This complicates matters,” he said. “I need Kyr. I need him by my side, as my second in command. No man alive knows the slipways like my brother, no one. He ferries men and supplies and weapons. And he’s the man I want at my back, no one else.” Commander Aram stopped and stared at her. “Can you see these things, any of these things? Can you tell me what he’ll do?”
“No. I’m sorry.” Ennat pushed a few stray curls from her face. “My sister has shielded herself and those with her exactly as I have done with us.”
“But you can see into the future, correct? You can foretell what will happen, so you can tell me if we’ll win this war.”
“Commander Aram, as I’ve already explained, I am not a gypsy.” Ennat attempted to control her irritation. “I cannot foretell your future, or the future of the Resistance forces, at least, not in the way you wish. The future is not set in stone. It changes as present events change.”
“Riddles,” the Commander said, and he resumed his pacing. “You speak in riddles. Is your sister as bad as you?”
Ennat had tired of the man’s insults. She rose from her seat. “I do not need to ask your permission, but out of courtesy, I’m asking to be excused. I’d like to return to my quarters.”
The man stood still and stared at her for a moment, as if assessing her, taking her measure. Ennat stared right back, unafraid.
She watched his violet pupils dilate, his nostrils flare. She knew he liked what he saw, but of course he did. The Commander was just a man, and a stubborn one at that. Didn’t men always like what they saw when they looked at a woman?
Ennat reminded herself that it didn’t matter whether he found her attractive or whether he detested the sight of her. What mattered was the secure haven he’d provided for her and would provide for her sister, until her sister could get safely away to Eir-Edan.
That is one thing Ennat had seen. Her sister would go to Eir-Edan, while she would stay with the resistance fighters, a deadly decoy, a Blood decoy. If their father came for Aja again, he would have to get past her. Unlike Aja, who would kill only if necessary, Ennat was a weapon, born and bred.
If someone deserved death she was prepared to provide it. Their father of the Blood, General Ika Bom, deserved death, and Ennat hoped the honor would fall to her. If she could spare her beloved sister the stigma of patricide, she would.
Let Karna Aram challenge her, Ennat would not be the first to look away.
Finally Commander Aram waved her off as if she were a common ishat. Ennat turned on her heel without a word and left his sitting room.
Men.
Coming soon!
RETURN
Book II, Daughters of Persephone
INDEX
beacon star
—A star that gives off a regular energy pulse and can be used to navigate by.
bisha beast
—a large member of the cat family. The females have multiple sexual partners and come into heat monthly.
bramah
—An antelope type horned creature. They travel in large herds. Their hide is quite soft.
brill
—An animal like a cow, provides milk.
cabba
—An hallucinogenic herb that can be smoked or soaked in oil and eaten with bread.
calen
—A rich agricultural planet, very earth-like, with fertile soil, large herds of livestock and many horses, which are generally not allowed by the Coalition. All Calen-men traditionally wear their hair long and braided.
chigalla
—A tribe of primitives living in isolation on the edges of the galaxy who murder and torture for the sheer pleasure of it. They are not allowed off their home world—a curse word among civilized men.
chitta whore
—prostitutes drawn from the ranks of the poor, the desperate, the abandoned, the widows—women who have no other options open to them. They live in a brothel managed by a madam who is herself merely assigned by the Coalition.
darrok
—Oaf, fool.
dryebread
—Enriched bread baked hard and packed for space travel. A nutritiously complete food.
eir-edan
—A lawless planet on the margin of the galaxy. Even the authorities avoid it whenever possible.
gack
—An animal that grazes in marshland, somewhat like a moose, and has very odiferous excrement.
gona desert
—Primitive world where the Coalition’s corporal punishment consists of staking criminals and Resistance fighters out in the desert sands for the sun and insects to kill them.
iga beast
—A lumbering cattle-type animal that is considered stupid and useless as its meat is very tough and tasteless, valued only for its thick coat in cold climates.
ishat
—A kept woman, a courtesan trained in the finer arts of sex play. Has a much higher social standing than a whore.
khalia dancer
—a beautiful woman specially trained to dance for wealthy male patrons. Khalia dancers existed before the coup. They have become fewer in number and their dancing is restricted to only upper level members of the Coalition.
kesa
—Captain Aram’s base of operations, a moon on the edge of a sparsely populated solar system.
kig
—A measurement of distance, approximately a kilometer.
matsu
—The planet Matsu is the Imperial Capital, the Imperial city itself is also named Matsu.
sauran asteroid belt
—Home in exile of the Royal Family.
stunner pilot
—A crazy, fearless, accurate, second-to-none pilot—very rare that a male pilot possesses these characteristics. Most stunner pilots (males) die young.
the pikes
—An enormous asteroid belt male pilots avoid—too many large rocks with gravitational forces and gravitational currents and eddies.
the plains of sithia
—the site of the deciding battle between the Resistance forces supporting the Empress Aja and the forces of the Coalition. Lies two kigs outside the capitol city of Matsu and was originally used as communal grazing land. Now left in its natural state as a memorial to the men and women who died during the overthrow of the Coalition.
tionay nebula
—A vast nebula filled with intense electronic storms and vortexes—although it is the shortest route to the Galactic Core or center, most pilots avoid it. Women pilots used to fly through.
tisa
—a hard liquor made from the fireflower—a spicy orchid-like flower native to the tropics. The flower is an epiphyte. It grows on a host tree and derives its nutrition from the air. It was originally discovered growing wild in the jungles of Ephan, but the plant is now cultivated throughout the Empire.
veercat
—a large feline predator that hunts on the tall grass prairies of Calen.
About the Author
Dear Readers,
I’m a big fan of science fiction and fantasy. I have been since the moment I picked up a copy of
Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet
, by Eleanor Cameron. So to all the many science fiction and fantasy authors I love, I dedicate this Space Opera, Daughters of Persephone:
Exile, Return, Reborn
and
The Red Demon.
Enjoy!
Julia
J. R. Barrett has lived many lives, but the one central theme of each is her writing. She’s written prose and poetry since she was a child. Her grandmother was a playwright, an uncle a noted journalist, another uncle wrote college textbooks, and her father acted as an advisor to the Iowa Supreme Court. She’s had articles published in various medical and nursing magazines and poetry published in various literary journals.
Julia and her family live on the West Coast with an entire food chain of animals.
She can be reached via her website:
Julia Barrett's World
OTHER WORKS BY J. R. BARRETT:
Winner of the 2011 Lorie’s Best Published Single Title Mainstream Romantic Suspense
“You Might Just Get It”
(short story)
“The Artist”
(short story)
“Is It Spicy”
(short story)
“Liz and Me”
(short story)
Poems of Love and Hate
(poetry)
Book I: The Soul Series
Incorporeal
Book II: The Soul Series
In the Flesh
The Soul Series: Special Edition
WRITING AS JULIA RACHEL BARRETT
Winner of the 2011 Bookseller’s Best First Book Award
