My Enemy's Son (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 2) (19 page)

To: [email protected]

Katie,

Bonus!  No mother-in-law.  The poor girl
died giving birth.  Supposedly, those ugly claw toenails did her in.  The evil
tyrants are the grandfathers and they are evil tyrants!  Go smile pretty at
them and charm them and all will be well.

Mexican?

Shel.

To: [email protected]

Shelly,

I'd rather let my laser smile pretty at
them.  Mexican is too fattening.

K.

To: [email protected]

Katie,

Burgers, fries and shakes?  Steak and
potatoes?  Italian?  Indian?  Mediterranean?

Shelly

To: [email protected]

Shelly,

Mediterranean, maybe.

K.

Chapter 11

Meri

It was a bad winter, a terrible winter that
reminded me of the worst ones during my time at the Old-Mishnah Orphan Home
when every day we lost another baby to the cold.  I was warm though.  Bit by
bit, things had begun to improve in Mishnah.  People started going back to work
and so my tenants began to pay me the rents again.  I turned on my furnaces as
now I could afford to purchase the electricity.  Though they had been silent
for several years, my furnaces worked well and kept all my buildings warm even
when it seemed that the snow never stopped falling.  There were many who took
refuge in my doorways and under my steps and I let them.  On the really frigid
nights, I let them sleep in my hallways too.

The SdK Medical Centre had opened not far
from my street.  It was a beautiful glass building and through the fog and
endless swirl of snowflakes, it emitted a warm beckoning glow.  I had been
there and was fixed.  My back stood straight and my face had new skin.  I
looked in the mirror and saw shades of the girl I once was.  I thanked Senya
for this.  He had brought these doctors and machines to our street and it was
with his real mother, the Princess Royal's trust that many who could not pay
would receive services and be healed.  I had paid for my doctoring myself for
now with my buildings and Mishnah healed, I became a little wealthy.  I decided
I would set up my own trust someday and take care of the people of Old Mishnah
too.

I was walking carefully in my boots and
cloak through my streets.  I had purchased more buildings and in the morning
despite the weather, I liked to check on each one.  Sometimes I found a window
broken or a mess upon the front steps and I would tell my managers to clean and
fix them so they would not be unsightly.  From my building on the cross street
which faced north, you could see the clock tower in New Mishnah.  My Senya's
face graced the side and from nearly every angle, it seemed that his silver
eyes gazed down upon you.  He was even more beautiful now, in his fancy court
uniform with gold braid, buttons and thread.  His black hair was thick and wavy
and curled past his shoulders.  Sometimes I couldn’t help myself but held out
my hand as if I might once again touch his cheek and stroke his hair.  I had
not seen him since they took him away to the Palace nearly twenty years ago but
he was with me in my heart every day.

I heard a noise.  I was walking past one
of my buildings and behind the steps nearly covered in snow, I heard a
whimpering.  At first, I thought it was a child but as I came closer, I saw it
was a girl, no, a woman.  She was small with fair skin and golden blonde hair
that curled even more than my Senya's.  Her face was flushed with fever and her
body was wracked with chills for she covered herself with nothing more than a
cardboard box that had long since soaked through.  She was wearing ragged
clothes and her feet were frozen.  I hoped she would not lose her toes.

I did not think she could walk the
distance to the hospital and I was not strong enough to carry her.  I ran up
the steps of my stoop and summoned the manager.  Begrudgingly, he put on his
coat and boots.  He was a big fellow and young and was able to carry the wisp
of a woman the few blocks.

“What is her name?”  The nurse at the
front desk of the SdK Medical Centre asked me as the woman was put in a
wheelchair and whisked away.

“I have no idea,” I replied.  “She did not
speak to us.”  My manager shrugged and I dismissed him so he might go back home
to his wife and small child.

“I found her on the street,” I said.

The nurse filled out the admission request
with a small smirk on her face.  “Another charity case for the Princess Royal
Lydia Kalila Trust.  If you are not family or friend, then you may go home now
too.”

“I'll wait,” I said.  “I should like to
stay with her for a little while.  Might I?”  There was no one at home waiting
for me this day and the hospital was cheerful and welcoming.

The nurse shrugged and told me where the
woman had been taken.

I walked down the hall and took the lift
up three floors and down another hall until I found the correct room.  The
woman was in the bed asleep and she had tubes in her arms and a mask on her
face so she may breathe.  Her color looked better though and I could see that
all her toes were pink again too for her feet were encased in a special
warmer.  I sat in the chair next to the window for the rest of that day. 
Nurses and occasionally doctors came in and out.  They checked the monitors and
made notes on their screens and I was lulled by the warmth of the radiator next
to me and by the sunshine that was now surprisingly shining in the window.

Several hours later I was awoken by a
voice in the hall

“Do you think it is her?”  A man spoke in
a loud but whispering voice.

“Let me look again,” a woman replied and
she tiptoed into the room and pretended to straighten the blankets atop the
mysterious blonde lady.  She glanced at me briefly and the paper in her hand
and then walked out.

“Yes,” she replied.  “I think so.  You had
better call Admin.”

I saw the paper in her hand.  It was a
missive from the Palace.  The Palace was looking for this woman.

Now I was truly intrigued for Prince Akan
had no interest in women and Senya was living on Rozari.

A short time later two men arrived and I
gasped as they come into the room.  I knew these men.  The younger one was
called Berkan and he was the president of my Senya's company and his little
friend from his days in the Palace.  I had seen Berkan on the news not long ago
when this hospital first opened.  The other was the fine gentleman, Captain
Loman, who brought us the purses so many years ago.  He had put on much weight
and aged but still wore the fine clothes of one who worked in the Palace.

“My lords!” I cried as they came in and
stood before the woman's bedside.

The older gentleman looked at me curiously
and furrowed his brow.  I knew I looked different now with my face repaired.  I
was pleased by his confusion.

“I was called Sister Meri,” I told him. 
“I raised…”

“I recall who you are,” he interrupted
me.  “How come you to this lady's bedside?”

“I found her on my street,” I replied
haughtily for he had spoken to me as if I had trespassed here into this room. 
“I brought her here.  Who is this lady?”

The two men looked at each other as if
this lady's identity was some great secret, and were unsure if they wished to
share it with me.

“Come now,” I said.  “You know I have kept
greater secrets than this for thirty and two years.  What interest does the
Palace have in this lady?”

“Indeed you have,” Captain Loman replied
with a shake of his head.  “Perhaps then you will be pleased to know that this
lady whom you have rescued is soon to be the MaKani, Crown Princess of Rehnor. 
You have rescued your own Senya's fiancé.”

I was tickled by this beyond measure. 
Senya was soon to be married to this lovely lady.  “But,” I inquired.  “What
was she doing out there in the street?”

“She's seems to have been born from a bone
of his body,” Captain Loman replied.  “For just like he, she refuses to stay
when told to do so and must find trouble where ever it hides.”

I laughed as I gazed down at her face.  It
pleased me that he had found a woman with great spirit.  She would need it, I
knew.  “He loves her?” I asked for it would grieve me to know that he was
matched to one he cared naught for.

“Very much,” Berkan replied.  “He has
chosen her and refused all others.”

“This is good,” I said and rose to take my
leave.  “May I speak with her privately before I go?”

“She is asleep,” Berkan said as if I was a
fool.

“I will whisper in her ear,” I replied and
the two men exchanged glances and then left us.  I leaned forward.  “Take care
of him, my lady.  He is much more fragile than he appears.  Hold his heart
close to yours and make him happy and all Rehnor will bless you for it.”  She
stirred and for a moment her eyes fluttered open and looked at me.  I kissed
her hand and curtseyed to her and then I left her to Captain Loman and his son.

Chapter 12

Katie

“So I told him, I'm not interested in
going to Disneyplanet,” Caroline said.  “I don't like rides.  Every day I am
riding.  I want my feet on the ground.  I want my feet in warm sand on some
blissfully blue beach somewhere.”

“How about a pink beach,” I suggested.

“Pink?  I never saw a pink beach.  Where
the water was pink too?  Where's that?”  She grabbed her bag off the conveyor
as I threw mine over my shoulder.

“Oh,” I shrugged.  “Back on Rozari.  Dr.
Ron had a piece of property he was building a house on that was on this
beautiful pink sandy beach.”

“My oh my,” she sighed.  “Why you don't go
after that man, pink beach or not is beyond me.”

“Caroline,” I warned.  “Let’s not go
there.”

“I know, I know.”  She waved her hand back
at me as she headed out into the terminal.  “So you don't mind if I go after
him then?”

“Caroline!  Didn't you just tell me that
you were madly in love with some guy named Fred?”

“Well not madly,” she sniffed.  “Just a
little bit.  Let’s get some java.”  She headed toward the Starbucks kiosk. 
“After all this business about Disneyplanet, maybe I don’t even love him a
little bit.  I so need some coffee.  That damn Jerry kept me up working all
night, filing this, stocking that as if the next crew ain't gonna have hands or
fingers to do it themselves.  I'll just fall asleep on the spaceplane I know,
but in the meantime, I've got a three hour wait here in the terminal.”

“I only have a half hour wait.”  I got in
line behind her.

“Oh you must be on the same flight Jerry
is taking then.  United?”

“Oh no,” I groaned.  “Are you serious?” 
The thought of spending the next ten hours flying back to Earth sitting next
Jerry while he pressed me for an answer to his proposal made my stomach turn. 
The thought of walking off of the plane to greet my parents with Jerry next to
me filled me with panic.

“Why are you even considering spending the
rest of your life with him if you can’t even fly back to Earth sitting next to
him?” Caroline asked.

“That’s a good question,” I agreed and
then called to the barista.  “Decaf, vanilla, soy latte.  You sure he's on
United to Earth?”  I turned back to Caroline.  “I thought he said he was going
to Spacebase Mars for training.  I just can’t deal with this all right now.”

“I know, honey,” she said, taking a sip of
her coffee.  “Uh...” she gasped and spat out her coffee.  “Uh,” she said again,
shaking her fingers.

“Uh what?”  I reached for my own coffee
and scanned my pay code.  “Too hot?  Did you spill?”

“Uh, Katie?”  Caroline cried for the third
time and pointed across the terminal.  A sea of blue uniforms were passing by,
so at first I couldn’t tell what it was she wanted me to see.  “Katie!”  She
shook my shoulder.  “Look over there!”

“Where?”  I snapped, shaking drops of
coffee off my hand.  I reached for a napkin from the condiment bar and turned
to see what Caroline was so excited about.  Then, I dropped my cup on the
floor, splattering it on my shoes and spilling it entirely.

“Katie,” Caroline hissed.  “Go over
there.”

“Uh,” I said before recovering my wits. 
“No.”  I turned back to the barista and ordered a fresh latte.

“I will,” Caroline declared.  “Open
season!”  She practically ran across the hall. 

I waited the thirty seconds for my drink,
before casually glancing over there.  Leaning against a post and smoking a
cigarette, was a very smug looking Senya.  He was dressed in jeans and
sneakers, a torn t-shirt and the leather jacket I bought him more than a year
ago when I was last on Rozari.  Caroline stood in front of him, trying every
trick in the book to get his attention.

“Fine,” I mumbled, taking my drink.  “Let
her.” 

I was pissed though, very pissed.  Tossing
my bag over my shoulder, I headed down the hallway toward to the passenger
gates as quickly as I could without spilling the rest of my coffee. 

The terminal was jam packed full of people
as the Discovery was off loading five hundred and on-loading the same amount
for the next cruise.  In addition, a bunch of commercial transports had arrived
at nearly the same time that we did.  Never the less, I pushed my way through
the throngs and sprinted to my gate. 

Unfortunately it was only one gate over
and the plane was not ready for boarding, otherwise I would have immediately
jumped aboard it.  Instead, I was forced to park myself on a hard plastic bench
behind a potted palm and an internet kiosk.  I hoped I was safely hidden there. 

Stowing my bag between my feet, I
attempted to drink my coffee while booting up my tablet so I could pretend to
read the news.  I couldn’t concentrate, though, not with the way my heart was
racing and my blood pounding a drumbeat in my ears.

Instead, I placed my cup on the little
insert between myself and the next seat, before sitting on my hands.  I forced
myself to take a few deep breaths, and tried to focus my nervous energy on a
happy place.  It didn’t help.

Probably, Senya’s presence had nothing to
do with me, I deluded myself.  Probably, this was all purely coincidental.  I
tried to convince myself of this and then without success, got up and went into
the restroom. 

Splashing water on my face, I washed my
hands with lots of soap. 

“You can handle this, Golden,” I told the
mirror.  “You’re a full Commander now.  Just get on your plane and pretend you
didn’t see him.”

After drying my hands, I returned to the
plastic bench behind the palm.  Senya was sitting in my seat drinking my
coffee, my bag now between his feet.

“You don't like decaf, soy and vanilla,” I
said.  “Can I have it back?”

“It’s not bad for decaf,” he replied. 
“Maybe I do like this soy and vanilla?”  He drank some more.

“Whatever,” I snapped.  “They're calling
my flight now.  I don't care anymore. You can finish it if you haven't
already.”

“Thank you,” he nodded and did so.  “Do
not hurry.  You are not going to take this flight.”

“Oh, I'm not?  Sorry, but I am.  Good
seeing you.  Bye.”  I reached between his feet for my bag.

“Ach, Katie,” he sighed and tossed the
empty coffee cup in the trash.  “Come on now.”  He picked up my bag himself and
tossed it over his shoulder.

“Hey, give me back my bag!  Quit screwing
around, Senya.  I have to go.  My parents are meeting me at the spaceport!”

“You will ring to them and tell them you
are not coming.”  He started to head back out into the terminal.

“I can't do that.  They're expecting me.” 
I raced after him.

“We are expected elsewhere.”

“Oh yeah?  Maybe you are but I'm not. 
Take someone else.  Caroline would be thrilled to go to the ends of the galaxy
with you.”

He didn’t slow his pace a bit and I was
practically running to keep up with his long strides.  I shoved two people
aside and nearly tripped over a child.

“Sorry,” I called, as Senya entered the
moving walkway and was whisked far ahead.  “Sorry, excuse me.”

“Quer?”  An enormous orange woman bared
three rows of shark-like teeth at me.

“Sorry!  Senya?  Stop, please!  I don't
care what Shelly says.  I'm going home.” 

The walkway lurched to a halt causing a
one-legged alien guy to completely fall over.  He knocked down two other people
and all of them started screaming at each other.  I slipped between them and
then ran to where Senya stood watching, an amused expression on his face.

“Senya,” I begged.  “Please don’t screw
around.  Please just give me my bag and let me go on with my life.”

The walkway jerked back into motion.

“This is your life, Katie,” he replied and
turned away from me.  “You will come with me now.”

“No,” I said steadily, and in as
commanding a voice as I could muster.  “No, Doctor.  I'm not going with you.” 

Senya stepped off at the terminal hub and
disappeared into the crowd of bodies pressed against each other trying to get
from one gate to the next.  I jumped after him, standing on my toes to see over
the shoulder of the guy in front of me and around the woman next to him.

“Excuse me.  Excuse me.”  I pushed until
someone grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop.

“Where are you going, Kate?”  It was
Jerry.  “Aren't you flying United?  Our gate's back there.”

“I know.”  I stepped past Jerry, back into
the teeming crowd, hoping to spy Senya and my bag.

“Aren't you coming?”  Jerry lurched after
me.  “I got us seats together.”

I stopped again and stared at Jerry. 
Jerry Waldman, Space doctor, pushing his glasses up his nose with a finger and
a goofy sweet smile.  It wasn’t a contest between Jerry and Senya.

“Kate?  Goldie?”

“I'm…I'm not taking that flight, Jerry,” I
said.  “Will you tell them they can give away my seat?  I’ve got to go now. 
I'll see you later.  Email me when you get home.”

“Honey?” he called. 

It was too late.  I pushed my way through
the crowd walking in whatever direction it led me.  I emerged somewhere on the
other side, to find Senya standing there, holding my bag and patiently waiting.

“I hate you,” I said, walking right up to
him.

“I know,” he replied and pulled me against
him.  “But you love me too.”  He kissed me as the crowd parted around us and I
tasted his tobacco and my coffee and his tongue and my body acquiesced and
agreed to do and go where ever he meant to take me.

“You know, Jerry will email me the minute
he gets home,” I whispered, when he let me catch a breath.  “He'll probably
send me three or four texts from the spaceplane too.  He'll give me every
single detail of his day unlike you who doesn't tell me a thing.”

“Not like me at all,” he agreed and taking
my hand, he led me toward a lift.  “Bay three.”  The lift began to move.

“Jerry asked me to marry him.  I'm
thinking about it.”

Senya smirked as if he didn’t believe me. 
He kissed me again and moving his mouth along my neck, he whispered, “Jerry
will fry his cock trying to consummate it.”

“You did do something to me!”  I cried and
pushed him away.  Senya’s eyes flash brightly.  He shoved me up against the
wall.

“You tried to fuck him?”

“You don't own me!  You didn't call me for
an entire year.  Let me go!”

“Yes, I do own you.”  He kissed me hard
and pulled at my clothes.  “And I do not share.  You belong to me, you
understand?”

The lift bounced and stopped abruptly
between floors.

“I thought I would never see you again,” I
cried and shamelessly clung to him, pressing myself against him, wanting him,
needing him, reaching for him.

“I was living like a fucking monk for a
year,” he growled.  “And you were with that Human.”

“No,” I wept. 

He was not gentle.  He was not loving.  He
was rough and harsh but he filled me with what I needed.  The alarm in the lift
started to sound.  I didn’t care. I was where I belonged, melded into his skin,
breathing in his breath, my Senya who I had loved since I was nine years old.

“Ma'am?”  A disembodied voice called. 
“Ma'am, are you alright in there?”  I caught my breath, my heart pounded.  I
was soaked in sweat.

“Yes, I'm fine,” I called when I could
speak again though my voice didn’t sound like my own.

“We heard screaming,” the lift monitor
said.

“I bet you did,” Senya mumbled into my
hair.  “The whole space station heard that.”

“No one is hurt in there?”

“No, everyone is fine,” I said and tried
to lower my voice an octave.  “The situation is stable.”

“We'll get the lift restarted in just a
moment,” the monitor replied.  “Just a short in the electrical system.”

“No hurry,” I called and started to
laugh.  I clung to Senya like a monkey, my hands griping chunks of his hair,
neither of us moving.  The lift bounced a little.  He held out his hand and it
froze again.

“We need a few more minutes,” he whispered
and so we stayed like that stuck to each other, locked in place.

“Just a few more minutes, Ma'am,” the
voice called.

“No problem!” I replied.  “No problem at
all!”