Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Later that night, Killen sought solitude in his room, where he parsed thetexts and manuscripts Kultur had provided him for insight on creating a firestorm incision.

There was nothing in the old books.

Exhausted, he tried to close his eyes on his pillow but couldn’t sleep.

His thoughts were unceasing. Over and over, he turned the words Kamilla had shared of Kalila’s deep and long-standing betrayal.

Dejected, he knifed out of bed, nabbed a small book in his hands from his bedside table, and left his chamber to wander the halls of the mystical kíota.

His feet were silent on its marbled, intricate tiles, going nowhere in particular until he found himself in the gardens and vaulting onto the roof of the hovering structure.

The cool night air brushed against his skin, causing a slight shiver to run down his spine.

He sat into a crouch and gazed at the night sky’s deep black canvas, dotted with sparkling stars and a bright full moon. Killen’s eyes traced the constellations and meteors, like crystal barbs, embedded in the velvet fabric of the night sky.

His thoughts wandered to his mother, K’Elisa, with whom he’d loved stargazing.

He wondered how she was doing on Eden II, back in the arms of his newfound father, Riv Sable.

A stab of sadness hit when he thought of the news he still had to break to her. Of her aunt’s ongoing betrayal.

He extended his hawkstone’s reach, which connected to the íkan that floated through the atmosphere, extending to the universe’s farthest reaches. Even across Pegasi, his hawkstone sensed his mother’s lodestone resonance.

Their connection was strong through time and space’s vastness and eternal movement.

His soul was suffused with love for her, and he discerned her soul return the sentiment as he stared at the endless expanse above him.

After a beat, he lost himself within the pages of his book.

The words inside comforted him, drawing him back into memories of his loved ones so far from Katánē.

Suddenly, Killen froze, his muscles locking.

A presence, luminous and potent, was tracking toward him.

He reached out to it in his mind.

With a smile, he relaxed as they approached from behind, pausing midstep in a whisper of bare feet.

Glancing up at the skies, he murmured.

‘The night is come, but not too soon;

And sinking silently,

All silently, the little moon

Drops down behind the sky.

There is no light on earth or heaven

But the cold light of stars;

And the first watch of the night is given

To the red planet Mars.

Is it the tender star of love?

The star of love and dreams?

O no! from that blue tent above,

A hero’s armour gleams …’

‘Would you believe that poem from old earth, ‘The Light of Stars,’ is about named for the god of war rather than the god of love,’ he drawled. ‘He might have been writing about Katánē.’

He was still facing away from the newcomer, but he sensed the roll of her eyes and the exasperated click of her tongue.

‘Your forehead flashlight is creepy sometimes, y’know?’ she sighed.

He laughed. ‘I’d say the same of your SHärd blades. What brings you out into the night, Shotelai? Can’t sleep?’

‘Something like that.

He twisted from the waist and turned to her.

Damn, she was beauty personified.

Her face was more vulnerable and soft than he’d ever seen, her mouth tender. Her body was clad in a long silk tee, her feet bare, with no metsai or training suit in sight.

Kythnia’s moon shone behind her, illuminating her, making her appear almost surreal, ethereal.

His eyes smouldered. ‘I like seeing you this way, khany’s.’

‘Khany’s?’

‘Queen of Light.’

She glanced at him with disbelief as she dropped to sit beside him, plonking a half-drank ‘hol bottle between them. ‘Light? Me? Far from it.’

He smirked. ‘’Tis what my hawkstone perceives. Your soul dazzles so much, it’s blinding.’

She cocked her head and gazed at Killen for a while, her diamond-flecked eyes searching his. ‘My father used to say the same thing, so he gave me my name. It means luminous in Shotelai.’

He smiled and glanced away from her and back to the stars. ‘Not surprised, k’hanys. I’ll let you know the word is also an endearment lovers share.’

She served him a curious look, ‘If wishes were horses,’ she whispered.

With a dramatic shake of her spine to shake the sudden tension rising between them, she took a long swig from her flagon before handing it to him. ‘A drink?’ she said.

He took it and stared at the golden liquid sloshing inside. ‘Naam, I do. It’s been a day of wild revelation.’

She gave him a sharp look. ‘The songbird. What did she share with you in private?’

He looked away, shaking his head. ‘Revelations and secrets that will tear apart this planet.’

Sana’a reached a hand and squeezed his arm. ‘What are you going to do about it?’

‘Nada for now. I need more time to understand what I’m up against and how to fight it.’

She extended the vessel to him. ‘Tis why I’m here, Kíríga. Your blade master is sometimes the best person to talk to in times of strife. Or to hand you a bottle to drown your sorrows in.’

He shot her a look loaded with emotion as energy arced between them. ‘Grateful,’ he rasped.

Eyes loaded with emotion, he lifted the bottle to his lips and drank long from it, his eyes watering from the intensity of the spirit. ‘Not bad. What is it?’

‘Tansinian whisky. I found it in the cellar of this ancient place. It’s packed with good grog.’

She reached to her flank and withdrew two blades from thin air. She placed them between them. He glanced at them and then at her.

‘Insurance?’

‘Naam. There’s always a wild side to an innocent face.’

‘Not sure if you’re talking about me or you,’ Killen rasped.

He smirked when her eyes flashed a warning at him.

‘Tell me more about these unusual daggers of yours,’ he rumbled on. ‘Given you almost carved me with one of them. You owe me their provenance.’

She sliced her eyes at him. ‘It’s a long story.’

‘Try me, khany’s,’ he murmured as his hawkstone pulsed with intense emotion. ‘The short version

She shrugged. ‘It’s still a drag,’ she countered,’ but I’ll give it to you. Your funeral.’

He nodded, taking another pull from their now-shared bottle.

‘When my father broke apart the Elysian Eye, the One SHärd, he kept a few pieces for himself. Before he spirited the three key segments away,’ she murmured, her eyes tracking to the sky beyond. ‘He then had a Ccyth master carve it into blades for each of our family members. They’re indestructible with a sharp edge that would never dull. They can slice through the thickest and hardest of matter, change shape in your hand, and take the form of whatever weapon I choose. They’ve vapour-synth properties, turning into smoke, gas or liquid at my command. You can imagine there’s much I can do with them.’

‘Fascinating.’

‘He also fashioned timepieces for us, orbs made of the same SHärd element that can teleport us through time in any direction, not unlike the larger SHärds themselves. This, of course, is knowledge few have.’

‘How did you get the single Elysian Eye?’

‘Its guardians appointed Father to secure it and keep anyone from ever controlling it.’

‘Why?’ Killen asked.

‘Because it had such immense power, mortal men resorted to evil to control it. To protect it and the universe from its entire potency, my father broke it into pieces many years ago and was later murdered for it. By your grandfather and aunt, as we now know, together with their co-conspirators. Their actions, not only to murder my father but to pulverise our planet, tore apart my people.’

He shifted closer to her. ‘Tell me about them.’

‘You’re pushy.’

‘Naam. But go on.’

She narrowed her eyes at him but indulged him. ‘We were, are, still a dignified society, a century-old offshoot of the Aethryian Kingdom, whose people left Earth long before the leading exodus of humans to this universe. My ancestors settled on a glass-like ice world, which we named The Seven Wonders of Shotel. On the edge of the Omegaverse and Pegasi galaxies, famed for its pale rocky surfaces and covered in white, crystalline vegetation. We brought with us the understanding of how to locate and mine aether which is present on our World. It changed our fortunes, and we used to make weapons and build cities. This knowledge led us to uncover the Elysian Eye SHärd, of which aether is a component, and becoming its guardians.’

‘And this oath you speak of?’

‘We were a mighty civilisation until my father’s killing and the attack on our world sent the empire into a tailspin. According to Shotelai tradition, a king’s family must avenge his murder. So, I took a vow to hunt his killers. Fokk, his ghost, chases me wherever I am to spur me on. I can’t rest before it is completed and our people united and back living together as a kingdom.’

‘How scattered are you?’ Killen asked, his brow furrowed.

‘Too far from each other,’ Sana’a said with a deep sadness. ‘My mother, sisters and I are separated. Our warriors, the Shotelai, are dispersed. Most are now mercenaries and assassins for hire, famed for their deadly sword and knife skills and fierce loyalty to their own. I learnt their ways, trained with my sister and left home to enact our family’s oath to avenge our attackers. And here I am.’

‘How did you get tangled with the Riders?’

She shook her head and huffed. ‘With all due respect to your father, fokk the Riders.’

Killen served her with a slow smile. ‘Too badass for you, khany’s?’

‘Nada, too freakish in their power.’

‘Why’d you say so?’

‘Because they are the only ones who can contain the power of the Elysian Eye. Not so long ago, I was tasked by my mother, the Shotelai Queen, to locate and destroy the pieces my father broke off. She wanted them destroyed entirely. I managed to find the Eden SHärd, and tangled with Zane Sable for it. He convinced me, using his psionic mind, to leave it in his care. Which it now is, as is the Devansi SHärd. Zane is one potent mofo, but we made peace soon after.’

Killen ducked his head in agreement. ‘He is one fokkin kínai I wouldn’t dare tangle with. You’ve got more balls than I do.’

Sana’a laughed, throwing her head and hair back as she did.

His cock was slammed with instant need, and he hissed.

She caught onto the sudden change in his stance and sobered up.

Keen to keep her talking, he continued. ‘And your oath, Sana’a? What will you do after you’ve completed it?’

She gave him a small, sad little smile. ‘I’ll gather my family, find us a home, our little patch of heaven somewhere in Pegasi and rest, Kíríga. Fulfilling that promise has been the bane of my existence for years now. That shit is exhausting, and many times I’ve wanted to run from it, from the weight of it. But I cannot, for a pledge is a bind in Shotelai culture.’

She pulled her eyes away, but not before he caught the lines of weariness etched on her face.

So he reached a hand and gave her a slight squeeze.

When she didn’t shake him off, he set aside his book and snaked a muscled arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to his side.

At first, she resisted, her body stiff, then after a beat, she let her head fall on his chest. As time almost stood still, the sky encompassing them glistened with celestial brightness.

Killen’s eyes were drawn to her, and as if seeing his regard, she glanced up at him, at his silver irises swirling with an unholy light.

Desire sparked and thrummed through his anatomy.

She was enticing.

He ached to bend lower and savour her lips.

With a growl, he sliced his eyes away as she stirred, but, to his relief, she didn’t pull away from him.

Silence fell as he stroked one finger over the skin of her naked shoulder until she spoke once more in a hushed murmur.

‘Speaking of promises, I have one more fight at the arena. Before the kəthi and coliseum shut down for the summer.’

‘When?’ his voice was a hoarse rumble laced with yearning and desire.

‘Tomorrow.’

Killen paused for a beat. ‘May I come with you?’

She pushed away from his chest and gazed up, tagging the concern in his eyes. ‘If you want to. I won’t need a sitter, though.’

He ignored her soft gibe and brushed her hair from her temple to stroke a finger down her jawline. ‘You’ll have a friend. Sure you’ll be OK?’

She gave him a tiny nod. ‘I’ll be killin’ it as always.’

He smiled at her bravado and the wicked gleam in her eye.

‘The fact is,’ she went on, tongue in cheek. ‘When I ice my opponent tomorrow, I’ll be a freakish milestone as he’s one of the most infamous kavalier badasses. I’ll also be misbehaving and hitting Kalila’s bank, given how much she’s wagered against him.’

‘So you’re going to be that bad Shotelai bitch who makes history?’

‘Now you’re getting the hang of me, Kíríga. I’m her worst nightmare stood over her neck.’