Rhun had only recently stepped into the position of Governor of Kila and as such he was the supreme head of all the human and semi-human tribes that inhabited Kila, Nugia, Numan, Lura, Tarazean and Kaleashian. Even Earth was ruled by his word, indirectly, for the Chosen had immortal relatives still operating on the planet of their birth in very high positions of influence. Rhun had been living with the possibility of taking up this position for hundreds of years while vice-governor to Brian Alexander, and had stepped into his departed uncle’s shoes just a few months ago. He was still adjusting to the role of supreme head of the known universe, but his council, many of whom were close kin, had been very supportive and cooperative. Therefore Rhun was finding that ruling Kila and the inter-planetary alliance was not as daunting as ruling as High King in Britain had been, thousands of Earth years before setting foot on Kila.
Kila’s previous governor was, of course, not departed in the sense that he’d died; he’d been immortal just as all of the Chosen residents of Kila were. Rather, Brian and his Chosen partner, Candace, having served humanity long and faithfully, had felt the call to higher spiritual service and had ascended into union with their higher being, who belonged to a celestial race known as the Grigori. The legendary Tory Alexander, Brian’s sister, and their first beloved governor, Maelgwn Gwynedd, her husband, had ascended and joined the Grigori before them, and one day in the distant future, Rhun knew that he would join the Grigori too. Brian Alexander had never fully recovered from his sister and brother-in-law’s departure from physical world service; in fact all of the Chosen missed them terribly — Rhun most of all, for he had been Tory and Maelgwn’s first-born son.
A kiss on his cheek brought Rhun back to the present, and he turned from admiring the view of Chailida from the governor’s balcony to find his personal secretary smiling as she offered him a cup of tea.
Sybil was still the most exquisite female Rhun had ever known, and she had served as secretary of state to both of Kila’s previous governors.
It was impossible not to notice how the sunlight was dancing on the long strawberry waves of her hair, setting her radiant, milky-white complexion aglow. In the past it had been said that she had a body and mouth designed for pleasure, and Rhun had to agree wholeheartedly.
Rhun accepted the tea and placed it aside, his eyes unwavering from his company. ‘Maybe after.’ He kissed her instead, and wondered at her resistance when she was usually so keen. ‘Are you ill?’ Rhun asked, assuming that was the only time his wife wasn’t in the mood.
‘No.’ She found his assumption amusing. ‘We are about to be interrupted by your brother,’ she explained, as she eased his hands off her behind; Sybil was a seer — the best in her field.
‘Which brother?’ Rhun had three.
‘My Lord of the Otherworld,’ she announced Avery’s arrival as he manifested in the office before Rhun in a blaze of etheric light with wings flapping in a panic. ‘I’ll make more tea.’ Sybil grinned at her husband and then bowed her head to Avery. ‘My Lord.’
‘Sybil,’ Avery acknowledged her, but moved directly to address Rhun, who was frowning for two reasons: Avery’s complete lack of decorum, and his apparent urgency — it felt like trouble was afoot.
‘You’ve come to tell me that horrendous boom we heard last night is something to worry —’ Rhun started, but Avery was too impatient to wait for him to finish his assumption.
‘There’s been a bit of a cosmological cock-up, I’m afraid,’ Avery began. ‘The short of it is … we have another planet sharing Kila’s orbit, but on the far side of our sun; they can’t see us and they don’t know we’re here yet. Actually, they probably don’t know that they are here in Esh-mah, yet.’
Rhun didn’t know what he’d been expecting Avery to say, but this certainly wasn’t it. He attempted to remain calm and not become angry — he sensed Avery had a lot to do with the problem he was outlining. ‘How is that possible?’
‘It’s not my fault.’ Avery hastened to add. ‘The planet in question got dragged through into this universe when an arupa-deva shifted here from an alternative universe. The Grigori requested my help to move the displaced planet in our system until such time as arrangements can be made to move the planet back to its place of origin.’
‘Now I’ve heard everything,’ Rhun concluded. He’d been kicking around this time continuum for near a thousand years but this conversation beat all.
‘Look, I know this must sound ludicrous to you, but the threat is real.’
‘Threat?’ That word got Rhun’s attention. ‘Are these people hostile?’
‘Only to psychics,’ Avery replied and Rhun freaked.
‘But Kila’s entire populace is psychically adept,’ he appealed to Avery for reason. ‘Why did you agree to let such a planet reside in our system?’
‘The Grigori say that Maladaan needs our help,’ Avery advised surely.
The second mention of the Grigori calmed Rhun and he had to know if their departed kindred were involved. ‘Our parents?’
Avery nodded. ‘They are known as Azazèl now and are in charge of returning this rogue planet back to its universe of origin.’
‘You spoke to our parents?’ Rhun sounded envious and even a little hurt that he was not as privileged in the universal scheme of things as his semi-etheric brother.
‘I spoke with Azazèl and his associates,’ Avery clarified. ‘But don’t despair … the Grigori claim that they are sending our parents back to us to aid with this calamity.’
Rhun’s mood soared from the depths of despair to the heights of elation. ‘Serious?’
Avery was more than glad to quash Rhun’s panic with a nod. ‘After all, they are the undisputed masters of inter-planetary relations and negotiations.’
Rhun was so happy he embraced his brother, who was also excited by the prospect and glad to have his brother on side.
‘I never thought I’d live to see you two embracing each other and jumping around for joy.’ Rhiannon drew the attention of her brothers to her presence. ‘What’s happened; did you find another long-lost Nefilim treasure?’
‘Better!’ Rhun exclaimed with glee. ‘The cosmos is sending our parents back to us.’
‘Says who?’ Rhiannon scoffed — both of these men were pranksters at times.
‘The Grigori,’ Avery informed, but Rhiannon was still not convinced.
‘Well I’ve found a human who is six hundred years old, and he’s not immortal.’ She stunned them both with the statement. ‘Did the Grigori mention anything about that?’
Avery looked to Rhun. ‘He must be from Maladaan.’
Rhun nodded, comprehending.
‘That is where he thought he’d landed.’ Rhiannon recalled Kestler asking about it. ‘So you do know something strange is going on?’
Rhun gave half a laugh at his sister’s query and raised his eyebrows. ‘You have no idea how strange.’
Jahan had not long returned to base at the Shutura Crevice when KEPA’s monitor picked up another unidentified craft landing in the clearing next to the crash site.
‘What the hell is going on today?’ Jenny commented, pulling the bulk of her hair back into a ponytail and out of her face, as Jahan headed straight to the launch bay to go and investigate.
‘You cannot leave before Rhiannon returns.’ Jenny pulled rank on Jahan.
‘I’ll go with him.’ Jenny’s other half, Robin, was taking a break from his marine research and volunteered in Rhiannon’s absence.
Jahan hadn’t had much to do with Robin to date, but he hoped to impress the man who headed up the marine division of KEPA, as Jahan had majored in oceanography and it held more interest for him than any of KEPA’s other divisions.
Jahan was too young to ever have met the late, great Maelgwn Gwynedd, but everyone claimed Robin was closer in looks to their first governor than the Dragon’s own son, Rhun. Tall, dark and fit from his adventures, Robin’s eyes were more hazel than the usual ebony eyes of the Dragon’s clan.
‘We might need a little backup on this one,’ Robin commented to his wife and blew her a kiss.
‘I’m onto the defence department now,’ Jenny assured, turning back to her soft-light screen.
As their craft approached the clearing, they spotted three people staggering from the vehicle: a man, a woman and a young boy.
‘I have some highly confidential news to share with you, gentlemen,’ Jenny advised through the cockpit intercom. ‘It seems these humans may not be from any branch of humanity we have encountered before. Asher advises you approach with caution, and he and his lads will be there ASAP.’
‘Whoa.’ Jahan raised both brows, quietly amused. My beautiful alien, perhaps? He thought not; from all appearances the group were a family unit.
As Robin landed their craft in the clearing, the group waited patiently, seeming eager to speak with them.
‘Grab a headset,’ Robin referred to a translation device hanging on the cabin wall. ‘Chances are they don’t speak our language.’
As one of the Chosen, Robin had the ability to understand any language, but Jahan would only inherit this talent after he died, and so needed a translator to converse in other dialects.
Jahan’s eyes began to water as he beheld the beauty of the female among them: she was the most divine creature he had ever laid eyes on. She was taller than him, with impossibly long legs, a slender form and a face that a goddess would envy. Her hair was long, fine and dark, and her eyes were lilac and completely mesmerising.
‘Peace to you,’ said the large, burly male. ‘We seek asylum and are unarmed.’
‘Peace to you.’ Robin reached out to shake his hand.
Jahan did likewise, holding out his hand to the raving beauty, who smiled and moved to respond, before the large man prevented Jahan making contact.
‘Don’t touch her,’ he warned with great intensity, and the woman gave the man a spiteful glare. ‘She could do you great harm, as she is a thief beyond measure,’ he explained his swift intervention.
‘That’s not a very nice thing to say about your lady,’ Jahan defended her honour, whereby their guests were most amused.
‘His lady!’ she scoffed, obviously disgusted by the idea. ‘He wishes.’
‘I don’t, actually,’ the man rebutted. ‘She’s a Phemorian, a born man-hater, I wouldn’t wish her on any human male.’
Jahan was intrigued by the claim that she hated men; it was almost a direct challenge. ‘There is nothing such a goddess could steal from me that I would miss so very much.’
The scowl left the woman’s face, but she did not smile.
‘Really?’ the man challenged. ‘Try losing your identity.’
‘What?’ Jahan looked to her. ‘You are a shape-shifter?’
‘Why did you tell them?’ The woman was furious.
‘Because I am hoping to make friends here, not enemies,’ the man retorted.
‘He can summon the elements!’ The lad pointed in accusation at the man — the kid was obviously on the woman’s side.
‘Awesome!’ was Jahan’s joyful response, which defused the situation immediately, as the visitors smiled, confused.
‘You do not fear psychics?’ the woman ventured to inquire.
Jahan looked to Robin and they both burst out laughing.
‘Let me think about that.’ Robin vanished causing their guests to gasp in awe. Robin manifested once more to conclude, ‘No, we do not fear psychics, or the supernatural.’
The smiles on their guests were growing ever larger. ‘I am Vadik Corentin … they call me the hurricane.’
‘I am Jazmay Cardea,’ the woman added, and then looked to the boy who was perched under one of her arms, ‘and this is Fari Doon.’
Jahan quietly noted that the boy was not afraid to touch the shape-shifter as he stepped forward to shake the lad’s hand. ‘And what do you d … d … do?’ he wheezed as the boy crushed his fingers.
‘I’m very strong.’ He grinned, and let Jahan go before he did any damage.
‘Yes you are.’ Jahan grimaced as he shook the circulation back into his fingers.
The sound of aircraft approaching set their guests on edge.
‘That will be your ride back to Chailida,’ Robin assured them, ‘our contact at base told us the defence boys were on the way.’
Their guests did not appear set at ease by the news, and when the two craft did a fly-by a cold chill ran through Jahan’s being. ‘They’re not ours.’
‘The MSS have found us,’ Jazmay panicked and, grabbing hold of the boy, she ran for the sparse forest.
Robin turned to face their recon vessel and held out the metal wristband he wore towards the craft; it dematerialised and Robin pursued Jahan in the sprint towards the forest.
Vadik could hardly believe what he’d just witnessed and was slower off the mark to begin running. ‘The MSS are really going to hate you guys,’ he commented as he pursued Robin.
As Jazmay and Fari headed into the forest, Jahan saw the two craft return, and something drop from beneath one of them as it passed over Vadik.
The package unfurled into a large glowing red web as it came down to land upon Vadik, barely missing Robin. Vadik screamed as the mesh net hit his form, knocking him flat to the ground as it burned straight through him and left the man sliced into a hundred pieces.
Jahan had never seen anything so violent in all his born days. He could only stare, speechless with horror.
Robin finally reached him, looking back to see the carnage he’d barely escaped. ‘What the hell was that?’ He didn’t wait for answers, already on his communicator to Jenny. ‘Where is Asher? We’ve got hostiles here.’ He observed one of the craft coming in to land in the clearing. ‘Time to disappear.’ Robin clicked his fingers before Jahan’s eyes to wake him up. ‘Where are Jazmay and Fari?’
‘Still running, I expect.’ Jahan could see why.
‘Smart move.’ Robin grabbed hold of Jahan’s arm, and after a flash of white light the next thing Jahan knew Jazmay was colliding into him; Robin caught the boy.
‘What are you doing? Get out of my way!’ Jazmay shoved him backwards; fortunately for Jahan, he was wearing a full body suit and she did not make skin contact with him.
‘We need to get you out of here!’ Jahan insisted.
‘Why should I trust you?’ she resisted, scared out of her mind.
Jahan was affronted. ‘Honestly, even if you do hate men, you must realise that we are a much better option than those guys?’
Fari nodded, knowing the MSS were close behind. ‘I think he has a point, Jaz.’
‘Form a circuit,’ Robin instructed, taking hold of Jahan’s shoulder and Fari’s. Jahan timidly placed a hand on Jazmay’s shoulder, again not making skin contact, and she still had Fari’s hand.
Jazmay looked to Jahan, who smiled calmly in the face of her apprehension as they were engulfed by a surge of etheric light.
Eleazar Kestler stood wide-eyed in wonder gazing across the city’s innermost canal from his balcony in Walter Cadfan’s healing sanctuary.
It was quite some time since Rhun had seen a human being who was so old and frail, but considering Kestler claimed to be over six hundred years old, he was looking damn good by normal human standards.
Cadfan had been doing some regression work with their mysterious guest, as there were many blockages in his auric light-body that did not stem from any emotional trauma that Kestler could consciously recall. Once they had discovered under hypnosis what had caused these blockages, Cadfan had contacted Rhun, knowing he would be very interested in what they had learnt about Kestler’s past.
Cadfan entered first, so as to do the introductions. ‘Professor Kestler, I’d like you to meet our governor.’
‘Goodness —’ Kestler was amazed, ‘— not a representative, but the governor, no less … and with no bodyguards!’ Kestler shook Rhun’s hand, rather amazed. ‘You should be very proud of what you have here, good sir,’ he said rather jovially, ‘it is the most civilised place that I have ever come across … and I’ve seen them all. You are all so young and beautiful … where are all your old folk?’
Rhun was amused by this. ‘We’re right here.’ Rhun opened his arms wide to imply he was an elder. ‘I’ve seen a good four hundred years more than you, and Cadfan here would be about my age too, although we followed different time-tracks to be here.’
Kestler was wide-eyed as he looked Rhun and Cadfan over. ‘Fascinating … it almost makes me wish I majored in genetics.’
‘We could probably arrange that for you,’ Cadfan offered, ‘our universities are second to none.’
‘I am sure they are.’ Kestler grinned, very disposed towards the idea.
‘But the Professor must miss his home planet?’ Rhun was about to assure him that they would get him home.
‘No …’ Kestler said emphatically. ‘Not one iota. My people seem barbaric in comparison with you good people. We discovered the secret service on my home planet had me brainwashed into doing their bidding.’ He looked to Cadfan, who nodded to assure Rhun it was quite true.
‘I recorded the entire episode.’ Cadfan handed Rhun a thought band recorder so he could view the thought transference for himself. ‘Something interesting of note —’ the physician thought to warn the governor, ‘— the captain of the project that employed the professor bore a very great resemblance to your father.’
Rhun was shocked and heartened; this did seem to support what Avery claimed the Grigori had told him. ‘What was this captain’s name?’
‘Professor Lucian Gervaise,’ Kestler replied proudly. ‘He didn’t have anything to do with this nasty brainwashing business; it was his wife who was the treacherous one.’
Rhun was shocked again and looked to Cadfan, who smiled to assure him. ‘From my perception of Kestler’s recollection, the woman in question was an incarnation of Vanora and not your mother.’
Rhun gave a great sigh of relief, as Vanora had proven treacherous to his father in the past. The woman who was his father’s twin-soul would never betray him. ‘So how does my mother fit into all this?’
Cadfan was surprised by the question. ‘What makes you think she does?’
‘Where one soul is, the other is sure to be before long.’ Rhun shrugged.
‘I saw nothing of her in Kestler’s memories, but I did see some other souls I recognised,’ Cadfan stated.
‘Brian Alexander?’ Rhun guessed with all certainty — their previous governor had been his father’s right-hand man in many a lifetime.
Cadfan nodded surely. ‘His name is Zeven Gudrun.’
‘Starman,’ Kestler confirmed, ‘that’s what the flight crews called him. He was something of a hot-shot pilot, and a bit of a legend from what I heard.’
‘He always was.’ Rhun grinned as he recalled some of his uncle’s escapades. His thoughts then turned to who else would have incarnated with his father. ‘En Noah,’ Rhun guessed, and again Cadfan nodded.
En Noah was the most wise and knowledgeable soul among the Chosen still incarnate. He was the compiler of histories and a pioneer in cosmology, and as such he was Rhun’s most trusted and respected advisor — En Noah had been a close confidant to his parents, particularly Rhun’s mother.
Rhun was perplexed. ‘What was it that your secret service forced you to do, Professor?’
Kestler told all he recalled of receiving the sample of gas from his captain’s treacherous wife. He spoke of running tests on the sample and discovering that each particle of the sample appeared to emit infinite amounts of energy. His other theory had been that perhaps the particles were remotely linked to some greater reservoir of energy and thus their emission only appeared to be infinite — a theory that proved unpopular with the secret service agent controlling his will. ‘That’s all I remember. I was put into stasis the next day to return to my home planet of Maladaan, and then I awoke here.’
Robin appeared beside Rhun and shocked Kestler out of his wits.
‘He has the Powers?’ Kestler sounded fearful for a second and then explained, ‘The people on my planet fear such psychics and they are restrained, imprisoned or disposed of at all cost.’
‘So I’ve noticed.’ Robin turned his attention to Rhun. ‘So sorry to disturb but I need to discuss an urgent matter of national security.’
‘It’s one of those days,’ Rhun informed Robin.
‘This will not wait,’ Robin assured apologetically.
‘My apologies to you, Professor, for having to cut our discussion short.’ Rhun held up the thought band recorder. ‘I thank you very much for this, in advance.’
Kestler appeared happy with his lot. ‘I thank your wonderful medical staff for aiding me to remember.’
On Maladaan power had been restored but chaos reigned supreme.
It hadn’t taken Zelimir Ronan long to figure out that Maladaan was not where it used to be — the trouble their astronomers were having was discovering where their planet was situated now!
As far as they knew, there was no force in the universe — nor any psychic — powerful enough to have displaced an entire planet. They had considered whether the gas that had exploded just prior to the displacement had caused some kind of mass hallucination, or whether it had been the cause of the displacement. Whatever the truth was, they could only roll with the situation as they saw it. There had been surprisingly few injured people on the surface of Maladaan after the catastrophe, which seemed a miracle. The government had the defence forces out calming the people, and the MSS had agents out chasing up psychics to ensure that their restraints were still intact and operational.
The three undesirables who had escaped were also being hunted down. MSS agents had taken to space in pursuit of the escapees — in a manual chase as their pilots could not rely on any of the existing star charts, but their systems were having no trouble tracking the rogue vessel. Ronan was expecting word of their capture any time now as his agents had reported pursuing them towards an uninhabited virgin planet on the far side of the sun.
This report was most interesting as the Astro-Marine Institute Explorer — the AMIE project — had been searching space to find just such a planet since Maladaan had long ago used up all its natural resources. In fact, there wasn’t one living plant in Ronan’s office — they were all synthetic. To his way of thinking the fake plants were far superior to the real thing as they required no tending, didn’t give anyone hay fever, would never die or need replacing.
Ronan suddenly awoke, sprawled across his desk. The first question that sprang to mind was, ‘How long have I been asleep?’ He looked at his watch, noting that his hands appeared to be glowing. ‘I’m still half asleep.’ He rubbed his eyes, but could not make the annoying anomaly go away. It bothered the chief enough for him to go look in a mirror.
What Ronan expected to see in his reflection was a middle-aged rounding man, rather shorter than average, whose strawberry blond hair, beard, and eyebrows had more grey than his youthful colour. But today, to his great horror, his reflection was swathed in a brightly glowing mist that had patches of colour and shadow mixed in.
‘More hallucinations?’ he uttered, bewildered, when his door chimed to alert him to company, and then opened.
It was Norward who entered. ‘It seems that virgin planet is not uninhabited after all: our agents are under attack.’
It took a second for Ronan to comprehend the words, for he noted his 2IC was glowing also, but in different hues than he was and without so many shadowy patches. Ronan was completely distracted by the fact and feared that his 2IC would notice how he glowed, but he made no mention of it. ‘Under attack … from whom?’
‘We are uncertain … but Kestler’s pod has also begun transmitting a signal again.’
Ronan held his head, weary.
‘We need you in communications, Chief.’ Norward was tiring too and could sympathise.
Ronan looked up at himself in the mirror and he still looked as pretty as a solar shower dancing upon the atmosphere. ‘Am I glowing?’ Until he knew he was imagining things, he couldn’t focus on anything else, so he just came right out and asked.
‘You look in fine form, sir.’ Norward completely mistook his meaning and smiled accommodatingly.
From his response Ronan could only assume Norward was not seeing what he was seeing, and his gut churned. He’d heard psychics describe this phenomenon many times; they called it ‘seeing auras’ or ‘auric sight’.
‘Chief?’ Norward implored him. ‘We really should go; our president is awaiting an updated report.’
Ronan took a deep breath before accompanying Norward to the communications centre.
The visual on their screen showed their pilots in a dogfight with some impossibly swift craft that were firing a steady light beam at one of their vessels.
‘Are we winning?’ Ronan could not tell, for his communications boys were in a frenzy — and as their auras were as apparent to Ronan as his own, it was difficult to focus on the problems at hand.
‘Not really, Chief,’ replied the head technician. ‘We’ve lost contact with one craft altogether. From the visual of our second craft we can see that the first one hasn’t been shot down. But that beam that’s holding it fast seems to have relinquished control of the vessel to our foe.’
‘I’m hit!’ cried the second pilot as the screen went blank and all communications were lost.
‘Fuck me.’ Ronan mouthed the words, barely believing what he was seeing. Whomever those craft belonged to had technology far more advanced than their own. ‘We’re in more trouble than I thought.’
‘Hey, we’re not the ones with some of the most grievous psychics known to man loose on our planet,’ Norward pointed out, hoping to make the chief feel better.
The chief gave half a laugh at this and then sobered. ‘I’d best go speak with the president.’ Ronan was not looking forward to outlining their long list of woes, but all he could do was be honest and give them his most educated guess as to what had happened — if they fired him, or even arrested him, at this stage it would be a relief.
Jahan had been left to watch Jazmay and Fari in the private conclave that was attached to the governor’s council chambers, and Fari was delighting in swishing his feet in the fountain that was the central feature in the garden courtyard.
Jazmay seemed delighted with the vibrant garden, too. ‘It’s a long, long time since we saw a day so fine as this,’ Jazmay commented as they watched the boy frolic. ‘And I feel sure he has never seen anything more stunningly beautiful than this place.’
‘But he’s been with you,’ Jahan refuted her claim. His praise caused the smile to slip from her face and she folded her arms.
‘You fancy yourself as very charming, don’t you?’ Jahan opened his mouth to respond but Jazmay held a hand high to prevent it. ‘The question was rhetorical,’ she advised, walking off to join Fari.
‘Would you prefer I was loathsome?’ he asked.
‘To me, you are,’ she clarified. ‘So, save your charm for a more gullible victim.’
Jahan was offended that she thought he was insincere, and was about to appeal his case when Robin exited the governor’s chambers to advise Jazmay that the governor would see her now.
Jahan moved to follow her inside, but Robin stalled him. ‘The governor asks that you mind Fari.’
‘But —’
‘This is council business, you understand.’ Robin closed the door in his face.
Jahan wandered back over to where Fari had now laid himself out on a sun lounge. Obviously the lad knew Jazmay better than anyone — maybe he could learn something about her hatred of men?
‘She’s Phemorian,’ the lad stressed as if Jahan were some kind of idiot.
Vadik Corentin had said the same thing of her. ‘What does that mean?’ Jahan had to know.
‘Phemoria is a planet of women who expelled all their menfolk eons ago to be rid of their oppressive domination,’ Fari explained. ‘So a Phemorian woman, especially an ex-Valourean like Jazmay, would rather take your head off than flirt with you. But if she ever does bother to flirt, you can pretty well guarantee that your moments on Earth are numbered.’
‘They kill their mates?’ Jahan was intrigued, but by no means worried, as he was immortal. If Jazmay killed him then that would just save him the trouble and he could sure think of worse ways to go.
‘There are many strange stories about Phemorians, as very few people who are not Phemorian know much about them.’ Fari squinted and covered his eyes to look over at Jahan. ‘Why are you so interested anyhow?’
‘It all makes for better diplomatic relations, to learn about the cultures you are dealing with,’ said Jahan.
The lad grinned, seeing straight through his excuse. ‘Then why haven’t you asked me about where I am from?’
Obviously this kid had reasoning capabilities way beyond the average ten-year-old. ‘You got me there,’ Jahan admitted freely. ‘Tell me, Fari Doon, where do you hail from?’
‘I’m not too sure, really … I remember bits about my mother. The MSS killed her for trying to hide and defend me when I was about five years old. She’d sought the help of Valoureans to get us off Maladaan quietly, but the plan backfired and all but Jazmay and myself were killed in the attempt.’ Fari shrugged, his deep green eyes void of emotion. ‘Jazmay told the MSS I was her child, so that they would not split us up.’
Jahan nodded, seeing that this would be believable as Fari had even darker hair than Jazmay, although his skin colour was far paler than the deep olive complexion of his female companion.
‘I’m sure the MSS figured out long ago that our kinship was a lie, but as Jaz is the only person who can control me, they went along with it.’ The boy stared at Jahan as if to advise him to do the same.
‘My governor will not rule against your wishes,’ Jahan assured. ‘If you and Miss Cardea —’
‘Miss Cardea.’ The lad chuckled, he’d never heard anyone call her that.
‘What?’ Jahan asked. Clearly he was being mocked. ‘Then what should I call her? What can I do to gain her favour? Help me out here … you know her better than anyone.’
‘Nothing can help you.’ The boy waved off Jahan’s desire to make a good impression. ‘That’s a lost cause. I reckon I have a better chance of winning her heart than you do, and when I’m old enough, I intend to.’ The lad folded his arms and tightened his lips, defiant.
‘Competition, hey?’ Jahan noted without mocking the lad — in all probability the kid was right to be confident.
‘I have no rival for her affection,’ the boy pointed out, ‘so there is no competition.’