Tara in tears: a lovers' quarrel has major implications for the empire.
* * * *
Kalquor
Tara watched Yuder from across the courtyard. He knelt in vajrasana, his preferred meditation pose. He would have appeared to be deep in contemplation but for the severe crease between his steel-colored brows.
She drew a breath. Calm, she counseled herself. Neutrality. Both had become challenges in the days since he’d returned home.
She padded barefoot along the tiled ground. Her silk robes whispered, telling her beloved of her approach long before she arrived. The divots of his disquiet vanished as a slight smile appeared on his lips. His eyes opened as she sank onto the mat in front of his. For a golden moment, she allowed herself to bask in the warmth of his regard.
“You’re having trouble going deep.” She let her concern show.
“My stomach is growling. You’d think I’d learn to have my meals prior to meditation.” He grinned.
Tara had a strict policy of not allowing her students to skirt their integrity. While Yuder wasn’t a student, he was too important for her to let him get away with a half-truth.
“You’re struggling. There isn’t enough meaningful activity for you to direct your attention toward.”
A shadow of guilt appeared on his sharp features. “I’m trying, my Matara. I search for duty of significance, a task of value. I hate to admit it, but I wasn’t made for this era of peace. As grateful as I am for the contentment of the empire, I’ve never known the harmony it’s enjoying. It makes no sense to me.”
“It’s more a matter of the restrictions placed upon you, isn’t it? There’s always some struggle to overcome for a society, even in peacetime. Your inability to be involved on any level is what chafes.”
He grimaced. “As always, you see to the heart of my dilemma. I feel useless, Tara. This is death for me.”
“Is that why you keep sneaking off to meet Councilman Oiteil?”
He stilled. Another flash of guilt, accompanied by anger. “You’d never spy on me.”
“You have friends who have spotted you together, and they’re worried. They commed me yesterday. They thought it best I speak to you before Clajak or the High Court finds out.” She held up a hand to forestall the explosion his darkening face warned was coming. “They wouldn’t report you, Yuder. But who else might discover what you’ve been doing? The war is long over, but the Imperial Family has its opponents.”
“Oiteil seeks me. He speaks, but I offer nothing that could be construed as meddling in governmental affairs. I assure you, my Royal Guard escort would testify to it.”
She ached for him. His need to be essential to his empire was blinding him to the trouble he courted…or it was too much for him to care.
“Yuder. Please, for the sakes of those who love you, consider very carefully what could happen. If Oiteil is instigating these encounters, it’s on you to decline them. Mere social interaction with a sitting councilman, even in full view of witnesses who’d corroborate you’ve said nothing out of turn…it could still land you in trouble. The Galactic Council’s High Court was specific.”
“Oh yes, they spelled it out quite clearly,” he growled. “I’m essentially to turn tail and run if the lowliest Royal Council aide heads in my direction. Ancestors forbid I say hello to anyone who’s ever set a toe in the Government House.”
“I realize it’s difficult—”
“Do you? Do you honestly understand what it is to have to stand by when the empire I once ruled is facing new challenges?” There was furious frustration in his expression and voice, but he took her hands gently to show it wasn’t directed at her. “There’s backlash against Earther males being made legal clanmates. Against the laws changed to accommodate up to ten legal bondings in a single household. The new Earth is already dealing with protestors determined to cut it off from Galactic Council planets, particularly ours. A spyship orbiting Bi’is has disappeared. If the Bi’isils have developed a weapon—”
“Yuder!” She stared at him, stunned at how deep Oiteil had pulled him in. She couldn’t help but glance around the courtyard, worried someone might have overheard him. Fortunately, his pair of Royal Guards stood well beyond hearing range. A dozen or so of her disciples were meditating in the area, at a distance where it was unlikely they’d picked up on the whispered conversation.
“You can’t do this,” she implored. “Oiteil has to understand the trouble he could get you in. You must know! My love, please. I don’t want you taken from me again. Am I of so little importance?”
“Of course not. My Matara, you can’t think it. But if the empire needs me—”
“You are banned.” She emphasized each word, desperate for him to recognize the impossibility of his situation. “No matter what happens, no matter how unhappy it makes you, no matter the challenges Kalquor encounters, this is your reality now.”
“Oiteil thinks the Royal Council might vote to reverse the High Court’s sentence.”
She stared at him. “He can’t be serious.”
“I thought so also, at first. He and a few others are quietly speaking to their colleagues, and he says he think he can gain the support needed to bring back not only me to public service, but Rajhir and Ospar as well. He says there might be enough votes to overturn the Imperial Clan should they attempt to veto such a motion.”
Tara’s mind whirled at the implications. “If Clajak opposed overturning the High Court’s sentence, which he probably will because he prefers to uphold their authority, he’d never consult you about issues of state. He loves you, but if he were to ignore your sentence, it would be seen as a rebuttal of the justice branch’s authority.”
“He’d be correct, and I don’t expect him to approve. It wouldn’t make a difference. I could belong to a watchdog group that reports to the Royal Council. I wouldn’t be a decision-maker, just a concerned citizen helping them perform their duty to the empire.”
It was hard to speak her conscience and fears in the face of his excitement, but Tara was certain Yuder and Oiteil weren’t considering the ramifications of what they proposed. “Yuder, you must tread lightly. In the end, what a few Royal Councilmen wish doesn’t have any bearing. It was your first conviction and the pardon that followed most feel tipped Kalquor into civil war. I doubt the people want a reminder of it, and if they’re asked to reflect on it, they won’t agree. If the High Court believes you’re conspiring to a return to public service—”
“Conspiring!” Yuder stared at her. “This wasn’t my idea. I’ve done nothing but listen to what Oiteil has to say on the behalf of a number of others. If my people call for me, I can’t stand by and not answer. I’m sorry if you don’t understand what hinges on this, for me and my empire.”
He stood. Before Tara could think of anything to say, he sped out of the courtyard, leaving her sitting alone and on the verge of tears.
* * * *
The alien force dubbed the Darks has grabbed control of key positions on Kalquor and the Galactic Council of Planets. Other leaders are still unaware of the threat among them. The galaxy is wide open for destruction by an unfathomable enemy.
Former emperor Nobek Yuder has suspicions, but due to restrictions placed on him after his prison sentence, he can only stand by and watch helplessly. A renegade Royal Councilman has designs to bring him back to the political arena, but doing so could destabilize the Kalquorian Empire, leaving it vulnerable to invasion.
Meanwhile, one man on the brink of death, the only man who can detect the nearly invisible Darks, is pulled from a lifeless shuttle by Captains Kila and Nako. His incredible story tells them they’re in a race against time to save not only the empire but the whole galaxy…but are they already too late?
On Earth II, Governor Stacy Nichol’s relationship with Clan Rihep continues to grow. So does the danger, as opponents make deadly moves against her and the orbiting Kalquorian station where the clan lives. Nobek Kuran is determined to keep his clanmates and would-be lifemate safe, but how can he stop a faceless enemy?
Relationships, old and new, are strained to the breaking point at a time when Earthers and Kalquorians need each other more than ever. The Darks are closing in, and no one is ready to oppose them.
Releasing Friday, November 3!
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