My Enemy's Son (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 2) (12 page)

“You know.”

“I know what?”

“Don't act so innocent,” I shouted and
pulled away from him.  “You're the one who can read minds.  You know damn well
what I'm thinking.”

He laughed.

“Damn you!  Why couldn't you play
basketball instead?”

“Basketball?”  He thought this was
terribly funny.

“Forget it.  I'm not going to marry you. 
You're an arrogant bastard and you always were.”

“You are going to marry me.  Come now, you
have been planning this since you were nine years old.  You've been debating
whether to call yourself Katie de Kudisha or to continue using Golden ever
since I told you my name."

“Stop reading my mind!”

“Did you not just tell me to read your
mind?”

“Senya!” I cried with exasperation.

"Golden is a nice name and suits you
well but de Kudisha is the name of kings for more than a millennium and you
will choose that."

"Kings and Infidels?" I
challenged, thinking myself ever so clever.

"Who is to say who is or is not an
infidel?"

"You are such a smart ass," I
spat, having no other intelligent retort.

“Marry me, Kate.”  He reached for my arms
and pulled me to him.

"Are you asking or telling me?"

"Which ever you prefer."

“If you are going to propose, then get
down on your knees,” I ordered.

“Sorry,” he said, removing his hands.  I
backed away again.  “I only kneel before God and kings.”

“Huh?”

He laughed.  “I will interpret that to
mean yes.”  He leaned back against his desk and lit a cigarette.  I watched the
cloud of grey smoke drift upward toward the ceiling vent.

"That was a
huh
not a
yes
. 
I’m not agreeing to anything."

"It was close enough," he
replied and took another long drag.

Maybe where he was from getting married
was like going out for coffee or something.  Maybe he collected wives.  Maybe
he popped into a lot of girls’ bedrooms when he was twelve.  Maybe I would be
just another addition to his harem.  “Exactly how many wives do you have?”  I
demanded, crossing my arms in front of my chest and tapping my toe.

He gazed thoughtfully out the window while
obviously enjoying either his cigarette or my discomfort.

“You need to think about this?” I gasped. 
“I'm so out of here!”

“Wait.  I am just reviewing time.”   He
furrowed his brow.  “I only see one little Human.  Any more than that and you
most certainly would kill me.”

“You've never been married before?”  I
narrowed my own eyes and glared at him.

“Not that I am aware.”

“Just so we're clear,” I said and began to
pace the room.  “If I am going to marry you, there will be no other wives, no
concubines, no mistresses, no girlfriends, no boyfriends, no one night stands…”

“I understand,” he interrupted.

“You want me, you get only me.  That's how
we do it where I am from.  If you don't, you'll end up with a nasty and
expensive thing called a divorce.  That's where we go before a judge and I tell
him what a dickhead you turned out to be and take half your money.  See, I
don't like to share either.”

“I will not be a dickhead,” he said
seriously with a frown, before taking a long drag on his cig.

“How do I know?  You are already a
dickhead.”

I think if he could roll his silver eyes
he would have.

“Ay yah, Katie Golden.  You are making me
question my wisdom.”

I stopped my pacing and stared at him.

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing.”  Smiling, he tossed his cig
into the air where it disappeared.  “Come here.  I want you now.”

“Now?”

“Ay yah, now.  You are very entertaining
and I want you.”

“Here?”

He shrugged.  “You are already arguing? 
Have you a headache too?  You insist that I have only you, yet you will refuse
to satisfy me?”

“You are being a total dickhead,” I
retorted.  “You want to…right here in your office…now?”

“Ay yah,” he nodded.

We stared each other down, well as much as
anyone can stare when they are blind and wearing dark sunglasses.

“You can't wait until we get back to your
flat?”

“No,” he shook his head.  “Why should I?”

“You are impossible, Senya,” I said,
walking over to him and wrapping my arms around his neck.

“Ay yah,” he replied.  “This I know.”

Chapter 3

Shelly

Janet was staring at the locked office
door, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Getting steamy in there,” Thad said,
waving his hand like a fan.  “That's the first girl he's stayed with longer
than it took to…oops.”  He smiled at me.

“Thad!” I snapped.

“What does he see in her?” Janet spat.

“He's obviously smitten with her,” I
said.  “Get over it.”

“It's not fair,” Janet mumbled. 
“She's…she's nothing.”

“She's cute,” Thad said.  “She's got a
nice, tight…brain.  Hey, she's also a Lt Commander.  Bet, she orders him
around.  He'd probably go for that dominatrix kind of thing.”

“Thad will you get out of here!” I cried.

“Overstaying my welcome yet again.” He
laughed and headed out into the hall.

 “Listen Janet,” I said, gently.  “There's
a lot about him you don't know.  Nobody is going to have an easy time with
him.  She has no idea what she's in for.  You should quit being jealous and
wish her luck.”

“Right,” Janet smirked.  “It’ll probably
take him about five minutes to start cheating on her, if she's lucky.”

“Maybe not.  But she's in for a tough ride
in any case.  You should cut her some slack.”

Janet glared at me and then walked off in
a huff.

Over the next week or so, we continued
moving our office into the new space in the SdK Medical Centre.  Ron actually
had two offices, one here and another in the Engineering Centre.  A gal named
Susie began as his admin over there and she and I would chat often to
coordinate schedules.  The Medical Centre began to fill up with staff. 
Rozarians, other than Kenak and Donak, shunned Ron and so many of our doctors
and nurses ended up coming from Earth, Mars, Altarius, Talas and variety of
Allied planets.  Overnight, our facility became galaxy class.  The parking lots
were full and the building was teeming with people coming and going.  Ron
worked incessantly either here or the other building but still managed to see a
dozen or so patients a week with surgeries on Wednesdays.

I think LCDR Golden took him shopping
before she departed as immediately after that, Dr. Ron started showing up in
gorgeous and expensive Hugo Boss and Armani suits instead of his usual jeans
and t-shirts.

“Nice tie,” I commented on one of the few
occasions where he wasn’t swamped with other people trying to talk to him.

“Is it?”

“Did you pick it out yourself?”

He laughed.  “I haven't a clue what it
looks like.”

Chapter 4

Senya

He was late, but then again, he was always
running late these days.  Tearing off his lab coat, he left it in the hamper
along with his sterile booties.  Then he practically ran down the stairwell
willing his tablet to meet him in his office in the Engineering Centre. 

He emerged from the stairwell into the
busy hospital lobby.  This was his hospital, the first of what would become
thousands.  Thad was doing a good job putting together the company’s
infrastructure, the buildings were almost finished and the hospital was already
flourishing.  He knew he had an intelligent team of doctors and nurses from
throughout the galaxy.  Thad was a good choice and he liked his engineering
team too.  He could give them a concept, the seed of an idea and they could put
the whole thing together.  Sometimes they didn't do it as quickly or
efficiently as he would like or as he could have done but they were good
enough.  He was pleased with what he was creating.

"Bye Doctor!" a nurse called as
he exited the main doors of his hospital. 

He didn't respond, choosing instead to
light a cigarette which he pulled from the drawer of his desk upstairs.  He
inhaled deeply of the pungent smoke, glad that it was already afternoon and the
planet was beginning to cool from the intense heat of the day.

Another woman greeted him, a doctor this
time, as he passed her on the walkway.  He didn't respond to her either though
her scent followed her.  It was pleasant, like roses and something else,
verbena maybe?  She had long smooth hair that made a slight swishing noise as
she walked.  Her hips swayed as did her heavy breasts.  He could tell from the
way the air moved around her.  He felt a tightening in his groin, a prickling
of desire, imagining how those breasts would feel in his hands, in his mouth. 
He inhaled deeply on his cigarette and pushed the woman doctor and her
sensations out of his mind.

"Hey Ron!"  Thad and two others
joined him, jogging to catch up with him.  "Bill, Karl and I we're hoping
you'd have a few minutes to discuss the plans for the device unit.  Are you
free now?"

"If you speak quickly," he
said.  His cell was vibrating in his back pocket but he ignored it.

"We'll talk as we walk," Thad
said.  "You just listen and nod."

Senya took another drag on his cig and
then tossed it in the air where he willed it to disintegrate.  He brought forth
another one.  He figured he'd be able to get in about three before he entered
the Engineering Centre as long as he didn't have to speak.

"Karl, why don't you explain to Ron
your idea," Thad said. 

The one called Karl cleared his throat and
began to speak about guide wires.  His Rozarian vocabulary was very poor and he
was nervous.  He was making incomprehensible noises trying to speak and his
scalp and palms became sweaty.  Senya focused for a moment on Karl's thoughts. 
He had a good idea about encapsulating the wire in a biodegradable plastic
derivative.

"That will do," Senya
interrupted. 

"What will do?" Thad repeated.

"The encapsulation of the guide wires."
 Senya waved his hand.  "That is acceptable.  Are you finished or have you
got more to discuss?"

"Bill?"  Thad nodded to the
other fellow.  "Would you like to tell Ron your idea about..."

"Infidel!" someone screamed.  He
was immediately followed by other voices.  "Infidel! Infidel!"

Senya could hear the crowd moving toward
him.  He scanned them, his lenses washing over the assembly, estimating nearly
one hundred bodies.  This was more than before.  These protesters were becoming
more prevalent and more annoying.  "Kari-fa," he said under his
breath.

"Sorry Ron," Thad apologized
quickly.  "I'll ring security.  We can't throw them off campus but at
least we can get you an escort out of here."

"I do not need an escort," Senya
said as the crowd circled him, shouting about the Saint and demanding that he
leave Rozari. 

Senya stopped walking.  Bill and Karl
stopped too.  Thad, too busy looking up a number on his cell, didn't notice and
bumped right into Karl nearly knocking the other flat.

"Son of Karukan, go back to
Rehnor!" a Rozarian dressed in a long robe with a flowing beard declared. 
He held up an icon of the Saint.  "Or prostrate yourself before the
Blessed Saint and renounce your evil ways."

Senya felt his blood pressure rise.  He
was tired and now late for a meeting and annoyed with those who kept
trespassing on his property even though the Rozarian government would not allow
him to prohibit them from doing so.

"Repent! Repent!" the people
screamed.

Their voices grew louder in Senya's head
as the blood rushed through his veins.  His fingers started twitching.  He
debated for only a fraction of a second before deciding.  It was worth it, if
it rid his campus of these people once and for all.  He pointed at the icon
held up by the leader and willed it to burst into flame.  Now they were all
screaming including his engineers.

"Uh, dude?" Thad said dropping
his cell and staring at the rubble of ash now at the Saintist leader's feet. 
"Maybe we should leave?"

"I am not quite finished, Thad,"
Senya replied taking off his glasses.  He knew his eyes were exceptionally
bright.  They burned like fire on the inside when they got this way. 

The crowd began to back away but not all
of them.  The leader, the man with flowing beard, cradled the icon’s ashes in
his hands and shouted about evil and infidels named de Kudisha.

"Get off my land," Senya ordered
him.  The man refused and instead shouted for him to leave Rozari.  Senya
sighed.  He did not like being disobeyed.  He did not like being accused of
things which he was not.  “Leave.”  Senya tried one more time but the Saintist
was stubborn.  “Kari-fa,” he swore and let the light shine upon the man and
with the force of it, he willed the Saintist to be carried into the air, to
hang suspended upon the currents ten meters above the ground.  "You will
vacate my land and not return," Senya declared.  “I will have no more of
this.”  The man lost his bladder.  His trousers soaked and the stream dripped
to the ground, scattering his followers who stared in awe at him up in the sky.

"Let me down," the man sobbed. 
"Please let me down."

"No more of this," Senya
repeated.  When the man did not instantly respond, Senya turned his back.  The
crowd gasped.  The man screamed.  He went plummeting to the ground but stopped
not a meter from it.  Senya turned back and shone his eyes on the Saintist
again.  “Well?”

"Yes, I promise, I won't come back! 
Please let me down."

"Sir," Senya said using the
Ancient Rozarian pronoun for a prince.

The man looked confused.  "Sir,"
he repeated, swallowing hard.  "I won't come back, Sir."

Senya nodded and put his dark glasses back
on.  The burning in his eyes had lessened but a migraine was starting.  He
pressed his thumbs upon his eyes from beneath his glasses willing the migraine
to dissipate.  The Saintist fell the last meter to the ground.

“Come on,” Senya ordered, as all the
protestors ran from the property.  "What else have you got to discuss,
Thad?"  He lit a fresh cigarette, his third, and resumed his trek to the
Engineering Centre.  Thad, Karl and Bill stood frozen in place.  When Senya
realized they were not following him, he stopped and turned around.  The one
called Karl was shaking.  Senya grew annoyed.  “You want to run away too?” he
taunted.  Not one of them moved.  “Fuck you," Senya said in English and
walked away.