The Awakening (The Hyperscape Project Book 1) (36 page)

Sylph met his
gaze.  Kael could see the silver-grey sea of his irises shifting in color,
almost like he was traversing different energy fields and it was reflecting in
his eyes.

“What is it?”
Eva whispered.

Both males
ignored her.  Kael’s gaze was focused on Sylph.  “You sense
something, brother?”

Sylph’s focus
shifted back to the room, to Kael.  His master called him brother. 
It was meaningful.  It meant that his ruler considered him an equal. 
This was a real compliment for a priejst of Trinoor.  Sylph nodded in
answer to Kael’s question.  “I feel a shift.  Someone is seeking.”

Kael’s eyes
narrowed.  “You mean...a seer?”

“Yes.”

“Then they know
the Sulcrum is no more.”

“Possibly. 
The scan is weak.  It is a very long distance to penetrate.”

Kael took a step
closer to Sylph.  “Jindom’s wy’tche.”

“It must be,
master.  Jindom must assume that her scan will be faster than the
Sulcrum’s signal.”

“Can she do it?”
Kael wanted to know.

“Possibly. 
She is a strong one, master.  Perhaps the strongest of us all.”

“Call me master
no more, brother.  Here we are the same.”

“I beg to
differ, master.  You are Jai, and always will be.”

Eva looked from
one to the other.  “He is Jai.  What does that mean?”

Sylph glanced in
her direction.  “He comes from the capital province of our planet. 
It is called Jai.  When he became ruler, he became Kael Jai.  He
represents Jai and therefore he becomes Jai.  He is the embodiment of all
the tenants of the province and what is meaningful to us.”

“Are you also
from Jai?”

“I am from the
mountains of Jai.  I belong to the priejsthaed.  We are the only
priejsthaed of Trinoor.”

“You’re a
priest?  I thought you were like him.”  She looked confused. 

“If you mean in
race...technically there are three races of people on our planet, each with a
different set of features and skills.  Kael is of the Sinestran
race.  I am of the Benagh.  Jindom is of the Zolarian.”

“Jindom?”

“The man who is
going to kill us all if we keep standing here talking,” Kael informed her.

Eva ignored
him.  Her gaze once again raked the gorgeous male in front of her. 
“So, if you’re a priejst, you...don’t....”

Sylph frowned
down at her in confusion.

“Em...you know.”

“Enough
talk!  We must leave here, find somewhere else to go,
somewhere...safe.”  Kael drew out the last word in a hiss.  He knew
there was no place safe.  Not without the technology of his world. 
Not without his army.  Just him, one priejst, and an annoying young woman
who never ceased to ask questions.

“Kael Jai is
correct.  We must leave.” 

“Hey, I’m
thinking...I have this friend,” Eva began. 

“The one who
believes aliens are visiting your world,” Kael said.

Sylph raised an
eyebrow.

Eva
nodded.  “Yeah, that one.  He’s real techie.  He has this room
in his apartment.  He tracks satellites and listens in on government
stuff, you know the CIA and things like that.  Maybe he can help.”

Kael didn’t even
bother to look skeptical.  In fact, she had noticed that his expression
rarely changed from a frown or a grimace.  “I don’t think so,” he said.

“Don’t say no
until you’ve met him and seen his place,” she snapped, her blue eyes fiery with
offense.

“I can easily
say no before I’ve met him and seen his place.  He’s a puny human just
like every puny human on this planet, and no match for what is coming.”

“Oh, yeah! 
You?”  She glanced at Sylph.  “And you?  You’ve got a big knife
and a priejst.  That should do the trick.  That’s an army if I’ve
ever seen one.”

Kael slowly drew
his Strongblade from his boot and held it an inch in front of her nose, so
close that she couldn’t even focus on it without being cross-eyed.  She
was sure that was an attractive look to the beautiful god he was.  “This,”
he hissed.  “This is no ordinary knife.  This is a Strongblade forged
by the Jai priejsthaed.  Nothing is stronger than the ulbinium that makes
this blade.  It cannot be broken, and it cannot be handled by anyone else
without dissolving into nothingness after about ten minutes.  It’s
imprinted to my DNA.  It can take the neck off an ox with one blow, and—”

“Yeah, yeah,
yeah, I get the idea.  It’s—”

Sylph
interrupted.  “We must go. 
Now!
”  Without waiting for a
response, he turned to leave the room and slowly disappeared in front of their
eyes. 

Eva drew in a
sharp breath of alarm.

Kael muttered
something unintelligible to her.

“That’s
impossible,” Eva exclaimed.  “How does he do that?  Some kind of
technology?  Some magical ability?  Where did he go?”

“He hasn’t
necessarily gone anywhere.  He could be a mile away by now or he could still
be here with us.”  Kael stopped at the door, then turned and went back to
the desk to pick up the communication pod Sylph had taken from the Sulcrum’s
head. 

“Where are we
going?” Eva asked.

“To my
apartment.  I need to get a few things.”

“And when will
Sylph be back?”

“I have no
idea.”  Kael kept walking, out the door and down the corridor. 

Eva followed
along behind him.  She had no other choice.  She watched the
long-legged gait, the swing of his nicely muscled arms beneath the black
leather coat he wore, the round firm buttocks that fit so nicely into the tight
jeans.  Two drop-dread gorgeous men had literally fallen into her world,
and here she was marked for death.  “There’s always the crappy lining to
that silver cloud.”

“What?” 
Kael stopped so abruptly that she smacked into the back of him.

“I really wish
you wouldn’t do that,” she grumbled as she rubbed her smashed nose.

“As I wish you
wouldn’t talk so much,” he replied.  “You bother me.”

“Yeah, I got
that,” Eva mumbled.

“And stop
mumbling, whispering, muttering, I can hear every word you are saying.  My
ears are much keener than your weaker human ears.”

She stuck her
tongue out at his back and kept walking without saying another word.

Sylvanja stood
in her chamber deep in Jindom’s summer castle, her brilliant silver-blue eyes
clouded over as she searched the cosmos for the Sulcrum Jindom had sent to find
Kael.  Her white-blonde hair fell in a silken sheet to her waist, and she
wore a blue gown that reached to the floor, her tiny waist enhanced by the sash
at her hips.  She was the most beautiful woman in all of Jindom’s
kingdom.  And the most feared.  If she weren’t a wy’tche, Jindom
would have her as his queen.  But even Jindom respected the distance
required of her.  Sylvanja was nothing to be trifled with.  She could
bend a man’s will, rearrange the molecules in metal, and boil a man’s blood
with just her mind.  Jindom lusted after her like a welter after a bitch
in heat.  But he kept his distance, and he paid her the respect she
deserved.  She had served him well for many years, but that could change
with one wrong move from him.

Sylvanja was
well known in all the provinces of Trinoor, but few people knew she was the
sister of Adalayna Sharelle, the ruler of the province of Sharelle.  To those
who even cared, Adalayna’s sister had died long ago, her body never found, no
pyre, no farewell, nothing.   After a long battle, Sharelle had
finally fallen to Jindom.  Sylvanja had prevented Jindom from killing her
sister, but only just.  Sharelle was now his, and Adalayna occupied the
lower chambers of his capital palace, in chains, next to her royal guard and
her Keeper, the priejst who had sworn to protect her, sent by none other than
Kael Jai himself.

As Sylvanja
refocused and pulled out of her seeking trance, her eyes changed, returned to
their usual brilliant silver-blue.  Jindom stood before her, gazing at her
like a love-struck boy.  She smiled, revealing perfect white teeth in a
face so beautiful that it made men weaken when their gaze fell upon her. 

Jindom was a
ruggedly attractive man, tall, brutally built.  He was a warrior,
accustomed to battle, well-formed.  Many women found him handsome, but his
cruel ways were off-putting.  His dark-brown hair curled around the collar
of his leather coat of arms.  His eyes were as black as the orbidian
stones of the mountains of Jai, an endless, bottomless pool that held little
emotion save anger, vengeance, and hatred of anyone who didn’t bow before
him.  Except for the love he had for her.  Sylvanja did not fear
Jindom like others did, but she knew that despite his love for her, he would
kill her in whatever way he could find if she ever betrayed him.  And she
never would.  Betray him.  Unless he sought to take the life of the
man she truly loved.  Then vengeance would be hers and Jindom would fall.

He reached out,
palm up, and offered his hand.  She slipped her fingers into his grasp and
allowed him to lead her to the other side of the room, away from the crynallum
windows where she liked to do her seeking.  The chamber was
beautiful.  The stone floors were polished to a high sheen, inlaid with
red and green precious jewels from Mount Tyr.  The walls were made of
Eneet stone from the cliffs of Sharelle, the most prized stone for building. 
Wood beams carved from the Cyphir trees of the forests of Denagah accented the
vaulted ceiling.  All beautifully polished.  Even the crystal windows
were framed with Cyphir wood inlaid with the white pearlescent shell from the
deep sea Dramagh, a crustacean found in the Andova Sea.  It was a chamber
fit for a queen.  Jindom had spared nothing in his courtship of her. 
She had everything she could ever want, save for one thing.  And that was
far beyond her reach.

Jindom took a
risk and raised her delicate, white hand to his lips to briefly kiss her long,
slender fingers.   “What have you seen, my beautiful wy’tche?”

“The Sulcrum has
been destroyed,” she informed him.

Jindom’s mind
was a wash of chaotic thoughts.  She sensed rage in him, disappointment,
and a deep need to kill Kael Jai with his own hands.  And something
else.  Fear.  It wasn’t the first time she’d sensed fear in
him.  But it was a secret she kept to herself, something to use toward her
own ends in the future.  Jindom liked to believe he feared no one. 
But he certainly feared Kael Jai.  Kael Jai was the beloved ruler Jindom
would never be.  Kael Jai didn’t need to rule with an iron fist.  He
had the loyalty and love of his people.  Two things Jindom could never
achieve, because Jindom didn’t have the qualities Kael Jai embodied: fairness,
equality, compassion.  Jindom only had avarice, hate, and power on his
mind.

Jindom brushed
another kiss against her knuckles.  Sylvanja didn’t pull away.  But
she didn’t encourage him either.

“Thank
you.  You will be well rewarded.”

She smiled, a
small smile, barely discernible, but said nothing.

Jindom stood up
and left her chamber.  She didn’t ask where he was going.  She
already knew.  He would never stop until Kael Jai was dead.

End Of Kael Jai First
Chapter Sample

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