Kiera's Sun Read online

  A’Ran nodded once. Their sensors indicated that the mines were producing the gray metal.

  His nonverbal confirmation made Mansr sigh in the only sign of the relief they both felt. With gray metal, they could buy allies, trade for food, and protect their people, who were scattered throughout the Five Galaxies. It was something A’Ran had struggled to do for many sun-cycles, until Kiera.

  She was staring at the magnified grass on the planet. A’Ran’s fingers still tingled with the sensation of the blades against his skin. It couldn’t last without the sun and water. Yet these were minor issues compared to what he’d faced since assuming the role of dhjan – king – at the age of fifteen. The planet had begun to die the day he was exiled from his home, and it would stay dead, if not for Kiera.

  She was the key to regrowth on the planet, and the gray metal would pay for what it’d likely take to clean up their world and care of his people until everyone was able to return.

  What is sunlight when we have hope after so long? Rarely did he let himself feel pride or hope, preferring to keep his focus on his duty and executing his next mission. Today, however, he’d seen how much of a miracle she was. One touch, and his planet had begun to return to life.

  He couldn’t imagine her frown was for anything other than the fact he wouldn’t let her stay longer. She’d been adamant about going that morning. It was too dangerous for anyone to linger with the atmosphere full of toxins.

  “We must plan to pull as much metal out of the ground as possible,” he said to Mansr.

  “So no melting spaceships?” Kiera asked. Her green-blue eyes were bright, her curly hair captured at her neck. Shapely and small compared to the women of Anshan, she was as exotic in looks as she was in her ideas. His gaze lingered on her, the way it always did whenever he saw her.

  “No need,” he said. “We can trade for atmospheric filtering devices then put everything we have into pulling metal out of the ground.”

  “I’m guessing these things are not cheap.”

  “There is only one planet that makes them,” Mansr said. “The devices are likely to be more expensive for us.”

  “Did you pick a fight with them, too?” Kiera asked.

  A’Ran allowed a small smile to slip free. “We both did, nishani.”

  “Qatwal?” Surprise crossed her face. She said a few words that didn’t translate but which sounded like the ones she’d directed at him earlier that day during their argument. He decided he was probably happier not knowing these words.

  “Gray metal is in demand throughout the Five Galaxies,” he said. “We have that in our favor. The mines haven’t produced it in many sun-cycles.”

  “And we are allegedly at peace,” Mansr agreed.

  “I thought they weren’t speaking to us at all,” Kiera said.

  “They are not,” A’Ran said.

  “You almost destroyed their planet, too. Not sure I blame them.” She was smiling.

  A’Ran eyed her, recalling just what he’d felt when he saw her on Qatwal after believing her dead. The longstanding blood feud between him and the Qatwali rulers was over, according to their peace agreement, but he harbored no warm feelings towards them. There was some sadness in nishani’s gaze, which he knew came from missing her sister, who was the lifemate of the next ruler of Qatwal.

  “I will contact them,” A’Ran said. After all he’d been through, he wasn’t about to let the Qatwalis’ cold shoulder deter him.

  “And then, come to lunch. I invited a guest,” nishani tried to fake an innocent smile, but there was a wicked gleam in her gaze.

  A’Ran crossed his arms. Mansr looked between them and then excused himself. A’Ran waited until he was gone to ask.

  “Who did you invite to my table?”

  “Our table,” she corrected him. “Remember?”

  With Mansr gone, nishani felt no need to keep her distance, even if they were on a ship and not in the privacy of their quarters. She moved to him and pried his arms down so she could wrap her arms around him in a tight hug. A’Ran returned the embrace with a glance towards the door. It would be an awkward display, if his warriors saw him. Kiera didn’t have the restraint Anshan women did with showing her affections and didn’t seem concerned with learning more than she had to about this particular custom.

  It was one of the things he found most appealing and vexing. She sighed and relaxed against him, and he let himself enjoy the moment, loving the way her soft, sweet body fit against his hard warrior frame. He’d found the touch of his woman to be beyond satisfying, another reason he’d stopped chiding her so often about how she touched him.

  “I invited Ketnan,” she said at last, looking up at him.

  A’Ran let a breath hiss between his clenched teeth. “I don’t want that man at my … our table. I thought I made that clear.”

  “You know how sweet and warm and charming and wonderful you are to me?”

  He snorted and kissed her forehead. He loved how freely she cared for him and his family.

  “That’s how he feels for your sister,” she finished. “Talal deserves to be –”

  “She needs a warrior to care for her, not a miner.”

  “Mining is a respectable profession!”

  “Respectable, yes. Able to protect Talal, no,” he said firmly.

  “You haven’t even met him.”

  “I don’t need to. I’ve seen him at the mines.” A’Ran moved away from her. They’d fought once already today. He didn’t like it one bit when Kiera was upset and hoped to avoid a confrontation.

  “He’s strong and loves her. So what if he’s not a warrior or from a noble family?” nishani argued. “I’m not a typical Anshan woman, and you mated with me!”

  “That’s different. I can protect you. He can’t protect Talal.” A’Ran went to one of the benches in front of the whirling planet projection. He sat down and began tapping the symbols on the control panel in front of him.

  The man who had gotten his youngest sister pregnant was barely older than her and far too … different. He wasn’t a warrior or from a warrior bloodline. He was tall and thin, his frame just filling out as he transitioned from youth to manhood. He’d been afraid to look at A’Ran the one time they’d met. As the man who’d helped raise his little sister after their parents were killed, A’Ran wasn’t ready to see his youngest sister fully grown yet. He also wanted more for his sister than a mere miner.

  His hands paused as he considered the idea he was behaving more like their father than her brother.

  “You can teach him to fight,” Kiera suggested and sat beside him, her thigh pressed to his.

  “He’s too old to become a warrior.”

  “I can teach him.”

  He gave her a look.

  “I already invited him to the midday meal,” she said. “You can tell him not to come. It’ll only crush Talal not to have a father for her child.”

  A’Ran stared at her. Nishani didn’t back down. She’d gotten brave enough to counter him when she felt something was important. She’d changed him in the short time they’d been together. The man he was several weeks ago would’ve banished the boy who impregnated Talal and forbidden his nishani from going to a toxic planet, even if it was theirs.

  “I like him,” Kiera added. “You should give him a chance.”

  “No one tells a dhjan what he should do.”

  “His nishani does.”

  A’Ran returned his attention to the control panel. Kiera wrapped her arms around him as she was wont to do and kissed his temple. The tender act always reminded him he’d almost lost this. She knew it, too, and had done this a couple of times before, usually when she wanted him to agree.

  It was difficult for him to deny her anything when he recalled the despair he’d experienced when he thought her dead.

  “I will consider it,” he allowed.

  “Thank you.” She beamed and dropped her arms. “I’ll leave you alone for now.” Her smile had a way of making his world right,
of reminding him what was important.

  It also made him think of how she looked up at him after they made love. With her cheeks flushed, hair wild and eyes glowing, she had the uncanny ability to make him forget everything in the universe, except for them.

  She was gazing at him like that right now, with a spark of what he knew was desire, mixed with affection. It stirred the warm, aching need he experienced deep inside him, whenever their eyes met.

  A’Ran wanted anything but alone time at the light in her eyes. He started to reach for her when the door opened. If not for the warrior that entered, he would’ve put his duty aside to make love to his beautiful lifemate, conference room be damned.

  As if sensing his thought, Kiera’s features were pink. She ducked her gaze and rose.

  “I’ll go see Mansr,” she said.

  He instantly felt the loss of her warmth and presence. “Very well.” He rose and watched her leave, attention on the sway of her hips and rounded shape of her bottom. His hands clenched then released at the thought of not being able to touch her right now.

  When Kiera’s small form disappeared behind the closing door, he turned his attention to the awaiting warrior.

  The warrior bowed his head in respect before he spoke. “We examined the readings in more depth. The mines are producing at an accelerated rate.”

  “How fast?” A’Ran asked.

  “Fast enough that the miners recommend we start operations even before the atmosphere is cleared.”

  “That places them at risk.”

  “They know this. The alternative is that the metal from the mines overtakes the underground water sources and poisons them.”

  “What’s causing this?” A’Ran frowned.

  The warrior hesitated. “We don’t know. The planet could be healing itself and trying to replenish fifteen sun-cycles worth of metal at once.”

  “Or there could be something else wrong.”

  “Yes, dhjan. That is a possibility. We were unable to see beyond the surface mines to determine that.”

  A’Ran considered the information. He’d never heard of anything like this happening in the history of Anshan. In its raw form, the metal was toxic. It was the reason the atmosphere was poisonous after the explosions rigged to the planet surface took out the mines, too. The idea it might destroy their water sources before he was able to bring his people back left him frustrated. The alternative – that they killed a generation of miners to save the water and ore – was equally as weighty.

  His decision to destroy the mines and surface of the planet to get rid of its invaders had been risky, and he began to think that the damage went deeper than the planet’s surface. They’d never know for certain, however, until they were able to enter the mines and assess the layers beyond Anshan’s outer crust.

  “What is their assessment of the potential loss of life, if we start mining now?” he asked.

  “There are too many unknown factors,” the warrior reported. “We will have to drill new mines without knowing if the ground itself has become contaminated like the air.”

  A’Ran considered the words. His attention went once more to the planet projection spinning on the conference room table. While pleased with the mines’ activity, he had hoped not to place more of his soul-weary people in danger. It was not an easy choice, but it was for the greater good, like every decision he’d made the past fifteen sun-cycles.

  “Start drilling immediately,” he said with some reluctance. “Convert any of our battleships needed to support the mining. I will contact Qatwal about the atmospheric filters.” He would have to tell Kiera she was right about melting a ship or two.

  The warrior bowed and strode from the conference room into the hallway. A’Ran was still for a moment, thoughtful. He didn’t like the idea of contacting his former ally-turned-enemy, but there was no real choice. They needed the filters to save what miners they could during the dangerous process of trying to extract ore in a toxic environment.

  He touched the panel on the planning table. A projection of Mansr’s face replaced the planet on the communications viewer.

  “We will need Jetr,” A’Ran said, referring to his only remaining ally on the Planetary Council governing the Five Galaxies. “I need the filters immediately, and Qatwal will not be likely to respond to me.”

  “I will contact him upon our return,” Mansr said. “We are leaving Anshan now. I am headed back to discuss a matter with you, if you are available?”

  A’Ran nodded and tapped the viewer channel closed. The planet returned, and he paced around it. After years of leading battles, he didn’t know as much about the planet’s mining operations as he thought he should. Mansr had always stayed behind to govern, while A’Ran negotiated with the Council and fought off the Yirkin invaders that took over Anshan.

  His thoughts turned to what nishani had told him about the man who impregnated one of his sisters. A miner by trade, Ketnan should know more than the basics about the potential for operations in a toxic dust storm.

  Maybe there is a reason to meet Ketnan after all.

  The door slid open, and his uncle stepped into the conference room. A’Ran braced himself for the news he was about to receive. There was only one matter they did not trust to be carried over the communications system.

  “We have confirmed Ne’Rin did not act alone,” Mansr began, referring to A’Ran’s former second in command, who turned traitor and almost killed Kiera. Now dead, Ne’Rin was no longer a threat, though A’Ran had ordered Mansr to investigate the matter to determine who might’ve helped him. “It is as we suspected. Gage had a hand in it, whether by her choice or his coercion.”

  A’Ran did not let himself feel pain at the news. After his brief talk with Mansr that morning, the possibility his sister helped her lover betray their entire family had been heavy in his thoughts since.

  “She had to have been coerced. My sisters are good people,” he said after a heavy silence.

  “They are. I do not pretend to know her reasons.”

  “Probably to protect her child.” It was the only excuse he’d allow for treason, and only because she was his sister. “There is no way to know what occurred between them.”

  “No,” Mansr agreed. “Or if his sister and other family members were involved. All reports indicate Ne’Rin wanted Kiera out of the way so his sister could become your nishani, thus further cementing his family’s place in the governing of Anshan and its gray metal. Your recommendation is the safest one. Remove Gage from the picture to protect her and the baby from any influence or threat his family might still cause.”

  “Banishing my sister.” No part of it sat well with him. It was dishonorable, nearly as terrible of a betrayal as Ne’Rin’s had been.

  “If she’s in danger, then we have no real choice.”

  A’Ran pursed his lips, hearing the unspoken words, too. Mansr was not ruling out that Gage had helped the father of her child willingly and still posed a threat to Kiera, if not the others. Ne’Rin’s family was on a nearby planet, too far to reach Kiera, if they still had any intention of trying to remove her from his life. If they were threatening Gage and her baby, A’Ran wasn’t certain what his sister would do to protect her child. A single tip about Kiera’s activities or when she was alone was all it took to render his lifemate vulnerable.

  While doubtful his sister knowingly tried to hurt Kiera, A’Ran understood the importance of putting distance between Gage and Kiera, until he was certain the family of Ne’Rin was not still manipulating his delicate sister. Her life might be in danger, not to mention Kiera’s.

  “Very well. I want your son to accompany her,” he said. “When we are certain we have removed all threats from Ne’Rin’s family, we’ll bring her back.”

  “I will arrange it,” Mansr said with a grim nod. “This will not be an easy transition for any of you.”

  “I know.” A’Ran’s mind went to Kiera and his sisters. When he knew more, he would be at liberty to share it with his fami
ly. But for now, only he and Mansr understood what was about to happen and why it must be kept quiet.

  A’Ran wasn’t going to allow danger near his lifemate, sisters or the children two of his sisters carried. He’d learned the price of ignoring warning signs the fist time around and nearly lost Kiera in the process. Ne’Rin’s family had already produced two traitors too many, and there would be no more.

  Resolved yet regretful, A’Ran drew a deep breath. “Arrange it quickly, Mansr. The sooner we know, the sooner she returns.”

  Mansr nodded. “I understand. You are doing what is best.”

  This is one time where it doesn’t feel like it.

  Prologue: Three

  Kiera’s three sisters-in-law were waiting as customary when the craft landed on one of the two moons circling Anshan. While the other was uninhabitable, this one had become the home of A’Ran’s family and many others, especially after Anshan’s air became poisonous. Square dwellings with flat roofs lined what had been open fields just weeks before.

  Kiera grinned when the door opened to reveal his sisters. Where A’Ran’s heavy, rugged features made him beyond handsome, the same characteristics did a total disservice to his tall sisters, rendering them awkward in appearance. The youngest, Talal, waved, earning herself a stern look from the oldest, who was most like their brother in her sense of duty and decorum. The middle sister, Gage, appeared distracted and pale, her eyes haunted.

  Kiera took in the woman’s face, pitying her. Pregnant and widowed, Gage had the extra burden of carrying the child of the man who betrayed A’Ran and their entire planet. That family secret was not likely ever to be revealed, though, not if A’Ran had it his way. It didn’t seem to help Gage any, even knowing this.

  “Hey, guys!” Kiera greeted them as she reached them.

  “May the sun shine long on you, nishani,” D’Ryn, the eldest, said formally. “I hope your travels went well.”

  “They did. Mansr said he and A’Ran have some things to do on the craft. We can go ahead inside.”

  The three hesitated, and Kiera almost rolled her eyes. Talal was the first to break rank, as usual, and Kiera saw the question in her eyes before she spoke. Terrified of offending or disappointing her brother, Talal had relied on Kiera to ask about her fiancé coming to the midday meal.