Sea of Stars Read Online Free PDF Page B

still formidable. He’s nowhere near grandfatherly, unless the grandfather was ex–Special Forces and addicted to steroids. I doubt very much that I’d last more than a second with him in a fight, not a fair one anyway. He towers over me.
    He holds a very stylized handheld cig-a-like smoker. It’s silver with a few gold cog-like coins embossed on the long shaft. He puts the black mouthpiece to his lips and sucks in the water vapor from the pipe. He exhales a puff of fragrance not unlike brown sugar. I silently vow to never eat anything that smells like that again.
    I turn away from him, facing Manus in the medical stasis tank once more. “What happened to him?” I ask. One shoulder looks as if it had been bitten off by a rather large shark, and there are burns that go to the bone on his legs, abdomen, and face.
    “ Haut Manus”—his stress on Manus’s elite title is less than respectful—“was wounded quite severely. I believe he was struck by sonic sayzers — he has contusions—”
    “Excuse me, but what are sonic sayzers?”
    “It’s a weapon strapped to the arm.” He moves his liver-spotted wrist between me and the tank and makes gestures indicating the weapon is affixed somehow on one’s wrist and aimed Spider-Man style. “It projects sound in bursts at frequencies that can shatter bones and rupture cells.” He drops his wrist to his side, drawing another puff from his cig-a-like.
    “Where does the sound come from?”
    “Preprogrammed frequencies. Some are milder than others. Injuries can be superficial or substantial, based upon the calibration. The Regent suffered injuries that are consistent with a lethal frequency.” He doesn’t sound unhappy about the unfortunate injuries suffered by his sovereign.
    “So they’re killer noisemakers.” I interpret. “Where did this happen?”
    “The Alameeda caught him in the floral gardens of the palace. The sonic sayzers ruptured cells in his upper right torso, right shoulder, neck, and cranial areas. He had to have regenerative skin grafts and cell modifications.” He touches the tank and a log of the procedure lights up, projecting images of Manus and his injuries onto the glass so that I can view it. I wince. It’s gruesome.
    “But he’ll live, right?” I ask, irritated that I’m worried about Manus after all he did to me. He’s a complication I don’t need, but I don’t hope for his death.
    “Your fiancé will survive,” he assures me.
    “I’m no longer the Regent’s fiancée. That ended last night.”
    “Oh, I know. You were never going to commit to him. You haven’t asked me who I am yet,” the man adds in a sinister tone. This is a game to him and he’s enjoying it.
    “I know who you are. You’re Head Defense Minister Telek.”
    “You surprise me,” he says disdainfully, with a cold glare. He must not like surprises. “Is that one of your priestess gifts?”
    “Hardly. Your soldiers read your order to us when we were arrested. You ordered me into your custody for interrogation. So . . . here I am.”
    “Yes, here you are,” he agrees. “It has been reported that you had some prior knowledge that there would be an Alameeda attack last night.”
    “I knew they were coming, if that’s what you mean.”
    “That is what I mean. How did you know?”
    “I witnessed the attack before it happened,” I answer, meeting his unwavering stare. His violet eyes make me want to shiver from the hatred I see in them.
    “You . . . witnessed it?” comes his skeptical reply. “In a crystal ball perhaps? Isn’t that what human witches use?”
    “I’m neither human nor a witch,” I reply, trying not to let him rile me. It’s what he wants and I won’t do what he wants, not for anything.
    “No, you’re an Alameeda priestess,” he agrees.
    “I’m a coriness of Rafe,” I counter.
    He doesn’t miss a step. “You didn’t answer my question. Do you use a crystal ball?”
    “Not quite. It’s more of an out-of-body