Awakening Read online

  REBEL MILLER BOOKS

  Copyright © 2015 by Rebel Miller

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Editor: Stephanie Fysh

  Cover art direction: Russell Morgan at www.goodsandcargo.com

  Graphic design: www.bookbaby.com

  ROMANCE, SCIENCE-FICTION, NEW ADULT

  For mature audiences only

  Available on Amazon, Kobo and iBooks

  ISBN 978-0-9947702-0-2 (EPUB)

  To my husband, Nahgeib,

  and

  my parents, Christine and Maurice

  Table of Contents

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  PROLOGUE

  I am a queen.

  Or at least that was the meaning of my name in our world’s official language. Yet I had been born to a metal worker and homemaker sixteen years earlier. I figured I would be an unrequited queen, if there ever was such a thing. Nevertheless, I knew my place within my family just as well as I knew my role within the Realm.

  My family gave me my first name, but my caste determined my last. I had always liked my last name. It was strong, distinctive and unapologetic, as well as telling my father’s profession. Together with my first name, it gave me what I believed was an undeniable presence before I even entered a room.

  Truly, who wouldn’t look to see who was named Kira Metallurgist?

  As soon as I entered the halls of the Realm Exhibition with my family, a young woman bumped into me, her expression tight as she strode passed us toward a small group. She spoke into the ear of one of the younger males then pulled a small metallic object from his coat pocket. While his friends dispersed, she took another device out of the inside flap of her black and gray jacket and started to tap at it. The young man’s face took on a pleading expression. An elderly man overseeing a nearby table with similar metallic objects on display approached them quickly with growing dismay.

  “Rabble-rousers,” Ma said to me with a frown before walking over to Da, who was at an exhibit close by. She exchanged a look with my Uncle Khelan as he approached. “Please ensure that she doesn’t get into trouble,” she said. “I know how much you like to steer her in unusual directions.”

  After nodding his compliance to Ma, Uncle put on a face of exaggerated horror for only me to see and I laughed.

  My brother and I called him “uncle,” although he wasn’t truly that. He had just always been a strong part of our lives. In my earliest memories, I could remember him sitting at our dinner table, regaling us with stories about his world in the dominion of Argon, with its luminous deep blue waters and cresting mountains. It was why I always wanted to visit his home and would be glad to do so that day.

  I hugged him. “I can’t believe I’m here.”

  He ran a hand over my head then cupped my face. “You have no idea how much it means to me that you are,” he said with a smile. “Come. It’s time I introduced you to my world.”

  Uncle took my hand, pulling me toward the rear of the hall, where the ceilings soared to unbelievable heights and windows seemed to reach for the sky beyond. Monitors just as tall showcased influential citizens, technologies and worlds I’d only ever heard about. There were people everywhere, milling about and jostling each other in an attempt to get closer to the rows of station tables filled with items on display.

  At the right of those was a stage surrounded by monitors and draped in gold and deep purple embroidered fabrics, bearing the official emblem of the Realm. Positioned in front of it was seating for what must have been a thousand people, empty at the moment, but to be filled once the Corona, our sovereign leader, took the stage later that day.

  Rhoan, my older brother by five years, came up from behind us, a chupa stick in hand.

  “Of course, the first thing you do is look for food.” I nodded to the sweet, cold candy, known only to the worlds of Hale dominion. “Or is it that food finds you?”

  “We have a long day ahead of us. Do you expect me to last these blessed long lines and crowded spaces without sustenance?” he said with a lick to the treat.

  “We ate just two hours ago, Rhoan.” I narrowly avoided barreling into a group of women. “I’m sure you’ll survive.”

  “Yes, well, I needed food, and I also wanted to say hello to a couple of old friends from the Academy. Luckily, they both happened to be at the Hale exhibit.”

  Part of Rhoan’s Primary Academy education had been the option to go to Hale world three, or Hale Three, to do military training. My family was of the Subordinate caste, so if Rhoan succeeded in advanced training, he would be elevated to the higher Protectorate caste. Rhoan had done so well at basic training that the Protectorate asked him three times to apply for advanced enrollment, but he’d turned down their requests. He told me he wanted nothing to do with the Realm’s “instrument of oppression,” but I believed it was because Rhoan was a man of the people and wanted to stay that way.

  He pivoted mid-stride to walk backward. “I’ve always had a thing for redheads,” he said, watching a tall one go by.

  “You’ll be surprised to learn then that the last girlfriend you had was not a true redhead,” I quipped, sidestepping a small child.

  He spun around to walk forward again. “You’re kidding.”

  “It was an optic. She turned it on with a tap to her comm every time she visited you,” I said, referring to the communication device we all wore on our wrists.

  Rhoan looked mortally wounded. “How do you know that?”

  “I’m a woman,” I said pertly.

  “You’re not a woman yet,” Uncle Khelan said with a wry twist to his lips. He came to an abrupt stop in front of a sign that promised never-before-seen exhibits from Argon dominion. “And please don’t remind me that you soon will be either,” he said over his shoulder as he strode through the entryway.

  I closed my mouth since that was exactly what I’d been about to say, and followed his lead. When we stepped inside, I made a slow turn, staring up at the projection cast on the high ceilings.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  Wildlife of all types and sizes, known only to Argon, swam through a watery illusion. The ceiling looked like a gigantic aquarium with long frond plants dancing silently in the undercurrents swirling overhead.

  I glanced at Uncle just as he looked down at me from the corner of his eye, a broad smile on his face. “Follow me,” he said. “There’s a lot more to see.”

  The three of us headed over to a station where, according to a sign, women were modeling the customary garb of Argon Four, Uncle Khelan’s world. They welcomed each visitor with a bite-sized brown cake with sugar crystals on top.

  I popped
one in my mouth and promptly spat it out, the pungent taste burning a peppery path across my tongue.

  Uncle Khelan chuckled as he chewed on one of his own. I waited for the expected reaction, but he had no problem eating a second cake a few moments later. “You should try it with hot mint cider. Makes the flavor stronger,” he said with a grin.

  He collected a few more of the vile treats and strode over to a table filled with the latest version of halo-readers, just released by the Protectorate. Rhoan patted my back and handed me a cup of water from a nearby patron services table.

  “Try not to make a fool out of yourself, Kira. It will reflect badly on me among the fairer citizens,” he murmured, spying another woman, this one with short, dark hair. “Had I known there’d be this many exquisite females, Hallowed Halls, I wouldn’t have been so dismissive of this farce of an event.”

  As expected, once the brunette saw my brother, she lit up like a festival-day bulb.

  Rhoan was a tall and muscular man. With light green eyes and dark hair that formed a curly black storm about his striking face, he was always attracting attention. My friends said he was handsome, so I was inclined to agree. He looked a lot like our father, only with a much darker complexion, though I could never tell him so without bearing the brunt of his disdain.

  Rhoan grinned and the brunette waved with a shy smile. But when he moved in her direction, a stack of muscle stepped in front of her, blocking his way. The muscle, clad in the black and gray uniform of the Protectorate, gave Rhoan a dark look that surely made many a man’s bladder go weak but only made my brother jut out his chin in welcome challenge. Rhoan snorted as the man gave him an unhurried once-over and walked his woman away. I rolled my eyes and turned to toss my empty cup into a nearby receptacle.

  “You really haven’t changed, have you?” a voice, deep and rich, enquired from behind me.

  A tingling sensation danced up my spine and landed somewhere about my shoulders. Turning to my brother, I saw his eyes widen and a broad smile replace his look of defiance.

  “Tai! Holy shit, it’s you!” Rhoan proceeded to pull the most beautiful man I had ever seen in for an aggressive half-hug, half-wrestle. “I stopped by your station, hoping to see the recently shackled man in his pretty uniform, but you weren’t there,” Rhoan said when they pulled apart.

  “I was called away. We had some trouble with small bands of youth stealing from station exhibits.” The demi-god named Tai slapped my brother on his back. “Fuck, you look good. Here I thought your decision to sit on your ass all day would turn you to fat, but you seem to be maintaining the regimen.”

  “Female citizens are more than enough reason for me stay in shape.” Rhoan grinned.

  “More than protecting the Realm?”

  “Ah, don’t start that again. How many times can a man say no to the Protectorate before he starts feeling abused?”

  Tai and Rhoan shared a laugh, engaging in a violent round of pats to each other’s backs.

  Good grief, he’s gorgeous.

  Tai had hazel eyes and dark brown hair that was trimmed close to his head, but the style couldn’t hide the slight curl. He cut an imposing figure at a few inches taller than my brother and was heavily muscled. I watched as he crossed his arms, the deeply tanned skin on his forearms stretched taut by the obvious strength and power within. His eyes were alight with camaraderie as he and my brother bantered back and forth about things both witty and crude.

  “Oh, sorry.” Rhoan stepped back as he remembered me and stuck his chupa to the side of his jaw. “Kira, this is Tai Sentinel, newly appointed protector and old friend from Hale. Tai, this is my kid sister, Kira.”

  Kid sister!

  I flushed and gave Rhoan an evil eye that I prayed only he could decipher. Schooling my features into a practiced look of cool sophistication, I turned to Tai as if I had only just noticed his presence.

  Tai’s eyes fell to me immediately. His gaze walked across my features — eyes, cheeks, lips and hair. I’d never been so thoroughly considered in my life. He looked befuddled for a quick moment and then his expression went blank as he pulled his shoulders back and clasped his hands behind his back.

  “A pleasure to meet you, Kira,” he said.

  “Congratulations on your seniority,” I replied quite eloquently for someone whose mouth had gone dry and whose heart was pounding through her chest.

  His thick lips ticked up into a slight grin.

  I wanted to lick those lips. I didn’t know where that came from, but the insolence of that mouth made me want to run my tongue across it.

  Sela is going to die when I tell her about this.

  Sela was my closest friend, yet we were so unalike I feared the truth was I was using her for my own gain. Truly, I could not have reached the impressive age of sixteen a studious virgin with a bright future ahead of me if not for her.

  Tai seemed to be waiting on me to say something since he continued to stare.

  “So … you and Rhoan were in training together on Hale?” My fingers played along the edges of my bag.

  “Yes, before he bailed.”

  Rhoan snorted and turned to toss the now chupa-less candy stick away.

  Tai’s eyes slipped to my mouth before bouncing back up to my eyes. My body temperature spiked. I couldn’t have been more heated if he had just kissed me instead.

  “You can’t bail on something you never had any intention of finishing in the first place,” Rhoan muttered as he turned back to us.

  Tai smirked. “If you start something, you finish it, asshole. You excelled at the program. You could be in a higher rank than me by now.”

  “I’ll always be in a higher rank than you, shit head.”

  They fell into a round of belly laughs.

  I needed to draw Tai back to more important matters before the conversation devolved into more male posturing. He seemed to bring out the cave dweller in my brother. “Your name … Tai. It’s known to our dominion. You’re originally from Prospect, then?”

  Tai sobered as he crossed his arms. “Correct.”

  I licked my lips. “So … um, you’ve been working at the exhibition today?” I didn’t know why I insisted on asking questions to which I already knew the answer.

  “Yes,” he replied, this time with a lazy smile.

  “Oh.” There was really nothing more to say. He seemed awfully cool for a person who, only a short while ago, had been effusively manhandling my brother.

  “We’re going over to the arc station next,” Rhoan chimed in. “Too bad you can’t come with us.”

  Tai turned to my brother. “My shift just ended. It’s why I’m here. I remember you saying someone in your family is from Argon.” He looked over the crowd, which seemed to be increasing, encroaching on our space. “I’m lucky I found you in all this.”

  So he did have the ability say more than a few words. Maybe he only spoke freely to males.

  “Our uncle is from Argon. Have you been there?” I threw in and narrowed my eyes, daring him to respond beyond just one word.

  His lips tipped up slightly as he glanced down at me from the corner of his eye.

  “Rhoan, Kira! Come and look at this!” Uncle bellowed. He held up a halo-reader, a wide grin across his face.

  “And there is the uncle from Argon, I imagine,” Tai said, raising an eyebrow.

  I raised my own brow and quirked my lips in response.

  We stayed at the Argon exhibit for what must have been over an hour, marveling at the stunning displays of technology and military precision while enjoying the tastes and sounds of culture and food. It was just a sampling of the dominion my uncle called home, but soon I was ready to visit the real thing.

  As we made our way over to the arc station, I learned through snippets of Rhoan and Tai’s conversation that, like Rhoan, Tai was heading to Advanced Academy this year. Tai was ambitious. He was from a family with a history of becoming leaders in the Protectorate. In fact, his father was marshal, directly supporting the high m
arshal at Realm Council, the governing body over our system, for years before he passed away from a wound he obtained during a skirmish on Dignitas dominion just the previous year. Many members of his family had died in service, leaving only his mother as a remaining close relative. Sadly, her health was failing, a condition which Tai believed was more a result of grief than physical illness.

  It was obvious that Tai was well respected among his peers. I could tell, not only from the stories he and Rhoan shared, but also by the way my brother responded to him. Rhoan was a man whom others admired, not the other way around. Yet despite their differences in opinion on governance and law, Rhoan clearly admired Tai. Though they seemed to be around the same age, Tai commanded a power and authority that belied his years.

  The arc station, as expected, was teeming with people of every caste. We wanted to visit only one world, so after a relatively short time waiting, it was our turn to enter the arc craft headed for Argon Four.

  Having settled into my seat, I started struggling with my lap belt. Tai came over and gave it a swift pull, tightening it.

  “Thank you,” I said, surprised by his unsolicited help.

  He nodded and took a seat beside Rhoan then chuckled in response to a joke my brother shared.

  I studied him. Most of the afternoon Tai had said little more than a handful of words to me and had looked my way only once, when, in my haste, I tripped and nearly fell face first at the arc station. Rhoan had stopped me from my fall, but I’d been humiliated to have Tai see me act the clumsy little sister despite my best efforts. I had peered up at him to find him staring at me with an unreadable expression. I determined shortly thereafter that he was an aloof snob, and I was becoming quite comfortable with that categorization when he’d suddenly come over to help with my belt.

  With a small shake of my head, I decided to figure him out later. I had more important matters at hand.

  When the greeting and instructional messages on the monitors came to an end, I squeezed my uncle’s arm. “This is incredible!” I said. Uncle Khelan’s eyes gleamed — he was as excited as I was.

  It was many hours later when we left Argon to return to the halls. Like many other citizens in attendance, we chose to end the day by attending the Corona’s address to the Realm.