Title: Forbidden Pursuits
Series: The Galactic Captains, Book Two
Author: Harry F. Rey
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: December 3, 2018
Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 47700
Genre: Science Fiction, sci-fi, futuristic, war, space, multiple partners, royalty, romance
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Synopsis
When Daeron’s mother, Captain Sanya, is
offered a risky but lucrative job, rescuing an experimental galinium scientist
from Aldegar, the lost loves lurking in her past mean she must send Daeron away
to the other end of the galaxy—to the father he’s never met on the Kyleri
Empire’s capital, Jiwani.
On Jiwani, the heir to the galaxy’s most
powerful empire, Prince Osvai, balances deference to rigid Kyleri customs with
his desire to explore the forbidden secrets of the Royal Baths, and the dark
pursuits no prince should have.
But when a mysterious stranger from the
Outer Verge turns up to work with his ambitious Uncle Viscamon, Osvai’s
temptations lead him into a web of intrigue that could change the Galactic
Balance forever.
As Sanya, Daeron, and Osvai pursue their
forbidden desires, they become entwined in a galactic power struggle stretching
from the frozen tundra of Jansen to the searing memories of Captain Ales’s lost
homeworld, Teva.
They’ll soon discover all love has
consequence, and the more forbidden the desires, the more deadly the pursuits.
Excerpt
Forbidden Pursuit
Harry F. Rey © 2018
All Rights Reserved
Chapter One
A trembling fear crept over Osvai as he
wandered through crystal corridors, his destination no place for the heir to
the Empire of a Million Suns. High-heeled shoes clicked against the glass floor
while floating robes of crimson silk swished around his legs. Thankfully, the
floor wasn’t translucent, but the walls were, and outside shone the brilliant
view of a bright Jiwani day, the shimmering towers of the Crystal City set
against the deep-green forested hills of Alsatan in the distance. The hills
were oddly misshapen: lumps of raw clay dried out and taken over by vegetation.
The ones in the distance appeared as ridges etched in shadow in the ocean-blue
sky.
It would not be the end of the imperium
if someone spotted Osvai here on his own. But questions would be asked. Serious
ones. Most likely from his uncle Viscamon. Trips to the baths were affairs of
state, not jaunts for pleasure.
He may only be nineteen, but Osvai knew,
with a frail father entering his one hundred and fiftieth year and a ruthless
uncle on the prowl, danger lurked around any wrong turn. Hence the pink silk
scarf covering his smooth black hair and wrapped tightly around his face, so
anyone he passed would only see dark-brown eyes set against sunset-colored
skin.
Dressed like this, he’d pass for any
other highborn Kyleri noble taking a pleasurable midafternoon stroll around the
artisanal boutiques and raw fish delicatessens of the Crystal City. The jewel
of the planet Jiwani, heart of the ancient and powerful Kyleri Empire. Alsata
itself a shimmering city with towers of pure crystal and diamond that could
blind a ship’s captain long before she even approached orbit. At certain points
in the summer season, the sun reflecting off the Crystal City fired beams of
light deep into space. A constant reminder to the souls existing in the orbital
stations and surrounding moons of an imperium with the power of a star itself.
The Royal Baths of Alsata were carved
into the very crust of Jiwani, far below the Crystal City. The flow of natural
volcanic water channeled into a thousand different pools throughout the
cavernous labyrinth frequented daily by Kyleri nobles. The Emperor’s Pool in
the center by far the largest, surrounded by multiple viewing galleries carved
into the rock above for courtiers to see and be seen.
Osvai instantly recalled his trips there
with his father and the rest of the imperial court; the smell of the sulfurous
rock and the incredible smoothness of his skin after every visit. He used to
sit, bored to infinity, splashing at the warm water’s edge as thousands of
naked men milled around, conducting their business in steam baths and hot
springs as military men swam never-ending laps to show off their physical
prowess. Meanwhile, the inner circle of Emperor Kantori would lounge upon
silken beds on the raised royal dais next to the Emperor’s Pool, their bodies
slathered with oil and their muscles massaged by young servants as they traded
gossip and intrigue from across the Million Suns of the Empire.
Osvai had spent many long hours as a
child simply staring at those servants’ bodies, watching sweat drip down
chiseled chests as thick arms worked through the fat of the imperial court. The
customs and etiquette of the Royal Baths were the last fragment to a measure of
supposed equality in the Kyleri system of government. Affairs of the empire
conducted in hundred-degree heat amid clouds of steam and hot bubbling water
came without the trappings of office. Instant judgment by a snobbish courtier
based on the quality of one’s silks or the value of jewels around one’s neck
was suspended. While a man must be of certain pedigree to attend the baths,
indeed even to live on Jiwani, in nakedness, all men at least appeared equal.
Osvai had become so wrapped up in his
thoughts he hadn’t noticed he’d nearly arrived at the elevator which would take
him straight down into the bowels of the planet. A door of clouded glass opened
and a gaggle of laughing men emerged wrapped in soft silks and crystal heels.
Their faces colored pink from the baths and their bright skin looking fresh,
peeled and scraped in preparation for the upcoming Feast of the Thirteenth
Star. For a split second, Osvai wondered why they didn’t gasp in awe at his
presence and bow down to the floor, as is custom upon seeing a member of the
imperium, but he quickly remembered his attempt at disguise and moved aside as
the men passed by him without another look. Although who could even recognize
him outside of royal garb and accompanying heavy makeup was anyone’s guess.
Osvai took long, deep breaths, trying to
calm his fluttering stomach; but the hot air against the silk only made him
warmer. No one would ever imagine these ancient baths, which held such exalted
status in the imperial court, had such a dark and dirty secret hidden within.
He still wasn’t completely sure the hidden gallery was real, having pieced
together its existence from the whispered snippets of hushed chatter overheard
from palace servants and pleasure slaves. To think all this had been going on
right under the nose of his father’s moral crusade terrified him. The elevator
descending hundreds of meters into the darkness underground caused him to
tremble as a rock trapped in a stream, leaving nothing but a trickling fear
rushing through his ears.
The elevator doors opened into the heat
of the underground. Hundreds of robed men floated around the grand entranceway
to the baths, the ceiling supported by columns of carved rock. The soft light
of mini-pulsars beamed down as the sound of trickling water from inside the
rock mingled with the din of polite conversation of a self-serving elite.
Banners of crimson hung all around them, displaying the golden thirteen-pointed
star, the sigil of the Kyleri Empire.
Being alone among a flock of groups, Osvai
felt rather exposed. One came to the baths as part of a social group, or with
those with whom one wished to do business. So Osvai walked with haste past
huddles of men, from the young and ambitious to the aging and powerful. His
robes fluttered behind him and diamond heels clipped the polished rock floor.
But instead of going straight toward the wide archway of the main entrance, he
veered to the right. Behind a column of intricately carved rock, displaying
ancient scenes from the Kyleri past, the promised service entrance emerged. A
group of half a dozen older men who appeared to be royal courtiers stood near
the narrow opening in the rock wall, idly chatting. Osvai’s heart almost
stopped when he recognized one of their faces. He would have to walk past them
to get inside. They’d wonder where he was going. He would simply die if any one
of them pointed out he was going the wrong way.
Osvai kept his head down and brought the
silk scarf lower over his forehead. He kept walking; there was no other choice.
Out of the corner of his eye, he thought one glanced at him strangely, but
before long he’d made it around the rocky corner, now shielded from any
penetrating gaze. Suddenly alone, he should’ve felt relief, but only more
nerves came from worrying about what further obstacles might lie ahead.
Eventually, the narrow corridor cut into
the rock ended at a bolted door of heavy wood. “Poor man’s entrance” had been
scrawled across the top of the doorway. Osvai recoiled for a moment at the
words. The conversations he’d eavesdropped on were right. Any self-respecting
Jiwani noble would run to the end of the empire before going anywhere near a
poor man’s entrance. Unless of course, one knew what lay behind.
Osvai’s heart pounded far louder than
the light tap he gave the door. A growing part of him worried this was all a
terrible mistake. He’d let his base desires run away with him. He’d snuck out
of the imperial palace for this. To be caught now was nowhere near suffering
the indignity of being seen out of royal dress or walking unescorted among the
people. Those behaviors could, albeit with difficulty, be explained as youthful
exploration. No, this was disobedience on a whole new level.
The shame it would bring to the very
heart of the imperium. The legacy of his father left in tatters by the crudest
actions imaginable of his only remaining son. Actions that went against
everything Emperor Kantori had dedicated his life to. The scandal would envelop
the court; even the empire itself. Fornication among men with the imperial heir
in the sanctity of the royal baths. It would only confirm the subtle assertions
Viscamon whispered around court that Osvai was unfit to inherit the largest and
most powerful empire in the galaxy.
The light tapping had worked. The door
opened. Osvai swallowed hard, not listening to the pounding in his ears, and
stepped into the darkness. The door closed behind him. Now there was no turning
back.
“Which side are you after?” A gruff
voice said. An old man wearing nothing but a loincloth and a utility belt
covered in keys and tools emerged from the darkness, illuminated by a candle in
his bony hand. It seemed to be the entrance to maintenance, not the pathway to
debauchery.
“I’m sorry?”
“Which side?” The maintenance man held
up the candle and peered into Osvai’s eyes. “If you’re after the top side
you’re in the wrong place. Their entrance is from inside the baths. This is
bottom only, you understand?”
Osvai swallowed, his breath hot against
the scarf again. Heat radiated from the rocks cramped around him. His heart
felt close to bursting out of his chest. Sweat pricked all over his body. He
had to breathe. Hoping the darkness would add extra cover, he pulled off the
scarf, took in a deep breath, and nodded.
“You know the rules here?”
Osvai nodded again and bit down on his
bottom lip, his face now exposed in the candlelight flickering in the hot
shadow of danger. He didn’t know the rules but didn’t care to either. He knew
what he might get here, and that was enough. Talking would lead to thinking,
and thinking would cause him to run for his life. Right now, Osvai only wanted
to feel the forbidden touch of men, countless hundreds of men the hidden
gallery promised. The keys jingled on the man’s belt as he apparently finished
his investigation, turned away, and began to walk down the cave, holding the
candle high and beckoning Osvai to follow.
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