Hostile Takeover: A Space Opera Adventure (Luminous Void Book 3) by Victor Evans & Melissa McCann

Author:Victor Evans & Melissa McCann [Evans, Victor & McCann, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2023-12-18T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

CALLUM

Callum stared up at the heavy wooden beams of the ceiling. It took him a moment to realize he had been expecting to see the discolored carbon-steel ceiling of his cabin aboard Luminous Void. He was back in his childhood bedroom in the royal palace of Qwell. The bedroom alone could have contained twenty cabins the same size as his. Add in the outer sitting room, and the whole suite was as big as the LV’s cargo hold.

Callum’s bed dominated the room. He ran his hand idly over the coverlet of rich blue silk, feeling the roughness of gold thread embroidery. He heard a tap at the door at the back of his bedroom where the servants’ corridor allowed the serving staff to come and go without being seen in the main hallways.

With a groan, Callum pushed himself up on one elbow. “Come in.”

The door opened wide enough for a female face to peep around the edge. Seeing him awake, she pushed it wide and came in, lugging a basket. “Did I wake you, Your Highness?”

He smiled in spite of his unsettled mood. “No, Mrs. Nowle. I was just about to get up.”

Mrs. Nowle had been his personal maid since he was a boy. She was middle-aged now. She wore a long green dress with a darker green overdress. Her hair, brown with gray threads, was twisted in a bun, and freckles covered her nose and cheeks. She moved with purpose, setting her basket on the floor and going directly to his dressing table where she sorted his toiletries into what she decided was their proper order. “Would you like me to send down to the kitchen for your breakfast, or will you be going to the main dining hall?”

On the LV, he could drag himself up to the galley for caff and something from the synthesizer to wake himself up. He hadn’t really appreciated the convenience of that.

Mrs. Nowle flitted around his room, plumping cushions and dusting surfaces. “The breakfast room is busier than usual. I think everyone staying at the palace is hoping to see you and speak to you. With His Majesty so ill, they’ve all been worried about the succession.”

Callum had gotten into another habit on Luminous Void that was creating a problem. He never wore pajamas on the ship. Last night, he had just stripped naked and dropped into bed as usual. He slid his legs from the bed and stood up, wrapping the coverlet around his waist as he hustled toward his closet.

“You don’t have anything I haven’t seen,” Mrs. Nowle called after him.

Callum blushed and laughed. With the door of the closet half-shut behind him, he dropped the coverlet and sorted through his own familiar clothing.

The maid continued to chat. “Thank Jehovah you’re home,” she was saying. “Of course, we want the king to live forever, but if the worst should happen, it comforts everyone that you will be here to take over.”

“What about my cousin Alanzo?” Callum asked. “If I wasn’t here, he’d be next in line for the throne.

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