Snow Cheetah (Chronicles of Kassouk Book 5) by Vijaya Schartz

Author:Vijaya Schartz [Schartz, Vijaya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BWL Publishing Inc.
Published: 2019-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

In the Palace of Princes, Natalia paced the council chamber. She struggled to keep Martial out of her mind, hoping he was safe and didn’t violate too many rules to prevent her would-be-consort from attending the ceremony. “Prince Kaylar is nowhere to be found. I can’t say I’m sorry about it, but we have to deal with the facts.”

To one side of the oval council table, the brethren of the Scimitar and the Star sat very still, eyes unfocused, attempting to communicate with their precious Kaylar... with no success.

Natalia’s uncle, the regent in charge, took a deep breath and released it slowly. “If his mind cannot be reached, if he is no longer part of the collective consciousness, we can only assume he is dead.”

Natalia hoped this wasn’t the case. She took a calming breath to push the guilt deeper into her consciousness... she must move forward.

A young noble with the scalp tattoo of Kaylar’s sect rose to speak, trembling with indignation. “No, Prince Kaylar cannot be dead.”

The regent raised one eyebrow in the direction of the young man. “Do you know something? Or do you have another explanation?”

The youth blushed a deep crimson. “He could be underground, where our minds cannot reach.”

A loud murmur rolled over the council table, like a wave.

Fire flashed in her uncle’s eyes. “To what purpose? Why would he be underground on the morning of his coronation? No decent Starling would ever go there.”

“What if something happened to him?” The young masculine voice cracked. “What if he were attacked, forced underground? Or he could be unconscious.”

Natalia held her breath. Did the young man know something? She glared at the young prince. “Are you insinuating that a Starling prince was overcome by inferior beings? That is blasphemous.”

The youth glanced furtively, right and left around the oval table. “He could have been the victim of other Starlings.”

Natalia pinned him with a harsh stare. “Are you implying that the Starlings are somehow divided? That some of us harbor secrets from each other?”

The princes on one side of the table erupted into a cry of protest, while those of the Scimitar and the Star kept neutral faces. She sensed no grief or worry from them. Could all the brethren of the Scimitar and the Star keep their deepest thoughts and emotions secret?

“This is an outrage.” Her uncle waved down the outcry to face the youth. “I will not hear any more of this nonsense.” He cleared his voice. “The most logical and probable explanation is that Prince Kaylar is somehow dead. We shall delay this announcement until we have clear confirmation, of course.”

Natalia thought about what Martial had said. He was right. Kaylar and his sect managed to keep secrets. She shook her head to shake the slimy sensation of betrayal. Martial could be right about other things as well... What if her people were no better than the scum of the galaxy they so despise? She refused to believe her entire caste was corrupt... but there could be a few bad apples.

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