Saga of the Skolian Empire 14 - Carnelians by Asaro Catherine

Author:Asaro, Catherine [Asaro, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, Science, Fiction, Romance, Fantasy
ISBN: 9781451638493
Google: ElMHuAAACAAJ
Goodreads: 10903078
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2011-10-11T00:00:00+00:00

XVII - One Last Night

Mac Tyler had nothing to do while he waited for security to check the building, so he settled into an armchair in the VIP waiting room and read. He had the latest draft of the book a biographer was writing about Del. Mac knew the story backward and forward; he had been Del’s manager well before the prince had become famous—or some might say infamous—for singing “Carnelians Finale.” The biographer had done a more reasonable job with this draft, toning down the hyperbole. The story was still all there, how Prince Del-Kurj Arden Valdoria Skolia never used his full name. His billions of fans knew him as Del Arden.

The biographer rhapsodized at great length about how Del sounded as good if not better when he sang live as he did in recordings. He spent so much time describing how Del could sing without technological fixes that Mac wondered if the fellow realized vocalists were supposed to know how to sing. It was certainly true, though, that at first the critics hadn’t believed Del’s talent was genuine. It was only when his producers at Prime Nova brought them in and had Del perform for them live, up close and personal, that they acknowledged his astonishing virtuosity was genuine. His dazzling quality, depth, and six-octave range were real.

Those closest to Del knew he had grown up on a rural world that eschewed technology. Although he’d had access to such advantages if he wanted them, it had never occurred to him to enhance his voice. He simply trained, almost from birth, though he hadn’t realized he was doing it. He just sang all the time, doing exercises he made up. No one on his home world liked holo-rock, including his family, the Ruby Dynasty. It wasn’t until he sang on Earth, in their lucrative and cutthroat world of entertainment, that he discovered people actually wanted to hear him. His ancestors had been genetically engineered to develop their voices as instruments, but it was the years of never-ending training that gave him what critics called “the voice of an unparalleled rock angel.”

The biographer seemed more interested in Del’s charisma, however, than his talent. Like many youths on his home world, Del had learned a form of martial arts called mai-quinjo. It left him with a dancer’s lithe grace and musculature, which for him translated into an erotic grace, not only when he moved, but even in his still postures, his hips tilted, his body relaxed and lean, as if he were about to melt into a sensual dance. It mortified Del; he never wanted anyone to see him dance. But after Prime Nova had coaxed him into working with a choreographer, his sales had soared.

It was no wonder people fell in love with Del. He looked like a misbehaved angel, with large eyes fringed by ridiculously long eyelashes. When he sang, his face could go in a heartbeat from unbearably beautiful to the snarl of passion. In his black leather, he was the ultimate pretty bad-boy, the rock god everyone wanted in their bed.

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