Empire's Son: An Epic Science Fiction Novel Series

Kaller lay in his bed glaring at the ceiling, because he had nothing else better to do. All his movements had been restricted until his injuries could be fully healed by the Remaker, which according the the Caretaker would be a few more days at least. Apparently, the damage had been quite extensive.

Normally Kaller wouldn’t mind as much, since getting injured was an expected hazard of being a Protector. But as the Caretaker listed out all the injuries he had amassed because of that upstart Prince and the time it would take to heal it all, Kaller found himself in a simmering rage, but the bad news didn’t stop there.

Shortly after the Caretaker had left Kaller to rest, he’d received a visit from Lieutenant Camden who apparently would be taking over Kaller’s job temporarily until a new Protector could be procured. The Zahnian informed Kaller of the Emperor’s edict and the Lieutenant’s new role, not that the Captain was completely surprised by any of it.

He remembered the brief interview with the Emperor while he still lay in the Remaker. Kaller had been too out of it to fully register what had happened then, but that look in the Emperor’s eyes had said it all. And thirty-one years of impeccable service had abruptly come to an end because Kaller’s charge had lost trust in his Protector.

There was no coming back from something like that, not between those bonded in a blood oath. It was a relationship based in a deep foundation of trust, and once shaken, the severing of the bond began. Kaller could feel it. That invisible cord that had connected them for three decades, unraveling like frayed rope coming undone.

He would still have to go through the severing ceremony, but that was really more of a formality than anything. An embarrassing one at that. What a way for a service to end. Kaller always imagined his service would end in glorious death, protecting his charge. Now he would be facing his worst nightmare.

It wasn’t right. Kaller had only been trying to protect his charge, but the Emperor hadn’t seen that. He didn’t appreciated what Kaller had tried to do. It was something the Captain had done dozens of times before to warn off potential threats, but because this had been the Emperor’s precious returned Heir, Kaller was paying the price.

It makes one wonder. What else father will do for that brat? He isn’t thinking straight, Hame. He’s so bent about Aragon taking Adar away from him in the first place, he can’t see what he’s doing.

Kaller had had his suspicions about that before, now he knew it for sure. The Emperor wasn’t thinking straight. He didn’t see the threat right in front of his very nose, and that worried Kaller to no end. What would happen to the Emperor, now that he didn’t have a Protector?

It would take at least a couple of weeks for Kaller to finish healing, return to the College, and go through the severing ceremony. Then once a new Protector was instated, it would still take awhile to get caught up on the routines of the Emperor as well as all of the potential threats. Meanwhile, the Emperor would be dangerously exposed.

Lieutenant Camden and the rest of the palace guard would do their best, but none of them were Protectors. They simply weren’t prepared for the kind of threat that the Heir made. And with Kaller being dismissed for going up against the Heir in the first place, maybe even the new Protector would think twice before even considering him as a threat.

A terrible idea began to grow in Kaller’s mind as he lay there incapacitated. What if that had been the plan from the beginning? What if the returned Heir was Aragon’s ultimate revenge on the Emperor? Zorren had certainly hinted as much.

Kaller was still trying to come to terms with the Prince seeming to know quat-lo. But if this was what the Captain thought it was, maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised. Just as Zorren had implied. Aragon had had twenty years to teach an impressionable child, and turn a son against his father.

In fact, it begged the question. Why after twenty years had the traitor’s location finally been revealed? Had it been by design? Had Aragon been working with the Fazha all along? After all, why bother creating a weapon against the Emperor if it was never used.

It made a certain kind of sense, especially if they had been working together from day one. Aragon’s escape had been too clean. Too perfect. He might have once been one of the best Protector’s the Protectorate had ever put out, but he was on the run with the Empress and the small Prince in tow. Nearly the entire Empire had been involved in the hunt, but somehow the traitor had gotten away without a trace?

It had always been the running theory that Aragon had received help, but from whom, no one had been able to figure out. What if it had been the Fazha? And in return when the time was right and the weapon ready, they would use the information to get what they wanted––the Qua-zot Sectors.

The pieces fit. Perfectly. Kaller could see it plain as day. So why couldn’t the Emperor? His charge had the benefit of the Perception Dome-ni, and still he was completely blind to the threat against him. But that was what Zorren had been trying to warn him against. The Emperor simply could not be objective when it came to his youngest son.

Kaller let out a frustrated breath. And here he was, bed ridden for at least the next few days, and expected to go back to the College. First for the severing ceremony, then probably for some ridiculous teaching position where his intense training and capabilities would go to die.

The Captain shook his head. He needed to get his mind off things before he drove himself crazy. Usually, he would just go spar in the training room or have vigorous sex to release his frustrations, but since his movements were restricted, he was stuck here.

Kaller leaned over and pulled his unity ring off the nightstand. Just that little bit of movement caused pain to shoot through his chest. It took a moment for it to subside. It was blinking green, showing he had many missed messages. He tapped the display in top to open the message menu.

In fact, he had several, but there was one that caught his attention. He selected the name of the person who sent it and watched as her familiar image materialized just in front of him. Kaller caught the haunted look on her face immediately.

“Kaller, I am sorry I can’t be there with you right now. I know you probably are feeling upset right now. I’m not sure if anyone told you or not, but I got myself banished from the palace.

“I did something I know I shouldn’t have, but I was upset. He almost killed you and I just couldn’t let that pass. What can I say? I think I have a thing for you,” a familiar smirk came to the woman’s face before she continued. “What a way to figure that out, huh?

“Anyways, as I’m sure you know, I can’t go back home. My father isn’t even returning my calls. So I’ve decided to go to Vega Prime to see you know who. I figure what do I have to lose? Life as I know it is already over. This will follow me the rest of my life.

“I’m not sure when, or even if you will get this message before they send you away, but I thought I would let you know where I was. In case, you know…” she trailed off and looked hesitant for a moment, which was strange to see since she always seemed so confident and sure of herself. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I hope you will join me. When you can, of course.

“I don’t know how long I will be on Vega Prime, but I know you need to go to the College for the severing, but maybe after that…”

Again the woman trailed off. She bowed her head for a long moment, and when she raised it, Kaller could see tears running down her cheeks.

“This isn’t easy for me. I never expected it to go like this. For any of it between you and me. It’s not why I was at the palace. But there it is, just the same. So come find me––if you want to, that is.”

The image of Tessa gave him one last forlorn look before the recording ended and her image blinked out.

Kaller felt a tightness in his chest. He’d met Tessa shortly after she had come to stay at the palace nearly three years ago. He hadn’t thought much of her at the time, especially since he knew she was one of many women that had been sent by their fathers to secure a union contract with any noble born man they could get.

Some were successful. Others not so much. Tessa had been well received by many of the highborns. But Tessa had her sights on a bigger prize from the very beginning. Preferably a Zahn, but the Emperor had been the one she was really after. Only he hadn’t given her so much as a glance. Not that it was a huge surprise. The Emperor had sworn off intimate relationships since Leeta, claiming himself simply too tired of all that nonsense.

Most had long since stopped trying to change his mind years ago, but Tessa had taken it as a personal challenge. And she figured if she couldn’t seduce him directly, then she made it a point to target every man close to him, including his three sons. And still, she got nothing but silence from the Emperor.

Kaller knew all too well what she was up to when she set her sights on him after the Emperor’s sons were banished from the palace. He didn’t care. She was fun in bed, and she was all too willing.

For awhile that’s all it was––fun. But over the last month, Tessa had been spending her nights almost exclusively with Kaller. He had to admit that he liked that. More than he could even admit to himself.

Now she was gone, and he didn’t even know why. No one had told him she had been banished. But from the sounds of things, it seemed she’d done something to the newest Heir. Anger coursed through him. She was yet another casualty of the Returned Prince.

He stewed for awhile before he realized what she had meant when she said she was going to Vega Prime and to see you know who. The anger fell away as he considered her words. Was she really doing what he thought she was doing?

It was a bold move, but then if she had been banished from the White Palace, then it left her with precious little options. No one with half a mind would take her in, not after being banished by the Emperor. Except for maybe someone else who had gotten the same treatment. For close to the same reasons too.

The only thing Kaller couldn’t figure out was how she had known Zorren was even on Vega Prime. All of the sons had been keeping a low profile since their banishment, and Kaller had only revealed the locations of the Princes to the Emperor.

Though, Kaller supposed it didn’t matter. Tessa didn’t come right out and say it, but there was no doubt in his mind that she was going to meet up with Zorren, and he knew why. In all honesty, he felt the desire to do the same. If anyone in the Empire understood his predicament, the former Ascendant would.

He might even be interested in Kaller’s theory about Aragon and the Fazha working together, if he hadn’t already figured it out. Even if he did, Kaller figured the Prince would welcome an ally, or at least he hoped he would.

Kaller began to make plans in his mind as he lay there, and for the first time since he received the bad news, the Captain felt hope. Certainly, he would never get his coveted position back as Protector to the Emperor, but maybe he could at least make the Returned Prince pay for the damage he had done to him and Tessa.