Lost Star by Hawke, Morgan (digital book reader .TXT) 📕

he had taken for balconies were in fact broad landing platforms nearly forested with huge flowering trees. The tower was monstrous at nearly two meters wide.

The limousine and the transporter passed through a shimmering energy field and drifted toward the mid- to lower levels, then settled down onto one of the smaller landing platforms, the size of four city blocks. The limousine door opened.

Ravnos stepped out into bright sunshine and a warm sea breeze. The view was spectacular. From where he stood, he was able to see the coastline for almost the entire island.

A young gentleman in a bright blue frockcoat and knee breeches approached from the glass double doors. His feathered tricorn hat sat atop curling black hair that was tied back at his nape with a broad blue bow. His entire ensemble was practically dripping with frothy white lace. He bowed. “Welcome to Barbados Prime, Captain Ravnos. I am Toggs, chamberlain to the president.” He turned to the side and waved a hand toward the open doors beyond. “The president is waiting for you.”

Ravnos, his lieutenant, and four of his crew followed Toggs through the double doors and along curving carpeted hallways with floor-to-ceiling windows along one side. Ravnos couldn’t help but stare at the panoramic view.

Toggs stopped at a pair of mirrored doors that parted to reveal a lift. Long minutes passed on the rising elevator marked by Terran classical instrumental music. It finally stopped, and the mirrored doors parted.

Interstellar Service & Discipline: Lost Star

105

Ravnos stepped out into a broad and expansive round room. The floor, the distant curving walls, and the pillars that marched all the way around the room were cream marble flecked with gold. His gaze was drawn from the extravagant and blatantly erotic statues stationed between the pillars, and then upward to the gigantic mural that spread across the domed ceiling overhead. It featured two ancient sailing ships engaged in a sea battle during a storm. Ravnos’s brows lifted. Apparently, the president was quite fond of his ancient history.

Toggs stepped to the side. “Please go in, Captain Ravnos; however, I would ask that your men remain by the door.”

Ravnos tilted his head at his lieutenant.

The lieutenant signaled to his men, and the four crewmen split into two pairs and took position on either side of the door.

The president’s chamberlain nodded.

Ravnos turned and strode down the carpeted runner toward the far end of the room and the golden oak desk perched on an exotic Terra-Persian styled rug.

Behind the desk sat a man in a gold frockcoat, his long blond hair tied back with an extravagant cream bow. Directly behind him two guards stood at attention. Despite their seemingly frivolous dark blue frockcoats trimmed in black lace, there was no mistaking that both guards were marine augmented. They held tall pole-arms tipped with blades that crackled faintly, revealing that they were in fact electromagnetic weapons designed specifically to fry an attacker’s mechanical augmentations.

Standing before the desk stood a tall, slender figure entirely swathed in a frost white hooded cloak.

The man behind the desk leaned back in his chair and smiled up at the figure before him. “I will allow you passage to search for your missing…person.”

The cloaked figure sketched a small bow. “Thank you, President Kidd…”

“However…” The man behind the desk lifted a cautionary finger. Lace frothed from his wide gold coat cuffs. “You may not collect him without his verbal consent.”

The figure in white stiffened. “What?”

The president smiled and folded his hands together. “You said yourself that he’s not a criminal, but someone you care deeply for.”

“Yes, but…”

The president tilted his head to the side. “Then why would he not consent to leaving with you?”

The figure in white took a step back, bowed stiffly, then straightened. “I accept your terms.”

The president nodded, and his smile broadened. “Good luck on your hunt.”

Ravnos slowed his steps. Something about the hooded figure in white made his heart slam in his chest, but it didn’t feel like fear. It felt more like…anticipation.

106

Morgan Hawke

The figure whirled around in a swath of white silk, revealing a pale, masculine face carved in exotic lines with high cheekbones and delicately pointed ears. His full lips were drawn into a tight line, and his electric blue eyes burned with intensity. A long, slender, snow-white braid fell over the shoulder of his black, iridescent, body-hugging ship-suit to tumble past his waist. A plain and very businesslike sword was belted at his hip. Gleaming black boots rode all the way up to his thighs.

He was painfully beautiful, and definitely Skeldhi.

Ravnos stiffened. Oh, crap…

The Skeldhi’s long strides carried him back down the carpeted walkway straight toward Ravnos.

Ravnos continued forward, staring dead ahead, his gaze firmly on the distant wall and away from the other man’s eyes.

The man marched past Ravnos, the white cloak brushing against the hem of Ravnos’s long black coat.

Ravnos took a completely unintentional breath. The rich scent of the man walking past him filled his nose and lifted every hair on his body. He knew that scent. He knew this man. Heat coursed all the way through him, and sheer shock spilled in cold waves that lifted the hair on his body. Oh my gods…Seht? Somehow, he continued to walk forward without the slightest hint of the vertigo spilling through his limbs.

Behind him, the lift pinged, indicating that the doors had closed, carrying the Skeldhi prince elsewhere.

Ravnos very nearly walked into the desk before him. He stopped, startled at his sudden arrival.

The man seated behind the desk tilted his head, one golden brow lifted. “Captain Ravnos, I presume?”

Interstellar Service & Discipline: Lost Star

107

Chapter Seventeen

Standing before the gracefully carved golden oak desk, Ravnos bowed to the president of the Republic of the Caribbean Stars. “President Kidd.” His expression was perfectly neutral, despite the fact that it felt as though a fist had closed tight around his heart. He utterly refused to even consider that the painful ache attempting to choke off his breath had