The Marenon Chronicles Collection - By Jason D. Morrow Page 0,32

graciously and motioned her to the balcony where he had been standing. He sipped the hot liquid and let it melt his insides. It calmed his nerves, something he needed when Nalani was in the room. It was difficult for him to talk to her as any other. She wasn't normal. She was the love of his life.

“Today's the big day,” she said. Julian couldn't tell if it was a question or a statement.

“Yes,” he answered. “Today is the big day.”

She leaned her back against the ledge to meet his face as he stepped to it to look out over the horizon. He tried not to look at her for too long in case she started to sense his feelings of anxiety.

“Do you think Morgan will even see you?”

“Doubtful,” Julian said. “He'll probably send one of his advisors or someone useless to dismiss me.”

“What will you do then?”

Julian shrugged. “I haven't really thought that far.”

“Still thinking about yesterday?”

He sighed. “There is too much going on right now. The Stühocs are getting stronger. My brother is making the Humans weaker and the Erellens have not spoken to either group for seventeen years. Holden is under my skin and Barton Teague shouldn't even be here, not yet, at least. We’re not ready.”

“You took it kind of rough yesterday,” she said thoughtfully.

He looked down to her. It was difficult to be angry when she stood next to him so stunning. “Why didn't you contact me, Nalani?”

“We were called to a meeting of the council and I assumed you knew about it,” she answered simply. “When the meeting started, I figured you told Dublin you couldn’t make it because you were still out on the mission.”

Julian believed her. There was no reason not to. The two of them had formed a special bond over the past several years. She had been under training to be on the council about the same time he was. Her abilities matched no other. She could fight her way out of a den of Stühocs with her agility and swordplay. She was no one to pick a fight with. She was a year older than he, still making him the youngest of the council members. They had much in common. Both of them had died on Earth when they were only children. Nalani had no recollection of her death. Unfortunately Julian remembered his death in vivid detail.

He could remember only bits and pieces of his father's story and his rise to kingship. It had been a time of war and great turmoil when the Stühocs were terrorizing the whole land and the armies of Farlaweer and the Dunarians were still trying to grow after their own war some years before. Ruben had died a normal man on Earth and became a king within a few years in Marenon. It was difficult to believe, but true.

Nalani never knew her story. Her parents apparently never came to Marenon. She was raised in Marenon by a couple that had died in a plane crash many years before. They were now a part of the Dunarian people and lived in the city of Jekyll Rock. As her talents emerged while in the Order, Councilwoman Katherine Fallera recognized her abilities. Julian and Nalani were accepted to the council on the same day, two years before.

“What do you think of Teague?” Julian asked her, making sure not to stare too long.

She didn't speak for a long moment, gathering her thoughts, probably hoping she would say the right thing without making Julian angry.

“I think you should give him chance,” she said. “He is the founding member and I think his opinion is valuable.”

“He's trying to interfere with our mission, with The Reckoning.”

“Operation Reckoning was his idea, Julian,” she said setting her cup on the ledge. “If it were not for him you wouldn't be trying to get the medallions in the first place.”

“He didn't stay to finish!” Julian retorted.

“You know what situation he was in, Julian. Don't be naïve.”

He sighed then nodded. She was right, but it didn't change the fact that he didn't like this Barton Teague or Garland Ainsley, whatever he was now called. Even if he did set the plan in motion it was out of his hands now.

Nalani had always been fascinated by the story of Ainsley. The mystery of his sudden disappearance, then reappearance at the coming of the Meshulan, had always seemed too good to be true. Then when he showed up only days before, she became enthralled all the