The Final Key: Part Two of Triad Read Free Page B

way. He had no formal education in childhood development, but he was the oldest of ten children, and none of his siblings had been like this. Taquinil had a boy's voice, but sometimes he sounded more like an adult than some adults. From the effusive comments of the boy's tutors, Eldrin gathered that most children didn't learn to read before they were two. Lyshrioli natives didn't read at all. He didn't know many Skolian children, and Taquinil's handful of friends were older than him, which made it hard to judge. Besides, royal
    tutors always praised royal children. That had certainly been true for Eldrin, even when he didn't deserve it He did know that Taquinil could read and write much better than he, and that the boy understood more math than Eldrin would probably ever know. He didn't have a good sense of how far above the norm Taquinil was, but it made him proud to have a smart son.
    "My thanks, young man," Eldrin said. As he stood up, the room swirled around him. It had settled down from last night though, and from his dreams, which had floated in a blissful fog. He let out a satisfied breath. "I feel good."
    Holding his son's hand, he went to the kitchen. He walked by the wine cabinet with barely a thought for a drink. And if his head was beginning to ache and his pulse to stutter in odd ways as the medicine wore off, well, that would go away soon, he felt certain.
    Surely he had nothing to worry about.
    1
    Reunion
    Starship engines. Soz considered them the sexiest subject at DMA, the Dieshan Military Academy. Full-color holos of an inversion engine rotated above the media table. She highlighted the fuel selector in purple, the cooling coils in green, and the engine column in white. Her course in Jag engineering was sheer pleasure. It almost let her forget the threat of war that loomed over her people. Almost.
    "Look at you," Soz crooned. "Beautiful engine."
    A laugh rumbled nearby. "Maybe if you treated your dates that way, you'd have more success with men."
    She looked up with a jerk. Jazar Orand was leaning against a console with his muscular arms crossed and his dark hair sleek against his head. At nineteen, he was a year older than Soz. Last year they had entered the Dieshan Military Academy together, but since then she had skipped more than a year ahead. With him giving her such a cocky look, she was tempted to tell him that he had to salute her now that she was an upper-class cadet. But, of course, they were in the library. The DMA powers-that-be had ruled the library exempt from that regulation because it interfered with the ability of the younger students to study.
    "My dates aren't as sexy as this engine," Soz said. Or as sexy as Jazar, but she was trying not to think about that. At the academy, fraternization was grounds for expulsion.
    Jazar laughed amiably. "You know, I've always wondered why someone as good-looking and well-connected as you has so much trouble with men. It's no wonder, if you go around telling your dates they aren't as desirable as a bunch of machinery."
    She crossed her arms. "Did you come here to analyze my love life?"
    His grin flashed. "No, but it wouldn't take long." "Jaz, I swear—"
    He held out his hands in surrender. "Don't attack." Soz glared at him.
    "You have a visitor," he added. "A girl." She couldn't think of any girls who would visit her. "Where?"
    "In one of the common rooms. I asked around. People said she came to see you. I offered to let you know."
    She considered him warily. "Jazar Orand, I am sensing ulterior motives here."
    "Well—" He scratched his ear. "I was hoping you would introduce me."
    "Whatever for?"
    "Oh for flaming sakes, Soz, you really are dense sometimes."
    "Yes, well, I'm densely not going to introduce you to my visitor." Apparently this "girl" was older than she had thought. She told herself she wasn't bothered by his interest. At least arguing with Jazar was better than dwelling on the bigger reason for her loneliness, the unwanted isolation she had