Book 3, Twilight of the GodChosen, Part 2 The Arcanian Archives
by
Pages: 499
Size: 6.00 x 9.00 in
Pages: 378
Aric kan Ingan is an Exile...
Stripped of title, wealth, and citizenship for treason against the Arcanian Empire, a crime of which he is innocent.
For a decade, he’s wandered the Emeraunt Galaxy, haunted by fear of instant death, while earning barely enough to survive, performing chores no self-respecting citizen would touch.
Destitute and addicted to the two most powerful illegal substances in the galaxy, he finds only one path left open: He enlists as a guard for a Terran mining colony.
From his point of view, he’s now hit rock-bottom.
Life among aliens is bad enough, but life with Terrans is near-unbearable for the prejudiced former prince whose pride is currently wallowing in the mud…until Aric meets two people who become a special part of his life.
Susan Moran is the company physician, a woman with secrets of her own. Miles Sheffield is his former mistress’ brother, a young, brash, wet-behind-the-ears Terran, who is as shocked as Aric when he becomes the Exile’s best friend, especially since their first meeting ended, not with a handshake, but with a fist to the jaw.
With Susan and Miles, Aric will experience friendship, passion, and grief, and eventually make a decision affecting the future of the entire galaxy as he unknowingly takes another step in the ancient prophecy of the GodChosen.
Publisher: Aethon Books
Genres:
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Continuous / Same Characters
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Continuous / Same Characters
Syriakis.
The most popular and profitable recreation planet in the Emeraunt Galaxy.
Not a large planet. Small, in fact, compared to Arcanis or Andvari or any of the other worlds in the Lesser Galenic System, but a great place to visit.
Fifty billion tourists a year will tell you so.
Syriakis has the usual resorts, entertaining but very ordinary. Its main attraction and one claim to fame is Border Town, a strip of land only ten kilometers long and a quarter as wide, comprised of cafes, nightclubs, and a single Pleasure Dome built in the classic Arcanian style, separating the city of Scylla’s business district from the Thieves’ Quadrant.
The Unwritten Law: Lawbreakers leaving the Thieves’ Quadrant can expect to be caught; Lawkeepers going into the Quad can expect to be killed…
READ MORE…but Border Town is a neutrality, a Never-Never Land where Law and Disorder meet and pass without seeing. There, the rich and the want-to-be-rich rub elbows with equanimity. Wallets are lifted with impunity. The tourists arrive in eager panting herds, practically begging to be robbed, by the barkeeps, by the cutpurses, and if a necklace disappears or a purse is stolen…
It’s something to brag about to the neighbors back home: It was taken, right from under our noses. My dear, the place is lawless, utterly lawless. You simply must go there.
Yes, the streets of Border Town are truly paved with diamontium.
Because of its tales of boundless opportunity and wealth, there were others who also came to Scylla, among them two members of the universe’s oldest and most underpaid profession, and an Exile, weary from ten years away from home.
The Non-Person had no other place to go; the two young socializers had the galaxy before them. They had worked a mining camp on Becker’s Planet where the sand stretched for miles, broken only by the gaping mouths of the mine entrances, signed for six months as part of a pleasure herd, but there were too many women and not enough work.
Boredom set in.
The whore wrangler was only too glad to let them go. He needed to thin the herd, anyway, so it saved having to fire them. He paid them their wages (three month’s severance as per Union contract) and sent them out on the next ship, which happened to be going to Syriakis.
They had been in Scylla three hours, were registered with the Board of Professions, had their licenses and health cards, and were now standing on the busiest corner of Border Town, only a few yards from the cobbled steps leading to the entrance to Thieves’ Quad. The younger of the two, a plump, petite creature with the ice-blue hair of an Abydian, was staring, mouth agape, at the throngs of beings rushing past in an ever-flowing stream of shapes and colors while her companion attempted to dodge those same fast-moving bodies.
“Shut your mouth, Sweetie,” she called in a nasally high pitch. “Before a buzzer flies into it.”
The girl obeyed, only to open it again to ask, “Where are the pickups you talked about? I thought you said they’d be falling all over us.”
“Don’t worry, they will. We haven’t got to the right spot yet. Now, according to this map…” Stexi pressed the button on the side of the tiny mapcard supplied by the Board, studying the miniature grid of Border Town appearing on its screen. “…the cafes are the places to be. That’s where the rickies go slumming.”
The screen went dark and she dropped the card into her purse, seizing the other girl by the arm.
“Come on.”
“All right,” Sweetie turned to take one last look behind her, “but I still don’t see…”
What she didn’t see was the man coming toward her, and the rest of her words were lost in the impact of her body against his.
She was knocked off her feet, clutching at his arms to regain her balance. Immediately, she lost it again, staggering forward and burying her face in the rough fabric of his tunic. Strong hands cupped her elbows, setting her upright. She found herself regarding his chest, then looking up past a red-bearded face until she was staring into the oddest eyes she’d ever seen, an unblinking smoky amber.
Sensing a prospective customer, she produced a guileless smile achieved after hours of practice in front of a mirror. Men, she’d quickly learned, found it irresistible.
“I’m sorry to have been so clumsy, but I…” Under the solemn steadiness of his gaze, she faltered. “W-we’re new here, you see, and I-I was confused by all the people…”
Instead of answering, he looked away. Fearing he was about to leave, she caught his arm, a scarred but muscular arm with a band of raw-edged leather wrapped tightly around his wrist.
He looked back at her.
Waiting.
She released him.
“I… W-would you like to take my friend and me to a café, f-for a drink?” She could see her companion grimace at the amateur crudeness of her delivery. Oh, if only I could sound more professional. “A-and perhaps some…a-a little… fun…afterward?”
When he didn’t answer, she wondered if henderstood. She was speaking in caravansi, the common language
of the galaxy. Everyone spoke caravansi.
Didn’t they?
During their collision, he’d dropped his staff. Now, he bent to retrieve it. As he did, his hair, plaited into a long braid, fell over one shoulder.
The girl stared. She’d never seen such a brilliant shade of copper. Briefly, she wished her own hair were such a wonderful color. She extended her hand to touch its brightness, then jerked back as he straightened, towering over her again.
He still didn’t speak.
“I-I suppose…” She stopped as he took her hand.
It disappeared inside his massive one. Pressing his lips against her palm, he released it, shook his head and walked away. The girl stared after him, fingers curled as if protecting the kiss he’d placed there.
“Come on, let’s go.” Her friend tugged at her arm. “I could’ve told you not to waste your time with him.”
“Why didn’t you?” the girl asked, sharply.
“I dunno. Wanted to see how you’d do, I guess. Who knows? You could’ve gotten lucky.” Stexi shrugged. “Weirder things have happened.”
Sweetie shook off her hand. “Why was I wasting my time?”
“He’s an Exile, stupid. Couldn’t you tell?”
At her friend’s blank stare, she shook her head in exasperation, wondering for the hundredth time why she’d ever partnered with this Abydian bumpkin.
“Don’t you know anything?” she finished in exasperation.
“Apparently not.” Sweetie’s retort held surprising asperity. “How about enlightening me?”
“In the first place, he’s Arcanian. One of the nobility, I think. That was obvious.”
“Was it?” Sweetie’s answer indicated she’d seen nothing about the man denoting his caste. He certainly hadn’t been dressed as she thought a noble should.
“Nobody else in the galaxy has eyes that color…or that hair,” Stexi explained, “and he’s a celibate, too.”
“You mean, he’s a priest?”
That question earned her a pitying look.
“He’s an Exile,” Stexi repeated, stressing the word, “banned from his planet. To an Arcanian, that’s worse than dying. They’re real planet-lovers.”
“And…? So…? ” Sweetie’s look held an impatient combination of disbelief and confusion.
“So, they’re warriors, explorers, and all that, but no matter how far away they go, they always come back to Arcanis. The worse thing that can happen to an Arcanian is to lose his home, like your friend there.” She nodded over her shoulder. “He probably took that vow—”
“What kind of vow?” Sweetie asked suspiciously, as if half-expecting her friend was setting her up for an elaborate joke.
“Oh…the usual stuff…giving up all they had before…wine, women, song…no personal comfort, don’t cut their hair…until they’re allowed to return home. Honestly, those guys are worse than priests.”
She glanced past her friend in the direction the man had gone.
“From the looks of that braid, I’d say that one’s been away a long time. Wonder what he did? No matter…” She’d tired of the subject. Spinning and walking away, she dismissed the stranger and whatever crime he’d committed. “Let’s go. The cafes should be full by now.”
Without speaking, the blue-haired girl followed, pausing for a final backward glance at the tall figure pushing through the crowd.
He wanted me. I know he did.
“What a waste.” She felt a momentary pity before she ran after her friend.
* * *
At the entrance to the Quad, Aric kan Ingan paused to swipe the back of his hand across his forearm, slinging away the sweat beading there. His hand shook slightly and that angered him.
Damn it. Have I become so weak a woman’s mere presence makes me tremble?
He exhaled a deep shuddering breath. The brief impact of that soft body still lingered, but he knew it wasn’t the girl herself causing him to feel this way. It was the memories her touch awakened.
Tightening his grip on the staff, he went down the stone steps, left Border Town, and entered Thieves’ Quad. As he rounded a corner and dodged a brightly-robed Scyllan, he nearly collided with a short weasel of a man darting from a nearby doorway.
This time, Aric managed to sidestep.
The little man brushed against him, backed away with a muttered apology, and sped on, only to be pulled off his feet as Aric wrapped his hand in the collar of his jacket.
“Hold it!” He hauled the little man backward, holding out his hand. “Give it back.”
“Give what back?” A face of total innocence, if a trifle ferret-like, looked up at him.
In answer, Aric snapped his fingers and thrust the hand at the little man again, palm up, shaking it impatiently.
Something about the gesture told the little thief not to argue. It frightened him and he didn’t know why. It wasn’t the stranger’s size. He’d seen bigger men. Nor was it the tiny jewel, set like a droplet of blood in his left earlobe, announcing that here was a warrior blooded in True Battle, just as the sign of Ildred, marking his forehead in indelible mourning-purple, likewise proclaimed him an Exile.
The little man shivered and the stranger smiled. At that moment, Fredi the Pick knew exactly what caused his fear.
Those eyes. Less than human. Like a bird of prey.
Digging into his pocket, he extracted a small leather pouch, hastily dropping it into the Arcanian’s hand.
“There.” Smiling a little weakly, he sidled away. “Now then, I’ll just be on my…”
“Not so fast.”
Before he knew it, he was pinned against the wall, lifted by the force of a hand against his chest. Struggling to keep both feet on the cobbles, he looked up into his captor’s face.
“I suppose you’re going to peach me?” What did he expect, picking someone like this as a mark? Stupid move, truly stupid.
“Hardly.” The Arcanian laughed but it was a grim, cold sound. “You know the Lawkeepers don’t come to the Quad.”
“I’d prefer the Keepers.” The little man looked chagrinned. “We’ve our own rules here, y’know, and the Primary One’s that one inhabitant of the Quad never steals from another.”
Aric nodded. He’d been in and out of enough places like this to understand the little thief’s nervousness. The rules in these areas of criminality were much more stringent than in the law-abiding cities surrounding them.
“…and what’s the punishment for breaking the Primary One?” he prompted.
“Banishment from the Quad.” The pickpocket swallowed loudly before he continued. “For a year.”
A year’s exile. Aric laughed. Hell, that’s nothing compared to the time I’ve wandered.
The little thief winced at the bitterness in the sound.
“No, my little friend, I won’t turn you in.” Aric released the little cutpurse, who staggered and regained his balance.
“Well, then…” Relief and confusion showed on the rat-like face. “I’ll just be go…”
Again, the large hand detained him.
Fredi looked up. “Was there something else?”
“Yes, I need some…things.”
“Oh?” The little man frowned, asking cautiously, “What kind of things?”
In spite of where they were, Aric hesitated. He wasn’t certain he could trust this little rodent. “Are you a procurer?”
“Oh.” The frown disappeared as Fredi relaxed, seeing an unexpected profit coming his way instead of cell-time. “Why didn’t you say so? I thought…you being an Exile and all… Did you break your vows? You want girls? How many?”
“No. Not girls.”
“I see.” The pickpocket’s expression didn’t change. “I don’t usually deal the other way but… Boys? I suppose I could find one or two…”
“No.” Aric’s denial was quick. “I want….” Glancing around to assure himself no passerby was paying them attention, he lowered his voice, struggling to keep the desperation out of it. “I need some drugs.”
“No problem.” The little man still showed no surprise. “What kind?”
Aric didn’t answer.
“Well?” Fredi prompted. “Name your poison…oops…sorry.” He snickered at his little joke.
“I need nicotine and caffeine.” Aric ignored that. “Can you get me some cigarettes and coffee?”
“Cigarettes?” The little man looked around quickly before continuing in a whisper, “You want cigarettes and coffee? Hell, man, those two are at the top of the Unlawful Substances List.”
“I’m well aware.” Aric’s answer held weariness. His eyes bore into Fredi’s shifty ones.
“Can you get them?”
The thief looked away. He couldn’t meet that unblinking amber stare, not only the steadiness of the gaze but the bleakness in it, as if something inside the man had died.
“Possibly,” he hedged, “but it’ll cost you. There aren’t many, even in Thieves’ Quad daring to deal in both.”
“I can pay.”
“I’ll need something for my time, too.” If he was going to risk finding a product so dangerous, Fredi decided he’d better make a tidy profit. “Do you know the penalty for possession of tobacco?”
“I don’t want to know.” Aric was tiring of the conversation and desperately wanted to lie down. Drel’s tushes, I need a tox. “Just find it, at any cost.”
“Right.” The little man eyed him as if inspecting him for some sign of nicotine-spasm.
“I’ll also need a place to stay.”
“Elmia’s. Around the corner and two blocks down.” He gestured behind him. “Tell ’em Fredi sent you.”
“Thank you.” Aric released him.
“Hey, us members of the Brotherhood got to stick together. I’ll be back in an hour, maybe two.” Without looking back, Fredi sped away, disappearing into the crowd.
Aric wondered if he’d keep his word.
COLLAPSEMerrylee on 2Lips Reviews wrote:Aric kan Ingan’s journey in exile continues, awaiting forgiveness from his uncle and the gods. Once the most precious being on the planet of Arcanis, Aric is now roaming the planets of the Emeraunt Galaxy, as an Exile, the lowest of the low. Formerly a proud military commander and heir to the throne, he is now addicted to drugs and keeping the company of thieves and streetwalkers. What adventures and heartbreak will Aric face in this book?
Having read the previous book in the series, I was happy to get more of Aric’s backstory and hear about his love for the Terran, Elizabeth. This was a confusing part of the previous book, and helped clarify some things. However, the book has a sense of waiting about it, as if we are also stuck with Aric, waiting for the real action to begin.
The book is an engaging read, especially if you’ve already met Aric, a man who started off arrogant and became more loveable and “human” as the book went on. However, the information was doled out in bits and pieces, requiring readers to really be on their game to follow the plot. It’s been eight years since we last saw
Aric, and in that time, he’s done many odd jobs. It looks as though he’s in the same boat once again, until he happens to hear of a mining company who will hire Exiles, even those who are classified as addicts.
The main bulk of the book is spent with Aric as he enlists in a Terran mining company, which has five-year, military-esque terms. On Aric’s very first day, he runs into Miles, the younger brother of the woman he loved, Elizabeth, the woman who betrayed him and caused his exile. After a heated fight breaks out between the two men (Aric refuses to tell Miles the whole truth of what happened), Aric finds himself in the care of the corporation doctor, Susan Moran… and for the first time in all his years of exile, Aric’s feelings for Susan tempt him to break his vows to abstain from all physical intimacy.
As the book progresses, a reluctant friendship grows between both Miles and Aric and Aric and Dr. Susan. There are so many beautiful scenes of friendship and trust blooming. One finally feels hope for Aric, but how will this end, knowing that he can’t have Susan and honor his vows? One of the key scenes is when Aric saves Miles from a lion-like wild creature while they’re on maneuvers. Miles also saves Aric’s life after the creature backtracks. Dr. Moran, who lost her former pilot and friend/love JJ to the same beasts, is the only one who can treat Aric and Miles after the attack. After both men survive the attack, Aric gives Miles the Arcanian honor of a “Warrior’s Stone,” what we would call an earring. To make the gesture extra special, the earrings are a matching pair, so each of the true friends has one of the set. Through a dozen different heartbreaks and obstacles, Aric and Susan slowly lose the battle to remain only friends and become lovers.
But Aric cannot marry the woman he loves as an Exile. Just as he finally gave up on returning to Arcanis, realizing everything he wants his friends, his work, and now his lover are elsewhere, Aric has to make a decision. His dreams of an honest, open, and free life with Susan as his bride cannot be achieved as an Exile. There is only one thing to do. He must return and finally stop shielding Elizabeth. He must find the only man who can clear his name on the planet he must never see again. For love, Aric will risk breaking every part of the Exile’s code. I cannot wait to read this next one in the series!
TS Snow’s Twilight of the Godchosen is now one of my all-time favorite science-fiction series and I would love to see it dramatized. While it is a long, complex read, it’s worth it!
Raven on Reviewing Vixens wrote:At the conclusion of Noble Sinner, former heir to the Arcanian throne, Aric kan Ingan, was sentenced to exile from Arcanis for treason against his Uncle Deroes, the Margrave (king) of Arcanis. He's perceived to have been part of the TAS insurrection against him – a crime Aric didn't commit. In the last scene, he vows to spend his exile in chastity, poverty and personal deprivation until his sentence is commuted by his Uncle and the AllFather extends him forgiveness for the crime he did commit – adultery with his uncle's Terran wife, Elizabeth. For an Arcanian to be banned from his home world, never to see it again, is far worse than execution. Ten years into his exhile, after he's wandered the Emeraude Galaxy, suffering one arduous and demeaning job and situation after another, we find Aric arriving on the recreational planet of Syriakis.
An indigent toxicant, Aric's addicted to the two most potent illegal substances in the Galaxy, nicotine and caffeine. Signing up for five years as a guard for TerraFormation, a Terran mining company colonizing the planet Pyras, he becomes pilot and bodyguard to Susan Moran, the beautiful company doctor. Susan willingly hides his addictions while she unwittingly threatens his vows of chastity. Also on Pyras is Miles Sheffield, Elizabeth's brother, a cocky young Terran who's destined to become Aric’s best friend. When the importance of a life and children with Susan grows more imperative than his vows, Aric knows he must return to Arcanis to clear his name. But in returning, he'll face certain imprisonment and likely execution before he can even plead his innocence before his uncle. How can Susan bring herself to let him return to Arcanis under the threat of death, and will Miles let him go alone?
This is one of most talented author's I've come across in all my reading, and I've read a lot of books in my 62 years. Before the Adventures of Sinbad saga, I was never interested in reading about the same hero and heroine(s) as they continued their lives together. Now, I can't wait for the next book in one of her Sci-Fi sagas, all of which are set in her Emeraude Galaxy to come out. She has a knack for well thought out plots and creativity in writing them. She's a master of the unexpected twist and turn and will never leave you feeling as if you hadn't gotten your money's worth after finishing one of her books.
Often, the second book in a saga or series falls short of its predecessor, but this one kicks this saga into high gear. Although I enjoyed Noble Sinner, I couldn't put thisone down. Between books one and three, Aric has matured into a humble, sympathetic and tolerant man who sees his old narcissistic, self-absorbed self for what he was – a spoiled child in a man's body. He's much more appealing in this book, as are most of the characters he interacts with. Although Aric and Miles get off to a rough start, they eventually develop a bond that is much closer than friendship. Susan's two nurses, Lindy and Karen, serve up some amusing moments as they try to corner Aric and seduce him into abandoning his vows of chastity. Susan, on the other hand, bides her time. Initially, she finds Aric intriguing but off limits. Besides, she's still dealing with her own secret grief, but her feelings for him grow during the years they work together, just as Aric slowly discovers that he's come to love her as well. The law of attraction persists and nicely heats up the story midway in the book.In the end, this book is simply a reader's delight. At alternate moments, you'll cry, chuckle, perch precariously on the edge of your seat and then cheer out loud. Once again, the ending provides a cliffhanger that will have you salivating for book four. For the most enjoyment, I recommend you read this saga in order of publication.
Gloria aLkritz on Paranormal Romance Guild wrote:A SF Futuristic Romance and was (I'm sorry for the gush that is about to occur) outstanding, amazing and above all, heartfelt. In this continuation we follow Aric kan Ingan, exile and non-person in his journeys as an exiled non-person. Exile begins about 10 years after the first book, Aric has had to scrounge, fight and scramble just to survive. When we rejoin Aric you know he's had it hard, that life has kicked him in the teeth and he's managed to drag himself from the pits of Hell.
All he wants is normal, or as close to as a non-person can get. So he finds himself a job working security for a Terran company and, funny enough, finds a woman who he could actually love. Aric had loved once before and had his very existence torn from him by the woman - could he really give his heart to another woman, a Terran no less? He's resistant, good reason really since as part of his vows of Exile he can't partake of the pleasures of the flesh (or much else apparently) in the attempt to be forgiven by the All-Father and his uncle, the Margrave.
While this book was a much slower paced and gentle sort of tale, it was perfect to better let us get to know Aric and learn more about him. Though the author did it to me again on this one. Left the ending with just enough mystery, intrigue and seriously diabolical intent that I have to read the next installment - or burst into tears for what I think is coming. I shake my fist at you TS, quit teasing me so!
My rating - The love scenes in this book were very subdued thus the 2 kisses, but the story was beyond reproach, the highest caliber and the Author did as was needed, sucked me in, left me hanging and wanting to know what happens next so a big ole 5 whips. Another book I wish I could give 10 whips to. Good on you TS!
PG - Reasonably okay
Why are you still sitting there? Go out and buy this now!
Penelope Adams on PRG reviews wrote:5 Stars
This book is almost better than the first. World building in a first is always a harder book to love, but this one really blew me away!! Aric is the bomb in this story. Exquisitely written, as she slowly peels off the layers and Aric slowly understands life and himself. The job he signed up for was a 5 year term, so we spend the next five years watching Aric grow. During this time he discovers all he believed may not be quite right, and it is joyous to see him doubt and grow into a better man. But what he truly knows is that he cannot be whole and lead a whole life until he goes back to his home planet and either faces death or redemption.
Oh what a bitter pill to swallow when we thought he could be happy and remain where he was. But I have accepted that he has to do this, and I humbly await your next book in this series to read, Book #4.
Any reader who loves a mystery check, a love story check, space flights and bloody fighting check, heroes bigger than life check, and a wicked queen... You have it all!
5 Stars
This is one of those talented author’s that writes in multiple genres and always manages to give the reader a story to keep them right on the edge of their seats the entire time they are reading. Sometimes the second book in a series doesn’t live up to the standards of the first book, or is just written as a bridge between the first and third books. Not so in this case, in my humble opinion this book exceeded the first by leaps and bounds. Aric has grown out of his self-absorbed narcissism into a humble, kind, and caring man. I was conflicted with him in Noble Sinner, not so in Exile, now, I fell in love with him and wanted him to have a happy ending.
The core set of characters Aric interacts with are a rich and varied group of people. Dr. Moran is a strong woman, she has been hurt in the past but there is something about Aric that she finds intriguing. She is a champion for him, and he couldn’t have asked for a better employer and friend. Her two assistants, Lindy and Karen, give us many moments of comic relief with their antics of trying to seduce Aric and introducing him to Terran customs. Miles is not the most likeable person in the beginning, but he does grow on Aric and the reader as the story progresses.
This book had everything the reader could possibly ask for in a story. I shed more than one tear, I laughed out loud, I worried, and I cheered and in the end was completely satisfied. One warning, there is a cliffhanger at the end of the book. I’m not a fan but it was necessary and so I forgive the author and can’t wait to read the next book to see what happens. There is some violence, some sex, and some drugs and let’s go for it, some rock and roll. All work well in the story and none are offensive.
You don’t have to have read Noble Sinner to enjoy this book, but it certainly would help, so you know exactly where Aric is coming from. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good romance, a good science fiction story or just a plain ole good read chock full of scary monsters, cute kids, hunky men and sexy doctors.
