Finding Home: Kynaston Royal Saga, #2

By Erudessa Gentian

Sterling and Larkspur Bei Kynaston are launching a rescue for their brainwashed older brother, but they'll need some help.

As friends and family rally around them, Lark helps build a top-secret unit of Element Wielders, while Sterling tries to navigate the maze of blank spots interrupting a tornado of memories he's not always sure are real.

When their carefully laid plans are literally blown up in their faces, they both have to deal with traumas from the past endangering their new home.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Erudessa Gentian
• Release date: Dec 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9781735207582

Erudessa Gentian

Erudessa Gentian is a firm believer that clean entertainment can be powerful. Inspired by her love of cultures and learning, she produces dynamic art to spark imagination and touch souls. Erudessa writes in multiple genres, but specializes in fantasy and historical fiction. She posts about lifestyle, travel and so much more on her blog at www.erudessagentian.com/blog Visit www.erudessagentian.com/writing to see a listing of all her available stories and upcoming releases.

Book preview

Prologue

Running.

Panting.

Fear.

Anger.

So much anger.

Hands, covered in blood. Cradling something precious.

Pain crashes in with the tears.

Something precious hovers just beyond consciousness.

Something important.

Something forgotten.

But everything is swallowed up in a black vortex.

The blackness always comes.

Eventually.

Chapter 1

Avi Kynaston groaned into his hands before mussing his untidy white hair. Tattered scrolls, dusty books, and scribbled notes littered his desk. Holograms hovered above it all, filled with the more publicly known—and widely ignored—prophecies he had always loved.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Avi shook his head. It was supposed to be safe!

He pushed the book in front of him aside and closed his copper eyes, but the ominous words seemed burned into the back of his eyelids.

But a strength can always be turned around

And what is lost will not always be found

He used to think what was lost was the relationship with his mutinous nephew, Casimer Talbot. Maybe, it was the trust of his daughter that he lost.

image-placeholder

The first thing Sterling Bei became aware of was a light weight wriggling on his stomach. That couldn’t be good. Then again, almost nothing had been good in what he could remember of the last two years, so he tried to deny reality and go back to sleep.

The wriggling worked its way up his chest before something soft and fuzzy tickled his nose. Sterling kept his eyes tightly shut, trying not to sneeze.

It’s a hallucination. There’s nothing there. You’re dreaming. You’ll wake up, and you won’t be in a hospital room with half your memories missing and an overgrown fur ball, that can’t decide if it likes you or not, smothering your rib cage.

Snowball! How many times do I have to tell you to leave Sterling alone? His IVs aren’t your toys. His younger sister, Larkspur’s voice, broke into his thoughts before the weight on his chest disappeared.

Sighing, Sterling braced himself to face reality. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—ignore his Little Larkie. He opened his eyes to the bare, cream walls of his large hospital room, just in time to see Lark’s pet tiger cub swipe her white and black tail across his face one last time before she was pulled away.

Yeah. Dogs are so much better than cats.

Knowing it would add to the aches of his frail body, Sterling fought back a sneeze as Snowball curled contentedly around Lark’s neck.

He should have let it go. The momentary pain would’ve been better than Lark’s worry about his eyes tearing up, thanks to the tickle in his nose.

Sterl, are you okay? Should I call someone? Lark looked ready to run out and find the nearest doctor.

I’m fine. He wheezed. Just—achoo!

Lark winced as Sterling groaned from the sharp headache that now pounded in the back of his skull. Noticing her helpless expression, the familiar rock of guilt settled in the pit of his stomach.

When would he ever stop causing her pain? He was the older brother. He should be preventing the nightmares, not adding to them.

Really, I’m okay. I just needed to sneeze.

He moved over a few inches so she could sit on the large bed, sighing with relief when she dropped the subject.

When he first woke up, it was hard to believe he was in a hospital, due to the room’s size and the luxurious furniture quality. The room was sparse, with no decorations, a single window overlooking a grassy yard, his large bed with satin sheets, and two overstuffed recliners. An entire wall lined with honey-colored wood cabinets, a long counter, and a sink completed the room’s furnishings. It was vastly different from the hospital rooms on twenty-first century Earth.

Lark settled beside him, her eyes clouded with the dim fear of losing him again. He could relate. While he tried to navigate the crushing mountain of his lost and manipulated memories, Lark was his only anchor. He would rather live with sickening remorse than lose his memories of her. Again.

Memories that were currently limited. So much time had passed since he’d seen her last.

How old are you? Hatred burned in his throat at having to ask her this simple question.

They’d barely talked since he first woke up two weeks ago. After the dizzying round of medical tests, he mostly just slept.

Twenty, Lark said after a momentary pause.

She was eighteen the last time he’d seen her. Two years of his life were gone. The tiny bits he currently remembered were grotesque. Hellish.

As for Lark, her face and figure had matured, but the biggest change were her eyes. Her left eye used to match his gray eyes, and her right reflected the light blue of their older brother, Alex. Now, her eyes were a metallic silver and sapphire blue—beautiful, but different.

Sterling tried to stroke her face, but Snowy batted his hand away with her paw.

Lark and Snowy shared a mystical Tiger Bond, which no one had been able to define for him yet. He did notice it made Snowy very possessive of his baby sister.

Lark smacked the cub’s nose. Snowy, bad girl!

Snowy shook her head and glared at Sterling.

Of course. Sterling huffed. It’s my fault you got punished.

Since Snowy was being obsessive about Lark, Sterling pointed to his own eyes. How did this happen?

Lark winced as she shooed Snowy off the bed. My DNA was changed by these little things called bio-bots.

Anger tightened Sterling’s chest, making him cough. After he choked down some of the water Lark handed him, he sputtered, Your DNA was changed?

Who would do that to a kid?

Yeah, but they gave me superpowers too, so that’s cool.

Something about that statement tickled a memory, but Sterling was instantly distracted when a purple flame appeared above Lark’s outstretched right palm.

We really are in the future!

He thought he was dreaming when Lark had claimed they were two-thousand years past twenty-first century Earth, on a terraformed planet called Evren.

Peering up, Sterling got another shock. Not only had Lark’s eyes changed color, but they glowed! Before he could ask about it, they went back to looking like jewels as the fire disappeared.

She thrust her arm at him. Feel my skin!

Sterling obliged, frowning when his fingers met a hard surface, unlike his own squishy flesh.

What is this? he asked.

My skin is now a flexible exoskeleton. I’m blade-proof! Probably bullet-proof, too, if they still used bullets. Which they don’t. Lark shrugged. Laser weapons have been a thing for at least a thousand years now.

Sterling squeezed her arm in fascination. What else did these blast-o-bits do for you?

Lark laughed. Bio-bots. They enhanced some of my basic abilities, like strength, hearing, eyesight… I also heal fast.

That sounds good. Sterling studied the silver bracelet on Lark’s wrist, taking in the white tiger resting under a purple tree, before letting go of her arm. I’m so sick of bed rest.

Then it hit him why Lark’s powers sounded so familiar.

The Weapon! he cried, trying to sit up.

He regretted that action. His vision went white. It was no longer only guilt that tightened his chest.

Sterl! Steady breaths. You’re okay. Lark helped him lean back against the bed’s cushioned headboard.

His eyesight and breathing cleared after a few sips of water.

Now, Lark said after Sterling refused to make eye contact for nearly a minute. What did you mean by a weapon?

The mere thought of Casimer Talbot brought an onslaught of incomplete memories, predominantly ruled by pain and hate. Sterling’s head pounded as if it would rip apart the longer he tried to remember even the tiniest facts, but he had to keep going. His brother and sister’s safety depended on it.

Gritting his teeth, Sterling spat out what he could. I don’t know how, but King Avi’s nephew knows about the bita-bots.

The corner of Lark’s mouth twitched, but she didn’t interrupt him.

He wanted them for himself, but learned they were already programmed for someone else. We didn’t know who it was, so he always referred to them as ‘The Weapon.’

Lark’s nose wrinkled in distaste. More of a shield than a weapon, she mumbled, then her voice hardened. Not that I’m averse to using it as a weapon on him!

Feeling his left eye