Pardblood, A Second Chance Romance: Far Stars Universe

By Melisse Aires

A romance of second chances~

 

Dahr, Lord of the ancient and wealthy family Lhirandal, once rulers of planet Lumina, is dying too soon. He was poisoned a decade ago and has few days left. 

His once strong family is in tatters. 

Then Dahr has a vision. Or was it a visit from a long-gone ancestor?

Welcome the outcasts back to the family. The Pardbloods, with their feline characteristics, will give the family a future. The ancestor shows him a secret lab, and an ancient nano-formula that will save him.

 

It turns out to be real.

He must save the family.

 

Prenna's life goes by in a confusing blur. She struggles to raise her son and nephew, and appease her angry husband. She knows she is failing them all. Then one night a strange mist reclaims her mind, and her hidden Pard characteristics appear, as do the boys'. But her husband dies in the same mist.

 

She learns her nephew is the Heir to the most powerful family on Lumina. Soon Dahr brings Prenna and her children into his world of luxury, power, and high technology as he rebuilds his family.
 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pure Escapism
• Release date: May 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223797272

Melisse Aires

Take a shy Catholic school bookworm from Montana. Hand her a stack of her much older brother’s sci-fi and fantasy novels, James Bond books and horror comics. Later, introduce Barbara Cartland and the world of romance fiction.Get her a teaching job or two in authentic, one room Montana schools, ala Laura Ingels Wilder.Marry her off to a great guy, move her to a big city in Tornado Alley, then pop three daughters out of her in twenty-two months (one set of identical twins).Then, make her a jinx. Every great genre TV show she loves gets the ax: Beauty and the Beast, Dark Angel—and Buffy and Spike NEVER have a happy ending! She gets upset about no romance in the world and fires up to write her own stories with happy endings.Throw this all together into a small house in Wyoming, along with a small bouncy dog named Baxter and too many cats, shake constantly and pour it out onto a computer keyboard.There! You have me, Melisse Aires.

Book preview

1 The Dream of a Dying Man

HE WAS DYING, A PAINFUL death from an assassin’s poison, built into his system over a decade.

The dream... it was so real. Maybe it was a hallucination. Perhaps a memory from childhood?

Long ago he’d been a child right here in the Castle Lhirandal. A happy boy, surrounded by siblings and cousins, the entire castle full of people. Family, friends, servants, guests.

In his lifetime the friendly trade relations they had with Parda, that had made his family the wealthiest in their world, soured. A covert war fomented against the Family Lhirandal and the planet Parda, played in the Halls of Law and the House of Lords.

Now, though, in his pain, anger and grief, he had true insight into the state of his family. The strongest members of his family were dead, or incapacitated, or tossed out because they married Pardbloods. His sons and daughters, dead at young ages—when the Lhirandal were long-lived—of suspicious deaths. The once thriving family had one living child, his great-grand nephew.

The dream.... So vivid, so real. He pondered if it was a dream, or an act of a long forgotten god, favoring the Lhirandal family. They had once believed in such gods. He’d been taught a story as a child of how the Lhirandal had been the first to develop nanobots that healed the family of a poison that covered the world of Lumina, that made them strong. Given to them by a god, who was also their ancient ancestor, Lhirandal. Weapons and protections followed, increasing their strength.

Nanobots of the past millennia, formed from rare Lhirandal crystal into all manner of machines and medications,  made them wealthy. For centuries, they had been Kings and Queens, first in the Northland, and then over all of Lumina.

The Lhirandal family built starships and opened trade with Parda, the mineral rich world surrounded by seven equally rich moons, that provided so many rare, raw materials for the new technology. The feline-humanoid Pards had been gracious friends and allies. In the early days, the noble families of both Lumina and Pard had not attempted marriages, but in the past century half-Pard children had been born. The traditional families had disowned their members who married Pards. Dahr’s family had done the same.

Now the Lhirandal crystal mines were used up, the planet of Parda was poorer and more hostile than ever, and the Family Lhirandal was in danger of dying off. Change was needed.

In the dream...

A lab deep below the castle, built into the black rock of the foundation stone.  A man worked, wearing a cape of leather with fur trim. He wore an intricate jeweled circlet on his brow. Dahr did recognize the circlet, The Crown of Lhirandal.  Shelves carved into the rock walls held all manner of instruments and minerals.

The man looked up. He had pale gray eyes rimmed in smoke, pale teal hair over black.I am Caedryn, you are my grandson, many generations apart.

My name is Dahr.

The caped man handed him a crystal vial. Drink. You will need the strength. To save your own life, your family, and many innocents. Dahr drank the dark liquid.

Caedryn showed Dahr a stasis cupboard, hidden, a preserved library of ancient texts. Dahr, in fact all his generation, had been taught the ancient scripts. He recognized them as formulas.

The stasis cupboard contained crystals of blood.  "My blood, for I am strong. These crystal will regenerate the blood, they are my great achievement, so never dispose of them.

"Lhirandal blood is strong. Do the blood formula for your weak, for your distant relatives. For your cat people relatives.

I had a vision there would be a time of great weakness, a time when my line could die. He stared deep into Dahr’s eyes. The world needs the Lhirandal, or it will destruct. The world of the cat people is already on the brink of destruction.

I was once strong, but a poison has weakened me for a long time. There are few of us left.

I know of the poison, my son. I also know there are more Lhirandals than you think. Accept the cat bloods. Abandon the tradition that had the family throw away your own blood. The Parda do not weaken our blood. They will make the Lhirandal Family strong again.

What will the blood formula do to the Pards?

Caedryn laughed. Make them the strongest of the cat people! Also  do the Judgment Mist from the Book of Mind Formulas. Root out your enemies. Some may even be within the family.

Dahr nodded. Someone close to him fed him the poison. He’d known that since the first dose.

Caedryn then took Dahr down a narrow, rough-hewn, hidden stairway to a cavern deep underground. In the light of a hand lamp, Lhirandal black crystal glittered all around. Small amounts had been found in modern times time, but  nothing like this. Chunks of rock as big as houses, dozens of them, filled the cavern, glinting in the light of the ancestor’s lamp. The wall glinted with even more crystal.

The ancestor handed him ancient rock cutting tools. Cut two chunks. Two is all you can carry now, but someday you can harvest more. You will need to make strengthening formula. He pulled an ancient scroll of parchment from the stasis library. Copy this formula to that handy device you carry, and return the parchment to the chamber. It is over a thousand years old. Take this daily, for fifty days."

They walked up the narrow stairs hours later, each carrying a fist-sized chunk of priceless crystal.

DAHR AWOKE IN HIS BED, less exhausted than normal, with blisters on his hands from gripping the ancient pick, hammer, and chisel. He closed his hands into fists and felt a real sting.

It must have been real.

He called his steward and personal servant, his distant cousin’s son, Revin Lhirandal.

Revin, dress me warmly and find yourself a warm coat. I need to see something in the dungeons. He held up a hand. Do not argue. This is important. Get two small float scoots. Where I want to go is too narrow for a regular float.

The storage levels were on the first sublevel, with the wine, the ale, and mead on the second sublevel, as well as many harvested vegetables and grains.

Dungeons were on the third sublevel, unused this past century. He found the narrow door leading down to the secret fourth level. It had a blood lock, but it let them in after he scraped his finger on a sharp rock on the door knob. Using the scoots, they explored this unknown level until Dahr found the unmarked door to the ancient lab.

It’s real, Dahr said. Not a dream.

Two fist-sized chunks of Lhirandal crystal sat on the main work table.

Come, Revin. I want to make this ancient strengthening formula. I had a dose yesterday, and look at me! It uses our own crystal from below this castle for the nanos. I can read the script and calibrate the tools, but I fear my strength will not hold out. He opened the library cupboard and pulled out the ancient book with the formula. Making a copy with his holopad, he replaced the book back into the preserving library cupboard.

Revin, a small, thin man of boundless energy, had long ago gained a mastery in Nanotech production. I can read Lhirandal family scripts, my lord. I had traditional training.

It pleased Dahr that he’d hired a steward with such knowledge. Over the years, Revin had become his spokesman, valet, and medical assistant as he grew weaker. Without him, Dahr would not have had the energy and time to make the first nano strengthener.

THE NEXT DAY HE WAS even stronger. His gut didn’t ache, his steps were firm, steady. He smiled as he dressed himself with no assistance. Dahr Lhirandal was no longer bedridden.  He looked in the mirror. His shoulders were square again, his legs had the meat of muscle. The dry, flyaway white hair was now pale teal with silver streaks, in thick, shiny curls to his shoulders. He’d have to pull it back in a clasp. With a grin, he opened his jewelry case.

Before bed, he’d read through the Judgment Formula planned for tonight. It could not wait.  He and Revin would work on that today. Maybe Linara would help, if everything worked the way he hoped.

Breakfast was always held in the Informal Family dining room. The old women of his family lived in Lhirandal Towers, and they shared meals. He had often joined them in the past, when he was strong enough. As he walked into the room, they stared at him in shock. He simply fixed a plate of food and smiled at them. I am better and will tell you more shortly. Aunt Vaashli, could you reach my granddaughters? I would like to speak with them, as soon as possible. Today. Tell them it will be worth their while.

Dahr! You are out of bed! You look so good, Lady Vaashli, his aunt and senior by twenty years, acted as Lady of the Family now. She looked confused. She frequently saw him in bed, pale and sweaty, struggling for breath. You look twenty years younger. And your breathing— no tubes! No canisters! Your...curls!

He grinned. Let us eat our meal. When we are done and my granddaughters arrive, we will meet in the Blue Lounge and I will tell my story.

Soon they walked down the hall  to the lounge where he sat in large chair.

You haven’t walked in a year, Lady Vaashli said in a whisper.  And that could barely be called walking. Dahr grinned even wider. It was always fun to shock his old aunt.

Revin escorted Linara, her Pardblood husband Teo and daughter Janana. Selonna and Zerinity followed them into the room. Revin took his place next to Dahr. A small servo unit rolled into the room, with carafes of Kaf, Spice tea, and pitchers of juice. Dahr poured himself a Kaf, aware all present stared at him.

Much has transpired. I have new outlook on life, and a new plan, so our family will thrive.

Despite the aged members, the family Lhirandal was still a handsome one. Tall and lean, they had the unusual hair that marked their family. The top half of the head grew pale hair, the bottom half grew dark. In the Lhirandal family, it was a pale teal over black. Dark eyes, long lashes, finely sculpted bone structure. The Lhirandals were unmistakable. Linara, Selonna and Zerinity, his nieces, being still young women, were renowned beauties.

The fact he could sit at all, breathing without help and speaking in a strong voice, was a shock to all. He wore a handsome suit of black. The Lhirandal family crest, a teal hawk flying in a glittering mist, was embroidered with shining thread on the right breast.

He pulled a handheld data pad from an inner pocket. "My agenda. You all should know I had a revelation on my deathbed, and that is why I yet live. Change has come to me, a restoration. Now, the Family Lhirandal will be restored. I decided the Family must cease this enmity against Pardbloods in our family. The Pards have not harmed us, but look what war has done. It was not Pards, hardworking immigrants, that destroyed our family. It was Ghen Adher, and his rival Kulgen Tah. Both have destroyed us because they feared our strength, and our history.

In the past times, we were Kings of Lumina. Now we are dying.

He sipped his cup of Kaf with a steady hand and waved for the women to serve themselves. A servo had brought in cakes and cookies. "I was still quite ill when this vision came to me. I dreamed, or perhaps remembered, a lesson from my childhood. But the more I think on it, the more I think it was a vision, like Lhirandals’ had in days of old. When I was very small, I spent time with my great-grandfather, you know. He died when I was nine. He taught me my earliest lessons.

"I have physical proof, beyond my improved health. You will see it later today.

The Lhirandal Ancestor, the First Lhirandal, from the days long gone, when we wore heavy woolen robes, before we traversed the stars and allied with the Pards, came to me. Such power. Such lost knowledge. Dahr leveled a glance at each of the women present. 

Nanobot knowledge, which our family discovered long ago. In my vision, the ancestor took me to the bowels of the castle, to a lab with ancient formulas in scrolls and books so aged they should have turned to dust. He gave me a strengthening drink. Then we went even further below, to a cavern thick with Lhirandal Crystal. Not small crystals like we mine now, but some were as large as a house. He handed me an old-fashioned chisel and hammer, and we both carved out hand-sized pieces of crystal, to make more strengthening medicine. We left the crystal in the lab. When I woke yesterday morning, I felt strong. Revin listened to me, and we decided to search for the lab. If it was real, we would find it.

He paused for a moment.

"We found the ancient lab. The crystal I cut by hand last night was there on the table.

Lhirandal nanotech changed our world a millennium ago, and will change it again. Revin and I spent the day making more ancient strengthening formula. You see the results.

He stood up easily and held out his arms. Revin has taken it also and feels like twenty-year-old.

There are two far more complicated strengthening formulas. They are for the gravely injured, or for those who have only a little Lhirandal blood. Distant cousins. One contains the blood and essence of the ancestor himself, which is in stasis in the lab. These formulas are beyond mine and Revin’s skills, and we request the help of Linara, if possible. Linara has a Grand Mastery, and current knowledge and skills from her work in the hospital.

He turned to Linara, who wore her hair in a curly, short style. She was dressed in professional uniform, not a day gown.

"Linara, will you return to the family, formally? It was wrong of me to cast you out, and I will compensate you and your family richly. I am sorry I listened to your parents, and my family, who were in the thrall of Ghen Adher. We erred, following him and the Purist agenda. That, plus the enmity of others united against us, has brought our family to this point. One child! There should be many, and cousins, nephews and nieces everywhere.

"The family has much to offer you, Linara, and you, Teo and Janana. Please give us a chance. We need your expertise, Linara. The lab will be yours. The Ancestor Journals say the blood formula will restore my health completely. I’m only ninety, I should have dozens of years left.

Due to security issues, which I believe will increase through the next months, I would like your family to reside here, where safety is assured. This castle and the surrounding estate can hold thousands. May it soon do so.

Linara, a delicate woman with huge, dark eyes, placed her cup on the table and looked at her husband, then at her daughter. Her husband Teo gave a slight smile.

I have been under pressure to resign or be fired for years now, she said. Our administration at the hospital is Purist, and of course, I married a Pardblood. One issue after another to fight through. Many assignments that I should have had were given to colleagues with lesser skills. They all stem from the fact my husband and daughter are Pard, she said. I have a few personal items I would like to collect from my office. I have twenty-four hour access. I’ll leave my resignation. I can leave after our meal and be back by bedtime. She looked at Teo.

Janana and I can pack clothing and other items, Teo said. How do you feel about this Janana?

Janana a young teen with Pard ears in her black curls leaned against her father. As long as we are welcome. It would be fun to live in the castle near the beach.

I will send servos and a couple of servants with you, Linara and Teo. Lady Vaashli said. I have a suite you may like, or we can find another at your leisure.

We have been in civil war for twenty years now. Linara and Zerinity are the only grandchildren left, in their right minds. Only two children are Janana and Shevryn, are officially members of our House. I want the Lhirandal Family to survive, to thrive, and Caedryn told me how. He paused and looked into his cup. "Was it real? Ancestral memory? Spirit from the past? A dream of my ailing mind? I do not know.

But Revin and I found the ancient nanobots lab hidden right here in the castle. With reams of data, the ancient family research, formulas, recipes, ancient base nano machines.... Not to mention the unknown cavern with huge crystals. I will show all who want to see it later, when Linara returns.

He looked at the old women in their frilly gowns. Ladies, many of you know family ancestry better than I. Please get in touch with your nieces, nephews, distant cousins. Look up old family meetings, from thirty, forty and more years ago, see who attended. I want to have the names, birthdates, and details about each. Get charts from the Lineage administrator at the bank, but do not tell them our plan, as they work for the Purist regime. Trace family to the sixth degree.

He smiled at them. You will have the full range of strengthener as soon as possible. Lhirandal blood strengthens and blood we combine it with will be offered to any distant family who wish to join us here. I want all Lhirandal descendants brought into the family. Pardbloods are welcome. We will be a formidable force in the coming years.

The group stared at him, too shocked to say anything. Then Vaashli spoke. Finally, a plan! A way to restore this family. Its decline has broken my heart, and I spend too many hours grieving those of the past. I care not if our nurseries and schoolrooms are full of Pardblood children. I just want them here. Before I die.

Dahr raised his Kaf in a salute. You will get the same restorative I am taking. Stars willing, we will live to annoy our family for many years.

He looked at each of the others, his face serious.

If I die, I want your oaths. You will carry on with my plan, the plan of strengthening our family. Accept the family members mixed with Pard. While others feud and die, we will grow. I have written it into the Family Law.

The women gasped. Family Law! Family law could be enforced by nanobots, if the Head of House desired.

I will enforce the Law tonight, at the Judgment.

He turned to Revin. Revin, open Linara and Teo a Lhirandal bank account, make sure there is compensation for every year since her marriage, and a million guilder as compensation. Open a spending account for her child, sufficient for heirs of this house.

Vaashli wiped a tear away, as did Cousin Hesper.

Too few Lhirandals left, too many deaths. All my grandchildren are dead. When I was a youth, our family meetings brought together hundreds. Some of you can remember. Pavilions full of furniture, families, children in hordes at the beach. It is not like that now. We must band together or see our family die off. Our blood is too strong to be diluted. Unless we are stupid and interbreed, as some  are doing. Our blood strengthens those it touches. Pardblood becomes Lhirandal  blood. Dahr went to Vaashli and Hesper and embraced them.

2 The Judgment Mist

FIRELIGHT FROM WALL torches lit the stone Family Law Chamber, deep below Lhirandal Tower. The last time Zerinity had seen it was when Shevryn was formally welcomed to Family Lhirandal. It had been filled with flowers then, nothing like this grim set up. Now the floor was painted rusty red. To symbolize the blood of a razorwing kill, a fierce predator that was the family’s symbol, she knew. A judgment circle, not welcoming at all.

Lord Dahr came in and sat in a carved wooden chair at the compass point north. Other elders took the other points. Vaashli, in the south seat, lit a heavy incense.

Linara slipped onto the bench next to Zerinity, who looked at her in surprise. I didn’t know you were coming, she whispered to her sister.

I will now take part in the family events, even in the hard ones.

The proceedings started at midnight with a circle of glowing blackwood vine, which flowered with blossoms so dark red they were almost black as the ring formed.

Dahr carried a carved and bejeweled staff to the center of the blackwood circle, which parted to make a path