Pietas is the current Chancellor of the Council. His father, Mahikos, has stepped down from that position. They agree on little, and argue about plenty. But the chief source of contention is humanity.

30 Days of Chaos: Day 4

To celebrate the launch of Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas I’m sharing 30 Days of Chaos. Each day during April, I’ll post one excerpt from the book, along with a poster of a quote by Pietas. On the final day, members of my Romance Lives Forever Reader Group will receive a full color book containing all the quotes and posters. Unlike my website, the book posters will have only a quote and a beautiful image. Look for a giveaway at the end of this post.
—

That Must Be Pietas

“Son, humans are the reason we exist.”

“Perhaps that was true in your reality. Humans have abused, misused, and betrayed their creations throughout their history. This peace everyone clamors for comes from concern about humans. I care less than nothing about them. As for their good graces? I have no faith they exist.”

“You know, Pietas, one day you’ll rely on the mercy of humans.”

“You think humans show mercy? How amusing.”

Head down, Mahikos rubbed a spot between his eyes. “I hope I’m there to see it. When you realize even humans have value, that will be a good day for all of us.”

“How well you preach love.” If only he gave it half as well.

“Son, when the conference starts tomorrow, all your mother and I ask is that you try to be gracious.”

“I’m certain I already am. Just this morning when I knocked on your chamber door, I heard Mother say, ‘Oh gracious. That must be Pietas.'”

“Why can you not be serious about this?”

“I consider these talks of utmost importance. It is you I do not take seriously.”

Mahikos glowered, but for once, did not argue.

“Such a lovely chat, Father. Do give me an evening alone before I subject myself to the presence of humans.”

His father made a bow, far from genuine in respect, and stalked away. At the door, he paused and turned back. He shook his head as if coming to a decision, opened the door, and left. Quite unlike the man to leave without getting in the last word.

Later, Pietas stood before the wall-sized viewscreen, taking in the change of station lights as the ship began docking.

His father was right about one thing. The almighty council ruled as it wished, and one either obeyed, or it removed you from power. His entire family might be members, but they served at the council’s command. Pietas, as elected leader, made the final vote, but his office could overrule no one.

The powerless authority chafed.

The council voted in favor of the treaty. Pietas had cast the sole dissenting vote. Equality and balance of power was the cornerstone of Ultra rule. It had worked for centuries, but now they wanted to apply those principles to humans.

“Humans. On the council. Equal to Ultras. Not in my immortal lifetime.”

After he destroyed these peace talks, he’d suspend the council. He’d already united the soldier class as First Conqueror, War Leader of the Ultras. They’d accept his rule when he took command as king. Then, and only then would he be free to accomplish his most vital goal, keeping humanity in chains–where it belonged.
—
Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas
Immortal. Warrior. Outcasts. Traitors took everything. Except their honor.
Preorder on Amazon http://amzn.to/1R8DAbb (Out May 1, 2016)
Read now in print on CreateSpace http://bit.ly/boc-origin-csp

Giveaway – Free Download

Download and print three PDF Bookmarks. The first features Six, the human warrior. The second is Pietas, the immortal warrior. The third is the two, back to back.
Six https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-six.pdf
Pietas https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-pietas.pdf
Pietas and Six https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-pietas6.pdf
Download a free adult coloring book you can print and share. Relax and color with friends. It’s fun! https://kayelleallen.com/media/pietas-coloring-book.pdf

The Council is mighty, but its days are numbered unless they learn to believe.

30 Days of Chaos: Day 5

To celebrate the launch of Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas I’m sharing 30 Days of Chaos. Each day during April, I’ll post one excerpt from the book, along with a poster of a quote by Pietas. On the final day, members of my Romance Lives Forever Reader Group will receive a full color book containing all the quotes and posters. Unlike my website, the book posters will have only a quote and a beautiful image. Look for a giveaway at the end of this post.

The Council Refuses to Believe

At the appointed time, Pietas entered the elevator with the council, ignoring the warning looks from his father. His mother tugged his father to the rear of the elevator, and cast a hopeful smile at her son. Seeing the two of them together, with his father newly reborn and his mother aged, reflected their differences. He had always been hot-tempered; she, wise.

Pietas turned away, wishing he did not have to disappoint her, but he could not in good conscience carry out the council’s command. Lock his people into a treaty with these oath breakers? Never.

The entire council would be furious with him. As usual.

Dessy arrived as the doors were closing, and slid into place on his right as second-in-command.

On her bosom sat an oval-shaped gold and black brooch, the glass front of which revealed a plait of his hair interwoven in a complex pattern. His sister said nothing, but he felt her empathic outpouring of assent. Yet despite her emotional support, she had voted against him.

Would he never understand this woman? Shoulder to shoulder they faced front.

The closed car meant the sting of emotions in the small space bombarded him from all angles. His skin twitched, and he rubbed his arms as if cold.

A cadre of humans waited in the assigned receiving chamber. Ten humans would be given in exchange for ten members of the Ultra Council, as Mahikos and the council had requested. While the Ultras were on board Enderium Six, the humans would act as hostages. If anything happened to the Ultras, the humans would die lingering deaths.

A crawling-ant sensation on his skin escalated to a sting. These creatures hid some secret he did not yet fathom. Pietas bit the inside of his cheek, fighting the urge to lash out, to rip away the life of these mortals.

As agreed, the council members had come unarmed. Ultras had no need to carry weapons. They were weapons.

“You!” He gestured toward the human who approached. “I want more.”

“I beg your pardon?” The man stopped, and looked up at him. Average height for a human, he was over a foot shorter than Pietas, and clothed in nondescript gray from head to toe. The dark-skinned man gave him a quizzical look. “More what?”

“More hostages. Ten for ten implies you are our equals. You are not. I want thirty. That will not come close to matching the worth of one of our warriors. Since I doubt you have more than thirty brave enough to face our wrath if you fail, that will suffice.”

Grimacing, the man looked over his shoulder. A woman in the group gave an almost imperceptible nod. He turned back. “Very well. We’ll need more time.”

“You have ten minutes.”

“It will take longer than–”

Pietas lifted a hand. “Power up the guns.”

Mahikos came up beside him, and flickers of heat traced over Pietas’s skin. His father’s emotions announced his displeasure, but a council member who interfered with negotiations risked being banned from service.

A hum in the background escalated, and lights on the wall panels switched over to red. “Activated,” replied a robotic voice.

“You can’t do this!” The human emissary stretched out both hands. “There are half a million souls on board. You said you’d come in peace. We can’t–”

“Nine minutes.”

“Please!” The man raised the hands in a placating gesture. “Please. Give us thirty minutes. “We need thirty minutes to find–”

“Your repetition bores me. Do you need thirty minutes because you include children among your hostages?”

A cold smile tightened the man’s bland features. “We sent all the civilians and their families off station five days ago, knowing you were coming.”

This underscored what Pietas had said all along. Why would the council not believe this was a trap? They had believed none of his warnings. He would have to get them out of this on his own.

“So you feared me, did you? First intelligent thing you’ve said today. If laying waste to this station will kill human soldiers, so much the better.”

—
Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas
Immortal. Warrior. Outcasts. Traitors took everything. Except their honor.
Preorder on Amazon http://amzn.to/1R8DAbb (Out May 1, 2016)
Read now in print on CreateSpace http://bit.ly/boc-origin-csp

Video

Giveaway – Free Download

Download and print three PDF Bookmarks. The first features Six, the human warrior. The second is Pietas, the immortal warrior. The third is the two, back to back.
Six https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-six.pdf
Pietas https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-pietas.pdf
Pietas and Six https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-pietas6.pdf
Download a free adult coloring book you can print and share. Relax and color with friends. It’s fun! https://kayelleallen.com/media/pietas-coloring-book.pdf

In this scene from Bringer of Chaos, Pietas is returning from a meeting where he refused to accept the ten hostages offered by a group of humans. He insisted on thirty instead. His parents, both former leaders and still on the council, trail after him.

30 Days of Chaos: Day 6

To celebrate the launch of Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas I’m sharing 30 Days of Chaos. Each day during April, I’ll post one excerpt from the book, along with a poster of a quote by Pietas. On the final day, members of my Romance Lives Forever Reader Group will receive a full color book containing all the quotes and posters. Unlike my website, the book posters will have only a quote and a beautiful image. Look for a giveaway at the end of this post.
—

Never Negotiate

His parents trailed him back toward private quarters. “Pietas,” his mother called. “Wait!”

For her, he stopped, and turned around.

Small compared to most Ultras, and delicate of face, Helia ap Lorectic was as tough as any soldier. Like him and his father, she possessed an eidetic memory, and a fine scientific mind. If anyone was the hope of their people, it was she.

“Pietas, you know this is wrong. We agreed to those terms before we arrived.”

“It is not wrong, Mother, and the terms were made by the previous council head, not by me.” He opened the door to his quarters, and turned back to Helia. “They’ll agree to my terms or they’ll die.”

Mahikos stepped in front of his wife. “You will destroy these talks, you inflexible, intractable narcissist!”

“Why, Father. I’m impressed you know words that big. Thank you.”

The man lurched toward him.

“Stop it!” Helia positioned herself between the two. “Pietas, please. It took–”

“No, Mother. I never negotiate with humans from a position of fear.”

Mahikos jabbed a finger toward him. “You never negotiate at all.”

“Your precious humans have five minutes.” He shut the door in the man’s face.

His father’s shout of anger followed, and then his mother’s calmer tones, soothing. The thud of a fist rattled the door before Mahikos gave way to whatever it was Helia was saying to him.

“Just like old times.” The message board lit up. Furious texts and outraged faces filled the screen. “It seems I made every council member angry at the same time. How efficient of me.”

The device on his wrist let Pietas portal anywhere on the ship, or to the side of whichever member he wanted. He could use it to communicate. He kept his on private mode, always. No one entered his presence or spoke to him unless he wished it.

His empathic senses, however, he left open. Politicians lied as a matter of policy. Emotions did not.

“Better the enemy you know, than the enemy you do not.”

He stroked a fingertip over the bracelet’s smooth black surface, and then gave it one tap. “Security! Keep the guns hot.”
—
Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas
Immortal. Warrior. Outcasts. Traitors took everything. Except their honor.
Preorder on Amazon http://amzn.to/1R8DAbb (Out May 1, 2016)
Read now in print on CreateSpace http://bit.ly/boc-origin-csp

Giveaway – Free Download

Download and print three PDF Bookmarks. The first features Six, the human warrior. The second is Pietas, the immortal warrior. The third is the two, back to back.
Six https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-six.pdf
Pietas https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-pietas.pdf
Pietas and Six https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-pietas6.pdf
Download a free adult coloring book you can print and share. Relax and color with friends. It’s fun! https://kayelleallen.com/media/pietas-coloring-book.pdf

 

In this scene from Bringer of Chaos, Pietas performs a vital ceremony.

30 Days of Chaos: Day 7

To celebrate the launch of Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas I’m sharing 30 Days of Chaos. Each day during April, I’ll post one excerpt from the book, along with a poster of a quote by Pietas. On the final day, members of my Romance Lives Forever Reader Group will receive a full color book containing all the quotes and posters. Unlike my website, the book posters will have only a quote and a beautiful image. Look for a giveaway at the end of this post.
—

Ritual

Early on the first morning of the peace talks, Pietas entered his round bathing room. Starlight filtered through the portal overhead. Sleek silver walls reflected the cool light.

He remained at the door, content to savor its calming glow. Its beauty did not dispel the worry niggling at his mind. Not given to trusting premonitions and omens, he grounded himself with meditation. Once he centered himself and calmed his spirit, Pietas took a deep, purifying breath, and with slow deliberation, exhaled.

“Time to begin. Lights.”

The room brightened.

He shed his silk robe and let it fall at his feet. Nude, his platinum hair streaming down his back and chest, he lifted his hands, palms up as if praying.

On the planet Kaffir, warriors used this ritual to summon spirits. He used it to affirm his own superior strength and prowess.

Before a copper fire pit, he plucked one blond hair, and fed it to the fire. It singed and melted.

“As fire has victory over life, so I have victory over my enemies.”

He passed a hand through the flame, and hissed at the searing heat, relishing the pain. He cupped his hand over the flame’s source, and held it until the fire went out. The burns on his palm cooled, and as he watched, the skin healed. Of all the elements, fire alone had power to linger on an Ultra’s skin. He welcomed it as a symbol of victory.

“I am powerful, as fire is powerful.”

Pietas thrust both hands forward, clutched his fists, and yanked them back.

“I own the wind. I prevail over the breath of my enemies.”

In the bathing area, he took six steps down into a waist-deep pool.

“Water submits to my presence the way enemies submit to my will.”

He cupped water in his hands, lifted it, and let it pour down his arms.

“The blood of my enemies trickles into the pool of time, is absorbed, and forgotten.”

He pushed wet fingers through his hair, and released it.

“My mind is clear. I do not waver.”

He submersed, and rose, head thrown back, face lifted to the sparkle of stars above.

“My body submits to my will. No pain defeats me. No fear touches me.”

He swept his hands down his chest to his loins, and the tops of his thighs.

“My will is absolute.”

A scratching sound alerted him to the presence of his silver-skinned android servant. The creature entered, and Pietas fixed him with a hard glare. “Why did you interrupt me?”

“Your guest is here, my lord, in the living area.” He offered Pietas a towel.

“Leave it.” He waved the android away.

After exiting the pool, Pietas brushed off the water and wrung out his hair. He pulled out a tray holding half a dozen clasps. He chose a silver dragon studded with six turquoise stones, twisted his wet hair, and fastened it up, out of the way.

He dried his face, gathered a brush, and picked up a pot of black face paint. Leaning in close to a freestanding mirror, he outlined a bandit’s mask from beneath his eyes to over his dark eyebrows, and filled it with black.

He’d worn the mask in battle ever since defeating the First Division, a human special-ops group formed to fight Ultras. It came about because Pietas had slain an enemy, and blood splashed across his eyes. Thinking the blood belonged to Pietas, the Ultra troops had rallied to him and slaughtered the humans. The blood dried almost black.

Stories of how their “bandit king” had conquered the First Division filled the night. The name stuck. To his troops, he was First Conqueror, War Leader of the Ultras.

Pietas turned his head side to side, surveying the effect.

His body would reject foreign matter on his skin. The Ultra metabolism protected from every perceived attack, even harmless face paint. He closed his eyes and sprayed sealant over the mask to delay its disappearance by a few hours.

Satisfied with his looks, Pietas pulled on a pair of loose white lounging pants. With a deep, cleansing breath, he opened the door. Damp, shirtless, barefoot, he padded into the adjacent room.
—
Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas
Immortal. Warrior. Outcasts. Traitors took everything. Except their honor.
Preorder on Amazon http://amzn.to/1R8DAbb (Out May 1, 2016)
Read now in print on CreateSpace http://bit.ly/boc-origin-csp
Image credit: Pietas drawing by Jamin Allen, Nimajination Studios

Giveaway – Free Download

Download and print three PDF Bookmarks. The first features Six, the human warrior. The second is Pietas, the immortal warrior. The third is the two, back to back.
Six https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-six.pdf
Pietas https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-pietas.pdf
Pietas and Six https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-pietas6.pdf
Download a free adult coloring book you can print and share. Relax and color with friends. It’s fun! https://kayelleallen.com/media/pietas-coloring-book.pdf

What does the name Pietas mean? Those who know him will never believe it.

30 Days of Chaos: Day 2

To celebrate the launch of Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas I’m sharing 30 Days of Chaos. Each day during April, I’ll post one excerpt from the book, along with a poster of a quote by Pietas. On the final day, members of my Romance Lives Forever Reader Group will receive a full color book containing all the quotes and posters. Unlike my website, the book posters will have only a quote and a beautiful image. Look for a giveaway at the end of this post.

What’s in a name?

The name Pietas comes from Latin and has a two-part meaning. The first is conscientious, duty, dutiful conduct, and scrupulous. The second is kind, gentle, and compassionate. Those who know lord Pietas ap Lorectic believe the first definition without hesitation. But the second? Well…

Pietas is king of the Sempervians, a race of immortal beings once called Ultras. He rules with absolute authority and power. Feared everywhere, the name Pietas inspires terror among humans, and even his own people exiled him. Twice. When called an inflexible, intractable narcissist, he says “Why, thank you,” yet Pietas insists on a simple title (lord – written lower case). His uniform is immaculate, but his face is often hidden behind stray locks of platinum hair, which he cuts with a dagger. However, one thing he will not tolerate. You had better get his name right.
—

From chapter one, Bringer of Chaos:

Aboard the Uurahkal, a holovid screen in the council chamber replayed news from the Siege of San Xavier. In one report, a half dozen Ultra warriors crept over concrete battlements. In a voiceover, a human reporter called the subsequent slaughter of a hundred human soldiers an atrocity.

“Atrocity?” Chancellor Pietas ap Lorectic smacked his hand on the podium. Beneath the blow, the wood compressed. “Why do none of these channels show the truth?” He rubbed at the ache forming behind his eyes. “Humans killed over two hundred unarmed Ultras first. We defended ourselves. But we come back from the dead, so our suffering doesn’t matter!”

The announcer mentioned the upcoming peace talks on Enderium Six. “We hope Chancellor Pietas can be reasoned with at the talks this week.”

At her mispronunciation of his name, he gritted his teeth.

“Human families,” she continued, “have been evacuated from the station to protect them from possible violence.”

“I’ll show you violence.” Pietas cut off the video. “And my name is pronounced Pee-ah-toss, thank you. Not Pie-ah-toss. Pee-ah-toss. It’s six letters. How hard is that to get right?” He stormed away from the podium.

He cast off the heavy silk brocade of his robe of state. Silver threads flashed among teal and white as the supple garment billowed to the floor. He tore off the unadorned silver circlet denoting his rank, and tossed it onto a table. It clattered across the wood and knocked over a small ceramic statue of a six-headed dragon.

Pietas righted it. “These peace talks will end in disaster. Why can’t anyone else see it?” He massaged his temples. “This headache is proof. An Ultra doesn’t suffer pain, unless it’s due to humans.”
—
Immortal. Warrior. Outcasts. Traitors took everything. Except their honor.
Preorder on Amazon http://amzn.to/1R8DAbb (Out May 1, 2016)
Read now in print on CreateSpace http://bit.ly/boc-origin-csp

Video

Giveaway – Free Download

Download and print three PDF Bookmarks. The first features Six, the human warrior. The second is Pietas, the immortal warrior. The third is the two, back to back.
Six https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-six.pdf
Pietas https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-pietas.pdf
Pietas and Six https://kayelleallen.com/media/boc-bookmark-pietas6.pdf
Download a free adult coloring book you can print and share. Relax and color with friends. It’s fun! https://kayelleallen.com/media/pietas-coloring-book.pdf