Sunscapes Trilogy
This series is about the epic struggle between two mega companies, deciding the fate of the entire galaxy. The Endgame has begun, pitting Shay Enterprises against Quasicore—the Shay twins, mysterious and dangerous, weave a seductive web for their ruthless, lethal opponent, Webster Griffin, whose hunger for power and control might just destroy all civilization.
Dawn of the Red Sun centers on dark and deadly Kai Shay and Griffin's cool and clever daughter, Liaena. Set on opposite sides of the conflict, their fatal attraction for one another lends a sharp edge to their determination to win at all costs.
Dawn of the Red Sun
Sunscapes Trilogy Book 3
Prologue
Liaena remembered with crystal
clarity the day the Shays came to visit, fixed the fountain, and destroyed an
entire art collection. She’d only met them once before, but they’d made an
impression—she’d bruised Manakai Shay’s shin for insulting her.
The day of the fountain, she
met them again with a sense of dislocation. Years older, they hardly seemed the
same children. Her resentful memory of them shriveled in the face of their impossible
beauty and charm. Then again, she was not the same either. Her fierce fire had
faded, dampened by her father’s endless cold lessons on proper behavior and
obedience.
Their father was still as she
remembered, a tall, lanky man with ink-dark hair and a reserved smile. His eyes
held the same warm green twinkle as his children’s, as if mischievous thoughts
ran rampant behind his composed face. He spoke to Liaena’s father with such
amazing, fearless ease.
Webster Griffin terrified
everyone. Including Liaena. She’d never seen anyone treat him with less than
absolute deference. Fascinated, she watched without really hearing their words,
studying their calm confidence keenly. Didn’t they know her father was
dangerous? Or did they know something she didn’t?
Her father’s heavy hand on her
shoulder startled her out of her thoughts. “Daughter, be a good hostess and show
the young Shays our Aqualyr.” Then he turned away with Ezekiel Shay, leaving
her alone with the twins.
She said nothing at first,
unsettled by the adults’ abrupt departure. The twins watched her with their unnerving
cat-green eyes and identical faint smiles. They were older than her, taller,
intimidating. She wasn’t sure what to do.
“Are you going to kick me
again?” Manakai asked with a curious tilt of his dark head.
Liaena straightened with as
much dignity as she could muster, face burning. Remembering her father’s
lessons, she said, “Of course not,” in an even tone.
Sinsudee slanted her brother a
quick look, smile deepening. “Aena, what’s an Aqualyr?”
Liaena blinked at her,
distracted. Was that a nickname? But didn’t people use nicknames when
they liked someone? She wasn’t sure—she’d never been around other children. “Um,
it’s the Water Room. One of Father’s art collections. All the pieces are made
of water or have water in them. It’s this way.”
She headed uncertainly down the
corridor then gained confidence when they followed her. They moved so quietly,
though, she had to keep checking to make sure they were still behind her.
“I like art,” Sinsudee offered
in a soft, lyrical voice.
“I’d rather slice,” Manakai
said. “Is this water room any fun?”
Liaena shot him a puzzled
look. “Fun?”
“Yeah, fun. Like games, a
slide maybe. Or hey, it’d be fun to chuck things at my sister. Got any water
balloons?”
“You’re a booger, Kai,”
Sinsudee declared easily, smirking.
Liaena reached the entrance to
the Aqualyr, turning to them with a frown. “What’s a water balloon?”
“What’s a—?” He gaped at her,
which should have made him look dumb but didn’t.
“Close your mouth, brother,”
Sinsudee said absently, her green eyes studying Liaena with a troubled edge.
“What do you do for fun, Aena?”
Having no answer, Liaena
shrugged and silently opened the door, waving them through. She watched them as
they entered, waiting for the gasps of amazement, the awe and avarice the
opulent water room usually wrung from visitors. But the Shays only glanced
around with mild curiosity at the hangings, sculptures, and framed art.
“Huh.” Manakai stopped next to
the ornate marble fountain in the center of the room, hands on narrow hips. He
sent Liaena a grim look. “No slides.”
“This one’s pretty,” Sinsudee commented,
gesturing to a water sculpture held together by a film of glowing multicolored energy.
“Looks like an angel. I don’t get that one, though.” She pointed to a tangle of
tubes with colored fluid bubbling through them, and then made a face over her
shoulder. “Is it supposed to look like a pile of guts?”
Liaena felt a strange
sensation in her chest like a bubble trying to escape and realized it was the
urge to laugh out loud, something she hadn’t done in a long time. They weren’t
afraid of her father and they weren’t impressed by his wealth. Her father
flaunted this collection but it bored and grossed them out. Crushed under a
wave of youthful admiration, she swallowed her laugh and watched them with wide
eyes.
“Your fountain’s busted,” Manakai
announced, staring at the thin streams of water gurgling apathetically out of
hidden spouts. Then his face brightened. “I can fix that.”
Sinsudee winced and swiveled
toward her brother. “Um, Kai…”
Manakai bent, searching the
base of the fountain. “Just have to find the control panel—yes! Here it is.”
“We’re not supposed to touch
things—” Liaena said on a surge of alarm when a panel slid open under his
fingers.
“Seriously, brother, this is
not a good idea.”
Manakai knelt next to the fountain,
studying the panel display with an absorbed expression. “Told you, I can fix
it. Dad says I have a natural talent.”
Moving behind him, Sinsudee
bent and frowned over his shoulder at the display, her hair cascading forward
in a rush of blue-black silk. “Dad was just being nice. You break things more
than you fix them.”
“Oh shut it, Sinsi. This thing
reads like there’s low pressure. Bet it’s the regulator.”
“It’s just slow not broken,”
Liaena tried feebly. “I’m sure maintenance could—”
“Why wait?” Manakai said,
shooting her a dazzling smile. “We’re here now. Just gotta find that
regulator.”
Sinsudee reached over his
shoulder and touched the display, pointing when a schematic of the fountain
appeared. “It’s right there. But I’m pretty sure that’s not the problem.”
“Bet me.” He closed the panel
and sidled along the edge of the fountain, opening a different slot. “Who put
his own slicer together from parts?”
“Oh sure, you did a great job.
Does it fly yet?” Sinsudee scoffed. But though her tone was full of sisterly
contempt, she didn’t stop him from sticking his hand inside the fountain,
crouching to get a look for herself.
Manakai glowered at his twin
and mumbled, “Bad parts.” Then his expression lightened, eyes gleaming with
triumph. “I found it! Okay, gimme a sec…”
Liaena stared at the two of
them, nonplussed. Her father had given her a simple order. How had it gotten so
out of hand? Yet she couldn’t stop watching them, absorbing everything about
them. Having spent most of her isolated life with adults who either ignored or
avoided her, these two were an exotic revelation. They glowed with energy like
mini-suns, fearless and vibrant. They reminded her of her mother’s island, of
the beaches that had been her playground, of warm light and life.
“There!” Manakai bounded to
his feet with athletic grace and made a theatrical ta-da gesture. The
fountain rumbled oddly, the gurgle of water lurching to a foaming stream. “Your
fountain is fi—”
Water exploded from the
spouts, spraying in all directions.
“—ixed,” Manakai sputtered,
turning his face away and holding up a hand to ward off the deluge.
Liaena clapped her hands over
her mouth, staring in frozen horror at the catastrophe unfolding before her. The
water pressure was so great it knocked sculptures off stands, hangings and
frames off walls. It ricocheted off the ceiling and drenched the entire room.
Cold water soaked her hair, her clothes, dripping down her face like ice tears.
Then Sinsudee laughed. The
sound held no malice, no ridicule, just pure humor and lyrical delight. She
held out her arms, looking down at her water-logged self. “Kai, you’re an
idiot!” she chortled then stepped forward, angled her hand in one of the
streams, and hosed down her brother.
He yelped in gleeful outrage
and splashed her back. They chased one another around the fountain, laughter
ringing through the small room.
Liaena found herself giggling
behind her hands, shivering with cold and terrified wonder. The Shay twins had
taken disaster and turned it into a playground without a hint of fear for what
they’d done. Weren’t they worried about what their father would say, what he
would do to them? Instead they were having…fun.
A small part of her remembered
what that was and stirred. Warmth spread through her, as though she was dancing
on a beach again, listening to her mother’s laughter.
“Aena, grab him!” Sinsudee
called in a light, breathless voice. “We’ll show him fixed…”
The door slid open and Liaena
froze again, ice shooting like white lightning through her heart. Their fathers
stood on the threshold, expressions blank with surprise. Liaena’s father
touched a control next to the door. The fountain gasped and died.
For a moment, silence held,
broken only by the drip of water off every surface.
Then Ezekiel Shay said in a
low, rueful tone, “Oh, Sun’s Blood,” and his children stepped forward together,
their laughter gone.
“Sorry, Mr. Griffin, I was
just trying to fix—”
“—I tried to stop him, but he
wouldn’t—”
“—fountain wasn’t working
right, so I thought—”
“—never listens, he’s always
trying to—”
“—tweak it a little, it’s a
mess but—”
“We’ll clean it up,” they said
in unison.
“Web, I apologize for my
children.” Mr. Shay was gazing at the twins, hands clasped behind his back.
Liaena searched his features for disapproval, anger, malice. All she saw was
mild censure and furtive amusement. “At this age, they’re twin typhoons. I’ll
reimburse you for any damages, of course.”
“No need,” Liaena’s father
said with a chuckle, casting an indulgent smile on the twins. But she saw the
chill in his eyes and shuddered. “We did send them off to entertain themselves,
though this wasn’t quite what I had in mind.” That hard, icy stare flicked to
Liaena long enough to freeze her heart with the promise of painful punishment.
Ezekiel Shay made a sound of
amusement, his gaze moving to her as well, though his eyes twinkled warmly.
“Don’t be too hard on your daughter, Web. Not much can stop these two when they
get rolling and I doubt very much she helped.”
“Oh, no,” Sinsudee said
hurriedly, stepping forward and sending Liaena an anxious glance. “Aena didn’t
do anything.”
Manakai volunteered, “She
tried to tell me to leave it alone.”
“Well, there you go,” their
father said, mouth twitching with the beginnings of a smile. “Sin, Kai,
apologize to your hostess for the trouble you caused her.”
Liaena realized she still had
her hands clasped over her mouth and dropped them, shuffling nervously as the
Shay twins approached. She tried to speak, to say they didn’t have to
apologize, but her voice failed her. Sinsudee reached her first, wrapping her
in a gentle hug. Liaena made a squeaking sound, body stiff with shock.
“I hope you’ll forgive us,”
Sinsudee whispered in her ear. “And if you want to kick Kai again, that’s okay
with me.”
She let Liaena go with a
muffled snicker, stepping aside for her brother. Liaena stared up at Manakai,
wondering with dizzy horror if he was going to hug her too. Instead, he gave
her a dazzling, charming smile and clasped her hand in his. His touch was
shockingly warm.
“I’m really sorry, Aena. I
hope you don’t get in too much trouble.” Then he bent and kissed her cheek,
sending her world into a spin. “It was fun, though,” he whispered with a
mischievous grin and a wink.
Then they left her there, wet
and dripping, full of unnamed emotion, etching the day on her memory in bright,
unbreakable lines.
AVAILABLE NOW: BOOK 1 & 2 OF SUNSCAPES TRILOGY
