Authors: Crystal Cierlak
“What do you think?”
Zoe looked down at her new apparel
and felt the silky strands of hair pulled back at the nape of her neck. “Do I
look like I belong?”
Eva laughed and nodded her head.
“Yes, you pass for a
resident
,” she emphasized the word.
She hoped it was enough to not
illicit any unwarranted attention. She knew it was a risk bringing her there to
her private residence so close to where the Queen and King lived, but she
couldn’t risk putting her in a public residence where she couldn’t keep an eye
on her.
From the corner of her eye Eva
could see her Communicator glowing softly from its place on the bed. She walked
to retrieve it, but recoiled and nearly threw it down again when she saw who
the message was from.
“What’s wrong?” Zoe asked from
across the room.
Eva looked back at her briefly
before holding the device closer, willing her eyes to sharply focus on the
message sender’s name. “I have to go out for a few minutes. Will you be okay
here on your own?” She cupped the Communicator in her hand and looked to Zoe
expectantly.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to go
wandering off. Just wake me you get back so we can discuss whatever the plan
is.” Eva‘s bottom lip receded into her mouth between her teeth. “You do have a
plan,
right
?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe
I will by the time I get back.”
Without another word she left the
room and closed the door shut behind her. She made her way through the common
room, out into the empty Throne Room and across the great hall of the
Government Center until she came upon the designated office space specified in
the message.
When she entered the room she
spotted the King sitting patiently in a chair. She moved to bow her head
formally but stopped when she saw his hands motioning at her.
“Forget the formalities. We don’t
have much time to talk.”
Evan’s eyes opened at the sound of
a small knock on his door. He may have only drifted off for a moment but it had
felt much longer. His thoughts had driven him into sleep, words becoming images
as he slipped into sleep. The visitor knocked again and he finally got up.
The light in the room adjusted fractionally, never brightening to more than an
ambient glow.
He opened the door and saw her, her
dark almond-shaped eyes staring up at him. It took a moment for him to realize
it was only his mind playing a trick. Without a word he opened the door wider,
keeping his eyes down as she walked past him into the room, her hand grazing
against his chest as she passed. The door closed silently behind him as he
turned to look at her. His head bowed crookedly. “My Queen.”
The empty office was on the small
side but comfortable enough to accommodate both Eva and the King. Although why
he requested a private audience with her in the first place was lost on her.
“Your Highness, I’m pleased to see
you have returned safely and unharmed.”
The King shook his head slightly, a
terse smile on his face. “Thank you.”
“I assume this means my brother is
back.”
“He’s with the Queen,” he
acknowledged. There was a thread of unspoken meaning in his tone that not even
he could hide.
“Oh,” Eva flustered, unsure of what
to say. Her brother’s affair with the Queen was no secret to her, but she never
made a habit of talking about it to anyone, least of all the King.
“Do me and favor and let’s not
pretend we don’t know what they’re doing, okay? I didn’t ask to see you because
of that.”
Eva flushed and silently cursed her
brother. “Forgive me, Your Highness.”
“Owyn, Evadine. Our families go
back longer than the invisible crown on my head, so let’s leave the formalities
behind.”
She couldn’t remember a time where
she had ever had a private conversation with the King. There had never been a
reason to. “Eva,” she corrected. “Okay. Owyn, what is going on? Why did you
want to meet with me?”
The King stood from his seat and
crossed the room to stand in front of her. “What do you know of Thea Thanatos?”
His eyes were intense as they searched hers, as he waited for an answer.
Eva had to swallow back her
surprise so the King would not see that he had caught her off guard. “Not much.
I was with the Queen when the Crown Soldiers announced your kidnapping. They
reiterated Thea’s message about Her Highness not being the rightful Queen. I
know she claims to be a living descendent of the original family.”
The King eyed her suspiciously. She
could see that beyond glaring at her that he was figuring her out, trying to
understand her in some manner. “You know much more than that, Eva,” he
pressed. “We both do. It wasn’t a coincidence that that particular book was
stolen, or that Thea is revealing herself now after all this time. All of that
was predicated upon finding the missing heir of the original family, which you
have.”
Eva’s face remained sharp but
impassive, defying the squall of thoughts and images that ran through her mind.
What more does he know? What is his part in all of this? She raised an eyebrow
at him suspiciously. “The missing heir?” she asked, trying to keep her voice
controlled and nonchalant.
The King appeared to be losing his
patience, a sign that frightened Eva. She had never seen the King in any
situation where he wasn’t completely in control of himself.
“I know about Zoe.”
Evan stood in the middle of his
room with his arms crossed over his chest, looking expectantly down at Kyra.
“What do you want?”
“I want to know why you’re so
upset,” she answered. Gone was the royal pretense. She looked very much like a
woman looking for answers.
Evan shrugged his shoulders but
kept his eyes on hers. “What does that matter? I don’t get to question your
decisions and I’m not owed an explanation for them.”
“Is this about the gates being
deprogrammed for Gaia?” she asked.
“Again, it doesn’t matter why I’m
upset.”
“It matters to me, Evander. You’re
acting as though it was something I did to punish you. What is so special about
Gaia that has put you off in this way?”
“It. Doesn’t. Matter,” he
reiterated.
“Clearly it does!” she yelled, her
voice ringing brightly throughout the room. She turned and walked to the door,
her feet coming to a stop with her hand inches from the glass. She turned and
looked at him, a pained expression on her face.
“Whatever I’ve done to make you
angry with me, I’m sorry.”
Evan could see from her expression
that her honesty was genuine, and he felt the tightness inside him subside,
softening his anger. Never before had she apologized to anyone; as the Queen
she didn’t have to.
“Yes,” he relented. She stopped at
the door, turning her head towards him. “I’m angry about the gates.”
The Queen turned her body around,
leaning her back against the door with her hands clasped together in front of
her. “Why? You said you had unfinished business in Gaia but didn’t elaborate.
What is so important in that other world that would make you so angry with me?”
“I like it there, “he said. “I like
the smell of the outdoors, the fact that I can spend more time outside than in,
and the people.”
The Queen shook her head. “I don’t
understand why you would prefer another world to your own.”
“No, it’s not about preferring one
to the other. They’re more alike than they are different and it is those
differences that I’m interested in. I like the people there.”
“People, or one person in
particular?” Her hands unclasped and folded in her arms at her chest. Evan
could see in her changing demeanor that the idea of there being someone else
greatly upset her.
“Please don’t do this,” he begged.
He moved to her with his arms outstretched but she avoided him, turning her
body away to create distance. Her eyes widened in her face, her mouth forming a
straight line into her cheeks. She looked at him for a hard, long moment, the
anger and confusion evident behind her dark eyes.
“I’m right, aren’t I? That’s why
you keep going back, why you never stay here long enough. You share my bed and
then leave to go be with someone else?”
“No! It’s not like that at all,” he
protested. His feelings caught him by surprise. His words seemed to genuinely
hurt her and just the thought of causing her grief resonated deep within him.
He hadn’t considered her much when he left for Earth, or while he was there.
He’d always rationalized that the Queen was merely using him, and that he was nothing
more than a distraction to escape from a marriage she cared so little for.
However, in her expression he could see that he was the one who had been using
her. Irrespective of her title she was still the only woman on Terra he had
ever cared for apart from his own sister. It went beyond his duty and
obligation to the monarchy; he genuinely felt for her.
“Tell me what it’s like then.”
There was still the hurt in her eyes, the indignant demeanor in her posture. He
didn’t want to say anything else that would hurt her but knew that lying by
omission would only make matters worse.
“There is someone.” He could see
Zoe in his mind, standing on the cliff of Potato Harbor with her hair blowing
behind her in the breeze. When he focused on the Queen he could see her
expression had fallen, the indignant poise deflating into disappointment. “It
was an accident that I even met her to begin with. She took me by surprise,” he
said with a faint smile. It vanished when his eyes met the Queen’s. “I barely
know her, Kyra.”
“You barely know her but you want
to go back to see her?”
He nodded slowly. “Yes, that’s part
of it.” He watched in growing sadness as the Queen’s eyes shut, tears escaping
from the corners of her eyelids and down her cheeks. He stepped toward her,
closing the gap between them with two long steps. His hands went gently to her
face where his thumbs absorbed the tears as they fell.
She opened her eyes, her dark
irises glossy with fresh tears waiting to fall. She sniffed them back,
regaining her collected composure one moment at a time.
“If Gaia means so much to you then
you should go.” Evan’s thumbs stopped but his hands remained on her face. He
focused his eyes on her, trying to see the meaning behind the words. “I, Kyra
Straton, Queen of Terra and of the original families, do hereby release you,
Evander Nero, from custody of the Crown. You are released for the remainder of
your lifetime and are restored to your family name, Nero, of the original
families.”
He could barely manage to speak in
spite of the shock that gripped him. She had never once formally acknowledged
her custodianship over him and his sister.
“I’ll have a Transport Engineer
reprogram our private gate for Gaia and you can leave as soon as you want.” Her
words constricted him, his body stiffening at the sudden and unfamiliar feeling
of his freedom. Everything was happening so quickly he wasn’t sure if it was
even happening at all.
“This isn’t what I wanted,” he
argued. He looked to her for any indication she might understand him but she
merely composed herself, straightening her back and shoulders into the regal
stance that physically defined her.
“I will never be anyone’s second
choice.” The strength was back in her voice, the words sounding like a command.
She walked past him with her head held high, opened the door, and without a
final glance back at him, exited.
Still caught up in the speed with
which she had both freed him and dismissed him, he found he could do nothing
more than stare at the door, his mind struggling to process what circumstances
their actions would have.
Eva found a nearby chair to sit in
and plopped down ungracefully. She felt overwhelmed by the King’s admission.
“How?” she asked breathlessly.
“You think in my position I’m not
privy to certain information?” he retorted.
“I never even considered,” she
trailed off. It was still too much of a shock to learn that the King knew
anything at all. She just assumed he merely looked the other direction or lived
in denial about most things. What if he really did know about the Queen and her
brother all along?
“I’ve known Thea Thanatos my entire
life. Not many people remember her as our Queen.”
“That’s because we were forced to
forget about her and the original family,” Eva answered indignantly, not one
bit ashamed to speak so boldly towards him.
“I never forgot. I’ve helped keep
Thea hidden since her presumed death.”
Eva was stunned. “How have you
managed to do this behind the Queen’s back?”
Owyn looked at her as though the
answer was obvious. “She has a habit of keeping herself busy with matters that
don’t concern me; your brother among them.”
Eva felt her cheeks blush but
refused to acknowledge the statement even further. So he did know. How long had
he known and why didn’t he ever say anything? She could worry about that later.
“How do you know about Zoe?” She’d only just discovered Zoe herself. She’d just
assumed no one knew.
“I’ve always known about her,” he
answered. “When Thea realized what the Stratons were doing she could think of
only one way to save her children.”
“By sending them to another world,”
Eva finished, her head shaking in disbelief. She couldn’t help but picture Zoe
as a small child, ignorant to the chaos that descended upon her family as she
was put in a gate and send to a universe at random, seemingly lost for good.
“Zoe was the only one to make it
out of Terra before the Stratons found Thea. They very nearly did kill her, and
killed almost everyone else in her family before taking the Crown for
themselves.”