Moving on silent feet down the hallway, I kept going until I saw another guard. This one armed.
Good. When I found this imposter king, I was going to put a very large hole in his head.
When he saw me, he raised his weapon, but I played the weak woman card. “The guard, he’s hurt.” I pointed anxiously down the hallway and gave him an Academy Award winning performance. “Hurry, I think he needs a ReGen pod.”
He came close to me, his weapon forgotten since I hadn’t portrayed myself as a threat. As he was walking past me, I grabbed his ion pistol, quickly set it to stun and shot him.
He crumpled to the floor, remained still. Leaning down, I patted him on the shoulder. “You’ll live.” He’d be incapacitated for a while, but I had no idea the strength of his stun setting, so I didn’t linger.
Goddess, it felt good to be doing something, to be assertive instead of meek. Offensive instead of defensive. I was grateful they’d moved me to a less secure cellblock. They’d transferred me every day, as if they were barely keeping one step ahead of someone who was looking.
Well, the queen was out of the cage now, and the whole world was going to know about it. I’d lure this imposter king to me. And if it was Mykel after all these years, he was going down.
Alarms pealed, the sound harsh on my ears after so many days of near silence, alone in my cell. I might have been able to take down three guards, but it was impossible to disable cameras. Eyes on the walls saw everything. Saw me take down a guard. I ignored the shrill sound. I had to get out of this area of the prison, find guards who were loyal Alerans, not minions of my enemies.
The third guard station was manned, based on their uniforms, by three members of the Optimus Unit. Two females and one male, they all looked up when I blasted the lock on the door and stepped through to their station, their mouths hanging open in shock.
“You’re the queen.” The young female guard gaped and stood, her chair sliding across the floor in her haste. She was younger than my twins. Obviously, she hadn’t known I’d been here, which had me believing I’d been kept isolated, a secret.
I nodded. “I am. I demand to speak with Captain Travin Turaya, of the royal guard on a secure channel. Then you three will personally escort me to meet him.”
The all stared. Unmoving.
“Now.”
I wasn’t sure if it was their queen issuing a command or the ion pistol I aimed at them that got them moving. It didn’t matter. They were following my commands.
I smiled. The queen was back.
1
Destiny
Morson. Morson. Where the hell was this guy?
Nix searched the other side of the room, moving from shadow to shadow along the periphery, unnoticed by the attendees. I had no idea how that was even possible. He was six-foot-plus of pure power and raw sex appeal, but then, maybe since we were in a room full of traitors who were plotting to kill my mother and my sisters, they had other priorities.
Most in the room were powerful in one way or another. Clerics. Lords. Ladies. I hadn’t been on Alera for long and even I could tell. Members of the Optimus Unit, too. Talk about the fox watching the hen house. The Optimus Unit was like Earth’s FBI and judicial system all in one. Not the brightest setup, in my opinion. Civics class taught me about separation of powers and yeah, they didn’t have that here. I meant separation of powers, but Civics, too.
I scanned the faces, searching for the man I’d barely caught a glimpse of on the monitor before coming down here. Morson. The only person here who, according to my sister, Trinity, was worth saving.
With my bat hearing, the ticking noise of that bomb was still echoing in my ears, despite the fact that it was more than one hundred steps behind me, in another room. It appeared my strange superpower had locked onto the sound as a constant reminder that I was running out of time.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Worse than a metronome. Infinitely more annoying.
Die. Die. Die. That’s what I heard. The sound made my blood pound and my head hurt. Someone wanted everyone in this building dead. Someone wanted to destroy everyone who knew the truth about what happened to my mother all those years ago. Whoever it was held onto a grudge. Twenty-seven years. Twenty-seven!
People had been dropping like flies. One after the other, some psycho was killing people off. Fortunately, Trinity, Faith and I had survived. And Mom, too, since her spire was still lit. And now, this fucker—yeah, he was a total fucker—was planning on getting the rest with one bomb. A bomb was ticking down and here I was, looking like I was mingling at a cocktail party.
The risk didn’t bother me. No. What bothered me was knowing Nix was still in the building. My death? Not the end of the world. But if anything happened to him, I’d never forgive myself.
Was this what love was supposed to be? Gut wrenching anxiety?
I thought about how I felt any time I imagined Mom rotting in chains somewhere, or the times my sisters were hurt growing up.
Yep. Gut wrenching anxiety. Worry. Fear. Helplessness.
Love sucked. Why did we spend our whole lives chasing it?
“Morson, good to see you here. I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me.”
I wrenched my neck in the direction of that voice and spotted my prey, Morson, talking to an older woman who also wore the uniform of the Optimus Unit. I had no idea who she was, nor did I care. She’d be dead soon. And so would Morson, if I didn’t get him out of here.
But Nix. How would he know I’d found him? He was on the other side of the large room, dozens of bodies between us.
“It has been a long time,” Morson replied. “I am looking forward to hearing what the next steps are in taking the throne.”
If Trinity hadn’t said he was one of the good guys, I would have had a very hard time controlling myself. But this meeting said it all. The person who’d killed the king and tried to kill Mom was back at it. I didn’t linger to find out who the woman was. Clearly, she knew Morson well. But why was he undercover, and for how long? It couldn’t have been since the attack on my mother.
I looked at him one more time.
No. Too young. Maybe Leo’s age. He had probably been a child when Trinity’s father was killed. Still, he could have been at this for years.
Poor bastard. I could never pull that off. I was too impatient, and I knew it. Too prone to take risks. Sometimes, stupid risks. Like riding Nix’s cock in the high cleric’s office while she spoke to a warrior on the other side of a door.
But god, what a magnificent cock.
I looked for Nix. Found him. His eyes met mine and I dipped my chin so he’d know to start moving closer. And those eyes. Intense. Beautiful. Focused on me.
That
