I nodded my head and finally looked him in the eye, strong enough now to give him the honor he deserved. “You have served me well, served your king with honor. You are a fine warrior and I am proud to call you friend.”
His dark eyes turned grave and he blinked hard, turning away from me so I would not see his tears. “I have failed you. Failed the king.”
“No.” Grabbing his hand, I placed his palm over the small swell of my abdomen. “No. He lives on. Our daughter grows strong inside me. The family does not fall this night. As long as the spire light burns, know that we live, and we will return.”
“What can I do for you, my queen?” He dropped to his knees, swaying there as fresh blood continued to coat his side. Next to him, the young guard dropped to his knees as well.
“What can we do?”
“Tell no one that you were with me, that you saw me. Tell no one of the child I carry.” I stood as tall as I was able, held my chin high, even as I heard footsteps approach. “And survive. Survive and support my daughter when she returns to seek vengeance.”
They both bowed their heads and I used that moment to slip inside the citadel. The entrance was hidden, a field of energy that looked like any other part of the wall. But for those with royal blood, one step was all it took to cross the barrier and enter the inner sanctum.
Outside, I heard the clash of sword on sword, of men yelling. Of death cries. But I didn’t dare turn back. If the enemy had arrived, I only had minutes to hide the royal necklace and escape before one of my traitor cousins would arrive and breach the barrier.
When I was sure the gemstones were secure, hidden well and never to be found without my direction, I looked at the sacred spires one last time. Several tiers of sacred stones adorned the precious metal. By some unexplained miracle—the best physicists on the planet had tried to understand for years how the energy of the stones had chosen me and all the queens before—the citadel itself bound to me, to my life force, and the spire would glow with fire no matter where I was in the galaxy, for as long as I drew breath. As long as my body was alive, the stones and I were linked on a quantum level.
I stepped from the hidden room, looked up. Saw my spire, my proof of life, well lit. All the spires were visible for miles, the light a beacon of royal power and strength for eons. In the beginning, all nine spires would glow, the royal bloodline strong. The line of ascension unbreakable.
Over time, something had happened to us. Fewer births. Wars. And now? Now there was only me. But so long as that ray rising out of the spire stayed lit, no one could claim my throne. The spire did not lie. That light, visible for miles, could not be vanquished unless I ceased to draw breath. No one of my living cousins had been deemed worthy by whatever intelligence was buried in the walls of the ancient structure.
But I did not doubt the life force or fire my daughter would carry. When she returned, I would bring her here, place her blood in the spire next to mine, and hold her to me with joy as we watched her spire glow for all the people to see.
It was time to disappear and wait. To blend in and hide until it was time for my daughter to return. I would need to leave the planet in disguise and not as queen. And so I stripped off my jeweled robes, left them in a pile at my feet. Beneath, a simple shift dress and scarf would allow me to escape unnoticed.
Whoever wanted to overthrow the royal line would not succeed tonight. And the light of the spire would keep my enemies in constant torment until I could avenge my family. Until my daughter ascended.
Heart breaking all over again, I clenched my jaw and straightened my shoulders as I took one last look at the spire’s light. I would not be here to lead my people, but they would know I had not abandoned them, would wait for my return.
With one final glance toward the hiding place of the royal necklace, I knew the sacred gemstones would be safe until my daughter’s return.
Swallowing my tears, I made my way to the secret exit and disappeared.
Trinity Jones, present day, Interstellar Brides Processing Center, Earth
The car skidded and the left two wheels lifted off the pavement as I took the corner going hella-fast. My NASCAR skills didn’t matter since the black SUV behind us didn’t even slow down.
“I need to take more driving lessons,” I grumbled, gripping the wheel tighter.
I’d gone to college, law school, and taken basic self-defense, but none of that included stunt driving. Looking back, Mother should have insisted on it the day I turned sixteen.
“God, Trin, you’re going to kill us before we get there.” My middle sister, Faith—older than her twin by a whopping eight minutes—laughed from the back as she scolded me, her white knuckled death grip on the two front seats the only thing keeping her in the car.
“Just pull over and let me shoot the assholes. Then we can go to Alera.” And that annoyed voice was my baby sister, Destiny, sitting in the passenger seat petting her gun like it was her favorite kitten. I was past the worry of her shooting me accidentally; she was too skilled. She looked like the more easy-going one of my twin sisters, but she’d spent every day of her life since she was four learning how to fight, hunt, stalk and kill things. The purple hair and huge, innocent looking baby-blue eyes were a total fake-out on any man who thought he had her figured out.
Not that she’d let very many try. We’d all dated. We weren’t innocent, sequestered virgins. But we were princesses. Not that anyone knew it. And not that we’d really, really believed it until a few hours ago. There were too many Disney princesses out there for us to have believed we were actual royalty from another planet.
Another freaking planet.
“Just shoot out their tires or something. That’s what they do in the movies.” Faith was grinning like a maniac, loving the adventure. Unlike Destiny, Faith looked innocent. Completely and totally innocent. Long golden brown hair. Warm, dark eyes. She looked like the biggest softie on the planet. And when it came to animals, that was true. She dragged home every sick creature within a ten-mile radius of our house, snakes included. But people? Ouch. Not so much. As twins, they should have been more alike, but they were fraternal and their personalities were as unbelievably different as they looked.
“Don’t you dare,” I threatened, keeping my eyes on the road. “We’re almost there. I can see the parking lot.”
“I won’t miss, Trin. Let me do it.” Destiny was already eyeing the SUV, the road, the angles.
“No. You won’t miss.” I glanced out the rear-view mirror at the SUV. “They’re going too fast. The stupid thing will probably flip and roll and some poor bastard just trying to do his job won’t go home to his family tonight. No. This isn’t their fight.”
With a deep sigh I’d heard hundreds of times, Destiny leaned back in the seat and let me drive. “Fine. Freaking diplomat. For the record, they’re chasing us.”
Faith turned around and waved at the sunglass-wearing Men-In-Black in the SUV behind us. I had to grin when I saw driver’s jaw tighten. “Stop tormenting the alien chasers.”
“Spoil-sport.”
