The Royal Pursuit (24 page)

“
We might be able to work
something out, but that child of yours will not work with me. She
will destroy this city. I’ve seen the future.”

“
She is meant to be the
next Queen of Raz. She won’t bother coming to Earth unless
something happens to threaten the well-being of Raz or one of her
allies. Do you have any idea what that something might
be?”

“
The technology,” the man
in white interrupted.

Ann glanced at him.

“
I don’t know any more than
that,” Pallid added.

“
So we can’t fill in all
the blanks,” William told her. “You’re just going to have to trust
our judgment on this. Atlantis will be the greatest city on Earth
until she comes to ruin it.”

“
Because of the
technology?” Ann asked, wishing there was more to go on than this
little piece of information.

Pallid nodded.

An idea came to her. “Well, Atlantis
sank in the past. Why did that happen?”

“
The six leaders, in their
pursuit of creating the perfect person, made a man that was a
little higher than the Augurs in intellect. He desired the power
they had and tried to take control of the city by manipulating its
technology. It was a bitter war.”

“
The leaders used the
technology to produce him after determining the technology was
dangerous?” she asked, appalled.

“
Even the best of us can’t
resist its appeal.”

She took that as her cue. Looking at
William, she made her case. “This city possesses technology that
may not be what humans can handle. You know how we are as a
species. Growing up, we were told that someday mankind would
destroy the Earth with bombs. The only thing that has held us back
is our fear of being bombed by someone else. Can you imagine what
people might do with the technology in this place? Perhaps the
sinking of this place was the best thing that happened to
Earth.”

Pallid sharply inhaled.

“
I’m sorry, but I don’t
think everyone will be responsible with the power in this place,”
she said.

“
I won’t let the wrong
person near the technology,” he swore. “I won’t die either, so I
can see that promise through to eternity.”

“
I will rule fairly,”
William agreed. “History won’t repeat itself.”

She knew she’d lost her argument. They
would do as they wished, and there was nothing she could say to
change their minds.

“
I will escort you back to
your room. I must speak with Nichols in private,” Pallid told
her.

She reluctantly followed him, deciding
it was best to keep quiet. They’d made up their minds, and nothing
she could say or do would change them. She would have to bide her
time and hope William wouldn’t have a chance to hurt
Hathor.

She couldn’t afford to risk the life
of her child. If she did anything to upset either man, they might
kill her despite their assurances they would let her live. If she
wasn’t pregnant, she would try to escape. She wondered what plan
they would come up with about Amanda. She was terrified to find
out. As soon as she returned to her room and he locked her inside,
she allowed her tears to fall.

Chapter
Nineteen

The man in white returned to the
library where William stared in amazement at the city before him.
The man closed the door to ensure their privacy.

“
We need to discuss Ann’s
fate,” the man said, deciding not to waste time on
pleasantries.

“
What do you want to do?”
William asked, not taking his gaze off the city.

“
Let her live.”

“
What is so special about
her that you wish to spare her life?”

“
It’s wrong to kill her
just because she’s pregnant,” he said.

William sighed. “Look, I don’t want to
kill her, okay? You heard me talking to her.”

“
Perhaps we can allow the
child to be born. If we kept Ann here, then she could raise the
child here. We can monitor the child’s actions. It isn’t too late
to change the future.”

“
It won’t work. Ann needs
to rule Raz. She won’t stay here. Besides, if we were to force her
to stay here, the Palers will come rescue her. I remember what
happened when they came here before. There are a lot of them, and
they could easily wipe us out.”

The man didn’t want to resort to the
next option. He had held out for all other options, hoping one of
them might be feasible. He’d promised Ann he wouldn’t allow her to
die. There was only one way to ensure she remain alive without
threatening the future existence of Atlantis.

“
The technology in this
city will allow us to perform an abortion,” he slowly
stated.

William’s eyebrows rose in interest.
“That would certainly eliminate our problem.”

He stared at William, wondering why
the thought didn’t disturb William as much as it disturbed him. It
seemed cold-hearted to do such a thing. He knew Ann would be
devastated. The child meant so much to her. He would have to find a
way to soothe the pain for her.

“
Is that all you wanted to
discuss?” William asked, finally turning to face him.

“
No. I also wondered if you
captured Hathor yet.”

“
Oh yes. I have him exactly
where I want him. He won’t be alive for long.”

“
What did you do with the
others?”

“
I put the Nicals, Athen,
and Palers in the cubed prison. Kent and Stacey Russell are still
asleep from the sleeping gas I put into the room they were in. As
for Captain Reed, he is taking care of the other two men who came
with him on the expedition.”

“
You plan to kill those two
men as well?”

“
I have to. I can’t leave
any loose ends.”

“
It sounds like you’ve
thought everything through.”

“
Yes. This time I am well
prepared.” William smiled. “I have been looking forward to this for
a long time. I am going to especially enjoy confronting
Hathor.”

The man watched as William left the
room. He didn’t care much for William, but he supposed the feeling
was mutual. He sighed and sat at the desk. He remembered when he
used to visit this library and study the many books. He never
thought he’d see the day when Atlantis fell. Even more surprising
was the fact that he was finally here again.

He ran his hands along the desk,
loving the feel of the smooth surface. No other human was able of
duplicating the artistic skill of Hephaestus who designed
it.

His attention turned back to the small
mirror. He hadn’t had a chance to use it since Atlantis disappeared
from the face of the Earth. He had relied on his memories of what
he had seen before its collapse. Fortunately, he had an excellent
memory. The six leaders created his capacity for retaining
memories.

He picked up the mirror, wondering
what he should check out in this mirror of possible futures. He
knew William and Ann shared a romantic past. He also knew she ended
up marrying Hathor instead. He wondered what would have happened if
she had married William.

He pushed the letters on the mirror
until it brought up the scenario he requested. The mirror displayed
an image of Ann who was in her last trimester of pregnancy. She
stood in her bedroom, staring out of a window.

The man pressed start to begin the
scene’s movement.

William entered the room, a look of
boredom on his face. “Athen summoned me. He said you wanted to see
me.”

She took a deep breath before she
turned to face him. “I heard rumors that you are sleeping with
Aphrodite. Is this true?”

His eyes widened. “Who told you
that?”

“
I won’t disclose the
source of this information, but I will say the Olympians have
banned her from their planet for her actions. She is returning to
Earth as we speak.”

He shrugged. “What if it is true? It’s
your fault.”

She clenched her fists but refrained
from going near him. “How is it my fault?”

“
You are a control freak on
this planet. You think everything revolves around you. I run around
doing your bidding. I don’t make any of the decisions, and no one
listens to me because you’re the one they look to.”

“
But that’s your job. I
told you that is what the king does. You insisted on coming with me
anyway. I tried to warn you this wasn’t going to be a politically
equal relationship. Raz isn’t designed for that.”

“
You’ve emasculated
me.”

“
It wasn’t my choice. Kathz
made Raz what it is today. I can’t change the rules. I must obey
them.” She paused. “I have done everything I can to treat you with
respect. When we are alone, I am your equal. I haven’t denied you
anything you wanted. You have riches stored up in your bedroom. I
let you take trips all over this universe. I do what I can to make
you happy.”

“
With Aphrodite I am
superior.”

“
With Aphrodite any male is
superior. That’s how she is. She’ll sleep with anyone given the
opportunity.”

“
You never did like
her.”

“
And for good
reason.”

“
Oh, I’m not alone in this
infidelity.”

She gasped. “I have never cheated on
you!”

“
Maybe not physically, but
I know you think of Hathor. Late at night, I know you cry because
you wish you’d married him instead of me.”

She looked back at the window, not
allowing him to see the tears that welled in her eyes.

“
There’s no love between
us. If the child you carry is a girl, you’ll divorce me. I know
that. Then you’ll run to Hathor and make him the king.”

“
He would never take me
back. Not after the way I rejected him,” she whispered.

“
What was that?” he
demanded.

She quickly wiped the tears from her
eyes and whirled around, her anger resurfacing. “Get out! You’d
better hope this child is a girl because then you can go right back
to Earth. If this child is a boy, I will have to confine you to the
prison. I won’t have you married to me and fooling around with all
the willing women you find on other planets.”

“
If you send me back to
Earth, I will be a nobody again.”

“
Isn’t that how you feel
now?”

“
But I won’t have the title
of being king or the riches that come with it.”

“
You should have thought of
that before you cheated on me.”

“
You will never be happy,”
he promised. “I will see to that.”

“
When you’re out of my
life, I will be happy,” she replied.

The man in white had to see what
William meant when he made his promise. He chose to follow the
course William made, so the mirror switched to him as its focal
point. William didn’t waste any time in following on his promise.
He found the location of Hathor’s residence and pounded on the
front door of his one-bedroom wood house.

Hathor reluctantly put his pen down.
He stood up from his desk and walked over to the door. He blinked
in surprise when he saw who his visitor was.

“
This isn’t a social call,”
William announced as he entered the house.

“
What do you want?” Hathor
demanded, his tone revealing his dislike for the king.

“
Have you seen
Ann?”

“
Not since she married you.
I helped the previous queen hand the queenship over to her,
remember?”

“
Just checking.”

Hathor sighed impatiently. “Is there a
point to this conversation because I’d like to get back to
preparing the lessons I will need to teach your child.” He motioned
to the paper on his desk. “As you can see, I am busy.”

“
If this child is a girl,
Ann will divorce me. Did you know that?”

Hathor’s jaw dropped. Then his eyes
narrowed. “What did you do to her?”

“
Why do you assume it’s
something I did?” he snapped.

“
Because she would never do
anything to jeopardize your marriage.”

“
Did you know she would
like to be with you instead? Oh, she hasn’t come out and said it,
but I can see it in her eyes whenever someone mentions your name in
the palace. She asks about you. You know, to make sure you’re doing
alright. And you’re right. She won’t dare come see you because it
would tarnish her reputation. She wouldn’t cheat on me with anyone,
no matter what I did to her. She’s just biding her time until she
can divorce me.”

Hathor’s face grew red with anger.
“What did you do to her?”

William took out the Book of Spells
and flipped through it.

Hathor lunged for it, but William
quickly froze Hathor in place. “What I’ve done is nothing compared
to what I’m about to do. I’m going to make sure she is never happy
by taking you from her. If she’s going to make my life miserable,
I’m going to do the same to her. She may not believe it, but I know
you would go to her if you thought there was a chance you could
have her. I knew you loved her then and you love her
now.”