Zoe Thanatos (21 page)

“I just had a very interesting
conversation with the King.” Eva looked to Evan, her facial expression a
warning to him not to blow up. “He knows even more than we do.”

“How does he know anything about
Zoe?” Evan asked.

“Because,” she started. Her head
turned to look at Zoe, a pained expression on her face. “Zoe, Thea
is
your mother. He told me everything about her, and you.” Her attention turned
back to Evan, who looked as thoroughly shaken as ever. She recounted her
conversation with the King, volleying her attention between Zoe and Evan.

It was as though they were talking
about someone else’s life, another Zoe who had been sent to Earth as a child to
avoid being captured and killed. This other Zoe had had a brother and a sister,
a mother, aunts and countless other family members. Not to mention she was
royalty, heir to a queendom in a universe she only just found out existed. The
idea no longer seemed funny.

They had grown up together, Zoe,
Evan and Eva. Their parents had been close friends whose the children played
together, and lived their lives together. If no one ever besieged the Crown she
quite possibly would have inherited it. It was the kind of story she had only
seen in movies: A week ago she was an ordinary girl from Santa Barbara, and then
she was the sole living heir to a monarchy in a distant universe.

‘
You shouldn’t be here
,’
Evan had said. Zoe looked up and found his eyes on her. Eva was still talking, her
attention going between them as she relayed the King and Thea’s plans. She
could only imagine what Evan was thinking. He may have said she shouldn’t be
there, but it was obvious from the way he looked at her that he wanted her
there.

She zoned out completely, silence
in her ears and her mind lost away in her thoughts. Eva mentioned something
about the Queen, and whatever it was set Evan off. She watched as the two
siblings argued, each looking more intense than the other. Whatever their
argument was about they both seemed intent on having the final word. For all
she knew they were disagreeing on what to do with her, or what actions to take
next. Where did she fit in besides as the topic of conversation? What about
what she thought?

Zoe looked to the entryway and
retraced her steps since walking through it. The common room led towards the
Throne Room. The Throne Room was connected to the Government Center through a
long glass tunnel. The Transport Station was yet another tunnel away, the
smaller corridors leading to the glass box of the gate she had traveled
through. There were many doors between where she sat and the gates, but none of
them could take her home even if she wanted them to.

Her mind wandered back to the
Throne Room. There was another entryway that went to the residences of the
Queen and King. Was that where she grew up? Did she play in the Throne Room as
a small child with Evan and Eva at her side, their tiny voices echoing
jubilantly off the massive walls? Any memories were lost in time, her
connection to Terra severed long ago. Her memories, what little there were of
them, were of Earth.

There were so many unanswered questions.
Evan explained that a generation of life on Terra could be as much as hundreds
of years on Earth. Did that mean that she came to Earth in a different decade?
Another century? Would she really not remember living on Earth for hundreds of
years? It seemed improbable.

“I’m taking her back home. This
isn’t her life here.” Zoe looked up at Evan and frowned at the commanding tone
in his voice. He looked angry, at odds with himself even. Would he want her to
stay if the circumstances were different? No, if they were different she
wouldn’t be there to begin with.

“Even if you wanted to take her
home, you can’t. The gates have all been deprogrammed for Gaia. Don’t you think
I explained that to Zoe before she decided to come here?” Eva retorted.

“There’s a way. The Straton’s
private gate is the only option. I can take her home and this whole thing will
be over and done with.”

“Have you lost your damn mind? What
do you think the Queen would do if she saw you sneaking about with Zoe?
Besides, there’s no way she’d let you go.”

“She’s already given me permission
to leave, Eva.” His voice quieted some but it was still commanding, defiant
even.

Eva’s eyes narrowed suspiciously at
her brother. “How?”

Evan expelled his breath, showing
just how exasperated he was. “She released me.” He paused for a moment as his
words settled in. Zoe saw that Eva looked hurt, as though Evan had purposely betrayed
her. His gaze turned to Zoe finally, an imploring expression strained on his
face. “I can take you home. You didn’t ask for any of this and it’s much safer
for you in Gaia.”

“Technically this is her home,
Evan. She’s of the original family. Gaia was just a temporary solution.” Eva
looked to her brother and then to Zoe. She was a woman sure of her words and
her purpose, not once wavering in her protests to Evan.

“Gaia is all she’s ever known,” he
argued back.

“Her blood is Terra blood. She
would be our Queen if the Stratons had never displaced her family from the
Crown. She has more of a right to that title than Kyra, who for all we know
isn’t even a Straton.”

“We don’t know that she isn’t and
to even suggest it puts all our lives at risk,” he countered, his face growing
in anger and frustration.

“Have you forgotten what they did
to us, Evander?” she yelled. “They killed our mother and father, the King’s
mother and father, nearly Zoe’s entire family, and who knows how many others?
Since the day Thea sent Zoe away she’s been planning for her return. We all
have a role in this, Zoe especially.”

Evan cursed under his breath. He
ignored Eva’s stare and walked straight towards Zoe, crouching down in front of
her in the chair. “You don’t have to do this. I can take you home today and it
will be as if it never happened. If that’s what you want.”

She could tell by the intensity of
his voice that he wanted her to agree with him, to take her away from Terra, to
live as though the trip had been nothing but misstep. Eva, on the other hand,
was crestfallen, sure she would be defeated by Evan.

“What will happen to me if I go
with you?” she asked, looking up at Eva.

From the corner of her eye she saw
Evan frowning, his face growing dark at the slightest suggestion she might
stay.

“I don’t know for sure. The King
seemed to think that you would remember who you are and that you would know
what to do once you did.”

Zoe looked back to Evan. It was
apparent that he wanted nothing other than her safety, for her to live her own
life in the only home she’d come to know.

“What about you? What happens with
us if I go back?” He took a hold of her hand, his thumb gently grazing over her
fingers as it had done once before. Her heartbeat increased at his touch.

“What do you want to happen?” He
was so close and his stare so intense she could barely stand to look back at
him. Her breath caught in her throat. Was it an invitation for her to ask him
anything?

“Would you stay?” Her eyes widened
infinitesimally in anticipation of his response. She could barely believe she’d
had the courage to ask at all. She saw what she thought was a hopeful gleam in
his eye, a yet unspoken promise.

“Yes,” he answered after a long
pause.  

Briefly she wondered what it would
be like to have him around all the time. Would she show him around the home she
grew up in, or he the world around them one destination at a time? Would they
come to know each other better, become best friends and fall in love? Would she
come to know him intimately, sharing her heart and body with him completely?
Could he give up the only home he had ever known just to keep her safe?

Her hand moved from his and she
stood, Evan rising with her. They were both were staring at her, awaiting her
response. She cast her eyes downward, trying to gather any strength she could
find in the momentary absence of their imposing glares.

“I can’t. I’m sorry.” She took a
deep breath and after a moment looked up briefly to Eva, then to Evan. “A week
ago I was content to die, ready and willing to take and end my own life. Maybe
it wasn’t coincidence that you caught me, Evan. There’s an entire side to my
life story that I’m only just hearing and if I go back, even if it’s with you
by my side, I’d still be going back to the same life I’d tried to end.” She watched
as his face hardened, the hope in his eyes vanishing into defeat. She turned
her attention to Eva, who herself looked dumbstruck by what she’d heard. “It’s
not just my life that was affected by the Stratons, but yours as well. I’ll go
wherever you want me to go. Who knows? Maybe there is a life for me to
remember.”

Eva swallowed and nodded, a tight
smile stretching her lips slightly. “We’ll need to leave soon.”

“Okay,” Zoe nodded back. She
returned her attention to Evan. He was staring at her through his stony eyes,
his chest rising and falling underneath his crossed arms. She wished she knew
what to say to make him understand. She didn’t know what the right answer was,
only what felt right. There was no denying that going back to Earth would be the
safer option, even practical, but it wasn’t what felt right.

“I need to speak with you in
private,” he demanded. He looked to Eva, indignantly demanding her approval.

“I’ll gather what we need,” she
excused herself before leaving the seating area.

“Come with me,” he instructed to
Zoe, his hand finding a grip on her shoulder as he lead her to his private
residence. Despite his anger he was gentle with her, and she followed him
willingly, not daring to protest.

With a single motion of his hand
the door opened and she stepped into the room, Evan close behind. Her eyes went
immediately to the walls, the sprawling landscape of Santa Barbara surrounding
her as though she were physically there. There in his synthetic home he had
replicated her authentic home. It was romantic, nostalgic, and a bit ironic.

She walked to the foot of the bed
and wrapped her hand around the rich wood of one of the four posters. She
vaguely recognized her surroundings, recalling the hotel room at the Canary she
had stepped into for all of five minutes.

“You don’t know what you’re doing,”
he spoke from behind her.

“You’re right, I don’t.” She turned
around and faced him, her body leaning against the frame of the bed for
support. “What does that say about me?”

“That you’re in over your head,” he
replied, his tone less angry.

She shrugged. “Perhaps. When you
met me I was jumping to my death. Maybe I gave up on that life because I’d
forgotten about this one.” She took a deep breath of air. “I have too many
unanswered questions to go back now.”

“You’ll be safer there.”          

“Safer than what?” she asked. Her
eyebrows burned into her face as she looked at him. She was exasperated. She
knew he was right about being in over her head, but she’d felt like that before
coming to Terra.

He moved towards her, his concern
becoming evident with each step. “The difference is I can’t catch you here,
Zoe. You don’t know the Queen like I do. Even if you go with Eva and remember
who you are, who’s to say it will help you take back the Crown? She’s not just
going to give it to you.”

“Evan, I don’t know. For all anyone
knows I could remember and decide it’s not worth it and want to go back to
Earth. Anything could happen. But from everything I’ve heard there are people
here counting on me to do this. It’s not just about me, it’s about them too.
You heard what Eva said. Thea - my mother - has been waiting for this my entire
life. It goes beyond just me.”

“What if something happens to you?”
he implored.

“Isn’t that the point?” she
retorted. “For all we know you caught me so that I could come here. What was I
doing at home anyway? Finding stupid projects to distract me from unhappiness?
I would have likely gone back into the same self-destructive mindset
regardless. We just can’t know. How can you expect me to learn of this entire
life I never knew existed and
not
want to explore it?” She wasn’t sure
she believed it herself, but she needed to make him believe it.

His shoulders slumped in defeat.
“Is there anything I can do to change your mind?” he asked in a last ditch effort
to plead his case.

She looked at him for a moment,
taking in the handsome features of his face. The sharp, square jaw, a strong
and prominent nose, eyes the color of green glass beneath tufts of richly
colored hair. She wanted to commit his face to memory properly, remembering
exactly how he looked in case she never saw him again.

“No. However, there is something
I’ve wanted you to do.”

She extended her arm and reached
her hand out to his. He laced his fingers around hers and gently pulled her
into him. She was close enough to smell his fresh scent again, her chest
touching against his. She freed her hands and moved them to his neck, feeling
the goose bumps prickle his skin beneath her touch as she balanced on her toes.
Her eyes closed as her mouth touched his in a gentle kiss, his lips soft and
full, pillowing against her own. She breathed him in deeply, allowing his scent
to fill her senses. Her eyes opened as her feet lowered he back down again away
from his mouth. His eyes were heavy, lidded beneath the thick stripe of his
eyelashes. She felt her cheeks flush beneath his gaze.

“You’re smiling,” he said, his own
smile curving his mouth generously as he looked at her. He was right. It was
impossible not to feel the way the smile filled her cheeks and opened her eyes.
“And you’re beautiful,” Evan whispered.

The smiled softened, but remained.
She felt both humbled and touched by his words, not remembering a time when
anyone had paid her such a sincere and wonderful compliment.