Zoe Thanatos (26 page)

Kyra entered her own room and
leaned against the closed door. It was only a moment before she realized her
arms and legs were shaking, finally releasing the anxiety she had fought to
contain. With what little strength she had left she walked to her bed, kicked
off her shoes and crawled under the soft bedding, pulling it high over her
fully-clothed body.

In the depth of sleep she dreamed
she was back in the Throne Room as a young lady, residents gathered around the
magnificent room as her mother, the Queen, announced her betrothal. Only this
time it was the young Owyn standing amongst the crowd and Evan standing on the
other side of the Queen, his green eyes and rousing smile lifting her spirits
considerably. She would not have protested if her mother had chosen Evan as her
future husband and King, but would have delighted in the prospect of spending
the rest of her life with one she had admired so greatly.

In her dream Evan looked
resplendent with the King’s crown upon his head, the hefty gold halo contrasting
beautifully against tufts of chestnut hair. Evadine stood by her side as the
Princess Royal, sister to the King, and her most trusted confidante. The
blended family of Straton and Nero would create a unified royal family to rule
at the throne of Terra for generations to come.

She dreamed of a female child
younger than her own memories could recall. She had curls of dark hair and her
own deep, almond shaped eyes that dominated her face.  The clearer the image of
the girl’s face became the more she realized she was not looking at her own
daughter, but a nearly identical version of herself. A second child emerged,
her face even more similar to her own with a cascade of dark hair falling
wildly at her back. Her mouth was turned into a pout, a tantrum puffing out her
delicate features.

“Why do I have to play with the
baby?” whined the second child.

“She isn’t a baby. I thought you
loved playing with her?” The disembodied voice was that of an adult woman, the
cadence similar to her own.

“I want to play with the other big
kids!”

“Well, go on then, but take Zoe
with you. I’m sure the others won’t mind.”

“I mind!” she cried, the tantrum
mashing her face into a puffy mess.

Kyra’s eyes opened, exhaustion
dispelled from her head. The light began to brighten, casting a pale golden
atmosphere around the room. Her body had sunk into the thick cushioning of the
bed, swaddling her tired limbs into relaxation.

As comfortable as she felt she knew
there were important matters with which to attend. With any luck the Crown Soldiers
had found the escaped Last City residents and Elder woman and brought them back
to the Military Complex under increased security. However ideal the thought was
in her mind, she knew better. Their entire operation, from the theft of the
book from the Royal Anthology to their escape, had obviously been planned with
meticulous forethought and consideration. She would need to be both judicious
and swift with their sentencing to ensure their machinations were concluded.

As for the King, his situation required
a more delicate hand. Treason was an exceptional offense, one that would
ordinarily conclude with the perpetrator's life. Taking the King’s life was not
an option she would consider lightly. His title and standing among the people
of Terra meant his punishment would be met with ire, potentially complicating
her own standing as Queen. The history of the Crown had once already been
blemished with upheaval and she did not want history to repeat itself.

She rose from bed and quickly
stripped out of her formal clothing. She bathed, washing away what remained of
her sweat and fear. Before long she was clean and dressed in fresh clothing,
her hair pulled back into a simple chignon at the nape of her neck. Outside the
confines of her private room she found her lady-in-waiting setting a place at
the dining table. Julia bowed her head gracefully as Kyra entered the room, her
nose following the scent of freshly prepared food waiting for her on the table.

“Welcome, Your Highness. It is an
honor to be back in your company.”

“Thank you, Julia. Is my mother up
yet?”

“The Queen Mother awoke shortly
after you, Your Highness. I’ve also prepared her a meal. Is there anything else
I can get for you?”

“No, that will be all for now,”
Kyra dismissed. Julia bowed her head again before disappearing from her sight.
Soft wisps of steam rose up from the plate of food, the scent of seasoned eggs
and ripe fruit filling her senses. It wasn’t long after sitting down that her
mother appeared, also freshly groomed and neatly dressed. Julia bowed even
deeper than she had for Kyra, and arranged a second plate of food opposite her
at the table before being dismissed again.

“Sleep well, darling?” the Queen
Mother greeted, a pert smile upon her face.

“Better than I have in a while.
You?”

“I’ve long been accustomed to the
comforts of my own bed, but it was not unsatisfactory.”

Kyra snapped a bite of
green-fleshed fruit and managed not to roll her eyes. It would do her no good
to mention the bed was the very one she slept in during her reign as Queen.

“Has there been any news about the
escaped residents?” Korina asked.

“Julia,” Kyra called, looking up
past her mother. “Has there been any word from the Crown Soldiers?”

“No, Your Highness,” she replied.

Kyra looked back to her mother and
smiled emphatically. “No, there is no news. Thank you, Julia.” With another nod
of her head Julia disappeared, leaving Kyra alone with her mother.

“Have you given any thought to how
you’re going to proceed?” Korina asked before taking a tidy bite of food.

“Right now the only culprit we have
in custody is the King, and obviously that isn’t a normal situation.”

“No, it isn’t. How can the people
trust their King when he would conspire against them, against his own family?”

Kyra sighed. “That’s what I’d like
to know.”

After a long moment Korina relaxed
into the chair, the long back supporting her as she steepled her fingers in
front of her chest. “You have a unique opportunity in front of you, darling. An
opportunity to correct an obvious wrong and change the face of the crown
forever.”

“How so?” Kyra asked between bites
of fruit. She was intrigued by her mother’s solicitous tone, a sign that she
had her own machination in mind.

“Owyn’s parents were never
supportive of the Straton crown. It would not be difficult to argue that he
shared their alliance and hid it to gain favor from me in an attempt to bring
us down from the inside. Obviously his actions speak volumes about his true
feelings towards his family.”

“What exactly are you saying,
Mother?”

“I’m saying we can correct a wrong.
I can denounce your marriage and strip him of his royal titles, effectively
excommunicating him from the Crown.”

The shock of her words was like a
slap to Kyra’s face. Excommunicating the King? Stripping him of all his titles?
The notion was too much, too soon to properly consider. “I don’t want to make
any decision without first speaking to him.”

“What makes you think he won’t try
to manipulate or even harm you? Are you willing to take such a risk?”

“I have to, Mother,” Kyra signed,
exasperated. “Regardless of what he’s done he is still technically my husband.”

“Not if you don’t want him to be,”
Korina contested. Her expression was cold and unforgiving, not at Kyra but at
the King. “Think about it, darling. You told me long ago it was another boy
you’d set your heart on. With my help you can be rid of Owyn and marry the
person of
your
choosing.”

She felt a crack in her emotional
resolve at the implied mention of Evan. For all she knew he had left Terra and
was in another world making a life with someone else. There was no guaranteeing
he would want to replace Owyn in role and title.  Even if there was no one else
in the picture, she had no idea whether he’d want a life with her, one where
their union was not an affair but a relationship, a partnership. A marriage.

Julia appeared behind the Queen
Mother, her expression that of concern. “Your Highness,” she bowed. “There’s
news from the Military Complex. Alcander is requesting your presence at once.”

“Thank you, Julia,” Korina spoke.
She dabbed the corners of her mouth with a cloth napkin and rose from the
table, her head uncharacteristically bent in reverence to Kyra. “It’s time to
write your legacy, Your Highness.”

Evan couldn’t sleep. It hadn’t been
long since Eva and Zoe left for Last City against his better judgment, and the
waiting was nerve wracking. Everything was too quiet, even in the familiarity
of his and Eva’s residence. There lingered a sense that things were about to
irrevocably change one way or another, and he hoped he and the ones he cared
for were on the right side of that change. In the meantime he needed a
distraction, something to keep his mind from waiting for any word from Zoe or
Eva. With the entire city on lockdown it would be difficult to go anywhere or
do anything.

Every private residence and public
area was equipped with an information kiosk that displayed streaming updates of
news from the Crown and around Royal City. Since returning to Terra he had not
bothered to power on the kiosk in his residence, assured that between his
meetings with the Queen and information compiled from firsthand sources he was
up to date on the Crown’s goings-on. Yet, something compelled him then to
switch the glass panel on, hoping against hope that there was some news,
any
news
to abate the pit of worry in his stomach.

The kiosk came alive instantly,
streams of updates aggregating one on top of the other until the most recent
were on top. With his fingers Evan pinched and zoomed in on specific headlines,
briefly reading their contents as he moved from one to the next. One piece
detailed a partially true account of the King’s kidnapping and how, with the
help of highly trained Crown Soldiers, his trusted confidante Evander Nero
helped rescue him from danger. There was little mention of the stolen book from
the Royal Anthology.

Another announcement proclaimed the
gates had been temporarily closed for maintenance, assuring residents that that
it was a routine procedure that would not permanently affect their lives. The
newest announcement was that the King’s captors had been taken into royal
custody and were awaiting prosecution. There was no mention anywhere about Last
City, its residents, or anything about Thea Thanatos and the original family.
Of course the Queen would never allow such explosive information to be released
by way of the information kiosks. Still, even with the carefully crafted
announcements it was obvious that a complete story was not being told. He
wondered how the Queen would use information about the recent events to her
advantage. Though, he could not imagine she would release any information about
Thea or the original family.

He thought about Thea locked up
behind closed doors guarded by Crown Soldiers, waiting on the Queen to decide her
fate. Like Eva and the King said, everyone had a part to play, but what was the
outcome meant to be? If Zoe regained the memory of her birthright what would
she do next? Challenge Kyra for the Crown? The Queen had her own personal army
and Zoe was a virtual stranger to everyone in Terra, excluding the few who knew
of her existence. If taking back the throne was her plan how would she do it?

Evan looked up at the information
kiosk. The Crown not only had the army, but also controlled the flow of
information to every resident, and if they no longer had that control they
would be unable to feed half-truths and propaganda to the residents. If they
knew the truth would they rise to Zoe’s defense? Would they rally at her back,
outnumbering the Crown Soldiers, to help her take back her birthright?

Then there was the other issue
sticking in the back of his mind. What happened to the other Thanatos children?
According to the King, who was presumably in-the-know because of his
relationship with Thea Thanatos, the only known child to survive was Zoe. Her
sister and brother were never confirmed to have either died or survived, so the
question of their mortality was still unknown. Both were too young to survive
on their own, and yet if they were never found where could they possibly have
gone? Had a family taken one or both of them in, raised them as their own?
Though born into the royal family they were still just children when the
Stratons took the Crown, and it was possible that not everyone knew what they
looked like. Not even he could remember their faces. He could only recall the
name of the other sister,
Zara
. If she were alive she’d be close to Eva
and Zoe’s age. If Zara Thanatos and her brother were alive would they know
their true identity? Could they really have lived their entire lives in Terra,
forced to honor a Queen whose own family took theirs from them?

With the Thanatos name firmly in
his mind, he placed one hand on the glass pad of the information kiosk and
waited for the screen to change.
‘No results found
.
’
 He thought
of the original family.
‘No results found.’
Zara and Zoe.
‘No results
found.’
It was as though they had been erased from Terra’s memory. The
network supporting each information kiosk was supposed to be a vast database
that chronicled the history of Terra. The only system he had seen that even
remotely resembled Terra’s was one he found on Earth - the Internet. It was a
crude and unrealized version of what he was used to in Terra.

He simplified his query.
Zara
.
Immediately a list of results aggregated before his eyes. He bypassed the
announcements and selected the social network, looking for faces to match his
search. Four profiles with pictures populated the screen, one Elder, two
younger girls who were born long after he was, and the fourth a young woman
approximately his age, with sleek blonde hair and light eyes. Evan squinted and
leaned in closer to the screen. There was something strange about the girl’s
photo. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was but something about her
face looked
off
. He looked to the other three photos to see if the same
anomaly was present, but they each looked ordinary. He pinched and zoomed on
the fourth Zara’s profile, her picture shrinking as a list of information about
her materialized across the glass.