Zoe Thanatos (30 page)

“Yet I
was
Queen and now
my
daughter is.” The Queen Mother appeared to enjoy having Thea at her mercy. The
vitriolic tone in her words had not gone unnoticed by Evan, who was wondering
just how deep the animosity between the two women was.

Thea let a calm breath escape
quietly through her mouth. “She may wear the crown in name, but it does not
rightfully belong to her, Korina.”

Kyra stood and stared down at Thea,
the height from the throne’s platform giving her considerable height and an
imposing stature. “You will not be warned again!” she admonished. Around the
room every Crown Soldier straightened. Evan never once witnessed the Queen
raise her voice in such a manner, or move with such authority as she towered
over the room from her throne. She resumed her seat but kept her eyes locked on
Thea.

The Queen Mother relaxed in her
seat and placed her elbows on the padded arms. There was a smug smile of
satisfaction on her face that curled a knot in Evan’s stomach. “Take a careful
look around you, old friend. This is not the Terra you remember from your
childhood. We’re stronger, more advanced, and by all accounts better off
without you.”

“Stronger against what? The
residents of Terra are a peaceful people. What would they need armed soldiers
for? No. That was your doing. You knew you had no right to the crown so you
took it by force with paid thugs.” Thea ignored the looks from the soldiers
around the room who grumbled at her words. “As far as advancements are
concerned you can thank me and my family for that. Every time a Resident steps
into a gate to travel to another world they do so because we created the
technology. Any piece of technology you can point to in this city was designed
and built by a Thanatos. The only thing you contributed to,
old friend,
was our demise.”

“Enough with this,” Kyra commanded.
“No one cares to hear you carry on about your dead family.”

Evan watched as Thea’s face
dropped, the Queen’s biting remarks registering the intended cruelty. He had
never known Kyra to be uncaring, and to hear her speak of Thea’s family without
a modicum of respect left him feeling sick. It was the Stratons who murdered
the Thanatos family, not the other way around.

The Queen continued. “Thea
Thanatos, you are accused of stealing a volume of the Royal Anthology, conspiracy
to commit fraud against the royal family, kidnapping and holding the King
hostage, and the attempt to flee custody of the Crown. How do you respond to
these changes?”

“One cannot steal what is
rightfully theirs,” Thea disputed. Her eyes moved from Kyra to the Queen Mother
where they stayed, a burning intensity in her dark eyes. “I have committed no
fraud against the royal family because
I am
the royal family. There is
no King of Terra to kidnap or hold hostage and am therefore innocent of that
charge as well. I do not recognize the authority of these men you have paid and
placed in uniforms, and therefore made no attempts to escape the company of
anyone whose title is ill-conceived and fabricated.”

The Queen let out a
tsk-tsk-tsk
and shook her head at Thea’s response. “I get it. You obviously place no value
on your life and are willing to give it up for some dream that died half a
generation ago.” Her sympathetic smile was insincere, condescending even. After
a moment she turned her attention from Thea to the King and the smile faded.
“Perhaps she cares more about the lives of others? Her coconspirator for
example?”

The King looked up to meet his
wife’s eyes, his face resolute but also careful. He knew better than to be so
brazen with the Queen or Queen Mother, unlike Thea.

“Owyn you disappoint me,” Kyra
proclaimed. “Disloyalty and treason are not qualities suitable in a King. Your
deception is twofold; you’ve not only betrayed your people but also your own
family.”

The King held his head up and looked
plainly at Kyra. “Disloyalty. Treason. Deception. Those are tenets of the
Straton family name, are they not? Am I really being accused of the same crimes
committed by my own family?”

The Queen Mother scoffed from her
seat. “That’s a hefty accusation coming from someone who was taken in by this
family and appointed King. Where exactly do you think you’d be without your
family, Owyn?”

The King shrugged. “Dead, like they
are. Isn’t that right, Aunt Korina?” Several of the soldiers moved forward
towards him but stopped abruptly when Kyra put her hand up.

“As King you more than anyone know
the consequences of the actions you have taken. That tells me it was a
conscious decision on your part and one you’re willing to suffer the
consequences for. Am I correct?” Owyn remained silent as he returned the
Queen’s stare. She nodded at him before looking up towards her mother, who
stood and made her way down the raised throne. The thick fabric of her robe
splayed out behind her to form a brilliantly colored transport, the golden
embroidery catching the light in the room around them. She moved to stand in
front of Owyn as half a dozen Crown Soldiers formed parallel rows around him,
guarding his movements carefully.

The Queen Mother produced a scroll
from inside her robe and handed it to Hector, who had appeared at her side. He
unrolled the scroll and held it stiffly in his hands. From his vantage point
Evan couldn’t see what it was, but had the distinct feeling it wasn’t good. Owyn
glanced at the document but his face remained unchanged. Was he expecting this?

“I may be the Queen Mother but I
still maintain a certain amount of power in Terra, which includes the power to
nullify certain arrangements made during my reign as Queen. As your signature
on this document binds you in legal marriage to my daughter, a second abrogates
it.” She presented to him a golden pen. “If you please.”

Owyn looked from the Queen Mother
to Hector and then at the document. Without any obvious hesitation he accepted
the pen and scrawled his name on the document before silently returning the pen
to her. She placed it inside her robe and nodded towards Hector.

“See to it that document reaches
the Royal Archive.” Hector bowed his head in acknowledgement before turning and
heading for the door. The Queen Mother turned towards the throne and smiled
with satisfaction at Kyra. Her eyes darted quickly towards Evan before she made
her way back up the throne and regained her seat. Evan looked to Thea and
watched as she observed scene before her. She didn’t look one bit surprised. In
fact she seemed to smile a little, as though everything was right on track.
Thea kept her eyes on the Queen as she rose from her seat and climbed down the
throne, walking to the very spot in front of Owyn where her mother had stood.

“You don’t look very surprised,
dear,” she spoke to him.

“What’s to be surprised about? I’ve
always known your true intentions, where your loyalty and your heart live.”
Evan felt his cheeks burn under the gaze of his former lover’s now ex-husband.

“So you know what happens next
then?”

“I do.” Owyn looked back to Kyra.
“Your Highness.”

“
I, Kyra
Straton, Queen of Terra and of the original families, do hereby expropriate you
of your royal rank and title from this time forward. You will renounce any associations
of your title and make no attempt to pursue any privileges enjoyed by the royal
family. Do you understand?”

“I do,”
he acknowledged with a nod.

“Furthermore,”
she continued, “as you will live the rest of your days removed of your royal
title, so will you live them dissociated from the Straton family name. You will
from this point be given the surname of Terra to distinguish you from any house
association. Do you understand?”

Owyn’s
skin paled but his expression remained. “I do.”

“Now as
for the crimes you are accused of,” Kyra began again, pacing in small steps
before him.

Evan’s
attention was drawn away from the scene when he realized the Queen Mother had
stood and crossed over the throne to him.

“A word,
please,” she motioned to him. He stood and followed her down the pedestal and behind
the throne, just out of earshot and visibility of the Queen and Crown Soldiers.
She leaned in close to him, her golden eyes glinting with a smile. “I’m sure by
now you’ve assessed why you’ve been summoned here for these proceedings?” she
spoke softly.

If
only
. “Unfortunately, I haven’t.” He
wasn’t comfortable being so close to her. She was the woman responsible for the
demise of not only the Thanatos family, but also his. However indirect her
responsibility was in the death of his parents he still blamed her. He knew
better than to share those feelings with anyone. Still, he kept his anger and
hatred sealed tight beneath his outer composure.

“I have
been reliably informed that it was you who lead the way to Last City to
retrieve the book and Owyn. You even accompanied Thea as she was being brought
into the custody of the crown?”

His first
instinct was to panic. After what he’d witnessed with the King he knew she
would have no compunction about punishing him as well. However, he would not
have been invited to sit at the Queen’s side if the intent was to punish him.
He relaxed a little and nodded his head in acknowledgement.

She
leaned in closer. “I’ve also been made aware of a special relationship you and
my daughter have cultivated recently. She tells me you have been a trusted
confidante and a very loyal companion to the Crown.” Evan had no doubt in his
mind that ‘
special relationship’
was a polite euphemism for the affair
and it surprised him to see she wasn’t the least bit upset by the knowledge of
it. Instead she looked rather pleased, even somewhat proud. As close as she
stood he could see the delicate features of her face, the stark contrast they
made against the severity of her slicked back blonde hair.

“Your Highness,”
he began with hesitation.

“Please,”
she interrupted. “Call me Korina.”

That did
surprise him, so much so that he had to swallow hard to give himself a moment
to recover. Every instinct told him not to address her so informally, but knew
she would object otherwise. “Korina, I am deeply apologetic for any disrespect
that may have been reflected in my actions.”

“Disrespect?
No, Evander, you misunderstand me.” She looked rather amused. “As Queen my
daughter is free to pursue any relationship she desires. I’m not so naive that
I would expect her to remain faithful to a man she did not love.”

As much
as he could maintain his composure, he could not keep his cheeks from burning
beneath the assault of her words. He wasn’t embarrassed she knew, but felt a sense
of shame that she would speak to him about it so openly. He kept quiet as she
continued.

“Considering
the former King’s predilection for disloyalty and in light of the events that
have just transpired, it occurs to me that I now have the opportunity to
correct a mistake I made a very long time ago.” She held her hands in front of
her chest and pressed her fingertips together forming a pyramid. She looked
down at them deep in thought, considering her next words carefully.

“Selecting
Owyn was a calculated move on my part, and one that has obviously had some
unsavory consequences for all involved. Simply put, I should have allowed Kyra,
or trusted her rather, to make the selection herself based on her feelings,
rather than my agenda. She is free to do that now.”

“Your
Highness, the Queen and I are no longer…” he tried searching for the right words.
Having an affair
? No, that would not work. In the absence of any
seemingly appropriate word, he instead decided on a change in tone. “I have no
doubt that the Queen, as beautiful and bright as she is, will have any
difficulty selecting a man who will not only be faithful and loyal to the
Crown, but to her first and above all else.”

The Queen
Mother smiled. “My sentiments exactly. I believe she has already come to a
decision on the matter.”

It was
just as he suspected. “Me?” Like there was even a question about it. He
couldn’t help but hope she was speaking too soon and possibly without the
consent of Kyra. She knew his feelings and even seemed to respect them. However,
he was invited to sit on the throne at her side, to sit in the King’s seat and
preside over the trial, or whatever it was. Was she including him so intimately
because she indeed viewed him as a loyal friend of the Crown, or was there more
to it?

A great
sound from the other side of the throne brought his attention back into the
present. A rumble of men talking all at once broke out as Evan and the Queen
Mother returned to the crowd.

“Where
did she come from?” the Queen demanded, her voice a mix of shock and alarm.
Evan looked in the direction of the commotion, his heart skipping a beat when
he recognized the face of the person being held by no less than three Crown
Soldiers.

“Eva?” he
called out for her. She looked every bit as frightened as he felt in the
moment, the proximity of the armed soldiers flanking her unsettling.

“Who is
this girl? How did she get in here?” asked the Queen Mother.

“She’s my
sister,” Evan exclaimed. He made his way to Eva and, ignoring the immediate
protests of the surrounding soldiers, placed his hands on either side of her
face to get a good look at her. She didn’t look hurt, just surprised and
momentarily frightened. Her eyes were wide and bright as her limbs struggled
against the grips of her captors. “Please, you can let her go. This isn’t
necessary.”