Zoe Thanatos (34 page)

It was an incomprehensible blur.
The Queen and Evan walked out hand in hand from the Royal Residence into the
Throne Room, walking around the partition to confront a room full of formally
dressed residents. Eva was escorted by Alcander after them, and taken to a
luxuriously ornate chair at the base of the pedestal, just beneath where the
Queen and her brother sat on the throne, the Queen Mother at their side. She
could see in the faces of those in the crowd that they were as confused by the
scene as she was. Somehow, in the short amount of time since she was taken into
custody, her own brother had married the Queen and become the King of Terra. He
had a part to play, indeed, but not even she could comprehend that it had gone
so far.

So it was done. Evan was the new
King of Terra. He’d never once imagined he’d be in such a position. Much to the
disdain of the Queen Mother, the Queen did not want to have the ceremonial
pronouncements of their engagement and eventual wedding, and instead requested
they marry in private. The ritual itself was fairly quick, each of them
exchanging vows to one another before signing an official royal document
legally binding their matrimony and his new title of King. It would be a while
before the realization would sink in.

He’d never particularly imagined
getting married, but would have preferred to have his only living family member
there at his side, whether she supported their union or not. The Queen offered
to have Evadine released and officially welcomed as a part of the royal family,
even going as far as to offer her a palatial private apartment within the royal
residence. By the time his sister was released he was married and titled, and
there was no way to softly break the news to her. She more than anyone had to
understand that he was doing what he felt was necessary, but assumed the shock
of it would ultimately temper her reaction. In any event, she was the Princess
Royal by marriage, and with the title came certain rights and expectations. He
would simply have to find the right time to explain everything to her.

In the meantime they would need to
strategize. Owyn was to be deported to the outlying cities, he had no idea what
had become of Thea, and he had heard no update on Zoe. Whether or not Thea’s
plan was ultimately foiled, he intended to keep going, Eva at his side.
Whatever came next would require planning and thoughtful consideration. He
hadn’t married the Queen for nothing and intended on seeing the plan through to
the end, especially for Zoe’s sake.

He wondered how soon he could head
to the Reproduction Unit and see her. Perhaps as King he could do his part to
see to it that her real identity was not revealed any sooner than it had to be,
and maybe even keep her safe from the wrath of either Queen.

Kyra rose from her throne to
address the Residents gathered in the great hall and welcomed them each. He
watched the faces of those in front of him as she spoke, wondering what each of
them was thinking. He’d been on their side his entire life, even as a technical
prisoner of the Crown under the rule of the Queen Mother. Several heads turned
to look at him throughout the Queen’s oration, their faces a mix of confusion
and intrigue. Could they accept him as their new King with the memories of the
former King still so fresh in their mind?

“As your Queen I always want to be
open and honest with you, to include you in the life of Royal City so that you
know it is your home as much as it is mine,” the Queen spoke. “It is with great
sadness and difficulty that I must inform you a serious crime has been
committed against the Crown. A priceless and treasured artifact was stolen from
the Royal Anthology recently, a crime spearheaded by an Elder from one of the
outlying cities. Unfortunately, the former King was a party to the crime for
reasons we still have yet to understand. Rest assured that those who are
responsible for the theft from the Crown have been punished to the fullest
extent of what their crime mandates.”

“Who was the Elder?” a voice called
from the crowd. Evan’s hears picked up at the sound, but he couldn’t see who
had spoken.

“No one of significance,” the Queen
answered in the general direction of the crowd. “She was a very bitter woman
who had taken it upon herself to defect from Terra, and for reasons unknown
felt she could gain notoriety or fortune from stealing from the Crown. Whatever
her reasons she now knows the consequences of her actions, and will no longer
be a threat to the Crown.”

A feeling of dread rippled through
his stomach and he felt suddenly queasy. A movement in the crowd of residents
caught his eye. Someone was weaving their way through the assemblage towards
the front. He watched as they snaked in and out between people before emerging
at the front line. His heart nearly stopped beating in his chest when he saw
her face.

Her eyes were locked on his, all
manner of happiness gone from her beautiful face. Zoe looked fierce, intent,
and furious. It was no longer a question in his mind what had become of Thea
Thanatos. The look on Zoe’s face was all he needed to know. The former Queen
was dead.

Zoe’s attention shifted to the
Queen, her lips forming in a resolute line as she stared. “If she was no one of
great importance than why was she executed?” she called out. Around her the
crowd murmured, most of them in shock, others in outrage at the accusation.
Evan looked to the Queen and found her staring down at Zoe, dumbstruck
confusion paralyzing her face.

At the Queen’s inaction the Queen
Mother stood, taking a place beside her daughter on the throne. “Young lady why
don’t you step aside with Alcander and someone from the Queen’s residence will
address your questions accordingly.” She extended her arm and motioned for
Alcander and several other Crown Soldiers to take her. Evan put his hands on
the arms of the chair and began to rise, but stopped, remembering his place. As
King there was nothing he could do to help her, and it immobilized him.

“Why? So you can try to have me
killed again, Korina?” A series of gasps erupted around the room, the murmuring
of the crowd growing louder as they each trained their heads to get a look at
the female resident who dared speak to the royal family. “That’s what you do,
isn’t it? Anyone who gets in your way you get rid of. Only you don’t actually
do the killing yourself, do you? No, you let paid thugs do it for you so your
hands remain clean. Just like you did with our mother.”

Several Crown Soldiers descended on
Zoe, each taking a stronghold of her arms to render her motionless. The crowd
around her stepped backwards, some shrieking at the violent intrusion they were
witnessing. Zoe maneuvered her right foot around the legs of one Soldier and
kicked the back of his knees until he fell to the ground, losing his grip on
her. With her free hand she punched up on another Soldier’s nose, breaking the
cartilage into his skull before sending a second blow to his sternum. He fell
to the ground and she was free, running toward the throne and climbing up the
pedestal until she had the Queen Mother’s chest gripped tightly in one arm, her
other hand going behind her back to imprison her arms from movement.

“Tell them who the Elder woman
was,” Zoe demanded, her voice booming from the throne. “Or better yet, tell
her.” She shoved the Queen Mother’s body so they were facing the Queen, who
looked on in horror at the scene before her. Evan stood so quickly that the
elaborate chair he’d been sitting in tipped over backwards with a loud bang.
Eva was at his side in an instant. He took her hand in his and squeezed,
holding her close to him.

“Kyra help me,” Korina whispered
hoarsely.

“Why don’t you tell her the story
you told me before you ordered my execution?” Zoe looked from Korina to Kyra,
and suddenly the similarity of their features was no longer a strange coincidence
to Evan. “You’re not Kyra Straton,” Zoe continued, her attention on the Queen.
“You’re Zara Thanatos. The Elder woman you captured from Last City was our
mother, and now she is dead.”

There were no gasps from the crowd,
only silence. Even the Crown Soldiers themselves were rendered silent at the
admission. Evan felt his sister’s attention on him, but he could not move his
eyes from the two women standing before him.

“
Our
mother,” the Queen
dumbly replied.

“After the first attempt on our
mother’s life she took you and our brother Zarek. When her own daughter died
she replaced her with you, changing your identity until you truly believed you
were Kyra Straton. Everyone else she could find she had killed, including the Nero’s
and even her own brother and sister, just because they were loyal to the
Thanatos family.”

“Kyra
please
!” the Queen
Mother cried. “Alcander! Hector!” she screamed. Eva removed one arm from around
Korina’s torso and reached around to her back, pulling a syringe from the
inside of her waistband. She quickly uncapped the needle and plunged it into
the Queen Mother’s neck, her thumb ready to depress the green liquid straight
into her blood stream.

The Queen seemed to finally come to
her senses. With a flick of her head she motioned a gang of Crown Soldiers to
descend upon the throne, surrounding Zoe as she held the Queen Mother prisoner
in her arms, her finger ready to inject the syringe into her body. Several residents
screamed as they collectively backed up, pushing themselves up against the
walls, some bottlenecking at the exits as they tried to escape from the room.

Evan noticed a handful of Crown
Soldiers had formed a perimeter around him and Eva, protecting them from
danger. She was shaking in his arms, no doubt as scared and unsure of herself
as he was.

“Kill her!” Korina screamed. There
was no fear in her voice, only passionate anger, igniting her from within. “Do
as your Queen commands!”

The throng of Crown Soldiers that
congregated around Zoe and the Queen Mother descended upon them, hiding them
from view of Evander. From behind the wall of uniformed Soldiers he heard
Korina scream, her voice blood curdling as it pierced the room before cutting
off suddenly. Something loud and heavy dropped to the floor. An arm protruded
lifelessly from between two Crown Soldiers, and Evan couldn’t tell if it was
Zoe’s or the Queen Mother’s. There was a struggle. Several Crown Soldiers fell
to the ground, some piling on top of others. Evan let go of Eva’s hand and took
several steps forward, fighting the impulse to scream as he heard hard sounds
of muscle hitting soft flesh.

The mob of Soldiers collapsed,
imploding from the middle to the ground. He watched along with the Queen as
each of the Soldiers stood, some bleeding from cuts to the face, others already
bruising around the eyes and mouth.

“Where is she?” the Queen demanded,
screaming at the men before her. Each stood empty handed, and as they stepped
backward the dead body was finally visible, slumped face-down into the Throne,
tattered blond hair strewn around her head like a fractured crown.

Zoe was nowhere to be found, having
escaped the mob of Soldiers without being seen. “Where is she?!” the Queen
demanded again, her scream resonating throughout the great room. Evan turned to
look at Eva but found only empty space where she once stood.

“Eva?” he called out, looking
around at everybody on and around the throne for his sister. He frantically
looked around the room for any signs of his sister or Zoe, panic stricken at
the thought that they were gone. “Zoe!” he screamed. They were gone. Vanished
into thin air. His heart raced in his chest, threatening to give out as he
desperately looked for any sign of their presence. “Zoe! Eva!”

They were gone.

Zoe emerged from beneath the
surface of the water and took an enormous breath, desperately welcoming the
fresh intake of oxygen into her lungs. She coughed out the small intake of
water she had inadvertently swallowed and gasped for more air, opening her eyes
to take in her surroundings. The water was unlike anything she’d seen before,
an unnatural shade of translucent violet. She could just make out the shape of
turquoise colored kelp languishing several feet beneath her in the ocean floor.
The water met a white sand shore more than a dozen feet in front of her. A body
was slumped over in the sand, limbs contorted strangely as it lay still. Zoe
swam towards the shore, her pace increasing as she realized the lifeless form
was Evadine Nero.

“Eva!” she called out, water
splashing in her mouth as she swam furiously for the shore. Once her knees
touched the gritty sand of the ocean floor she stood, running as fast as she
could towards Eva.

With great care she turned Eva’s
body over so that her back nestled into the sand, freeing her chest to take in
fresh air. Zoe checked her vital signs and found she was unconscious, but
breathing.

She looked around, taking in the
sight of the unfamiliar place. The violet colored ocean stretched out for what
seemed like miles with small white islands dotted along in the distance.
Instinctively she knew she was in a place she’d never been to, and wondered how
she ended up there to begin with.

“Zoe? Are you all right?” Zoe
looked up and found a young man running towards her, and for a split second she
thought it was Evan. The man had golden light hair and familiar, close set
brown eyes. He was the spitting image of their mother.

“Zarek?”

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