Zoe felt deflated. The choice she was being forced to make was unfair and she didn’t like it. How could she be expected to make a decision that would set the course for the rest of her life? If she left it would be with the knowledge that she could never return, or possibly even without any of the memories she had made since meeting Evan and Eva. What would her life be then?
“I don’t know how to be a leader, let alone a Queen. How do you know I’ll be any good at it?”
“I know because it is what you are destined for, Zoe,” he affirmed. “Your path has always been to the crown and once you are restored to your rightful identity you more than anyone will know that. You will not be going into the position blind.”
Zoe was still confused. “Are you saying that once you magic my memories I’ll be a different person?”
“No, who you are now is the different person. Should you decide to embrace your true self you will be equipped with all of the knowledge and insight you would have gained had you grown up into your true life. You will inherently know what to do.” He sighed and looked upon her with regretful resignation. “Unfortunately, you must decide now. The longer we digress the more fragile our plan becomes.”
Eva suddenly turned to Zoe and took her hands in hers. “You can do this, Zoe. You know you can. You already made the choice once; it won’t be hard to make it again.”
Zoe nodded. “You’re right.” In her heart she had already made the decision. It was her brain that needed to catch up. She had a mother who had sacrificed her entire life for her, a brother who needed to be found, and a sister whose whereabouts were known. It was every reason she needed to stay, to turn her back on Earth and embrace the life she was meant to have, however difficult it may be. She turned back to her father and smiled kindly at him.
“That which seems lost in Terra rarely ever is. You’ll soon know what matters.” He turned towards Eva and nodded at her. “She’ll be right behind you.”
A momentary look of fear and confusion washed across Eva’s face before Zopyros placed a hand on her shoulder. In a blink she was gone and Zoe’s hand fell to her side, empty without Eva’s fingers entwined around them.
“What the hell?” Zoe cried. Her feet carried her forwards into the space Eva had just occupied, her mind empty of comprehension.
“Don’t worry, Zoe. Evadine is safe.”
“She just disappeared!” she exclaimed, though even her own words left her disbelieving.
“I’ve sent her back to Royal City where she belongs. You’ll see her soon.”
“How did you do that? How did you just make her disappear into thin air?”
“I’m afraid the answer isn’t nearly as mystical as you may be expecting. I told you to think of me as a program, right?” Zoe nodded. “I effectively acted as a gate and sent her back to where she came from. I promise you she’s perfectly fine.”
She felt her heart beat slowing, the breath in her airways flowing with increased ease. A tender vibrating sensation on her shoulder caught her attention and she looked up to find her father’s hand placed on it like he had before, the tingling electricity growing at his prolonged touch. After witnessing what had happened to Eva she expected to disappear herself and reappear someplace else entirely. To her great surprise she remained still
Zopyros looked like a man who had suffered deep loss, his mouth downcast into a frown and his too-big brown eyes misty with tears. “Your birth was one of the happiest moments of my life, and sending you away was one of the worst. However, I’m pleased to see you now, the spitting image of your mother, no less.”
The electric sensation moved across her neck to her shoulder, then down her arms and torso, filling her chest with the current. She had the distinct sense that her father was saying goodbye after only just making his presence known.
“I thought there was more to tell me?”
“This is how I tell you, Zoe. My purpose here is finished.”
“I don’t understand.” What about her sister and brother? There was a world of information she was meant to learn from him, but it seemed as though their time was up.
“You will.”
Her legs began to vibrate beneath her and she found it increasingly difficult to maintain her balance. Muscles convulsed beneath her skin, the tingling electrifying nerve endings until her entire body was shaking violently. Her vision blurred the world around her becoming unfocused and bleary. Her legs buckled beneath her and she fell to the ground, the soft meadow of grass padding her knees and arms as they moved to support her. Her mind exploded as she crashed onto her back, limbs still convulsing around her. Her mouth opened to call for Zopyros but the sound was silent as it escaped.
As she lay on the ground, her body convulsing uncontrollably against the crisp blades of grass, only one coherent thought could register in the scalding pain of her mind: I am dying. It didn’t feel anything like the liberating sensation she felt at Potato Harbor. This was unplanned, unintentional, and not at all what she expected.
Shards of teeth stabbed the insides of her mouth as her jaw clenched and unclenched, her teeth smashing into each other as her head violently shook. A burning sensation radiated through bones and muscles as she fought the shaking, using any amount of strength and willpower she had left to fight for control over her body. The heat was searing, ripping through her insides from shoulders to toes. She could hear the sound of blood pumping furiously through her body, flowing fast and furiously to her head and heart as she twisted.
Then, suddenly it stopped.
Quicker than it started her body fell still and silent, only a sporadic tick of a firing nerve jostling a leg or finger. Her head rolled to one side and she could taste a buildup of blood and shards of teeth collecting in the cup of her cheek. The frenetic pumping of blood quieted too, her heart beat echoing with slowing pace inside her chest.
Still, the only thought in her mind was of her mortality. I’m dying. I am dying. There was one final twitch in her shoulder before her body stilled completely. She counted the lub-dub of her heartbeat - one, two, and three - before it stopped completely. Her tired body gave up and sank deep into the meadow. Her lungs emptied with a final exhale before her chest fell into a concave beneath her ribs. There was nothing then except her body, straddled lifelessly in a beautiful meadow, alone in the Forgotten Gardens.
Chapter 22: The Standoff
Terra no longer looked like a world Evan recognized. The King and Thea Thanatos were shackled, surrounded by Crown Soldiers while the Queen and Queen Mother presided over them like judge and jury, the soldiers their executioners. He’d never imagined the King was capable of betraying the Crown - his own family - and struggled to comprehend what was happening before him. Whatever plan they were operating on appeared to have failed. Was that it? Had everything gone horribly wrong? It was all he could do to not let his face register his fear. What was going to happen to his sister? To Zoe?
Just as perplexing was his seat on the throne, specifically the King’s seat. Irrespective of the King’s imprisonment, Evan had no business taking his place, sitting at the same level as the royal family. It wasn’t just the Queen putting their relationship on display, but the Queen Mother condoning it. How much did she know? Why would she even approve of such a show? There was something more going on that he was not privy to and it left him feeling on edge.
The Queen Mother was like a statue in her seat; perfectly straight and unmoving as she stared down at Thea with unrelenting eyes. Thea stood motionless in her captive state and returned the Queen Mother’s cold stare, her eyes betraying nothing of her inner demeanor.
Historically it was an unprecedented meeting. Two former queens, one long considered dead and the woman who took her crown, together again in a room full of people bound by honor to obey one family and do as commanded without question. Thea didn’t stand a chance with those odds.
Kyra was the first to speak. “Why don’t we give our guests some breathing room?” She motioned to the soldiers sur
rounding Thea and the King and they stepped back a few feet, never breaking formation. The two were left standing alone, their arms joined at the wrists in front of them.
“Very good,” she said, her voice cool and calm. “Now then, what is your name?” she asked the Elder woman.
Thea’s stance remained unchanged as her eyes moved from the Queen Mother to Kyra. Evan noticed a touch of warmth in her face as she looked to the Queen, her gaze softening almost imperceptibly.
“My name is Thea Thanatos.”
“Thea Thanatos is dead,” Kyra replied, her tone matter-of-fact, even cold.
Thea kept her eyes on Kyra. “You’ve been misinformed.”
“How do you recommend we verify the identity of a dead woman?”
Thea’s eyes cooled as they moved to the Queen Mother, what little softness she had shown Kyra gone. “Ask Korina. She knows exactly who I am.”
Kyra straightened in her seat. “You will address her as the Queen Mother and nothing else!” she commanded. The force of her words echoed around the room until it quietly died in the walls. The King bowed his head, his eyes cast downward in an attempt to avoid the eyes of either Queen.
Thea was unmoved. “Every Thanatos before me has worn the crown of Terra since the very birth of this world; killing us in no way entitled you to our birthright.” The Queen Mother sat unchanged as she stared down at Thea, the former queen’s words having no apparent affect on her.
“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.
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