Zoe Thanatos

by Cierlak, Crystal

  “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.”

  “Just a minute,” the Queen Mother interjected. She stood at Evan’s left while the Queen moved to his right. “You are Evadine?”

  “Yes,” Eva answered. “I’m sorry I had no idea what was going on or...” she stopped to look at her surroundings and noticed both Thea and Owyn bound beside her, held as prisoners. “Clearly I’ve trespassed.”

  “Yes, and how exactly?” The Queen asked. “How did you get in here?”

  Eva’s eyes locked on Evan’s and he could tell she hardly knew the real answer enough to give an explanation. If she was there then where was Zoe? What had happened in the Forgotten Gardens? He had so many questions he wanted to ask but knew there was no possible way she could answer without creating a world of trouble. From the corner of his eye he could see Thea looking at her, searching for any answers to the same questions he had.

  “She just appeared out of nowhere, Your Highness,” spoke one of the soldiers. Everyone’s eyes moved to him and his face flamed.

  “What do you mean out of nowhere?” the Queen asked.

  The soldier looked around for others to support his claim. Five others came to his rescue, confirming that Eva had literally appeared before their very eyes.

  “Well, tell us, Eva. How did you get here and where did you come from?” asked the Queen.

  Eva looked to Evan for support, her eyes still wide and filled with fear. How could she possibly explain herself to the satisfaction of the Queen and Queen Mother? Her silence was stretching out too long and Evan could sense both Kyra and her mother were becoming impatient.

  “Speak, Eva!” The Queen looked at Eva expectantly.

  “She’s coming, isn’t she?” Thea cried. Everyone’s attention changed to Thea, who was smiling through a look of tremendous relief. “She’s coming!” Warning bells went off in Evan’s head and he wished more than anything that he could silence her before she said anything further. She had already revealed too much.

  A gang of soldiers formed a barrier around Thea and held onto her limbs, holding her in place as she dropped to the floor laughing and smiling.

  “What the hell is she going on about?” spat the Queen Mother. “Throw her back in a locked room. We can resume once she’s calmed down.” The soldiers picked Thea up from the ground and had to prop her up from beneath the arms so she would stand up straight.

  “No, stop!” the Queen commanded. She moved to stand in front of Thea and leaned in to look at her closely. “Who’s coming?”

  Thea looked past Kyra to Eva and smiled. “It worked, didn’t it? You saw Zopyros and he explained everything to you, didn’t he?”

  Kyra looked to Evan and Eva and then at the Queen Mother. “Who is Zopyros?”

  The Queen Mother looked completely disinterested, shaking her head at Thea’s babbling. “Her dead husband.”

  Kyra turned back to Eva and stared at her for a long moment, confusion on her face. “Why does she think her dead husband spoke to you, Eva?”

  “Please,” was all Eva could manage. Evan could see she was struggling under the pressure of Thea’s ill-timed admissions and the Queen’s subsequent questions.

  “Maybe this isn’t the best time for this,” Evan interjected.

  “I agree,” declared the Queen Mother. “Let’s first deal with the matters at hand and go from there.”

  Kyra ignored their pleas and turned her attention back to Thea. “Do you know this
girl?” She pointed to Eva and Evan’s heart just about stopped beating in his chest. His hands tightened around his sister’s arms and pulled her close, terrified that any moment they were going to take her into custody. If only Thea had the sense to keep her mouth shut.

  “Of course I know her. I witnessed her birth, celebrated her birthdays and watched her play with my children.”

  Kyra nodded. “Just like you knew Owyn Straton, right?”

  “I was the Queen. Of course I knew them. I was a friend to all the original families.”

  “So it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that you would enlist her to help to carry out your plan, is it?” She was met with silence. “Where did you send her, Thea?”

  Eva stepped out of Evan’s grasp and moved towards the Queen. “To the Forgotten Gardens.”

  Evan grabbed her shoulders and turned her until she was inches from him, her face still wide but no longer with fear. “What do you think you are doing?” he hissed at her, hoping no one else could hear his words.

  “We all have a part to play, remember?” she whispered before turning back to the Queen. “That’s how I got here the way that I did. There was a program called Zopyros who took the form of her husband. When he touched my shoulder it sent me through a gate and brought me here. I was thinking of my brother. You know, since I’m so good at finding him,” she explained.

  He didn’t think his heart or mind could take much more. Where the hell was Zoe?

  Kyra’s smile faded. She stared at Eva for what felt like a generation, her lips pursed, her eyes wide and fixated. Finally, gaze still on Eva, she spoke. “How far back does your alliance with Thea go, Eva?”

  “Not far. The King recruited me and I left soon thereafter. No one else knew I was going, not even my brother.” Every head in the room turned towards Evan. “I knew he would never let me go so I went behind his back.”

  “Evan, is that true?” the Queen asked.

  A second commotion at the entryway of the room saved him from having to answer. Hector ran at full speed until he was at the feet of the Queen, frantic and out of breath.

  “Begging your pardon, Your Highness.”

  “Can’t this wait?” she asked, clearly irritated by the interruption.

  “This is a matter of grave importance, Your Highness. You asked me to track down who the last Resident to use the Transport was. We can confirm it was,” he stopped suddenly, his eyes catching on Eva from behind the Queen. “Her. Evadine Straton. They used the gate in Last City.”

  “We had just established that before you came barging in here, Hector,” Kyra reprimanded. “Do you have anything of significance to add or are you just wasting my time?”

  Hector did not relent. “She wasn’t alone, Your Highness.”

  A vile knot curled in Evan’s stomach, the sensation to vomit nearly overpowering his senses. All he could think of was Zoe.

  Hector continued. “We tracked them to the Forgotten Gardens but by the time we arrived all we found was her companion slumped to the ground in a meadow, nearly dead. We collected the body and brought her to a Reproduction Unit.”

  Someone gasped, grief-stricken and horrified. He couldn’t tell who it was. Maybe Thea or Eva, possibly the King. For all he knew it was him. They found Zoe. Nearly dead. It took every measure of strength he had left to stop himself from crying. He fought past the dread, the nausea, and concern for Eva, but still his eyes began to moisten with tears. No! It can’t be!

  “Did you identify the Resident?” the Queen demanded, her tone impatient and excitable.

  From behind them a woman chuckled. Thea Thanatos was doubled over, her head bouncing up and down from the fit of laughter that poured out of her. She was maniacal. Her torso shifted backwards until her head was tilted, the laughter reverberating around the room.

  “Your paid thugs are awfully stupid,” she roared through her laughter. “But then again you were never the smartest when your ambition was greater than your perception, Zara.”

  The Crown Soldiers’ silence was broken, a low grumble erupting as they turned to each other, talking amongst themselves.

  “Get her out of here!” the Queen Mother screamed at the Soldiers, her face bright red with fury as she pushed them towards the Elder.

  “Who else could it be, Zara?” Thea yelled at Kyra, her voice still filled with the sound of her crazy laughter. A dozen Crown Soldiers descended on her, forcefully bowing her head forward and grabbing on to her restraints before dragging her out of the room.

  “Take them, too,” the Queen Mother demanded, pointing at Owyn and Eva. A Soldier put his hands on Eva’s shoulders and forced her out of Evan’s grip. Somewhere behind him another Soldier grabbed his arms and held them tight behind his back, preventing him from going after her.

  “No!” he screamed, watching in horror as his sister was dragged from the room, Owyn being pushed from behind her.

  “Evan!” Eva screamed. “Evan! Please!”

  Chapter 23: The Shape of Things to Come

  How things had changed over the course of so little time. It was as though the entire world as he knew it had been flipped upside down, and he was merely trying to keep up. Evander Nero was stuck in the middle with no hope of coming out of the situation in any better condition.

  Thea Thanatos was going to be executed. It was only a matter of time. Somewhere along the way the stress of losing her family and planning to restore her beloved daughter to her birthright had become insurmountable. She was a broken woman.

  Owyn Straton was stripped of his title as King and imprisoned pending official deportation to the outlying cities. There was no telling what would become of him. His days in Royal City were over and he would likely be stripped from the memories of Terra’s Residents, much like the Queen he had given up his life to help had.

  Every Resident who tried to help them restore the Thanatos name had been severely punished. Most were sentenced to imprisonment for the rest of their lives, their identities stripped of their family names, each of them effectively erased from the collective memory of Terra.

  It seemed to be a common theme in the Straton regime to erase the names of those who dared stand up to their rule. Even the mighty Thanatos family, the very founders of the royal cities and Terra itself, were not immune to the punishing unkindness of the Straton Queens.

  He had to keep faith that they would not do to his sister what they had done to the others. He knew in his heart he would do anything to save Eva from the punishing fate the Queen would likely bestow on her if he didn’t cooperate. Perhaps it was his intimate relationship with the Queen that was keeping his sister alive and him free of suspicion. He knew the Queen did not doubt his fidelity to her. Rather, she had him in quite a unique position. With great sacrifice he could save Eva’s life and keep her close to him, but at a tremendous cost. Without a doubt she was worth it, but he knew she wouldn’t want him to sacrifice his own life for hers.

  Then there was Zoe, unconscious inside of a chamber in a Reproduction Unit, her health being repaired from the nearly dead state she was found in. Evan couldn’t even imagine what would happen to her once she was awake. In the ruckus of Thea’s last outburst she, Owyn and Evadine were taken into immediate custody without further questioning. The Queen’s desire to know the identity of the mystery woman found in the Forgotten Gardens was not matched by her need to see those who plotted against her locked up behind closed doors. Subsequently, Zoe retained the temporary fortune of being anonymous.

  He doubted there would be much deliberation about what to do with the life of Zoe Thanatos. The Queen would see it simply: Thea Thanatos spent her life preparing for the return of her long-lost daughter and, with the help of the former King, orchestrated her return to Terra with the intention of retaking the Crown. It didn’t matter that only most of it was true. It was the narrative he knew Kyra would employ and reason enough for her to dispose of Zoe once and for all. Unless he could save her. Again.

  There were any number of p
aths along the way Evan could have taken to avoid the decision before him. He could have bypassed the Ventura Harbor and Santa Cruz Island all together that day and never met Zoe. Eva may have still come for him, passing along the message from the Queen and King that his presence was required, but it wouldn’t have been because of a stolen book. Thea Thanatos would not be enacting a plan to throw the Stratons off the throne, Owyn would still be King, and he would likely continue to be the Queen’s lover, having no reason to be freed from his technical imprisonment.

  But there would be no Zoe.

  If he never told her who he was or where he came from, she would be safe. Although, catching her and subsequently revealing his identity was how he started the path to knowing her in the first place. If he had never caught her, she would have succeeded in killing herself.

  He could have insisted she never go to the Forgotten Gardens and instead taken her home. But it wasn’t his choice to make and he couldn’t very well deny her the chance to reclaim something that was fundamentally hers.

  Regardless of if he had never met her, her path would always lead to Terra. She was, after all, as much of it as he was. The fact of the matter was that even if he had not taken that boat ride, saved her life, or even met her all, she was still a part of him. They had grown up together, were linked through their families, and always destined to be in each other’s lives one way or another.

  Maybe all paths did lead to one place: stuck in the middle of a war between two families. His own family had already suffered greatly because of a war for the Crown of Terra. He couldn’t handle the death of anyone he loved. And yet, without tremendous sacrifice, the very lives of those he loved would be over.

  “I always hated your mother. When we were younger, about the same age as you and Kyra, we were in love with the same man: Damon Nero. He was just as handsome as Evander is today. Strong chin, green eyes, a very passionate man with whom I shared many wonderful memories. I never particularly liked her before we were in love with the same man, so you can imagine how much we mutually despised each other after. Eventually we all grew up and apart. Damon fell in love with and married Calla, Thea married Zopyros, and I met my husband.”