Colin scratched his chin a moment thoughtfully. “Well, technically, no. It was just sixteen.” He pointed a threatening finger at her. “But don’t you go making a stink about being six years older, or I’ll put you back in there.” He paused and scratched his chin. “Well, technically, I was two years older than you, so you are really only four years older, but still, I will have no attitude from you, missy.”
“How did I get here?” she asked.
Colin sighed. “I don’t have time to tell you everything, but here are the cliff notes. I planned a coup with Chastity. She had uncovered that the Council was about to have you killed—quite a clever manipulation on her part—and so she tranquilized you, had someone grab you and take you through the transport device. And then the rest of the people rushed the guards and came through. Then we destroyed the transport device over here before the State had time to react.”
“But what about the State? Don’t you think they will come for us?”
Colin shrugged. “They might, and if they do, we will be ready for them. We have more people, more resources, and weapons.”
“Weapons?”
“Yes. We have built an army, one that can protect us. I will explain more later; we have to go.”
“Go? Where?”
“I am not the only one who grew impatient. Your people need you.”
Freya shook her head. “No, not here. I am not the head of State anymore. I am just a gardener.”
“No, you aren’t,” he answered. “We all know that these two things don’t go together, but we all just went with it anyway. You were elected our queen by the people. As your partner—well, I guess staging the coup scored me some points too—I became your king, and have ruled in your stead.”
Freya just stared at him, her mind unable to accept this information.
“How could any of this happen? If I am still their leader, why would anyone let me sleep?”
“You ask me that as though you don’t believe in my leadership abilities.”
Freya didn’t respond, she simply raised one eyebrow at him.
“Okay, so I may not be the most responsible adult here, but the truth is, we hardly even need a government. Everyone is just so grateful to be free of the State, they all contribute, they work, they share. The need for leadership is just for the big decisions, and it’s a collaboration among the people, not decided by just one person. We have kept the concept of a council in place, but one out in the open. We live exactly as you promised we would.”
Freya mulled over his words carefully.
“So I’m not really needed then. I can step back from politics and focus on the agricultural needs of this land.”
“You can do both,” he interjected. “They may not need policing, but these people love you, and they need you as their guide. Many still fear the State will come for us, but they trust you will make the right decisions if they do. With you, they believe we could win against the State again, just as we did before.”
He put his arms around her, kissing her forehead gently while her mind took a much-needed moment to catch up with the current events.
“Come on, you just have to go and wave, shake a few hands. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can go home.”
“Do we have a home?”
“Yes, Freya, we do—I built it for us. I hope you like it.” He pulled her to her feet and helped her walk. She was dizzy and weak.
“What do we do when we get home?” she asked.
Colin stopped walking and pulled her in close.
“Oh, I can think of something.” He kissed her gently.
She stood. It felt strange to have him pressed against her, and then it didn’t. It could have been her disoriented state, or the release of the tension in her mind—in her soul. Her mind was silenced, a feeling of peace spreading rapidly through her body as she reached around his neck, and she deepened the kiss. This world, this time, this spot on the spacecraft, it was all foreign to her, yet she had never felt more at home.
After a moment, Colin pulled away from her, and looked around the room.
“On second thought, our people can wait.”
Freya laughed, let him kiss her again, and then pulled away from him.
“Colin, let’s go home.”
Books in The State Series
Compliant: Book One of the State Series
http://mybook.to/Compliant
Conflicted: Book Two of the State Series
http://mybook.to/Book-2-Conflicted
Corrupted: Book Three of the State Series – Coming Soon!
http://mybook.to/Book-3-Corrupted
Book Four of the State Series – Early 2019
Acknowledgements
There are so many people who support and contribute to my work. I would like to mention just a few.
A big thank you to my beta readers, Erin Lai and Mary Allred. I couldn’t do this without you!
To Grant SpottedBull for the custom illustrations.
My friends and family for their continual support.
Stacy at AuthorsMojo.com for book formatting and other tech help.
As always, to Ella Barnard and all the bosses at Author Boss Academy.
Author’s Note
Thank you, dear reader, for joining me on this journey. It has been my life-long dream to become an author, and I couldn’t do it without people like you! I love to hear from my readers. If you would like to contact me, or receive more information about new releases, giveaways, and more, please follow on the links below.
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The State Series Box Set Page 77