Queen of Empire: A fantasy romance (The Relic Trilogy Book 1)

by HR Moore

  She clawed at his shirt, pulling it out of his trousers, unable to get it any further because his hands were busy unclipping her bra. Marcus turned, easily holding Anita's lithe body, carried her to his bed, and threw her roughly down. He removed her lace underwear, discarding the fabric on the floor.

  Anita lay naked, looking up at him as he studied every inch of her. She sat up, grabbed the hem of his shirt, and pushed it upwards, hands skirting over the ripples of muscle on his torso. She stood, sliding the shirt over his head, relishing the sensation as Marcus' hands returned, ghosting down her spine, sending shivers everywhere. His hands kept moving, coming to rest over the contour of her behind.

  She reached for his trousers, ridding him of his remaining clothes, then spun him round. She pushed him back onto the bed, climbing on top of him like a cat, kissing her way seductively from his navel, to his torso, to his neck, to his lips.

  Marcus retook control. He grabbed her waist and rolled her onto her back, following her over, pinning her to the bed. She wrapped her legs around him and he pushed into her, intense shivers of pleasure shooting out from everywhere they touched.

  Anita lifted her hips to meet him, grabbing his hair with her hands and pulling his mouth to hers. They moved faster, tension building, loud gasps of pleasure escaping unnoticed from their mouths. Anita found the edge, bucked her hips, and tipped over, convulsions racking her body. Marcus came with her, then collapsed onto her, a sea of sensation erupting across Anita's skin as their bodies came flush together.

  Marcus rolled off her, turning his head to look into her eyes. He pulled Anita's back to his chest, wrapping a protective arm across her, holding her tightly against him. He used his free hand to pull her hair back off her neck, planting light kisses on the exposed flesh. She played her fingers across his arm, then lifted his hand to her lips, kissing the palm gently.

  He ran his teeth over her ear. 'Sorry,' he whispered, so quietly she could barely make out the word. 'I overreacted. I was just so shocked that my grandfather's boat was in your head.'

  This was her chance. 'Why were you looking at a picture of it?' she asked.

  'Because I've been learning about my family. Dad recently introduced me to some family history that I never knew existed, so I've been spending time at the archives looking into it. It's been fascinating; there's so much I never knew about the Mind line, and there's still so much to learn.'

  'Can I see the picture?' she asked. Damn, way too forward. Surely that would scare him off…

  'Why do you want to see it?'

  'Because I'm as intrigued as you are about how Tobias' boat found its way into my head. There may be a clue in that picture. How would you feel if I had a picture of the wood in your head? Wouldn't you want to see it?'

  Her words seemed to hit home and his energy softened.

  'The thing is, I can't take the picture out of the archives,' he said.

  'But we can go there,' she said tenderly, not conceding an inch. 'I'd love to see your family's history; what's important to you is important to me too.'

  He took a deep breath. 'Okay,' he said, kissing her shoulder, 'let's go now. We can go for a walk afterwards. The sun will be setting by then and the archive gardens are beautiful at that time of day.'

  'Thank you,' she said, rolling into him and gently kissing his lips.

  * * * * *

  They stopped at a herbalist on the way to the archives, Anita buying a contraceptive tea. She downed the sweet liquid in a few swift gulps.

  They arrived at the archives, and Marcus led Anita down three flights of stairs. Halfway to the back of the floor, they bumped into Cleo, who looked shocked to see them.

  'Hey!' said Cleo, giving Anita a quizzical look. 'I don't think you've come here more than twice in your entire life, have you?' She laughed. 'What are you doing here?'

  Marcus looked uncomfortable.

  'Nothing much,' said Anita. 'Marcus spends so much time here I thought I'd come and see what all the fuss is about.'

  Anita threw Cleo a look pleading her not to ask any more questions. Thankfully, she took the hint.

  Marcus, whose energy had been coiling tight, visibly relaxed. 'Anita, I'll come and get you in a minute, there's something I have to do,' he said.

  'Okay,' she agreed without hesitation, not wanting to put him off now she was so close.

  * * * * *

  Austin descended the stairs to the basement and asked the guard for the keys to the vault. He'd seen Marcus leave earlier with Anita, so now would be a good time to remove a couple of choice artefacts before Marcus explored too widely. 'Keys,' he barked at the security guard, who looked back blankly.

  'I'm afraid Marcus came and collected them earlier, Sir.'

  'What? You gave them to him when he was with Anita?'

  'He was with Anita? It was only Marcus who came down here.'

  Austin's fuse had been lit. If this were not resolved quickly, then he would explode, and no one in the castle would be spared his wrath.

  'Amber,' he bellowed.

  She appeared at her office door, face full of concern. 'What is it?' she asked.

  'This blundering employee of yours gave Marcus the keys to the family vault when he was with Anita.'

  'Are you sure?'

  'I just saw them leave together.'

  Amber reacted instantly, barking orders back into her office and at the guard behind the desk. 'I need a team of four people, now. Bring round the cars. Alert the archives that they're not to allow Anita to leave until we get there. Are you joining us Austin?'

  'Of course I'm sodding joining you. Let's go.'

  * * * * *

  Marcus walked off and Anita realized that Cleo being here could work to her advantage. 'I need your help, Cleo,' she whispered.

  Cleo looked eager; she loved nothing more than a conspiracy. 'What do you need me to do?'

  'Distract Marcus. He's about to take me into a separate room and I need you to come snooping around just after we enter. He's showing me a picture, but I need you to buy me some alone time in there so I can have a look around.'

  'Anita,' called Marcus, striding back towards her. 'Are you coming?'

  Cleo nodded at Anita. 'I'm in,' she said happily, her voice low.

  Anita walked towards Marcus, who led her through a very normal looking door into a very average looking room. It housed artefacts that resembled those on the shelves outside. Deathly boring. Until she spotted a row of brass cylinders on the far side of the room. A single cylinder sat slightly apart from all the others. It had red rings around the top and bottom, and she could swear that it called her name.

  Her stomach lurched and adrenaline flooded her blood as she turned back to look at what Marcus was showing her. 'As you can see, Aphrodite is definitely the boat in your mind,' he said, voice full of wonder.

  'By the Gods, you're right,' she said, genuinely shocked. Although her focus was on something altogether different, she was still fascinated by the picture. Anita took it from him and scanned every inch. Of course, there was nothing that gave the slightest clue as to why it was in her head.

  At that moment there was a light knock on the door and the color drained from Marcus' face.

  'Marcus?' said Cleo's voice through the door.

  'Go and keep her occupied,' said Anita. 'I'll be out in a minute; I just want a bit more time with the picture.'

  He turned, clearly conflicted. Anita made a big show of sitting down and studying the photo as though engrossed. Marcus huffed out a breath and went to deal with Cleo.

  As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, Anita abandoned the photo and made for the brass cylinders. She picked up the cylinder with red rings, the metal smooth and cold in her hands. It was heavier than she'd expected, and as she placed it in her coat pocket, something curious happened: it started to shake.

  Anita turned to make for the door, not wanting to stay for a moment longer than she needed to in Austin's treasure trove of secrets. But, as she was about to push
down the door handle, the conversation she'd had with Anderson in Kingdom came back to her. He'd said, 'if someone stole a cylinder containing someone else's memories, the energy would strain to get back to its rightful owner'.

  If that were the case, she had the wrong memory. It had only started to strain when she'd stolen it; it had been still before that. She looked back at the shelf to see which cylinders were straining, so she could select one of those to take with her, but they were all standing entirely still. None of them seemed uncomfortable where they were. She looked frantically around, hoping to find more, but there were none to be seen.

  Anita had a horrible moment of clarity: Helena had lied to her. She wasn't here to take back one of Helena's stolen memories, she was here to steal for the Institution. To steal from Austin.

  Anita hurried back across the room and replaced the cylinder in the exact location she'd found it, set slightly apart from the others. But, as her hand left the cylinder and it reverted to a still, lifeless object, the door flew open. Amber, Austin and four security guards came hammering in.

  Amber took in the scene and reacted instantly, running forward and grabbing Anita by her arms. Anita countered instinctively; she was, after all, an adept Body, and used Amber's forward momentum to flip her onto her back, making her release Anita's arms.

  Anita valiantly fought her way through three of the four body guards, however, as she reached the fourth, the others recovered, and collectively wrestled her to the ground. Two of them pinned her down with all their weight.

  Marcus appeared at the door, aghast as he took in the sight of Anita under a mass of bodies. 'Leave her alone,' he ordered, moving towards them, but Amber intervened, placing herself in his way.

  'She was stealing from your father,' she said smugly, her words like poison.

  'No, she was not. She was here looking at a photo of Tobias' boat.'

  'Then why, when we came through the door, was she reaching for that brass cylinder?' Amber asked triumphantly, gesturing towards the cylinder, that, moments before, Anita had held in her hand.

  'I was just having a look,' Anita spluttered, gasping for breath, finding it difficult to breath with such an immense weight holding her to the ground. 'I've never seen cylinders so delicate. I just wanted to see them up close.' She felt faint, desperately trying to refill her lungs.

  'Do you really believe that?' laughed Amber, looking at Marcus as though he were a bug to be squashed.

  'Yes, I do,' he spat, turning to the so-far-silent Austin standing in the entrance. 'She was looking at this photo of Aphrodite,' he said, picking up the picture and waving it in front of Austin's face. 'What's wrong with that?'

  'Aside from the fact you brought her here at all, Marcus, and that you left her alone to explore to her heart's content, and that we found her reaching for one of my brass cylinders, nothing, I suppose.' His sarcasm was chilling. 'And why exactly did you show Anita this picture?'

  Anita prayed he wouldn't tell Austin about their meditation, or that the boat was a place in her head. She had a feeling it wouldn't be a redeeming factor.

  'Because we got talking about boats and sailing and I told her I'd just come across a photo of the most exquisite boat I'd ever seen. Anita asked me to show it to her, so I did.'

  'You expect me to believe that someone as manipulative as her came here just to see a photo?' Austin laughed cruelly, exchanging a look with Amber, clearly a commentary on his son's incompetence.

  Marcus' temper flared. 'What makes you think Anita's manipulative? I tried to teach her Mind skills and she's useless at manipulation.'

  'Don't be so stupid, Marcus. How else would someone from Anita's background get so close to someone like you if not by manipulation? She was probably feigning ignorance to reinforce the ruse. It's time to see her for who she really is.'

  'Don't treat me like a child. Anita is not who you paint her to be, now let her go and stop being so melodramatic. There was no harm done. I'm sure if Amber calls off her guards, Anita will apologize for the confusion and we can all move on from this embarrassing misunderstanding.'

  'You have a lot to learn,' said Amber. 'Boys, take her back to the castle and put her in a cell.'

  'No,' Marcus ordered, 'let her go.'

  Everybody ignored him, Austin turning to leave the room, followed by Amber, then the guards, dragging Anita between them.

  Anita threw Marcus a last pleading look, mouthing the words, 'I love you,' to him as they took her away.

  Austin, it would seem, was right about one thing, Anita thought: she did have a manipulative side.

  * * * * *

  Cleo hid, crouched behind a rack of artefacts, watching them take Anita away. She'd managed to drag Marcus to the other side of the room, saying she wanted to show him something. When they'd got there, she'd acted as though she'd misplaced whatever it was and started to rummage through a pile of papers. Marcus had lost patience and said he needed to get back to Anita. He'd asked Cleo to give them some space.

  Cleo had let him go, hoping Anita had had long enough to explore. But when Marcus was halfway back to the door, Austin, Amber, and four large guards had burst onto the floor, running towards the door, reaching it before the startled Marcus.

  Cleo hadn't been able to hear what happened inside, but had watched, appalled, as her best friend was dragged roughly up the stairs towards the entrance, a furious, flapping Marcus in tow.

  He kept appealing to Austin, saying, 'Dad, please, don't do this,' but Austin ignored his son's words entirely, carrying on as though nobody had uttered a sound.

  The only time Marcus' words had any effect was when he had said, 'Dad, I love her, please don't do this.'

  At this revelation, Austin and Amber had rounded on Marcus, each fixing him with a terrifying stare. They'd said nothing, presumably given the location. They'd turned back and followed the guards up the stairs, Marcus following in their wake.

  Cleo had stayed put for a full fifteen minutes after they'd gone, terror and shock fixing her in place. When she was convinced they weren't coming back, she cautiously climbed to her feet and made her way out of the building, making sure nobody saw her leave. The last thing Anita needed was for the only person who knew she'd been taken to be spotted by one of Austin's informants.

  Once she was free of the archives, Cleo ran back to town, heading directly for the Temple of the Spirit. The only person she could think to tell was Alexander. She hoped desperately that he was there…she had no idea where else to look if he wasn't.

  She reached the temple and raced to the circular slab in the center of the floor. She got down on all fours and pounded the stone, hoping he would be able to hear her. To her amazement, within seconds, the slab in the floor slid aside. Cleo scrambled out of the way in time to see Alexander ascending the stairs.

  'Cleo, what is it?' he asked, grabbing her arm.

  'It's Anita,' she garbled. 'Austin has her.'

  'What? What do you mean?' Alexander looked around, noticing the few people in the temple beginning to take an interest. 'Come on, we should talk downstairs.'

  Normally this would be a source of great excitement for Cleo, after all, nobody else she knew had been inside one of the chambers below the temples. Right now though she was just grateful that Alexander was here and might be able to help.

  They quickly descended the spiral staircase and came out into Alexander's study. He sat Cleo down in one of the large, brown, leather chairs and made her a cup of hot, sweet tea, saying, 'Tell me what happened,' as he did it.

  Cleo recounted what had happened. Alexander looked drawn and worried when she finished, sitting opposite her, pausing to consider what she'd said.

  'There's one more thing,' said Cleo, looking down into her tea, struggling to find the best way to say it. 'As they were leaving and Marcus was trying everything to get Austin to free Anita, Marcus said he loved her. Austin and Amber rounded on him. They looked like they might lock him away too, but they didn't say a thing. They just left, and Mar
cus followed them.'

  'Those words might be all that keeps her alive,' said Alexander, with a pained expression. 'But then again, they're another reason for Austin not to want to let her go…'

  * * * * *

  Once Cleo had left, Alexander carefully weighed his options. He considered contacting Marcus to try and work with him. He thought about storming over to the castle and demanding she be released. He even briefly considered killing Austin, but quickly put that thought aside.

  In the end, Alexander reasoned it was most important to maximize the chances that Anita would be kept alive. The best way to do that was to let Austin know that Alexander, along with others, knew she was being held. It would be too risky for Austin to kill her outright and it would buy Alexander time to work out a way to get her freed.

  Alexander drove to the castle, the light from the windows blazing out into the pitch-black sky. He walked up to the imposing front door and pulled the handle that rang the bell.

  Amber answered, looking at him suspiciously. 'Why are you here?' she asked, full of hostile surprise.

  'I have something important I need to discuss with Austin.'

  She gave him a look that told him to elaborate.

  Alexander met her gaze, remaining silent.

  'And the important topic of conversation is…?' she said.

  '…none of your business,' he replied severely, pushing Amber aside as he swept into the castle. 'Since when have Descendants had to explain themselves to the likes of you?' This was the kind of thing Austin would say, so Alexander hoped it would resonate.

  She looked petulantly back at him, but her eyes said she knew she was beaten. 'I'll see if Austin is available.'