Zoe Thanatos(53)

“People, or one person in particular?” Her hands unclasped and folded in her arms at her chest. Evan could see in her changing demeanor that the idea of there being someone else greatly upset her.

“Please don’t do this,” he begged. He moved to her with his arms outstretched but she avoided him, turning her body away to create distance. Her eyes widened in her face, her mouth forming a straight line into her cheeks. She looked at him for a hard, long moment, the anger and confusion evident behind her dark eyes.

“I’m right, aren’t I? That’s why you keep going back, why you never stay here long enough. You share my bed and then leave to go be with someone else?”

“No! It’s not like that at all,” he protested. His feelings caught him by surprise. His words seemed to genuinely hurt her and just the thought of causing her grief resonated deep within him. He hadn’t considered her much when he left for Earth, or while he was there. He’d always rationalized that the Queen was merely using him, and that he was nothing more than a distraction to escape from a marriage she cared so little for. However, in her expression he could see that he was the one who had been using her. Irrespective of her title she was still the only woman on Terra he had ever cared for apart from his own sister. It went beyond his duty and obligation to the monarchy; he genuinely felt for her.

“Tell me what it’s like then.” There was still the hurt in her eyes, the indignant demeanor in her posture. He didn’t want to say anything else that would hurt her but knew that lying by omission would only make matters worse.

“There is someone.” He could see Zoe in his mind, standing on the cliff of Potato Harbor with her hair blowing behind her in the breeze. When he focused on the Queen he could see her expression had fallen, the indignant poise deflating into disappointment. “It was an accident that I even met her to begin with. She took me by surprise,” he said with a faint smile. It vanished when his eyes met the Queen’s. “I barely know her, Kyra.”

“You barely know her but you want to go back to see her?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes, that’s part of it.” He watched in growing sadness as the Queen’s eyes shut, tears escaping from the corners of her eyelids and down her cheeks. He stepped toward her, closing the gap between them with two long steps. His hands went gently to her face where his thumbs absorbed the tears as they fell.

She opened her eyes, her dark irises glossy with fresh tears waiting to fall. She sniffed them back, regaining her collected composure one moment at a time.

“If Gaia means so much to you then you should go.” Evan’s thumbs stopped but his hands remained on her face. He focused his eyes on her, trying to see the meaning behind the words. “I, Kyra Straton, Queen of Terra and of the original families, do hereby release you, Evander Nero, from custody of the Crown. You are released for the remainder of your lifetime and are restored to your family name, Nero, of the original families.”

He could barely manage to speak in spite of the shock that gripped him. She had never once formally acknowledged her custodianship over him and his sister.

“I’ll have a Transport Engineer reprogram our private gate for Gaia and you can leave as soon as you want.” Her words constricted him, his body stiffening at the sudden and unfamiliar feeling of his freedom. Everything was happening so quickly he wasn’t sure if it was even happening at all.

“This isn’t what I wanted,” he argued. He looked to her for any indication she might understand him but she merely composed herself, straightening her back and shoulders into the regal stance that physically defined her.

“I will never be anyone’s second choice.” The strength was back in her voice, the words sounding like a command. She walked past him with her head held high, opened the door, and without a final glance back at him, exited.

Still caught up in the speed with which she had both freed him and dismissed him, he found he could do nothing more than stare at the door, his mind struggling to process what circumstances their actions would have.





Eva found a nearby chair to sit in and plopped down ungracefully. She felt overwhelmed by the King’s admission. “How?” she asked breathlessly.

“You think in my position I’m not privy to certain information?” he retorted.

“I never even considered,” she trailed off. It was still too much of a shock to learn that the King knew anything at all. She just assumed he merely looked the other direction or lived in denial about most things. What if he really did know about the Queen and her brother all along?