There were other matters distracting her from her duties as sovereign. The King returned from Last City but did not bother to see her, instead sending Evan in his place. Then he revealed that she was no longer the only woman in his life. She was certain there had never been anyone else, though not for a lack of trying. Evan, whether by ignorance or sheer carelessness, seemed immune to the charms and advances of others. Except her.
She had long admired the allure of his good looks and charm, even from childhood when she would watch him play with others in Royal City, his sister Evadine chief among them. It wasn’t until she was Queen that she had the courage to approach him, to smile and flirt as though it came naturally to her. She had been groomed by the Queen Mother to inherit the Crown, to preside over Terra, and to one day produce the next Straton heir with the King. Yet she had no interest in him. It was Evan she wanted and before she knew it they were sharing a bed, carrying on an affair that only further emboldened her.
Until him, she had only ever made love to the King, though she wouldn’t have called it love. It was a marital ritual they observed ceremoniously at first, and later as an obligation to their duties as Queen and King. Their intercourse was unremarkable, plain and often boring. There was no passion between them, no desire for one another that made the act anything more than just sex. They never once discussed producing an heir.
With Evan, however, there was excitement, a thrill that made her feel desired and wanted. With him she experienced a depth of lovemaking she had not felt with her husband. He would give himself to her, kiss her deeply as he moved inside her, his fingers entangled in hers as he satiated her. She had come to love him in her own way, to appreciate their physical relationship for what it was.
Now there was someone else, someone in another world that would keep him from his home and away from her. Someone he would give himself to instead of her. The thought was unsettling. Jealousy stabbed through her as she imagined Evan with another woman, kissing her, making love to her.
If it was someone from Terra she would know her and have to see her; everyone would know there was someone he chose over her. Yet it was almost worse that whoever she was, she was from another world. An outsider. Residents were not permitted to bring people from other worlds to Terra, which meant if Evan wanted to be with his mystery girl he would have to leave Terra. The idea of it fueled her jealousy, turning it to anger.
She could have ordered him to stay, to continue the affair with her and no one else. It would have been so easy, and yet that wasn’t who she was, or who she wanted to be. Her own version of love for him made it impossible to exert her authority over him.
A figure emerged from the corridor leading from the Military Complex. Alcander walked briskly towards her, his face rigid in contemplation.
“Your Highness,” he greeted. His face contorted into a displeasing scowl as he hesitated.
“What it is?” she asked. She tried to clear her mind of her personal thoughts.
Alcander looked up at her regretfully, his face drawn deep in lines. “The residents from Last City we were detaining have escaped our custody. We believe they were being aided by a Resident, one of our own.”
Kyra stood from her throne and stepped down from the pedestal. He took a step back as she approached him and bent his head to avoid eye contact. “When?”
“Not long ago. Several teams have already been dispatched to look for them and every Crown Soldier within the city is on the alert.”
“Is the Elder woman also missing?”
“No, she’s still in her holding, Your Highness.”
“Shut down the Transport Stations immediately. I want this kept quiet. No one outside of the Crown Soldiers is to know about what has happened.”
“Of course. I have already expressly instructed them to do so.”
“Fine. What about the Resident who was helping them? What do you know?” Someone, one of her own residents, had aided in freeing known conspirators of the Crown? The entirety of Royal City was in lock-down with no one permitted to leave their private residences. Whoever it was they had acted foolishly against the Queen’s wishes and with flagrant disregard for the Crown.
“We’ve yet to identify anyone. From what we’ve gathered so far, whoever it was managed to disengage the master lock of each detainment room.”
She looked at him disbelievingly “You mean to tell me they just walked out of their cells and escaped past every Crown Soldier in the Military Complex?”
Alcander’s posture diminished beneath her glare. He was a small man cowering in front of her. “No one claims to have seen them, Your Highness. Many of them were preoccupied with the King.”