Zoe Thanatos(86)

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.”