by Lena Lee
“I am Glenda and these are my assistants Nicole, Carrie, and Giselle. We are the Queen’s assistants and will be styling you. Now have a seat right here.” She patted a chair that she had moved from the desk.
I laughed at the thought of being dolled up and plopped into the chair they were gesturing towards. One of them handed me one of the items on the food tray. They started in on me then, discussing hair styles and which dress would suit my skin and hair. I felt very out of place, sitting in front of the Queen’s assistants being pampered and eating delicious bread glazed with spices and sugar, a cinnamon roll they called it.
As I savored the first bites of cinnamon roll, guilt rose in my stomach. My people were struggling day in and day out to sustain the small amount of farmland they had managed to bring to life and feed thousands of people. How could I enjoy all of this when so many were suffering without?
The women must have sensed my inner turmoil or read it on my face because they stopped fussing. Glenda spoke. “What would you like, dear? We know nothing of you, only that you are not from here, I am sorry we never considered…”
“It’s fine, I have never experienced anything like this. It’s a lot to take in, especially when you are used to going to peeing in a bucket.” They all exchanged looks. I wasn’t sure what the have-nots had here, but judging from their looks, they had toilets at the very least. “Keep it simple.”
Glenda nodded and they got to work. The end result was still too much but was simple by their standards. They braided my hair, leaving several tendrils to frame my face, applied a light layer of makeup to bring out my eyes, and chose a blush pink A-line chiffon dress with jeweled cap sleeves. It fell almost to the floor. I had never worn a dress and quickly found that twirling around in it did make me feel like a princess.
“You look splendid! We must return to our Queen’s service now, it was a pleasure.” They packed their supplies.
“Tell her thank you for her generosity. I look forward to meeting her soon.” Glenda nodded and left with the other assistants.
I went back to staring at myself in the mirror again. It was hard not to, given I barely recognized myself. Everything was happening so fast. I had been alone, besides Kyra and Theo, for so many years and now I might have a long-lost mother.
I took a deep breath and left the confines of my room. I immediately went to Kyra’s door and opened it. She was still asleep. As I approached the bed, I choked back tears. I should never have let her come, but how could I say no when we were all each other had?
“Please wake up, I can’t deal with all this rich stuff on my own. They have this stuff called coffee, you would love it.” I sat on the bed next to her. Her eyes were moving around under eyelids and occasionally an arm or leg gave a twitch. I gave her hand a light squeeze before I left the room. I hadn’t been affected in the same way as her, but I guess since I was from here, I wouldn’t be. I had only briefly felt a slight heaviness but then it had disappeared.
I made my way down the hall, appreciating the assistants had not made me wear the heels they had brought. One had run off at some point to find simple ballet flats in the same color as the dress once they realized it would be a danger for me to attempt to walk in heels.
I entered the living room, all three men were lounging on the couches, watching something with men and a ball on a screen. They didn’t turn when I entered, their full attention on the man jumping to put the ball through a round circle with a net.
I cleared my throat and they quickly swiveled their heads. Wyatt let out a slow whistle. “Damn Princess, you clean up nice.” Rex smacked his arm as they stood.
“You all look…” I didn’t have any words for them. They all wore dark suits and looked like the princes they were. “Nice.” Hot.
Rex took my hand and brought it to his lips. “You look beautiful.” His eyes flickered briefly but were normal once he dropped my hand. “Are you ready to go?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be. How are we getting there? Portal?” Rex looped his arm through mine as we walked to the elevator. Both of his brothers had smirks on their faces. I felt a blush creeping up my neck to my face.
“Portals are just for between worlds. We’ll be taking a pod.” Whatever that was. My main mode of transportation was my feet, that was all we had access to. As if reading my mind, Rex explained, “It is like an oval ball that rolls, similar to a car. Between cities we take the pod into a hyperloop which allows us to travel very fast between lands.” Sounded completely safe.
We exited the castle and lined up in front were exactly what Rex had said. Oblong balls that had seats in them. We got into one and I was surprised at how it felt like we weren’t even inside of something. Rex sat next to me and Alex and Wyatt sat in the back. Rex grabbed a small device and it lit up. He typed several things on it and the pod began to move. It felt like we were hovering over the ground. I hoped my cinnamon roll didn’t make a reappearance.
As we rolled out of the gates I looked back at the castle and a castle it was. It was larger than I had suspected with stones, spires, and giant windows. “I feel like I am in a dream or hallucinating after drinking some bad hooch.” I turned forward to watch the trees and rolling green hills as we made our way towards the city in the distance.
“What’s hooch?” Wyatt asked. “Sounds dirty.”
“It’s an alcohol the elders made back in Blight, top secret recipe. Kyra and I drank it more often than we should have. That’s actually how I discovered I could make myself invisible… it was Kyra’s birthday and for fun we decided to try to figure out how they made it by sneaking into the building they make it in. We of course got caught, Kyra made it out, but I tripped. They didn’t come after me though because I had gone invisible.” It was not one of my finer moments. Had we been caught we would have been kicked out of enforcer training and probably thrown in the pits.
“Once we get you settled and figure everything out, you, Kyra, and I will go out on the town. You sound like the type of fun I want in my life.” Wyatt leaned forward in his seat, a gleam of mischief in his eye. “These two are party poopers, so they aren’t invited.” Alex ignored him and Rex just glared straight ahead.
“You shouldn’t put yourself in so much danger.” Rex shook his head and gave me a concerned look. “That is all you have done since I have known you, I don’t even want to think about all of the other things you have done. Now that you are back here, I am sure your mother will want you to be under constant guard. You are her heir after all.” We’d see about that. I didn’t even have a desire to be a princess.
If it was going to come down to my independence or being tied to a bunch of overprotective men every waking minute, I would take my chances in Blight. What’s a life if you can’t live it?
“You have known me for all of four days. Life is too short not to take risks and have some fun. In all your years, you never did anything slightly dangerous?” I went to looking back out the window as we traveled through the city. It looked very similar to Felix but much greener. The people were dressed in bright colors and seemed happy here. Of course they would be happy. They had coffee and cinnamon rolls.
It didn’t escape my attention that Rex never answered my question.
Our pod came to a stop outside what looked like an elevator. The pod in front of us was taken up onto a track and suddenly took off down a cylindrical tube at a high rate of speed. I gripped onto the seat as we rose into the tube. The take-off caused my head to fall back against the seat. They could have warned me at the very least. For a few seconds my stomach felt like it might indeed rid itself of the cinnamon roll but then the feeling passed. The land was going by so fast I rubbed my eyes.
“We don’t like it very much either, it won’t be long.” Wyatt patted my shoulder before leaning back into his seat and putting two small white circular blobs in his ears. I could faintly hear music. He had been so chatty not five minutes ago, and now seemed to want to retreat into himself.
Before long we came
to a stop and exited back to the ground below. The scenery looked very similar to Zephyr but already everything seemed to be more opulent. I felt a sense of belonging here. My heart thudded in my chest the farther we got into the city.
We rolled down the street where buildings rose into the sky, glittering with glass and metal. The people here were similar to what I had just seen in Zephyr. Well dressed and happy. It was odd seeing such happiness.
We pulled up outside large gates, which opened for us. There was a long, paved road that led between trees and over a few draw bridges which were over wide canals of water. As we exited the trees, the castle came into view. I had been blown away at the Zephyr castle, this was so much more. It was a palace. There were so many windows, it must take twenty window washers to clean all of them.
I snapped out of my trance and picked my jaw up off the floor as several guards approached the pod as the doors opened. We were searched and the knives and swords the guys had been carrying were confiscated.
“I’m going to stay out here and keep watch.” Wyatt leaned against the side of the pod and crossed his feet. I wasn’t sure what needed watching, but Rex and Alex nodded in confirmation and we made the short walk up the paved driveway.
Rex took my hand as we walked up the steps to the front entrance. “We did not tell the Queen we had found you so it will be a surprise to her. We couldn’t risk word getting out.” I nodded, glad they had thought of that since there was still the mystery of who had taken me in the first place.
After walking down a wide, long hall, we entered a large room with cathedral ceilings and floor to ceiling windows on one side. There were no chairs besides a thrown on a raised platform at the other side of the room. The floor was the purest white marble I had ever seen but had tiny flecks of red veins throughout. Large crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling and reflected the light from the windows with prisms of color that hit the marble floor.
“The Queen will be out shortly.” The guard who had accompanied us with three others remained by the door. Security was tight around here, which was unnerving and comforting at the same time. I had not seen any security in Zephyr, besides when we were leaving. The queen was probably paranoid, I know I would be if my child and husband had been taken.
I wondered what would happen if I slipped on my invisibility and escaped. My nerves were causing a light sweat to form on my lower back. I had hoped this meeting would be delayed several days after arriving in this world. It’s not that I didn’t want to reunite with my long, lost mother, but I didn’t even know this woman. I should have spoken up for myself and delayed the meeting a week or ten.
We approached the throne and stopped in front of the platform. I examined the throne as best as I could from where I was. It was certainly grand with swirling metals, gold accents, and red stones lining the top. Seemed like a waste for something someone put their butt on.
A hidden door off to the side opened and four guards entered the room before taking places on either side of the throne. They wore dark clothing and had swords hanging at their sides. They probably had a lot more than just swords on them. The Queen entered then, my hand had found itself covering my mouth before I could gasp as she came fully into view. No question this woman was my mother.
Rex tugged me down to kneel as she fully entered and made her way to her throne. It was odd I had to kneel for my own flesh and blood. I still managed to peek even though my head was supposed to avert my gaze from her. Her hair was black, and she wore it loose. It flowed around her shoulders and framed her oval face and made her blue eyes stand out. She had a strong presence and held her head high as she approached her throne. She was dressed in a white suit, which surprised me. I felt overdressed in my dress.
She sat and looked down at us kneeling, no expression her face. “You may rise.” She sounded like me, but her voice held a tinge of something dark to it, like sadness, but not quite.
We rose and I fully looked at the Queen who was now staring directly at me, a shadow seemed to pass over her blue eyes, but she had blinked, and it was gone. We had the exact same eyes, it was eerie.
“Prince Rexford, was your request for an audience to grace me with such tomfoolery?” She had risen now and looked angry. Crap. Was I the Tom?
“Your grace, we discovered the princess hidden on Earth. Wyatt had a vision of her being left on a doorstep when she was a newborn.” Rex bowed his head and placed his arm over his chest. “We swear to you this is not a trick.”
“Come here.” She was speaking to me. I looked to Rex but he and Alex were in the same submissive pose of respect, eyes down. I could feel the nervousness coming off of them. They had not warned me she was cold and aloof. I had expected a little more warmth from the royal, especially after the warmth the brothers had shown me.
I approached with shaking legs, keeping my eyes upon her. I would have run, but I wasn’t sure I would make it past all the guards stationed at the doors. Something told me the windows in the room were not easy to shatter so that escape plan was null. I made it up the five steps to stand before her. We were similar in height.
She stared at me for several long minutes before placing a hand on my cheek, a spark of awareness passing through me. “Isabella?” Her eyes flickered with several emotions. The moment was over before I had time to respond and she dropped her hand as if touching me was toxic.
“I…” She held up a hand.
“Do not speak. Rejoin your friends.” I frowned at her but returned to my place in between Rex and Alex. “I am afraid this is not my Isabella. While I appreciate the sentiment, it is ill advised to stoke a grieving mother’s emotions.” Without another word or a farewell, she exited the platform and the room before any of us could say a word.
None of us spoke. What the hell had just happened? She was clearly my mother, I had felt it deep inside me from the second she had walked into the room, and so had she. Hadn’t she? There had been recognition in her eyes. Maybe she had already come to terms that I was lost forever. Regardless of the reason, it hurt.
Not knowing you had other family and then finding them was a lot to process. Add to that the rejection of the long-lost family and my brain and heart were in a tailspin. This was why I kept people at a distance, they loved you and then disappeared from your life, either through death or rejection.
I resisted the urge to hide myself as we exited the palace. We got back into our pod and only then did I cover myself so I could cry without being seen. Not that hiding myself made it any less noticeable.
A white handkerchief appeared from behind me, I took it gratefully and it disappeared into my cocoon of invisibility. I was not a crier, but my own mother rejecting me after twenty years hit a sore spot. I tried my best to choke back my sobs as the past few days finally caught up with me.
Several minutes passed before Rex started typing on the device that controlled the pod again. “The navigation has been compromised. We are headed towards the outskirts. Please tell me the boards are in here and charged.” He put the tablet back in its holder and turned towards his brothers in the back.
Compromised? That didn’t sound good. Tension radiated from Rex and he clenched and unclenched his fists.
“They are, I’m not always a complete idiot.” Wyatt shifted around in the back and handed three circular thin boards to Rex. It looked like a manhole cover to a sewer, but smaller. “What’s the plan?”
“I sense about twenty on our tail. Mira, stay invisible. When the pod stops, we will exit and act like you ran from us. You need to get yourself to safety and hide. Can you take our boards? If they see us with them they will know that we are planning on running. I can’t see you now so you might have to meet up with us.” Rex looked in my general vicinity before handing the boards to me.
“Do you think Sienna sent them?” I turned and looked out the back of the pod and could see at least five pods behind us. I wasn’t dressed for this, that was for sure. A sense of dread settled in my gut. This was too coincidental. “
Maybe she changed her mind?”
“They are bounty hunters. Many saw you on the way here… damn it, we should have had you use your invisibility.” Rex opened a few compartments at the front and produced a small knife, which he handed to me. “I’ve already sent a coded message to Rian. He will be dispatching our allies in Toska to help hide us if needed.”
As he was talking, I took the knife and cut about a foot from the bottom of my dress. “I hope this dress wasn’t expensive or anything.” I shoved the cut pieces under the seat. This is why dresses were not for me. Running and fighting in a formal dress and ballet flats was a hinderance.
“I hate not seeing you.” Rex looked in my direction, a pained look in his eyes. I reached over and touched his hand trying to give him some comfort. “Please follow the plan, no heroics. If something goes wrong, follow the smallest moon tonight and you will run into the capital of Toska, our allies will be waiting near the fountain in the city center.”
The smallest moon? How many moons were there? I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and nodded my head. “Okay.” It was hard to remember they couldn’t see me.
We were approaching a line of trees, which appeared to be the beginning of a forest. The pod came to a stop in a fairly large patch of open land. The sun was high in the sky but there was no one out in this part of Ardor. The perfect spot to kill or be beat senseless. I shoved the sheathed knife between my breasts, it being held in place by my bra. Damn dress.
As the men surrounded the pod, I took stock of them. They were large and scary looking, with black clothing and blades that looked like they could slice a head off with no problem. The doors opened and the men grabbed Alex, Rex, and Wyatt and flung them out of the pod. I swallowed hard to keep from making a sound but waited.
“Where is she?” One of the men growled and kicked Alex in the stomach. Their plan seemed a little misguided considering there were three of them and a whole platoon of bounty hunters.
