by Lisa Lace
"But Mother stayed," Asher argued. "Shouldn't she have been enough?"
Abon shook his head. "No. She was never king. Your mother was perhaps the best queen the Nalyi have ever had, but she wasn't the king. I was the king and now you are. That's why the land is responding to you." He gestured to the path of lush greenery that had sprung up along the way to the palace. "It welcomes you home."
For a moment, Asher was overwhelmed. He needed to sit down or something before he fell over and wasn't any good to anyone. A soft hand slipping into his made him blink and look up, and there was Mia, at his side with a small smile on her face.
"Come on, your Majesty," she teased him. "Let's go wake up your people."
It hit him all at once that if the legend was true, and from what he could see around him, it seemed to be, then maybe...maybe all wasn't lost. His mother would be down in the tunnels somewhere with the rest of the people. And he could bring them all back.
Abon raised his eyebrows and looked at him. "Are you ready?"
"Yes," Asher said. Mia squeezed his hand, and the three of them set off for the last bit of the trek to the palace.
When they got there, Asher could see that it wasn't in as bad of shape as he'd been expecting. The structure was still there, multi-colored marble rising up from the ground in majestic sweeps and platforms. Most of the walls were damaged, and one whole side was taken out. He could remember the sound of the blasts that had shaken the ground and destroyed the wall, and he could only hope that it would be rebuilt soon.
None of them talked as they walked through, footsteps echoing in the quiet. Abon was on alert, sword held in his hand in case any more Shaddoc were lurking within. So far, it seemed like they were alone.
Mia's hand was still in his, and she was looking around her with open wonder on her face, the fingers of her other hand reaching out to brush against the walls and the carved wood of the window sills.
There was a chunk of broken stone in the middle of the path, and though Abon and Asher skirted it easily, Mia wasn't paying attention enough to do the same. Her foot caught and she stumbled forward, but before she could fall, Asher had pulled her back so she was pressed right against him.
He wondered if she could feel how fast his heart was beating, both at what was happening and the proximity between them.
"Thanks," she murmured, and even her soft voice seemed loud in the otherwise still air of the palace.
"No problem," he replied, smoothing hair out of her face.
"I assume you two have talked, then," Abon said, and when Asher glanced up at him, he was smirking.
Asher huffed. "Maybe. It's none of your business. And that's another thing, by the way. You can't just shove two people together and expect them to want to be together."
Abon hummed and smiled. "Seemed to work out well enough for the two of you."
Neither of them said anything to that, but Mia's cheeks were flushed as they made their way through the palace. The ground started to slope downwards, and Asher's heart pounded in his chest. He'd never been in the tunnels, but he knew how to get there, he knew where they were. The heavy silver door was open, and he could only imagine that Abon had been in there before he'd come to get them.
The air inside was stale and damp, despite the small holes dug in to let in light and fresh air. It had been years, though, so Asher understood.
As far as he could see, there were people. The bodies of the Nayli spread out through the tunnels, and it was almost as if they were dead. If it weren't for the gentle rise and fall of their chests, he would have assumed that they were corpses in some suspended animation.
Here was the man who had brought him sweet dumplings to eat sometimes. There was the little girl he had played with when their mothers would stand in the square and talk. All of them looked the same as they had that day when he'd been forced to flee.
"Asher," Mia whispered, tugging on his hand. "Look."
She pointed, and Asher's eyes followed her finger to the form of a woman with brilliant red hair, leaned against one of the walls of the tunnel. "Mother," he whispered. He wanted to run to her, but there was some part of him that was still convinced that this couldn't be real. That he was dreaming, or maybe the Shaddoc had actually killed him and this was where the dead went or something.
"She's alive," Abon said, voice just as soft as Mia's had been, and Asher's heart leapt. "All you have to do is wake her up."
"H-how do I do that?" Asher breathed, and it seemed right to keep his voice down, almost afraid to break the silence in case it shattered this moment.
It was Mia who spoke up then, to Asher's surprise. "In the story, the new king had to declare himself king, didn't he?" she said. "He said that he was king of an empty land, and that's when everyone woke up. Because he accepted that he was king."
Abon's voice was warm with pleasure and approval as he agreed. "That's right. As of right now, the Nalyi have no king. I've stepped down and you have yet to step up. But when you do," He gestured around them. "Your people will wake for you. They'll wake up for their king."
For long seconds there was nothing. No sound, no movement. Asher barely seemed to be breathing, and he stayed where he was, gripped by nerves and indecision. He didn't know if he was ready to be a king, but he supposed that when it came down to it, he didn't have a choice. There was no way he could just leave the people sleeping while he tried to figure out if he could be the king that they needed. That was beyond selfish.
A warm hand squeezed his, and he looked over at Mia, who was smiling at him.
"You can do this," she whispered. "They've been waiting for you."
"I knew I was right about her," Abon said with a smile and Mia huffed.
"Yeah well. We'll talk about that later. Go on, Asher."
With them behind him, his confidence flared. Asher straightened up, rolling his shoulders back and held his head up high and proud. He kept his grip on Mia's hand, not wanting to let go of her for a second.
"I am home," he said, and his voice rang out in the tunnels, echoing and reverberating all around. "I am home, and I take my place as King of my people."
For a moment nothing happened. His voice died away, and he bit his lip, barely daring to breathe. Then, like a great ripple, the people shuddered, their chests heaved and they sucked in the first deep breaths they had taken in years. Some of them coughed and groaned, and the small children started to cry, confused and disoriented.
In front of Asher, his mother stirred. Color returned to her cheeks and she blinked open her eyes slowly, glancing around. When she looked at Asher, she smiled, and he let out a breath. Even though it had been years, and he was a man now, she knew him.
"My son," she said, holding a hand out to him.
Asher helped her up to her feet, letting go of Mia's hand to throw both arms around his mother. She sobbed against his shoulder and then pulled back, hands cupping his face. "My boy. My kithroi. You've grown so much, I barely recognize you."
There was a sadness in her eyes, and Asher knew that the fact that she hadn't gotten to see him grow up was hard for her. "It's still me, Mother," he murmured to her. He was taller than she was now, by a full head, and he kissed her forehead and pulled her back into his arms. "It's still me, and I'm home now."
And that was all that mattered.
Clearly some of the Nalyi knew about the legend, because the older ones were explaining to the children what had happened. All around them, people were hugging their loved ones and crying, rejoicing the fact that they were alive.
Abon moved among them, soothing and offering information to fill in any gaps in their knowledge. Whenever someone called him ‘your Majesty' he shook his head and pointed to his nephew. "The Nalyi have a new king now. You woke for him, not for me."
Almost as one, the people looked at Asher. He could feel their eyes on him, and he blushed, but stood there with one arm around his mother. "I am your king," he said, trying hard not to let his voice waver. "I know I was just a littl
e boy when you went to sleep and that there's still a lot for me to learn, but I want to learn it all. I want us to be great again. We can rebuild and get stronger. We can learn how to fight and how to craft. We can keep this from ever happening again."
"King Asher," someone in the middle of the crowd said and then the cry was taken up, bouncing off the sloped tunnel walls until it was ringing in Asher's ears.
"King Asher! Long live King Asher!" The people went to their knees, kneeling in front of their new king with their heads bowed, and Asher was just about floored.
He caught Mia trying to kneel to him as well, and caught her hand, drawing her up and pulling her close. "Not you," he murmured. "You don't bow to me."
"I'm not your queen yet," she pointed out softly, and the word ‘yet' made hope claw at him.
"Doesn't matter. You're not one of my subjects. You're more than that." And then, not caring who saw it, he kissed her right then and there.
There was going to be a lot of work to do before things were settled. Homes needed to be rebuilt, the palace needed to be repaired, patrols needed to be sent out because the Shaddoc weren't going to go away just because there was a new king. Hopefully they would leave Earth alone now that Abon was back where he belonged, and if it came to fighting again, which it likely would, Asher would deal with that.
He already had ideas for how to make the Nalyi stronger. How to combine the old ways of fighting and conquering with the ways of being peace loving and focused on creation. He wouldn't have his people defenseless.
Mia leaned against him as the people rose and began forming a line to get out of the tunnels. "Not bad, your Majesty," she teased with a smile, and he smiled back.
Not bad at all.
Epilogue
"Oh my god, yes," Mia cried as she arched her back, fingers tangled in the sheets under them. She was on her hands and knees on the bed (well, really her elbows and knees), back arched and bowed inward while Asher knelt behind her, hands on her hips as he pushed in and in, driving her crazy.
They were in their bedroom in the newly rebuilt palace, and this was the first time in weeks that they'd been able to be alone together like this for more than five minutes or when they weren't both sleeping.
In the months since Asher had returned to the Nalyi, there had been plenty to do. The palace had to be repaired and most of the buildings had to be rebuilt. They'd had to find allies from other clans to come and teach the Nalyi how to defend themselves properly, and as the King, Asher had been at the forefront of it all.
He'd been learning and working and doing as much work as anyone else, and Mia was terribly proud of him.
For her part, she'd had a lot to learn as well. She'd been eagerly accepted by the people once they say how crazy their King was about her, and though she hadn't yet become queen or even really brought the topic up again, it was well established that she was Asher's partner.
People came to her with their questions and their gripes, and Mia tried to be open and understanding as she helped as best she could. After all, she knew better than most how it felt to be ignored and dismissed, and she never wanted anyone to feel like that because of her.
Asher's mother had taken her under her wing, and the two could often be found conferring about something or just walking and talking together, and after five months of this, Mia found herself thinking fondly of the woman.
She also found herself thinking of her own parents.
She could only assume that by then they'd found her note, and she could just imagine how they'd react to it. Mia had told them not to look for her and that more than likely she wasn't coming back. Part of her wished she could have been there to see the look on their faces when they found her note, but a much bigger part of her was glad to be done with it.
This new phase of her life felt so good, so right for her, and she was happier now than she'd ever been.
The Shaddoc were still a present threat, but Asher said that they were definitely better equipped to deal with them now than they ever had been, and that having the king back here would make them leave Earth alone.
It wasn't an ending to the conflict, but it was a good start.
Things were bigger, brighter and better than they had been, and everyone had pitched in to make it so. It was easy to see the pride on the people's faces as they went about their days, reclaiming the lives that had been stolen from them.
Mia was proud to be a part of it herself.
"Creators, you feel so good," Asher panted in her ear, breath hot on her skin as he moved inside of her, draped over her back. "Missed you so much. So much."
"Yes," she gasped, working her hips in time with his. "God, can't go this long again. I'm so. So close."
She tipped over the edge and into her orgasm with a cry that she tried to muffle in the pillows, and from the way his hips were speeding up, she could tell that Asher was right there with her.
He groaned her name and then slumped over her back, panting hard.
For a moment they stayed like that, and then they were separating, Asher pulling out so that Mia could flop to the bed. He laid down next to her, fingers stroking through her hair as they both regained their breath.
"If only every council meeting could end like that," he teased with a grin, and she laughed.
"If only. It was a productive one, this time, though. So you really can't complain."
His golden eyes were warm as they held hers, and he stroked her hair behind her ear. "No, I really can't. I wouldn't dream of it."
In a few hours, they would have to go to dinner and report on what had been done in the last couple of weeks. In the morning, there would be more lessons, more work to be done, more people to speak to.
For the moment, though, there was just this. Mia and the king she had somehow managed to snare and the warmth that built in her chest whenever she looked at him.
Disclaimer
This ebook is licensed for your perssonal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an addittional copy for each recipient. Thank you for resppecting the hard work of this author.
Copyright Notes
No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, including pri.nting, photocopying, or otherwise, without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quota.tions embodied in critical articles or review.
If you would like to use material from the book (other than just simply for reviewing the book), prior permission must be obtained by contacting the author at [email protected].
Copyright © 2016 Toppings Publishing
