Zoe Thanatos

by Cierlak, Crystal

  Her feet carried her into the Throne Room, the vast hall an empty cavern of magnificent height and opulence that was hers alone to appreciate. The ceremonial thrones that belonged to her and the King sat stiff like statues, dominating the vast expanse of the room. She had taken a seat on her literal throne on only a few occasions, mostly for official celebrations or other such events. Having wandered all around the realm she found herself back where she started, her own home. With a sigh she climbed the pedestal that elevated the two ornate chairs above the ground and sat, the high back of the chair stiffening her posture significantly. She closed her eyes as her mind wandered back to the Queen Mother

  From the first day the Straton Queen assumed her role she had exiled the Thanatos family name, forbidding anyone to ever utter the word again. The Crown Soldiers made sure to enforce the law, using their new and imposing status as a weapon against anyone who would disobey. She hadn’t so much as heard the name Thea Thanatos since her own childhood, and it still had an effect on her.

  Like the Queen Mother before her, she hated the name Thanatos, despised the very idea of it. She looked out towards the direction of the Military Complex, a building connected by corridor to the Throne Room and one of the only Crown buildings without public access. Somewhere an Elder was locked up, awaiting punishment for the crime of stealing from her, from the Crown. If that were the only crime she was accused of Kyra might have shown her leniency. Instead the Elder conspired against the Queen, accused her of being a fraud, claimed the identity of a dead woman, and orchestrated to both kidnap the King and hold him hostage.

  There were others who played a part. How many additional residents were there in Last City who knew of the Elder woman’s claims about the Queen? How fast would her treasonous claims spread and trickle into the innermost cities? No doubt the residents were already questioning the necessity of the lock-down. They didn’t need any more gossip to whisper in each other’s ears. Kyra knew she would have to act soon to prevent even a small uprising. With any hope they would summarily dismiss the rumors, having forgotten the name Thanatos all together.

  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.”

  Kyra’s eyes opened wider at the mention of her husband. “The King was there during the escape?”

  He nodded. “Yes, Your Highness.”

  Interesting. Her lips pursed and she tilted her head back, his words sticking at an unspoken thought in her mind. “Where is he now?” she asked, looking back at Alcander.

  “With Hector in the Military Complex. He’s insisted on leading the search for the escaped residents.”

  “Good. Keep an eye on him.”

  “O-on the King?” he stuttered, clearly taken aback by such a request.

  “Do you have a problem with that, Alcander?” she asked.

  His eyes widened as the shock registered on his face. “Your Highness, he is the King!”

  “And I am your Queen!” she replied, astonished she had to quantify anything for him at all. He swallowed and again cowered beneath her imposing stare.

  “Forgive me,” he pleaded, his head bowed before her in shame.

  “Just do your job. Put extra guards outside the Elder’s room. Gather the soldiers who were supposed to be monitoring the other detainment rooms and have them escorted to the Government Center to await further instruction. When the Transport Stations are shut down I want th
e transport searched car-by-car. Find out who was on board last and what station they disembarked at.”

  “Yes, Your Highness. I will see to it immediately.”

  “I hope so,” she dismissed. He turned on his heel and quickly exited the Throne Room, heading back in the direction of the Military Complex. She watched him retreat in silence and briefly considered whether she had come off too hard, or not hard enough.

  “Well, you’ve certainly got a mess on your hands, Kyra.”

  The hairs on the back of her neck pricked up as she recognized the voice. Quickly she turned and came face-to-face with a set of golden eyes. She bent into a deep curtsey and dipped her head forward. When she stood upright again she found the golden eyes still staring intently at her.

  “Hello, Mother.” It had been a long time since Korina Straton set foot on Terra. She’d long ago retired to an opulent residence in a nearby universe, ascending Kyra to the throne in her place while she lived out the rest of her generation as an Elder. Her appearance was as meticulous as ever: pale blonde hair cropped just above her shoulders, her skin as radiant and luminous, effectively hiding her older age. By all accounts she was the most beautiful woman Kyra had ever known, her own dark eyes and hair a poor contrast to her mother’s beautiful appearance.

  “Hello, Darling. I’ve been hearing some rather unsettling rumors as of late. I thought I’d come inquire in person as to their validity.”

  Kyra gave a curt smile. “My apologies for having to inconvenience you; fortunately, I have everything under control.”

  “Do you?” Korina asked rhetorically. “A sacred artifact was stolen and the King kidnapped in the attempt to retrieve said artifact. The Last City residents you’ve brought back have managed to escape, slip out undetected from the watch of your Crown Soldiers, and the woman responsible for it all still lives?”

  “I do not plan to pass sentence on her until I speak with her myself.”

  “Giving credence to a Resident who would plot against the Crown is not a wise move, my dear.”

  “That will be my judgment to make,” Kyra asserted.

  Korina turned her back and began a slow pace around the throne. The silence in the room stretched out between them, a growing thickness that disconcerted her. She wondered just how much the Queen Mother knew about the situation. Clearly she had been apprised of the goings-on of Terra, but there was some information she was either lacking or choosing not to divulge, such as the fact that the Elder woman was claiming to be Thea Thanatos. If there had been any measure of doubt about the demise of Thea Thanatos the Queen Mother would have come back to Terra willingly and without hesitation. There was no indication she knew either way and Kyra vacillated on whether or not to inform her.

  She was growing inpatient at the Queen Mother’s interference. Regardless of whom the Elder woman claimed to be it was her responsibility to deal with the matter, not Korina’s.

  Finally the Queen Mother stopped pacing and turned back to face Kyra. Her eyes had narrowed and her chin jutted out, making her posture increase in height. “I will speak to her,” she announced.

  “That won’t be necessary,” Kyra dismissed her.

  Korina’s eyes narrowed. “I’m afraid I insist. There is no one alive apart from me who could look into the woman’s eyes and know if she is indeed Thea Thanatos.”

  So there was doubt. For nearly a generation the world believed the original family was gone, forgotten in time. In all likelihood the Elder woman was lying, and yet Korina Straton felt compelled to find out for herself. Had Kyra mistaken the Queen Mother’s intentions? What other reason could there be for her wanting to question the captured woman? Under any other circumstances she would have loathed her mother’s interference in matters of the Crown. However, there was no doubt in Kyra’s mind that if Thea Thanatos wasn’t involved, even in name only, her mother would not be there.

  “I’ll take you to see her,” she agreed. Despite the irritation she felt for her mother her own curiosity got the best of her.

  When she turned she noticed a number of Crown Soldiers had entered the Throne Room and taken posts at each corridor. They were all armed. As she led Korina towards the corridor leading to the Military Complex, each soldier they passed bowed their heads in reverence to her. Another set of guards stood watch at the center of the corridor, one at each side and each bowing as they made their way through.

  The Military Complex was stocked with a small army of Crown Soldiers, some being outfitted with weapons, others strategizing with interactive maps of Royal City blown up large on the glass walls. She noticed Hector sitting at a command station, speaking into a headset as his eyes kept watch on the screens in front of him. The atmosphere of the room was thick with a tension that only amplified when their presence was noticed.

  One by one the soldiers bowed their heads in deference to the Queen and Queen Mother, their silence bringing the room to a quick and unsettling quiet. Kyra scanned the top of heads bowed before her and noticed that none of them belonged to the King.

  She dismissed them with a nod and the soldiers went back to their work. Kyra continued through the building towards the detainment rooms, her mother in close pursuit. As they reached the corridor that branched off from the main room they were stopped by an ashen-faced Alcander.

  “Your Highness!” he gasped, clearly startled by the rare appearance of the Queen Mother. His head and torso dropped down so low Kyra was sure he would fall to the ground. When he stood again his face was still pallid and weary. He opened his mouth to speak but the sound was nothing more than a feeble squeak. His mouth shut again and he swallowed hard, his eyes growing ever wider in his face as he looked from the Queen Mother to Kyra.

  “What’s happened now?” Kyra asked. The terror on his face was unmistakable. She nearly felt sorry for the man as he fumbled to compose himself in front of them. She looked briefly to her mother and saw she was equally perplexed. She hoped it wasn’t more bad news. She couldn’t stand being made to look like a fool in front of anyone, let alone the Queen Mother.

  “I did as you asked, Your Highness. I sent the guards from the detainment rooms to the Government Complex to await your instruction. The transport was shut down. I sent more guards to the Elder prisoner’s room but they…” he trailed off.

  Korina took a step towards him and he looked as though he might faint. “But they what?” she asked.

  He took a deep breath. “They caught her attempting to escape. She was with a male Resident, one of our own. We pursued them but the Resident attacked us, leaving us no choice but to use force against him. By the time we were able to restrain him the Elder woman was gone. I went after her myself but I couldn’t find her. I searched every door and corridor but she was nowhere. She just vanished. I made my way back to the guards and found them detaining the Resident.”

  Kyra felt a curl of hot anger rising in her throat, heating the skin beneath her face. “So the Elder woman is gone but you have the perpetrator in custody?” It took all of her effort to keep her voice restrained, to not let the anger boil inside her.

  “Yes, Your Highness,” he whispered. “We could not see his face! I swear to you if we had known it was him!” he cried, his sentence falling short of completion. The man looked like he was on the cusp of losing his sanity, just as Kyra was losing her ability to remain calm.

  “Who?!” she demanded.

  “The King!” he cried. “It was the King who freed the Elder.”

  Chapter 19: Two Stratons

  “Darling, you were born to be the Queen. Never, ever assume otherwise.” The Queen lovingly placed her hands on either side of her face and smiled, relaxing into a natural beauty as she did.

  Kyra stared up into her golden eyes and nodded. She was just a little girl, concerned only with playing with other children, laughing and dancing, and being adored; Queendom was a long way off.

  “Will I be as beautiful as you when I’m the Queen?” she asked softly.

  The Queen smiled infect
iously and nodded, placing a doting kiss on her small forehead before sitting down beside Kyra on the bed in her Residence. “You’ll be more beautiful than anyone.”

  “What will I do as Queen?”

  “You’ll rule over all of Terra. You’ll make sure the outlying cities are doing their necessary part to ensure the health and well-being of every Resident. You’ll command the Crown Soldiers to keep peace throughout the world. And most important of all you’ll bear the next Queen of Terra.”

  Kyra pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her cheeks upon them, frowning at the thought of one day having her own daughter. “Do I have to?”

  “You must. The Queen’s daughter always becomes the next Queen.”

  “Were you the other Queen’s daughter?” she innocently asked.

  The Queen’s lips pursed as her faced tightened. “The other Queen is gone. You’ll be the next Queen when the day comes. It has always been your destiny to wear the Crown, and you will.”

  Kyra’s young face crumpled at an unspoken thought. “If I’m Queen will I have to have a King?”

  “Yes, to have a daughter you will need to have a King. He’ll need to be worthy enough to carry on our family name, to act in his duties as King of Terra.”

  As she grew older, Kyra received more lessons on what it meant to be the Queen, learning from her mother the qualities required of the position. She was to remain poised and controlled, to be authoritative and bold, to be loved respected at the same time.

  Growing up as the next Queen of Terra had its advantages. She was educated by the most respected Elders, dressed in finer clothes than even the wealthiest residents, and always had a companion to play with. Her constant companion was Owyn, who as a kid was precocious and entertaining, and one of the cutest boys in Terra. However, there was another boy who rivaled the future King in good looks and charm. Evander Nero.