“A heartburst,” I heard someone say—maybe the Majoran doctor who had tried to help me with Kristoff. “That’s a heartburst, but I’ve never heard of one getting so big before.”
Dr. Churika had moved far away from Tannus now—in fact, everyone had. He was in his own little circle of Hell, trapped between the immense snake and the Fire Drake which waited just on the other side of the door of the Flame and Scale chamber.
“I…I’m sorry,” he said in a high, nervous voice, his bushy eyebrows working like wooly caterpillars on his forehead. “I never…I didn’t mean…”
“Do not lie in your final moments on the mortal plane,” the Goddess said through me. “Choose.”
Slowly, the massive heartburst snake wove its way towards him. Tannus backed up a step and then another and another. Slowly, he was being herded towards the dragon’s door.
He didn’t seem to realize that, though, until he was right at the doorway and another gush of hot smoke puffed out to envelope him.
“What? No!” he gasped, spinning around to see the huge golden eye. He tried to back away but he only succeeded in stepping on the trailing tail of the heartburst.
The giant snake hissed angrily and struck, its three-inch fangs sinking deep into the Head Councilor’s neck. He wailed and stumbled blindly forward, straight into the doorway of the second Trial and the waiting jaws of the dragon.
The heartburst let go just in time as the Fire Drake snapped, its massive, razor-sharp teeth clicking shut around the Head Councilor. We heard him wail in terror and pain and then he was gone—a single mouthful for the immense Fire Drake.
With a hiss, the heartburst snake turned and headed back towards the Garden of Death.
I watched it go and felt the Goddess withdraw—though not all the way. I still had unfinished business here.
I was able to move and speak for myself again, so I walked over and shut the door to the Garden of Death firmly, making sure it was locked. Then I went to the door of the second Trial and shut it firmly too, closing away the Fire Drake until it should be needed again, hopefully many years in the future when I was ready to pass the throne on to my successor.
When that was done and the area was secure, I turned to face everyone again.
“Now—let all my faithful guards come forward,” I said, motioning to my honor guard, the handpicked group that Kristoff had chosen who had remained loyal to me and had come rushing in to the deadly garden to save me. The Goddess was no longer speaking through me but I still felt her power—and she was the one who was giving me the words to say.
Silently, they shuffled forward. Many of them were scarred and cut by the poisonous plants and flowers and all of them were choking and coughing, having inhaled too much of the poison air in the garden.
“Your courage is beyond praise,” I told them. I gave the golden scepter and orb to Kristoff to hold and turned back to them, holding out my hands. “Come to me and the Goddess will heal you through me.”
One by one they came and I touched them and felt the healing power flow through me and my hands glowed with golden light. The marks and wounds faded from their skin and they stood upright, no longer coughing and choking. It was the most amazing thing—I watched it as though it was someone else doing it. And in fact it was—the Goddess was working through me in the most wonderful way. It made my doctor’s heart sing with joy and I suddenly understood where my passion for healing had come from in the first place.
Then I heard a croaking voice say, “What about me?”
I looked up and saw a horrible sight.
Prince Morbain was hobbling forward although how he could move at all was beyond me. His face was horribly scarred and disfigured both from contact with the deadly leaves he had fallen into and from the angry terlings which had bitten and scratched him everywhere.
The vicious little creatures had chewed off his lips and earlobes and most of his nose, making his face look like a bloody skull. His formerly fine and rich clothes hung in tatters on his tall frame and somehow half of his luxurious mustache had gotten either ripped or burned or bitten off, giving him a gruesome, lopsided look. His feet must have gotten into the acid stream because his shoes were mostly eaten away and it looked like he was missing several toes. For that matter, his fingers weren’t looking too good either—the terlings had really done a number on him!
He was what Zoe would have called “a complete fucking mess.”
“What about me?” he croaked again. “I also went into the Garden of Death! And I am of Royal blood! You should have healed me first—before all these commoners.” He jerked his head at my honor guard who stood around me, eyeing him impassively.
I looked at Kristoff who looked back at me frowning.
“He tried again and again to have you killed or to usurp your power. If it was up to me, he would die for his treachery. But the final decision must be yours, my Lady,” he sent through our bond. “I don’t believe the bastard deserves to be healed but I know how compassionate you are.”
First do no harm, I told myself. With a sigh, I placed my glowing hands gently on Morbain’s shoulders.
He reacted with a gasp and tried to shake off my grip. But he couldn’t—again I felt the Goddess’s energy flow through me and again she spoke, using my mouth as her own.
“For the sins you have committed against your own mother, Sundalla the 999th and for the attempts you have made against my new scion, Sundalla the 1000th, I condemn you,” the Goddess boomed. “You shall carry the wounds and pain of your time in the Garden of Death with you for the rest of your immortal life, Morbain. Never healing, never scarring—always fresh and weeping—your wounds will serve as a reminder to those that come after. This is your punishment from which you may not escape, even into death.”
Then she left me again with a great rush. I took a staggering step back into Kristoff’s waiting arms, breathing hard. The Goddess was so immense it was hard to hold her all inside me. I felt like an overfull water balloon about to burst when she used me for her purposes.
“Gods,” Kristoff murmured, trying to juggle the scepter and orb and hold me up at the same time. “Did you just curse him to an immortal life of pain and torment?”
“Not me,” I whispered, feeling incredibly weary. “The Goddess. She did it.”
“No!” Morbain staggered back, looking down at his bitten, burned, and maimed hands and arms. “No, this cannot be!” Turning, he fled in a shambling run. The people around him parted, making way as though he was infected with some horrible disease that might be catching.
I watched him go, feeling relieved and also very, very tired. Being the vessel of the Goddess was hard work.
“Is there anything else?” I murmured to Kristoff, as much as to myself.
“Doloroso—whatever happened to him? Did he die?” he asked.
“No and he needs to stay alive.” I took a deep breath. “As long as he’s locked in the form he’s currently in, his ship won’t generate another Doloroso for us to worry about.”
“What?” Kristoff frowned and shook his head. “What do you mean?”
“His ship—it keeps a record—a backup copy, if you will, of his twisted personality. And whenever he dies in one form, it generates another to take his place—that’s how the Assimilation works. We can’t let that happen—Doloroso needs to stay alive and his ship needs to be quarantined and locked away forever.”
“How do you know this?” he asked me.
I shook my head. The knowledge was just there, like a nugget of wisdom inside my brain. I had an idea that it was something my predecessor, Sundalla the 999th might have known and now her wisdom was being passed on to me.
“The Goddess, I suppose,” I said. “Or maybe your old mistress knew.”
“Ah yes, the Goddess.” Kristoff gave me a quizzical expression. “Is she…gone?”
“I have a feeling she’ll never be completely gone,” I said thoughtfully. “I’m her conduit into the mortal world. I connect her to he
r creations and sometimes she needs a deeper connection than others.” I thought of how I had felt her presence and her pleasure at the moment of our bonding the night before and how incredibly intense it had been. “You might see her again,” I told Kristoff. “But don’t worry—she likes you. Likes you a lot.”
He smiled and drew me closer, still holding the scepter and Orb in one hand. It occurred to me that they weren’t supposed to be able to tolerate anyone’s touch but mine but clearly they approved of Kristoff too. Well, that was as it should be. He wasn’t only going to be my Consort and husband, he was going to be my number one advisor in this role of awesome and immense responsibility I suddenly found myself thrust into.
And as for my other “advisors” the Council of Wisdom…well, I would deal with them later. But sufficient to say they were going to have a lot less power in the future.
“I’m glad the Goddess likes me since I love you,” Kristoff murmured, and claimed my mouth in a kiss. There was a roar of approval from the gathered crowd and then two familiar faces were trying to get through the ring my honor guard had formed around me.
“Charlotte! Charlotte!” It was Leah and Zoe, both of them dressed beautifully and both out of breath from pushing and shoving their way through the packed hall.
“Leah! Zoe!” I nodded at my honor guard. “It’s all right—these are my two closest friends.”
They shrugged and stepped aside and then I was caught in the middle of a joyful, three-way reunion with all of us laughing and hugging and kissing and crying until I didn’t know what to do with myself.
I looked around the hall filled with my new people, Royal and common alike. I looked at my best friends from Earth, my loyal guards, and of course, at my wonderful Kristoff. A feeling of joy filled me just as the Goddess had—an emotion almost too huge to contain.
I was home. Though I hadn’t known it, this was where I had been headed all my life. This was why I could never click with my adopted family or feel a connection to anyone except my other two friends who were both La-ti-zals and had been meant to leave Earth too. It was because this place—this time—and the Goddess had been calling me.
Home. I was home and I knew I would never leave it again.
Epilogue
“So I heard you cleaned house around here.” Zoe settled more comfortably on her golden cushion and nibbled another peri-teri fruit. It looked oddly like a miniature taco with a brownish-tan crust that split in half to reveal an inside that was dark brown with red and yellow splotches like meat with sauce and cheese. Despite its odd outward appearance, the peri-teri was delicious. It tasted like a cross between a watermelon, a strawberry, a peach, and buttered popcorn. Weird but addictively yummy.
I popped another fruit in my own mouth, savoring the crunch of the shell and the sweet, juicy texture of the fruit as I chewed before I answered.
“Yes, I touched everyone in the Council of Wisdom.”
“You touched them?” Leah frowned at me. “What do you mean?”
I rapidly explained about my touch-sense and how I’d hidden it from them, along with my lack of sexual interest back when we lived on Earth.
“It’s amazing your La-ti-zal powers developed before you even left Earth’s atmosphere,” Zoe remarked. “But then, I guess you are the grand-mamma of all La-ti-zals. And here I thought it was my fault you and Leah turned out to be special too—but I guess the blame for that would have to fall on your shoulders, Charlotte.”
“Who’s blaming who?” Leah asked, comfortably. “I’m happy I’m a La-ti-zal—I never would have gotten together with Grav otherwise.”
“Yeah, I doubt I would have bonded with Sarden if I hadn't been one either.” Zoe nodded thoughtfully. “I just wish we would have been more upfront with each other about what was going on with us. I wish I would have known I wasn’t the only one who didn’t much care for sex.”
“Me too,” Leah murmured. “I felt like such a freak!”
“Well, we’re all making up missed time for that by enjoying sex plenty now.” I thought of the delicious way Kristoff had made love to me for hours the night before after the grand Coronation ceremony and a shiver of pleasure ran down my spine.
“True.” Zoe sighed happily. “So what did you see when you ‘touched’ the Council of Wisdom?”
“I saw which ones were loyal and which were with Tannus and Morbain.” I shrugged. “The disloyal ones were locked away for committing treason—that was Kristoff’s idea, not mine.” As he was still head of my security, I believed him when he said they were still a threat.
“And what about Doloroso?” Zoe asked with a shudder. “Is he finally gone completely?”
“He’s gone,” I assured her. “We locked him in a stasis chamber—the same kind he had in his own ship—to make sure he can never die and spawn another version of himself. We never have to worry about him again.”
After donning protective suits, some of my most trusted guards had been able to infiltrate the ship and rescue the others that Doloroso had stored in his stasis booths as “spare” hosts. They and several Grubbian merchants, which had also been found, were now living their own lives and the ship had been sealed and quarantined.
Morbain, also, had been confined to his quarters. He’d been cleaned up and treated as much as possible by the Majoran doctor I liked, whose name was Lanarra. But it didn’t matter what she did, he kept on bleeding through his bandages and his cuts and burns and bites refused to heal. He was a truly horrible and miserable sight.
Just thinking of him made me shiver. I was glad the Goddess had been the one to punish him and not me, although most of the Royal Court didn’t seem to know that. I got a great deal of respect everywhere I went and Kristoff declared that my safety should be secured for years to come. Not that it stopped him from being ever vigilant and watchful. Even being my Consort couldn’t make him give up his duties as Captain of the Imperial Guards, always careful and protective, making sure his lady was secure.
“So you weeded out the baddies in the Council,” Leah said. “What happened to the rest?”
“They’re still the Council of Wisdom,” I said. “But they don’t have nearly as much power as they did. They can’t dictate to the Empress or make major decisions without consulting me.”
I had put the youngest Councilor—Minchin—who had spoken out against Tannus, in charge. My working relationship with the Council was now much more respectful and amicable than it had been under the old Head Councilor.
Kristoff had pointed out that the rest of the Council was probably afraid I would feed them to the Fire Drake but I didn’t really believe they thought that. I had done some research and apparently having the Goddess manifest in the Empress was a fairly rare occurrence. I was incredibly grateful that she had chosen to come to me at the time she did. Without her, Kristoff would be dead and I would probably be joined to Morbain while he and Tannus ruled the galaxy through me.
“What about the doctor you told us about?” Zoe asked, breaking my train of thought. “You know—the one with the awful bedside manner?”
“Who—Doctor Churika?” I sighed. “I didn’t have the heart to lock her away. I banished her from Femme One instead and sent her home. Lanara’s my new Royal healer and she’s teaching me everything she knows.” I smiled happily.
Zoe grinned and popped another peri-teri into her mouth.
“Leave it to you to continue your medical training even now that you’re queen of the universe.”
“Empress of the galaxy,” I corrected her automatically. “And you know I love to learn.”
“I know.” Leah frowned. “But you’re not worried Churika will turn against you again? Maybe you should have locked her up along with the bad Council members.”
“I thought about it, but I think she was just trying to keep the old order going—not actually overthrow the throne.” I shook my head. “I just couldn’t lock her away. She’s Denarin, you know so she would have had two mates to miss her, not just one.”
/>
“That’s hard to wrap your head around.” Leah shivered. “I can’t imagine having two seven-foot-tall aliens to keep happy in the sack, not just one.”
“Actually, according to Kristoff they have a really equitable relationship.” I remembered the pair of mis-matched Denarins I had met when he first took me to see Dr. Churika on her home planet. The ones who had needed a Pure One to help them break the tie that had somehow mistakenly grown between them.
“Oh?” Leah asked. “How so?”
“They usually bond as boys and grow up together—there’s one Alpha who works outside the home and the Beta usually stays home to help with everything around the house,” I said. “That means the woman they find to bond with can choose what she wants to do—work outside or be a stay at home mom.”
“Wow—that’s great!” Zoe said enthusiastically. “It really does sound ideal—if you don’t mind being split in two by two guys at once.”
“Zoe!” Leah smacked her on the arm and our friend winced and grinned unrepentantly, her curly red hair bouncing.
“Well, it’s true.”
“Look, all this is interesting…” Leah’s face had gone suddenly serious. “But what I want to know is what are you going to do about the Alien Mate Index? You know—how the Commercians have set up shop on Earth and are basically selling Earth girls? It’s awful! Now that you’re Empress, Charlotte, you have to stop it.”
“You sound like you have a personal stake in it, or something,” Zoe said, frowning. “What gives, Leah—why are you so upset?”
“Well, remember how you told me being a La-ti-zal could be catching?” Leah nibbled her lower lip anxiously.
“Yeah, so?” Zoe frowned.
“I, uh, was just worried that I might have given it to someone else. Before I left Earth the second time with Grav.”
“What? Who?” Zoe demanded.
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