Memories keep coming to me. The one that keeps coming is the one when our oldest son fell from the top of a tree in the red forest and died.
I was there. I was supposed to be keeping him safe. I failed.
His little lifeless body was so badly broken. My heart aches with the memory. It was all my fault.
I deserved what I got when Glee held me responsible. She never forgave me. In the public’s eye, she did. But not in reality.
No one knew about that. We kept that well hidden. Even Kerr didn’t know how we were in private. She didn’t speak to me once we were alone.
I can’t blame her. It was my fault we lost our first born. I endured the torture of not being able to touch the woman I loved more than life itself.
Glee would look at me with light in her eyes when we had social functions. She turned that light on like a switch. And off as well.
It never failed to give me hope when I’d see it there. It also never failed to tear a little bit more of my heart when she turned it off again when we got back to being alone.
Something happens to a person when their child dies. It shuts something down in them, even if they have others, a piece of them is missing and can’t ever be replaced.
I lost Hexor and at the same moment in time, I lost Glee.
She held my heart in her hands. Since the first time my eyes fell on her sweet face, she had my heart.
I never faulted her for how she treated me after Hexor’s death. But it hurt more than losing him did. He was my son, but she was a part of me.
We used to joke around that she and I shared a soul. We were a couple of half people until we found one another. Only then did we become one.
My body aches as I recall asking my brother to kill her. For the life of me, I don’t know where my mind was at that time. It was gone.
I don’t know who was controlling me. Certainly not myself. Certainly not the man who still completely loved his wife even if she hated him for his role in their son’s death.
All I knew was once her body was found, and I knew he’d done it. I had to get him and take him somewhere else. I couldn’t look at him.
I hated him for doing what I’d asked him to in an obvious moment of madness.
So I snuck away one night and drugged him then put him on a tiny ship and took him to the nearest planet and dumped him off.
Once I made it home, I agonized over what I had done to my brother. Again, the one moment of madness just kept getting bigger. Now it was more like a year of madness, not a mere moment.
Escalating to new depths. I managed to stop the horrible things I was doing, but I never did go back and try to fix any of them.
I could’ve gone and found my brother and brought him home and told the other royals what I had done and faced the consequences, but I didn’t.
I kept quiet and felt I deserved the nightmare that plagued me. Gleeu came to me in the dead of night at times and hovered over me, taking my breath from me.
I’d see her fleeting gown as she moved away from me. I’d chase after the ghost until it disappeared. Her scent left in its wake.
I deserved for her to haunt me. I knew that.
If I could turn back time. Oh, how I’d change it all. But I can’t so I’ll accept my fate.
In the end, maybe on the other side of this life, I will find my Glee again. Perhaps she’ll hate me no longer for the loss of our son who is over there as well. Maybe we can be a family over there.
Kerr can join us when it’s his time. Maybe it won’t be so bad.
The ship lurches and I nearly fall off the bed. I look out the window and see one of the moons is very close. That means we are mere hours away from landing.
Hours away from my fate.
How I wish it didn’t have to end this way…
CHAPTER 2
Kerr
The sun shining out the window wakes me. Confusion fills me as I look around and realize the ship is on the ground.
But where is Kataline?
What’s happened? When did we land? How long have I been asleep?
Getting up, I stagger to wash my face and try to wake up. I feel as if I’ve been drugged.
Running my wet hands over my hair, I look at my reflection and see quite a bit of stubble as it looks as if I haven’t shaved in some time. Though I distinctly recall shaving.
A noise in the corridor has my curiosity piqued and I go and open the door of my room. A few of the royal guards stagger about looking about as confused as I feel.
I stop the one nearest me. “Guard, do you have any idea what has happened?”
“I just woke up. I was on the floor in the galley. There were others sleeping in there as well. I suppose some type of gas was used to put us all to sleep, Prince.” He staggers away, holding onto the wall to keep himself up.
Finding my body weak, I think it’s safe to say we’ve been asleep for some time. I find some water and drink it down to quench a fierce thirst which further convinces me of my suspicions.
The door to the ship is open and the few who are awake, walk out it then come right back in. There were five men and they all have their fingers in their mouths telling the rest of us to be quiet.
Once they get to me, one whispers, “Princess Kataline has the King kneeling on the ground outside.”
“What sort of weapon does she have?” I ask.
Another shakes his head. “None, Sire.”
My heart pounds in my chest as if a thousand equines are charging through it.
I cannot allow her to kill my father!
“Come! She has to be stopped!” I tell them. “Stay behind me, though. I might be able to get through to her.”
Just as I walk out and spot my wife and father, I stop and stare at how she’s looking at him and listen hard.
I hear my father, not pleading but speaking with a calm voice, “Kataline, before you send me from this world, I want to apologize to you. I have been an old fool and know well what I have done. Please know I take responsibility for all of my actions. I was given great power and did nothing good with it.”
I watch Kataline’s eyes twitch. That deep voice I’ve heard come from her says, “How clever you must think yourself, King. Your apology will not save you.”
I can wait no longer and begin to move out of the cover of the edge of the ship. Just as I am about to speak I hear a shriek coming from Kataline.
My father looks up at her from his place on the ground in front of her. “Child, are you alright?”
Her hands go to hold either side of her head and she holds it as she screams and screams. Then it stops suddenly. She seems to be reeling with shock.
Kataline looks down at my father. It’s her voice that speaks, “Rise, Sire. I will not allow them to take your life.” She holds her hand out to him and he accepts it.
“Kataline, you’re back,” he says. “How did you manage to get back?”
“I took myself back over.” She smiles at him with that wonderfully sweet smile of hers. “There is a demon or two in all of us. We struggle all the time with them. But in the end, good must prevail.”
My father scoops her up in his arms and hugs her. “Glad to see you won the battle, child.”
He lets her out of his grip and she looks at him. “And I know your demons waged a battle in you once and you lost it to them for a while. But you managed to silence them and now it is time to right your wrongs, Sire.”
“That it is, Princess,” he says.
More people have woken up and some are beginning to come out of the other ships. All look confused and finding the King and Kataline in the middle of all the ships as they’ve landed in a circular formation doesn’t help anyone to understand things any better.
Aunt Nar comes to meet them as do I. She asks, “What is going on, Your Highness?”
My father looks at her and waves his hand, gesturing for all to gather round. “I have a confession to make.”
I take Kataline’s hand, and she looks at me. “
Kerr, did you sleep well?”
“Um, not sure. I remember nothing,” I tell her. I place a kiss on her cheek. “Do you think you have that under control now?”
She nods and smiles. “I do. I have been waging a war inside my head, but I won out in the end. It is the dark one who slumbers in the warm liquid now and I plan to keep it there.”
It seems as if all have woken up and gathered around us. My father raises his hands above his head as if in surrender. “I have done an awful thing which I will accept any punishment the royals deem appropriate for the crimes I have committed.”
I place my hand on his shoulder. “Father, perhaps you and I should talk in private about this matter.”
He shakes his head and pats my hand. “No, son. It’s time to come clean.” He looks back around and his eyes land on Nar who stands near him. “I had my brother kill the Queen and then because of my hate for what he did, I took him to another planet and dumped him. I have no idea if he’s even still alive. I highly doubt it.”
My ears cannot believe what they’ve just heard. “No, Father. Please tell me that’s not true!” My head spins with the news and I can’t feel a thing. Numbness has enveloped me and this cannot be real.
A hush falls over the crowd and Nar’s hand flies back and a sound slap she delivers to his cheek. “Hexultan!”
My father’s face turned with the force of the hard slap and he leaves his head down. “I completely understand if you all wish to string me up and take my life right here and now.”
My knees feel weak and I feel Kataline’s hand on my back as people murmur around us. She looks around and says, “May I remind you all the capital and palace have been taken over and every man and woman we have are needed to help in getting it back.”
I nod and look around. “The Princess is right. We can deal with the King once we have control back and find out who is behind this uprising.” I look at my aunt. “Okay, Nar?”
Tears have welled up in her blue eyes. “How could you, Hexultan?”
My father shakes his head. “I have no excuse and will offer none. All I can say is my head wasn’t right at that time.”
This is too much for me to deal with right now. I can’t handle the takeover and this horrible news.
How could he do such a thing?
My father loved my mother. It’s impossible that he really did that. Impossible!
Kataline reaches out and takes his hand in hers then looks out at the crowd. “I am here to tell you all that evil resides in every one of us. The King let it rule him for a short time and he is willing to pay the price whatever that may be. I would like to remind all, vengeance is not ours to take. Keep that in mind as you think about what is the appropriate action to take with this man. For he is just a man though he has a great title. He is flesh and blood like we all are. He is weak as we all can be. He is human.”
Nods and whispers come from the crowd then I say, “You can be assured there will be consequences. For now, though we must form a plan to get our planet back under royal control and going in, to battle the rebels with the King in shackles is a terrible idea and will surely lead to our destruction.”
My father looks at me. “Son, whoever is in charge there wanted me killed. Don’t you recall? They will kill all who help me.”
I clap my father on the back. “I have my doubts they can do that now that Kataline has regained herself. And to be sure about something I want to take Kataline back on the ship and do a little test. I have a theory about what’s happening to her and I think the ship has everything to do with it.”
I take my wife by her hand and lead her back onto the ship all have come out of. As we enter her hand goes to her head and her body falls against my side. “Kerr!”
I stop and look into her eyes and see little bits of gold streaking through them. “What’s happening to you?”
“Take me back out, quickly, the voices…”
I pick her up and run back out of the ship. When I look into her eyes the golden streaks are gone. “Okay, it’s definitely something on the ship which activates something you have on you.”
My father points at Kataline’s wedding ring. “Take that off and go back in.”
I take the ring off her finger and hold it in my hand. Then lead her back inside and nothing happens to her at all. She looks at me with surprise. “You mean that’s all we ever had to do to stop that!”
I nod and open my hand to look at the ring which was my grandmothers. “There’s something in this ring and something is planted on this ship. Whoever took over certainly had a lot of access to the palace because this ring resided in my mother’s jewelry box for years now and nowhere else.”
My father’s eyes travel to my wife as we walk back out to where everyone else is. “We have limited weapons with us. Only the paralysis staffs that have enough charge for only one kill each. That will never be enough. But Kataline may still have her powers.”
I point to a large tree branch with little yellow flowers growing all over it. “Kataline see if you can make only the flowers fall off that limb.”
My wife looks at the tree limb and a few flowers begin to fall, she blinks a couple of times and the flowers burst into flames. She smiles and the flames go out.
Then she holds her palm out as she looks at the limb and it’s as if she’s ripping it from the main beam and it flies through the air, landing fifty feet away from the tree.
“Yes, I still have my powers. The process which happened in me allowed them to come forward and I assume as long as I use them now and then I will keep them,” she says then turns to look at the others, some of whom have their hands over their mouths in shock and surprise.
“I think she should lead us in, Kerr. You and I can stand behind her and the rest behind us.” My father taps his long finger against his temple. “I’d like to see if she might be able to protect us all as well. Can you be a sport and see if she can stop someone from getting to you, Kerr?”
I motion to three of our biggest guards. “Can you come forward and draw your staffs?”
They do as I say and I look at Kataline. “Don’t let them get to me, Baby.”
With a smile, she says, “Not a problem.”
I hold out my arms. “Come at me, boys.”
The three rush towards me as Kataline stands behind me. They get within a few feet and it’s as if they hit a wall. They all fallback and one lands on his ass.
They try again and move around me in a circle, testing the whole perimeter. Kataline laughs. “He’s protected completely. Not even overhead or underneath him can anyone get to him.”
My father claps his hands. “Fantastic! Do you think you can protect us all?”
“I can,” she says and then takes my hand. “We should get going, don’t you all think?”
With one loud cheer from the crowd of royals, guards, and staff we form a somewhat formidable group. And with our secret weapon, we should be able to regain control and oust the new leader. The time has come to do battle and we are ready, thanks to my award!
Caleb
“Your Highness, we need to get you someplace safe. The surveillance at the port just showed us the whole group of people who were on the ships of the Armada are grouped together in formation. The King is alive,” I say as Emerald hurries to help the Queen get ready.
She was in a deep sleep and we had no choice but to come into her bedchamber to see if she was okay. A half-empty glass of the purple drink she seems to have around her at all times sits on the bedside table.
“I will leave you to help her, Emerald. Please hurry, Love.” I leave the room and go to gather the people I’ve managed to scrape together from the Earthlings and the few guards who were left here.
At a meeting late last night, we came up with a plan to hold the palace if for some reason the King wasn’t killed as the Queen ordered. I will have a few men at intervals take out key guards who are known for their superior combat skills.
The guards who have worked with the
others for many years are less than keen on helping to kill their co-workers and friends. This will not be an easy war and I have tried to talk to the Queen about it but she won’t listen to reason.
Though her son, himself, is in danger she’s so dead-set on the King’s death she’ll risk killing her only son. I’ve found it hard to back her, but over-throwing her at this point could mean my head once the other royals find out what I’ve done.
So I ready myself to make one more attempt to talk to the Queen and explain how much better this could all be handled.
Alien Romance Box Set: Romantic Suspense: Alien Destiny: Scifi Alien Romance Adventure Romantic Suspence Trilogy (Complete Series Box Set Books 1-3) Page 129
