When they returned to the room, a dress dangled from a hook on the wall. It was labeled Coronation. Even though the white dress hung high, the tulle skirt of the dress still managed to touch the ground. With short, capped sleeves, the hand-sewn lace had jewels worked into a flower design down and around the torso. Next to the dress was a long, thick regal cape with a train ten feet long. Valerie walked past the ensemble to the bedroom and closed the door. She stood Caleb on the bed, and he began to jump.
“Come on, bed bug, let’s snuggle. Mommy is tired.” Valerie removed her shoes and socks, remaining otherwise clothed for the cameras. She crawled into bed and tackled the little boy. As she lay there with her son tucked into her arms, she noticed the closet door had been left open. There was a tiny tuxedo for Caleb and another long white dress with a slimmer silhouette than the coronation gown. Her wedding dress, which she had no intention of wearing.
Valerie sang her son to sleep. She lay there staring at the ceiling for a long while, racking her brain for a solution or plan of any kind. She lowered the mechanical blinds to block out the risen sun and dozed off. She was coaxed awake by the cool breeze of his presence. Forgetting for a moment where she was and who might be watching her, she let herself enjoy the refreshing feeling of his eye upon her. Then the TV screen mounted on the wall went black. She opened her eyes to the message he wrote:
We are running out of time. Come with me. We can leave here. We can live off the grid.
“You can’t just smuggle me out. I won’t leave my son or Hyka behind,” she whispered under her blanket, unsure if he could hear her.
Nothing would make me happier than getting rid of Lucas, but what if we fight and fail? It’s the most impractical choice at this point.
“Then leave,” Valerie screamed at the wall. “I am not leaving my son again. I don’t need you if that is my only option. Just because you’re not a psycho murderer, doesn’t mean I have to pick between the two of you! I don’t love you. This is not love. This is an involuntary attraction. It’s an insult to love.”
The lights in her room burned bright and then dimmed once she realized he was gone.
“You good in here?” Hyka asked, cracking the door open. Caleb was awake as well.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Valerie lied. The TV was still on, but the time, weather, and room service menu scrolled across instead of August’s messages. 9 a.m.
“Cereal,” the little boy requested.
“You’re hungry, little guy? I forgot about your candy. Let’s see how this room service works. You want to get the phone for Mommy?” The boy nodded, excited to have permission to talk on the phone. He crawled across the bed, picked up the cordless phone off the receiver, and held it to his head grinning from ear to ear.
After she assisted Caleb in ordering breakfast, the meals came within thirty minutes. The three ate together at the small dining table.
“So, are we going to talk about the giant white elephant in the room? We have about three hours,” Hyka said.
“When the time comes for this baby to be born, would you take them away? Somewhere safe? If I go along with everything and can’t find a way out, will you hide them?” Valerie pleaded. She struggled to find a solution, but nothing she could think of would change the day’s events.
“That’s a terrible idea. I don’t even like kids,” Hyka answered, snarling at Caleb, making him giggle with a mouth full of colorful breakfast cereal. She smiled back as milk dribbled down his chin. “So, you’re doing this? The whole thing? Marrying this schmuck and becoming the Queen of Denver?”
“Do you have any other ideas?” Valerie asked with as much confidence as she could muster.
“I know you hate his face, but maybe your dad has some solid advice about all this?” Hyka did not look her in the eye as she made the suggestion.
Valerie scoffed. “He’d tell me to figure it out for myself like he always has. I have never mattered to him, not until he realized he’d told the wrong kid he was special.”
Out the window, a plane taxied across the empty runway toward the airport. August’s flight. Valerie drank from her coffee cup, wishing she could indulge in something stronger. “I do have to figure this out for myself.”
When they finished eating, Valerie dismissed Hyka to get herself ready for the coronation ceremony. She ran a shallow bath and set Caleb down to play while she showered and watched him through the glass door. She sang a song. He sang back in a slur of baby gibberish of what he thought the words were. “Up-ah-bubba world so high.”
Valerie did not know who she would be if she were not a mother. Even in the face of uncertainty, she cherished moments like this with her son.
When she was out of the shower and robed, she stood while he played in the bath. In his facial features, Valerie recognized her husband. Scott’s memory would never be far from her. She would teach them about their father. They needed to know where they came from, not the lies and fantasies Lucas entertained.
When Hyka returned, she wore a tight black dress ending right at her knee. The sleeves were snug to her wrists, and the neckline cut deep between her breasts. Her heels were spikes, giving her height a three-inch addition. She pulled her hair up into a tight bun, including the string-wrapped strands which added the only color to her ensemble. There was an hour left before they had to depart for the ceremony.
Valerie had managed to pin her hair up but had no makeup on. Hyka pulled things from the shopping bag and sat Valerie down in front of a mirrored vanity. She did not protest and gave no guidance as to how she wanted her makeup done. The result was stunning, but all Valerie could see in the mirror was the beginning of her end.
Caleb’s shirt, vest, and tie were white, and his pants, jacket, and shoes were black. Valerie wetted a comb and brushed his hair to one side, adding a tiny dollop of hair product to keep it in place.
“Well, there, handsome. Want to be my date?” Valerie teased her son. He smiled and nodded his head yes.
With thirty minutes until the ceremony, a knock came at the door. Valerie tapped into the camera in the elevator lobby. Once satisfied with the visitor, she nodded to Hyka to open the door. Jack walked in alone in an adult version of the same tuxedo Caleb was wearing.
“Whoa, man, we’re like twins.” Jack play-punched at Caleb, who retreated behind his mother.
Valerie closed herself and her son in the bedroom to give Jack and Hyka some privacy and to put on the dress and gaudy cape. She spent fifteen minutes securing the entire thing herself before she opened the door. The sun shining in through the window caught the jewels on her bodice, and the room erupted in rays of light. She radiated.
“Val,” was all Jack could utter. He hugged her tight. “We can find another way. No good will come from this guy or this New World Council.”
“It’s fine. I’ll figure this out. I have to,” Valerie said, looking at her son. She placed a hand on her belly. Her mouth was dry, and she was terrified of the events soon to follow.
“The ceremony is in the central station of the facility,” Jack began, giving her an overview of what to expect. “Think Kansas City Union Station, but underground and without windows. Top-tier residents only are permitted to attend. The rest will watch on any monitor they wish, because the entire procession will be broadcast throughout the world, to include the Council and to ensure your compliance.”
Valerie nodded.
Jack continued, “The ceremony is simple: you’ll repeat your creed after Lucas, swearing your unwavering allegiance to the Council.” He paused.
Valerie nodded again. She was sure he was waiting to hear an alternate plan, but she had none. She sighed, “I could go for that cocktail right about now.”
“Maybe not a good idea,” Hyka answered. “It’s time.”
Jack took Hyka by the arm and escorted her out. Caleb trailed behind Valerie, holding the end of her train. She was pulling him along more than he was keeping her cape off the ground. Once to the elevator, she and Hyka gathered the mate
rial in their arms.
“Caleb? Where did you go?”
He poked his head out from behind a mound of tulle. “Peek-a-boo, Mommy!”
They reached the platform and boarded the train Jack had arranged to be waiting for her. They arrived moments later. The platform of the copper fighting giants was full of people; all formally dressed. They watched her, but no one cheered as the doors opened. Just solemn faces and glares greeted her. She picked up her son and held him close, letting her train drag on the ground behind her. Jack and Hyka led her through a wide corridor she had not noticed before. The ceiling arched high over her head until it gave way to a grand room filled with thousands of people seated in rows of chairs. The ground was adorned with brown and black marble arranged in a large grid, marking the aisle she would walk to the tall platform at the end.
As the group proceeded down the aisle, Caleb became more and more upset. He wiggled in his mother’s arms and cried to be let down. Hyka stopped to assist her. Valerie handed him over. He held Hyka’s and Jack’s hand and continued down the aisle without a fuss.
Though everyone stood as she passed, the hostility toward her was palpable. They hated her. She wanted to scream the truth at them but knew they would not believe her. Lucas had already prepared them. She walked with her hands folded together. Her fingers were interlaced; otherwise, they would tremble. Her heart pounded in her ears, and she felt hot and lightheaded under the weight of her dress.
She focused her sight on the couple in front of her. They tried to tell Caleb not to jump between them. She did not bother to intervene. She did not care if he disrupted the whole thing. He gave her a distraction from the impending doom she felt.
As she neared the platform, Caleb caught sight of his grandpa and ran to stand with him. Anger swelled inside of her. She swallowed the bitterness. Best to conceal her temper lest she give the masses another reason to hate her.
After what felt like an eternity of walking she reached the platform. She wished she had walked even slower. She climbed seven marble steps and stopped with three left to go, where an X was taped.
Lucas smiled down at her from the top of the stairs. “So nice of you to come. You look lovely, my dear.”
There was no way out. There was nowhere to go. She prayed someone or something would rescue her from taking the oath. She knew whatever she was about to swear to would be nothing but evil.
“Welcome, Ms. Valerie Burton,” Lucas said, his voice projected throughout the room on speakers. He then reached his hand over her head to address the crowd. “Now let us begin.”
The lights dimmed in the grand room, and a spotlight steadied over her and Lucas. A broad smile curled over his face. Her dull expression did not change. Inhale, exhale.
“Madam, is Your Majesty willing to take the Oath?” Lucas Jarrett asked, holding a large heavy book. He wore a simple but formal black suit and a black bow tie.
“I am willing,” Valerie answered.
Lucas handed the book to her before proceeding with the oath. “Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the peoples of your region with power, according to the New World Council and its rising laws and customs?”
“I solemnly promise to do so.”
“Will you, to your ability, cause law and justice to be executed in all your judgments?”
“I will.”
Valerie continued to swear her allegiance to the New World Council, to vote diplomatically and carry forth all tasks agreed upon by the Council; the penalty of noncompliance being suspension, expulsion, and reprimand up to and including the penalty of death. She agreed to the oath in front of the hateful crowd and tried her hardest to not focus on her image displayed on the large monitors hanging above Lucas.
Then Lucas paused and smiled, the next line dripped from his curled smile, “Do you swear to your bloodline that your children, should they be DiaZem, will be promised to and inducted into the Council at birth and sent to their own ruling city upon coming of age?”
The blood left Valerie’s face. She had never considered the child she carried was a DiaZem. Lucas knew. Valerie had become ill because her daughter’s genetics were killing her. The opposite charges given off by August and Lucas made her pregnancy viable. She could not escape Lucas Jarrett even if she had the opportunity. If she left, her body would reject the growing baby. She and her daughter had the same magnetic charge. Lucas knew this, too. Her own life depended on the man standing before her. He had far more power over her than she ever imagined.
With her mouth dry and tears welling, she said, “I swear it shall be.”
“Will you, to the utmost of your power, maintain and protect the bloodline of those in your charge? Will you, to the utmost of your power, maintain the DiaZem bloodline for future ruling generations? Will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the genetically superior and the discipline and government thereof, as established by the law of the World Council?”
She went on, no longer hearing the words she swore to, “All this I promise to do.”
Valerie kneeled on the step and Lucas relieved her of the book.
“The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So, help me.”
Lucas extended his hand to her. Helping her up, he guided her to stand next to him on the platform.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present to you, your Queen DiaZem, Valerie Burton.”
A soft, obligated applause met Lucas’ announcement. The crowd dispersed. Lucas placed her hand on the inside of his elbow to escort her across the platform. She looked over her shoulder at Hyka, who nodded and took Caleb’s hand from his grandfather’s. She whispered something in the boy’s ear, and his face lit up in agreement as they left the grand room. Jack followed.
“Why was my father present? I don’t want him here.” Valerie asked, hoping he would not bring up her pregnancy again. She needed time to process the realization. Anger was a good distraction.
“Mike Burton is far more loyal to you than he is to me. He stole Janice from my program, even knowing they couldn’t run forever. He tried to hide her, you, and your brother, not knowing the military was mine as well. He hates me as much as you do, if not more. And where you might think I am heartless, I can appreciate his stance. And above all else, I don’t give a shit what you want. If I can find one more thing to break your spirit or make you cry, by all means, you can bet I will make it happen.”
“When are you going to tell them you killed their families?” Valerie asked, raising her voice so anyone lingering in the grand hall could hear. She could play his game. She was determined to fight. Knowing the truth to his lie was the only angle she had over him.
A few spectators nearby turned at her pointed question. Lucas’ grip on her hand tightened in anger. His brow creased and his face turned red. He led her to a door just off the central platform. In the dark, she could not tell what the room was.
Lucas slammed her body against a wall, and then slammed his weight into her. He yanked her cape apart with both hands, breaking the clasp, which held it together in the front. The bulky material fell from her shoulders to the ground.
She screamed out into the darkness of the tiny room, hoping an eavesdropper could hear her. Before she could scream again, he placed his forearm over her throat and leaned in, cutting off her voice and her air. She searched the room for energy and found a security camera. In her desperation, she broadcasted the feed to anyone who could help her. She wrote a message on the screen:
Someone, please help. He’s going to kill me.
Tears streamed down her face, and her eyes grew heavy as she struggled for breath under his arm. He let up just before she blacked out. Valerie gasped for air. Lucas grabbed a handful of hair from the base of her neck and forced his mouth to hers. The primal attraction soon took over, and she gave in.
Where his hands touched her skin, her body reacted in ways she had never felt before. It was no longer a matter of willpower. The attraction betw
een them pulled her closer like they shared the primal need to be as one. She was aware of every nerve in her body. Sparks began to light the room from anything that could hold a charge. She sighed under the weight of his mouth.
In a fleeting wave of inner strength, she tried to push him away. Lucas growled with frustration, pulled away from her, reeled back his fist, and hit her. Valerie could no longer focus on the fight. She lost the energy to call for help.
Lucas forced her back into another kiss. The lights on a dressing room vanity burst one by one. Her body begged for him as she cried, knowing he was trying to take what was not offered freely. Lucas released her mouth and pushed her, face down, onto a table. Valerie tried to stand, coming to her senses. She forced herself to fight against him, against her own raw desire for him. Lucas grabbed her hair again and slammed her head hard onto the table. While she was disoriented, he pinned both of her arms behind her back with one hand. She could not move.
“This is why I like younger women. They have so much fight in them. I am supposed to wait until we are married, but I’ve never been one to play by any rules when it comes to what I want. Maybe when your daughter is of age, I’ll trade you in for her.”
The words filled her with a rage she could not control. The red she saw at their first meeting was dim compared to how bright the lights grew in the room. Disoriented and blind, Lucas shielded his face and stepped away from her. She pushed herself off the table and stood to face him. With a scream of fury, Valerie unleashed every ounce of energy she held in her body. Every light bulb burst at the same time, shooting shards of glass across the room and past her like bullets at Lucas.
Valerie took the chance and ran, throwing the door open. She gathered her dress into her arms and sprinted through the great room. She ran past people, frozen at the sight of her. They moved from her path as she made her way through the arched corridor. No one offered her any help; their faces either blank or confused at the sight of her. She reached the platform where the copper wire structure of the sword-fighting men stood sentinel to the platform. She approached just as the train was coming to a stop. The doors slid open.
Apparent Power: DiaZem Trilogy Book One Page 22
