To me, it felt like I was finally home. All I needed now was for Dad to walk through the door, hug Mom and plant a big fat kiss on her lips—just like I’d seen him do a thousand times before. Earth. Alera. I didn’t care where we were, as long as we were all together. A family. Plus Nix.
He was mine now, too.
I patted the seat next to me at the large table, but there was no need. He was already making a beeline for me now that I’d stopped moving. It was time to get down to business and finally solve the mystery of who took Mom and who was trying to kill all of us.
I was thrilled—over the moon—that Mom was safe, whole and alive, but the threat was still out there. Knowing that made my muscles tight and my jaw clench. I wanted to know who was behind this… and I wanted them dead.
Our mother looked lovely. I wasn’t used to seeing her in long, flowy dresses that were the popular style on Alera—she’d been a jeans and blouse kind of dresser on Earth—but it only accentuated the fact that she really was Queen of Alera. Growing up, we’d known, but now…
She looked like a queen. She talked like a queen. A badass, regal, no-nonsense queen wearing an ion blaster on her hip. Which was really fucking weird, since I’d seen her cleaning toilets, doing laundry, and covered in flour while baking cookies for school fundraisers. The whole situation was surreal.
Queen of the whole damn planet.
As if she could sense my thoughts, she moved to the head of the table and met my gaze, pinning me in place. I’d seen that look before, too. She was happy. And happy usually meant we were in for some serious mischief from her.
God, I’d missed her. So much.
My eyes burned again and I blinked back a fresh round of tears. Jeez, I was a mess.
“What are you looking at, Destiny? I do own the place,” Mom finally replied to my statement. My thoughts were moving so quickly I’d forgotten what I said.
Captain Turaya, who looked at least as happy as we were that the queen was alive, pulled out her chair for her. While the look on his face wasn’t infatuation—he wasn’t in love with Mom—he moved with a depth of loyalty and reverence I hadn’t really seen before. He clearly loved her. Not the way Nix looked at me, but it was still love. Dedication. Absolute loyalty.
I remembered being told he’d been one of two—and the only one still alive—who had helped her escape the attempt on her life all those years ago. He’d helped her make it to the citadel, where she’d disappeared. Until now.
With Mom at the head of the table, Trinity sat at her right, Faith on her left. Their mates sat beside them. I took the foot of the table with Nix beside me. Captain Turaya sat in the open chair on my other side. There were two empty seats on each side, but I had no doubt that they would be filled soon. I would suggest to my mother that one of the seats be offered to High Cleric Amandine.
It was time to unite the planet once more. And my mother would need everyone to feel like they had a seat at the table to make that happen.
I slapped my forehead with my palm and shook my head. God. I sounded like fucking Trinity with my diplomatic thinking. What was happening here?
“There is much to discuss. Shall we start at the beginning?” Mom asked, although since everyone remained silent, the question was rhetorical. The only ones alive at the beginning of all this were Leo’s dad and the queen, herself.
“Twenty-seven years ago, not long after my official mating ceremony to King Mykel, we were suddenly and brutally attacked by a band of masked assassins during a dinner event with my mate’s family. The king was stabbed in the heart right before my eyes. I saw the dagger pierce his flesh. Watched him fall. His parents were murdered as well.” My mother placed a hand over her chest and looked at Leo’s father. “Would you continue from there, please, Travin.”
Holy shit. I didn’t even know Leo’s dad had a first name. But I had no doubt only Mom would be allowed to use it.
“Of course, My Queen.” Captain Turaya stood behind her chair, one hand on her shoulder. A friend offering comfort. “I was there. I, too, watched the attack unfold. A fellow member of the queen’s guard assisted me in fighting off some of the attackers. We could not save the king, but we dragged the queen from the room. She was defiant, even then, and wanted to stay and fight.”
“I do not bow down to traitors, Captain.”
“No, you do not.” His hand tightened on her shoulder and he released her, pacing along the length of the table as if the pain of his memories made it impossible for him to remain still. “As I said, we pulled her from the room. Then took her through the secret tunnels to the exit nearest the citadel. We were all bloodied, hurting. The guard with me did not survive the night. But we managed to escort the queen to the citadel, where she disappeared.”
Mom looked to the older man. “I am sorry for leaving you. For disappearing like that. I trusted you, but I could not risk your life by revealing my plan.”
“Plausible deniability,” Captain Turaya said with a nod. “I understand and you did what was right. Your spire remained lit all these years and has given us all hope. We remained faithful, ready for your return.”
Mom smiled warmly at the man, cleared her throat and nodded. “I stayed on Earth for all these years. I was selfish. First, I convinced myself that my daughters were not ready, but that was a lie. I was not ready. Our life on Earth was good. Peaceful. I am ashamed to say that I was not in a rush to return.”
“Did you notice anything amiss during your time on Earth?” Leo asked.
Mom shook her head. “Nothing. The kidnapping was a complete surprise. One minute I was sleeping, the next I’d been transported.”
Leo looked to his father. “And in all these years, you never figured out who was behind the attack? Who killed the king?”
Captain Turaya sat, at last, his shoulders slumped. “No. It was as if the attackers vanished into thin air. There was no trail. No DNA. No comm traffic. No abandoned EMVs. No vid records. Nothing. It was as if the entire incident had never happened.”
“They left behind corpses, Captain,” Mom said.