Chapter Fourteen
Thev
We were welcomed with open arms. At the Verde Palace, the guards saluted us, and the advisor to the late king of Zo’kun awaited, with his hands behind his back and a kind smile on his face. When my sister approached him, he bowed deeply. He bowed to me, too, and threw a reluctant glance at Angie. I smiled and nodded, letting him know she was with us.
“Welcome back. My prince. My princess.”
“It’s good to be back,” I said.
“I want to see the king’s grave,” Ta’sha said. There was pain in her voice, and I immediately felt sorry that she hadn’t been there when our father died. I knew she probably felt guilty now. “Will you take me?”
“Of course, my princess.”
Ta’sha went with the king’s advisor, who would soon become her advisor.
“Oh my God, this is incredible,” Angie whispered as she looked around, her bright eyes taking in the mighty forest that surrounded us and the beautiful palace that was built between two giant trees. “Are you sure this is real? Am I dreaming?”
I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her in. “You’re not dreaming,” I whispered in her ear. “You’re here, with me.”
“Oh. My. God.”
“You know what? After I show you the palace, I’ll take you to the temple, so you can see the Three Heads. You’re mentioning your god a lot. I’d love for you to meet mine.”
Hand in hand, we walked through the tall doors, and her eyes widened even more when the interior of the Verde Palace revealed itself to us. To me, this was home. I knew every nook and cranny. My sister and I had played hide-and-seek and explored all the rooms and secret tunnels in the walls when we were children. To Angie, it was a whole new world. I loved to see it through her eyes, now. She helped me remember how much I loved my home.
“What are the Three Heads, even? Is it a god with three heads?”
“Yes. Each head has a name, of course, but their names are so sacred, that we’re not allowed to utter them. Only the high priest can speak them in his prayers. One head is of a woman, another is of a man, and the third head is of our sacred animal, the kova.”
“What is a... kova?”
I led her up the grand staircase and to the second floor, where my chambers were. The corridor was well-lit, and the wall to our right was filled with paintings of the royal family. I stopped in front of one.
“This is my great-great-aunt, and this is a kova.” I pointed at the animal next to the beautiful Zokunian woman in her rich dress. She had her hand on the kova’s neck.
“But that’s a cow!” Angie explained. “It’s just a big, green cow!”
I cocked an eyebrow. “So you have kovas on Terra, too?”
“Well, yes. Kind of. Except ours are smaller, not green, and we call them cows. Do your kovas give milk?”
“They do, but their milk is sacred. It is only used in rituals.”
“Amazing!”
I smiled. It was a delight to watch her surprise at every little thing she learned. Showing Angie around and teaching her about my world was going to be the greatest time of my life.
“Come. Let me show you my chambers. Let me show you where you’ll live. With me.”
Her cheeks turned a fascinating shade of pink. I took her hand once more, and she followed me shyly. I didn’t understand why she was shy, all of a sudden. On Sorahan Island, that first night we spent on my ship, she hadn’t been shy at all. Maybe it was the excitement of all these new discoveries, and the fact that she was in a place that was completely new to her. In a place that was mine, where I was in a position of power, and everyone bowed to me.
My chambers were as I’d left them. The tall windows were wide open, and I could hear the birds chirp in the forest. On the second floor of the palace, I had my own suite of rooms, bathrooms, and even a kitchen, in case I wanted to make something with my own hands. Which I did. Often. Ta’sha was the same. She liked to get her hands dirty from time to time, if only to make a cup of tea. It was one of the reasons we’d both argued a lot with our parents, the king and queen. They had always considered that the royal family should never do anything with their own hands. Except for learning how to wield weapons, in the case of the royal men. When my sister was a little girl, she asked our father to let her learn how to fight, and he’d refused at first. But Ta’sha had always been stubborn, so the king had had to make a compromise. I’d always felt he’d never quite forgiven her for pushing his hand back then. And since then, their relationship had suffered, and only our mother could keep the peace.
It was all in the past now. Our parents were gone. The kingdom was ours, and our duty was to rule it with devotion and fairness. Ta’sha was going to be queen, and now that I wasn’t going to become a priest anymore, I would be by her side.
“But this is... this is more than I imagined,” Angie said, snapping me out of my trance. She let go of my hand and carefully stepped forward, turning in place, her eyes taking everything in. “This is all yours?”
“Ours.”