The King's Queen

Chapter 51

Ashton's brows furrowed in confusion, and he took my hand in his and helped me up before we headed downstairs to find out what was going on.

***

Ashton and I rushed downstairs to see what all the commotion was about, and my eyes nearly popped out of my head when they landed on our unexpected visitors.

There were three of them, waiting for us at the bottom of the landing. Cyrena stood to the side with a poorly disguised frown.

My presence quickly caught their attention and they immediately froze.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ashton asked, with a frown as he stared at Raúl, Kristof, and Jun.

They remained petrified-disbelief etched on every inch of their faces-which I'd come to realize was the most common reaction to seeing someone who formerly appeared human standing in front of them as an Origin. Hopefully, I didn't scare them too much.

Jun was the first to recover his senses, and a smile slowly stretched across his face as he observed me. His eyes sparkled with a newfound interest.

"Beau said you had important business to deal with," he explained, making himself comfortable on the arm of a nearby sofa. "When we found out Kevin headed to the Spade Kingdom alone, we decided to come as back up. Didn't expect to find you two here."

"Elizabeth?" Raúl and Kristof choked out simultaneously.

"Surprise!" I grinned, carefully descending the stairs to stand before them. "Guess who's a superhuman now."

"These people belong to you?" Cyrena warily scanned the unfamiliar faces in front of her.

"Unfortunately." Ashton sighed. "They aren't supposed to be here, though."

"Beau let you three out of his sight for a few days and you pull a stunt like this," Kevin growled. "Do you think Malekh will welcome us with open arms if he finds out that Crysauralia's entire junior cabinet is assembling in his country?"

"Wait, so if you guys are all here," I started slowly, "then is Beau at the palace?"

Silence.

"Nobody is at the palace?!" Kevin and Ashton shouted at them in unison.

"Prinarch Cole is in charge of things at the palace," Jun spoke up. "The emperor is apparently "too sick to lead right now", so his father is making plans to come out of retirement and be the interim ruler in his place."

I could feel the anger radiating off Ashton at those words. "What about my mother? She's the empress of the Crysauralian Empire. What gives the prinarch authority to overstep his bounds like this?!"

So Jackson's reports had been correct. Prinarch Cole had moved swiftly to execute his plan to take control of the kingdom. Had he been secretly plotting this all long?

"The grandfather is stealing the empire from his own son," Raúl muttered before turning to Ashton. "Why is your family so twisted?"

"Believe me, I'm still trying to find the answer to that question," Ashton grunted, sitting on the sofa adjacent to the other guys.

Cyrena excused herself from the brewing conversation to go upstairs. She had been uncomfortable with Ashton and Kevin being here, but five Origens were enough to put her on edge. I'd have to check on her later.

As the guys explained the situation happening at the main palace, my mind drifted to Empress Arabella and Brooke. Would they be alright with the prinarch in charge of things? If he was taking Emperor Caden out of the picture, wouldn't he try to hurt them in his son's absence?