Zea’s POV
I snapped my head towards her. What?
Commander?
“Mother, what are you talking about?” I hissed.
She smiled and sat back in the car seat, her head resting on the headrest.
“You will be heading the first fleet to Roke.” She stated confidently.
I laughed hard. “I am hardly qualified.”
She looked at me. “You are more than qualified for the job.”
I looked at her incredulously.
“Why not Magnus?” I asked her.
“He is a soldier, not a leader.” She responded.
“Gerald?”
She laughed.
“Don’t be silly, he would piss his pants at the first side of trouble,”
I grinned.
“And anyway I need him here. Gerald is my eyes and ears in the court and among the nobility.”
I looked at the road again.
“Can I choose my own crew?”
“Yes, but you are taking Kieran.”
Hell no.
“I am not taking Kieran.” I hissed.
My mother sighed. “I know that you two have a history, but he is the only one that can offer you the protection that you will need when commanding an unruly mob of vampires.”
A history? That was a bit of an understatement.
He broke my heart. In front of everybody.
Kieran MacNamillan had been my personal guard for over five years, starting from my 15th birthday, at which Duke Reynolds had made an attempt on my life. when I left for the desert.
I had this big crush on him ever since he had saved my live on my birthday. I understood he was about 400 years older than me, but give me some credit. The guy looked like he was 25 in human years.
He had refused to dance with me at the Annual Winter Gathering, my first season ball as an adult vampire and the day of my coming out. After my invitation, he had just looked at me and walked out of the room.
I had always known that he didn’t have the same feelings for me, but I thought that he was my friend.
He had betrayed me. He had made a fool of me in front of the entire court.
After that I had left for the desert. I was so sick of court dealings. Even the people that you think you can trust are not what they seemed.
“No. Absolutely not.” I responded.
Mother rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically.
“You are taking him and that’s an order. Kieran is the only one that I trust to protect you at all costs.“
I glared at her.
I cannot believe that she would order me to do this.
Why can’t she see that I can’t work with him after what he did to me?
“No.”
“If you disobey me I will disown you, and Lord Reynolds will inherit the crown after my demise. Do you want that?”
What? Is she serious?
“I don’t believe you. You would never do that.”
She took out her phone.
“Gerald, could you get my testament and disinherit Zea, please?”
“Yes, I am serious. Do it.”
I glared at her.
“Stop it Mother! Are you insane? Reynolds cannot be king ever. He is a complete nutter.”
She shrugged and looked bored.
“I will be dead, why should I care?” she questioned me.
I looked her in the eye. She was utterly serious about this.
Insanity evidently runs in the family.
“Oh for f*ck sake…I’ll do it!” I yelled to her and hit the wheel in frustration.
She smiled and looked outside.
I gritted my teeth. And I’ll dump the stuck-up narcissistic backstabber the first chance I get. Preferably on an unoccupied planet where he can starve for eternity.
Kieran’s POV
For G*d sake, I have been waiting here for 4 hours. I stared at the wall. I think I can draw out the cracks and pits if you gave me a piece of paper and a pencil.
Magnus had called me this morning, instructing me to come to the palace. The queen wanted to speak to me ASAP.
I had been going over and over what she could possibly want from me.
My mind wandered to the past. I had saved Zea from an assassin sent by Duke Reynolds on her 15th birthday. Ever since, Queen Komar was convinced that I was the perfect person to babysit her offspring.
I tried to talk her out of it, but she had threatened to exile or behead me if I didn’t comply.
What followed was 5 years of utter hell.
Five years of accompanying the brat to school. Five years of gossip and giggles. Five years of assisting home-work. Five years of seeing the brat whining and crying to get whatever whenever she wanted.
And then that dreadful night. Komar had forced me to accompany Zea to the annual ball. She made me dress up in a horrible costume and ordered me to dance with her daughter.
I snapped. I was not some puppet whose strings she could pull.
I had left the brat standing in the middle of the dance floor and simply walked out the room.
That had been a mistake.
When I had cooled down I was horrified at what I had done.
The poor girl. She had looked so beautiful, so radiating, so happy. And I had crushed that.
And in one go I had also obliterated any respect that the court might had had for her at that moment.
At some point in the future she would need to wed and I had reduced the chances of making a good match to zero. I had refused her, so why should any other noble male vampire want her? I had made her look inferior. I delivered a social death stab to a vampire of royal blood.
I had wanted to apologise to Zea the day after and take my responsibility, but her staff had informed me of her absence. It was worse than I expected. Even her maid had sniggered during the entire conversation, indicating she could completely understand why I didn’t want a liaison with that hellion. I felt so ashamed.
I pulled some strings among my friends in court, and I discovered that she was missing. Nobody knew where she was, and the Queen didn’t give any information free on the current location of the princess. There was some gossip about her living in a derelict shack in the desert, but I quickly dismissed that notion, as I really couldn’t visualize Zea without all the luxury that she was used to.
After a few months I had simply given up trying to find her. She obviously didn’t want to be found.
I still don’t understand why Queen Komar hadn’t ordered my execution. I made her daughter look like a fool in front of the entire court and nobility, and caused her to disappear from court without a trace.
She kills off her servants and nobility for slip-ups much smaller than mine.
Why was I still alive?
My mind came back to the present and I tried to concentrate on why Komar had called upon me now.
Would she still execute me after 7 years? Komar was vindictive and a bit on the crazy side, but that was extreme even for her.
But since Dravec’s death, she had changed. As time progressed she was getting more and more bloodthirsty.
I heard she recently killed a hairdresser for being 20 minutes late.
I sat back and put my hands through my hair. Whatever she wanted from me, it couldn’t be good.
Gerald came walking into the corridor, searching for me.
“Kieran. Good, you are here.” He walked over to shake my hand.
“I have been here for hours now.” I growled.
“I am sorry. She is very busy at the moment.”
“Come this way.” He gestured.
I followed Gerald to the throne room. He stepped aside before entering in, I passed him and he closed the doors behind me.
Click.
“Kieran MacNamillan. Welcome.”
Komar was sitting on her metal throne and beckoned me forward.
I looked at her hand and smiled. She still bit her nails.
I kneeled before her and started to pledge my loyalty.
She laughed and held up her hand to stop me.
“Kieran, suck it. I already know.”
I smiled and got up. She quickly got up and flew down the stairs to embrace me.
“Long time no seen, my friend!” She whispered before she captured me a suffocating embrace. I coughed and she let me go.
“I have missed you. How have you been?” she asked while gesturing me to sit down at the grand table in the room. She poured us two cups of blood and I sat down and tasted it. Mmmmm…she always had excellent taste.
“I bet you were wondering whether or not I would kill you today!” She said airily.
I spit out the blood.
She threw her head back and laughed.
She was still as nutty as a banana.
“Don’t worry. I have a need for you.”
I let my breath out in relief.
“Oh, Komar. You still keep everybody on their toes, don’t you?” I said exasperated.
She grinned from ear to ear.
“Kieran, where have you been? It was so dull without you here. Without Zea.” she asked.
I stared down at the ground. Bitter regret swirled around in my throat.
“Komar, you said that you had a need for me?” I asked her.
She nodded.
“The aliens. We are going to invade Roke. Zea will be taking a fleet of star ships to Roke and raid the planet. And you’ll be her protector and second in command.”
I blinked.
Wait what, Roke?
“We are going to invade Roke?” I asked Komar.
She nodded enthusiastically. “I am going to bottle the blue smurfs’ blood.”
She had finally lost her mind.
I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stop it. I started laughing uncontrollably.
I sat back in the chair and almost died in the fit of laughter consuming my body.
“Smurf blood for sale” I bellowed out.
Queen Komar sat back in her chair and studied me.
“If you had tasted the blood you wouldn’t be laughing.” A female voice quietly said from behind me with barely concealed fury.
I swivelled in my chair to see where the voice was coming from.
A young woman stepped out the shadows of the room.
“Zea” I whispered.