The door chimed. The Empress walked to open it. She was greeted by a human female. "Greetings, Empress," Christine said gruffly. "I’ll be checking on you over the next few days. I have another officer who can take my place. I hope it doesn’t bother you.”
Christine offered a polite smile. She was talking to an Empress after all.
"I'm fine, Captain.” The Empress smiled. "The accommodations are quite luxurious. I've never seen such a ship with rooms like these." She gestured for Christine to enter and she looked around the space with appraising eyes. "Is everything alright?"
"Sorry, Empress. It's in my nature to constantly look for a threat. We received explicit instructions that you are not to be harmed," Christine said, smiling sheepishly. "Empress? Are you okay? You look a little flushed."
The Empress nodded. “It’s just a new space,” she said.
“Empress…” Christine began.
“You
Ellis was picking out clothes for the kids when she heard a commotion out in the hallway. Logan, who was lounging beside her with the babies on the couch sat up immediately. They looked at each other before depositing the babies in their nest and going to the door. The commotion was coming from the hallway, a woman’s voice yelling.They both darted to the door, Logan opening it a crack. Their new bodyguard, a male that looked like a dog stood in front of the doorway, prepared to battle whatever enemy tried to threaten the royal family.Logan could see over the bodyguard’s head but Ellis had to peek around the bodies.“I know my Constitutional rights!” the woman shouted. “If I am not under arrest, you have no right to detain me. I want a lawyer and my communication call right now!”“Sorry, you will not be able to contact anyone from your universe,” the person behind her said, sounding exasperated.&ldq
"Holy fucking hell," said Cristine. She groaned and hunched over the toilet again. "Gonna murder that man, I swear to God."“I will pop over to the government building to see if Isabella has any drink on hand to keep your food down,” Ellis soothed. She patted Cristine’s back to help the girl out. If it was like her morning sickness, Cristine was going to want to slaughter Leo for making her pregnant.Leo stood out in the hallway, wringing his tail. He rushed over to Ellis, his eyebrows scrunched together in worry. "Is Crissy all right?"Crissy. They had somehow fallen in love. It had mainly been Leo pursuing Cristine and helping her get revenge on the First Commander and her people to get her heart to open up. The first year on Zothea, she had focused on getting revenge. From the second, she got more used to life on Zothea, even taking up time to go back into space expeditions to help the Emperor and Empress with diplomatic affairs.Cris
They stepped inside the temple sanctuary. Logan kissed Ellis's forehead and went off to the altar of the Goddess, pulling a strip of paper from his pocket. Ellis smiled as she watched him go. She sometimes wished that she was able to find faith, but despite everything that had happened, it still eluded her. Micheal said it ultimately didn't matter whether she believed in the Goddess or not, as long as she could believe in herself. And maybe she'd never reach that point, either, but she did believe that with Logan at her side, she could do anything, face any hardship, meet any challenge.She went back to the living quarters behind the temple, following the sound of familiar voices. "No, Izzy, you spelled autocratic incorrectly. Athena! Are you passing notes to Elizabeth again? Give me that!"Poor Isabella sounded exasperated. Ellis pushed open the door and saw the children were seated at their desks. Little Isabella chewed on her tail, deep in thought. Ellis pitied her;
Isabella, the princess of the empire, sat on the edge of her nest and wished that she could cry.The doctor had just left. She had called him to confirm what she had already suspected, though the hope had lingered that she was wrong. She was grateful that she didn't have to worry about the doctor telling anyone; part of a physician's vows was to keep their patients' secrets. Her sister Athena, though, was a different story.Athena already knew something was amiss. How could she not? She was her twin, after all, and she knew Izzy better than anyone. She'd never been able to hide anything from her, and she didn't expect to be able to now. Athena had told her yesterday that her scent had changed, her head tilted in puzzlement. And what Athena knew, Elizabeth knew as well because she wouldn't even entertain the idea of keeping something from her.Very soon, the two of them would convince one another that they needed to tell Logan and Ellis, out of concern for her, o
"I saw a doctor less than an hour ago." Izzy unwound her tail from her leg with effort and gnawed on the end of it anxiously.Her father stood and without a word, headed for the door."Daddy, wait, please!" Nessie pleaded. "I'm so sorry! Talk to me.""I can't." Logan's eyes were on the door and his tail lashed in either agitation or anger; she couldn't tell which."Please," Izzy pleaded. "I need to know what you're thinking. Do—do you still love me?""Of course, I do," Logan said tightly. He twisted the doorknob."Don't leave," Izzy begged."Sweetheart, your father just needs a little time," Ellis interjected. "Let him go, and we'll all talk over this later."Goddess, didn't her mother understand that her anxiety was increasing exponentially every moment? She wouldn't survive a wait of a few hours. "Daddy… please.""You want to know what I'm thinking?" Logan turned from the door and marched back to stand in
Logan put out an announcement that tonight would be a state dinner and so the temple dining room was packed with people, all of them speculating as to the cause. He and the empress rarely had them and when they did it was usually for a special announcement. The last had been to announce the empress was expecting Prince Edward and the one before that, to announce that Nessie was being appointed to the emperor's Council.Izzy ate mechanically. She wasn't hungry, but Aunt Cristine was right: she had to make sure the baby got what it needed. Drake was alight with excitement and impatient for the meal to end. The entire extended family was seated around the table, all of them wearing their finery. Her mother wore the glow stone tunic she'd worn to her own mating ceremony and Aunt Laurel was dressed in a purple tunic so bright that it hurt the eyes to look at it. Leo kept flirtatiously tickling Cristine's neck with his tail and then looking away innocently whenever she looked up fr
Drake was already gone when Izzy and Ellis came back to the dining room and her heart ached that she wouldn't be able to say goodbye to him, but maybe Micheal and Isabella had decided that Izzy would only get more upset. She gnawed on her tail as they passed through the room to where the king was waiting for her in the hallway outside. He had been seated on a bench and he stood politely when she joined him. Another of his kind stood behind him, his skin as green as the forest leaves."This is my bodyguard," he offered. The bodyguard in question ignored Izzy, but sized up her female bodyguard and apparently wasn't impressed with what he saw."Follow me," Izzy directed. The king walked down the hall beside her and Izzy noticed that she was at least a foot taller than he was.She arrived at her nest room to find that all of Drake's things had been cleaned out already and she felt a piercing ache in her heart. She sat down on a cushion beside her table, despondent.
The king brought Izzy breakfast in bed the next morning. She sat up groggily and accepted a cup of tea. She had to admit being impressed by his courtesy and thoughtfulness. She really needed the tea. She had stayed up late into the night and was no closer to an answer than she had been when she first lay down.She spent the day with the king, taking him to see some of Zothea's museums and cultural institutions. She was pretty sure that it was Drake who was following them all day. Once, she saw him duck behind a tree, and a tail with light hair poked out to the side. The bodyguard knew that Drake wasn't a threat and the king's bodyguard seemed to have decided to ignore him. The king, for his part, seemed to agree with them and didn't question the very large man trying to hide behind fence posts, but it made Izzy's heart ache. If the king was the one she chose, this would be Drake's life, lurking on the periphery of hers.The king was as he described himself: easy to get