The Lost Queen Book 2 - Kehlani

14. Nightmares

I sit with Nadine through dinner. It's easy to see how much her boys love her. They are protective and sweet. After dinner, we go to our ships. I lay down and think about having them take over my planet. There's so many, I'm sure they could get rid of my brother. He wouldn't be a problem for them. Then I would be free to roam. I wonder about the other planets out there. I bet some are perfect. I doubt if I could ever find a place I'm wanted though. Seems like I've always been alone. Maybe there's something wrong with me.

I open my eyes and stretch. "Ship, who do you listen to?"

"All command."

"Who sets the command?"

"You."

"So, you are mine alone?"

"Yes. Until you place a king on the throne."

"That's the throne here. Not in my village, right?"

"Correct."

I climb out of bed. I take a long shower and get dressed. Then we go to my castle. We shuttle to the front door. My group is in 1 shuttle and Nadine's is in another. All her mates came with her. We barely get to the front door and Alkawn, Emberlynna, Jenny, and Aver are standing there.

Alden stretches his neck. "We're back."

Alkawn nods. "Good speech. Welcome back."

Then a buzzer sounds and the 7th year students roam through. We get some funny looks and Sara tries to bat her eyelashes at 1 of them.

I smile. "They will kill you. Keep going." She runs off.

Nadine watches her run. "Who were they?"

Emeberlynna answers. "7th year students. It's Alden's class. He was going to leave school to stay here, but that wasn't in his best interest, so we moved the whole class here. Clark and Victor are students that are skipping class as well."

"Why leave school to stay here? I think they could go to school."

"They could, yes. But that would leave Mayra in danger of Fane taking her again."

Marcus's eyebrows shoot up. "Again?"

"She was taken for 500 years. As the legend stated, only her true mate would find her." She motions at Alden. "Alden found her." She goes on, but I sneak behind a tapestry and take a tunnel out of there.

I go to the royal house. Then I plop down on my bed. I'm sad I didn't get any souvenirs. I need to remember to grab some gold before I go back out. Probably won't need a lot, but a little would be smart. I sneak down to the vault and grab 3 bars. Then I go back to my room and put them in a bag at the back of my closet.

I plop on the bed again and wonder why he didn't kill me. He killed everyone else. All my family. Everyone I knew. I didn't have many people, but now I have nobody. Maybe that was his plan. Isolate me until I go crazy.

Then I think about Timan Conan again. The more I think about it, the more I realize he really didn't want me. I was a little girl that he gained some status from. He was never rude to me. He treated me kind and let me have my little girl crush. It surely felt like more than that to me though.

I guess this is the same thing again. I'm the little annoying girl with a crush. He's a grown man who already had a girlfriend. I got in his way. Then my brother killed that poor girl too. Alden's probably trying to stay busy and not show me he's hurt. That must be why he agreed to help me find my ship when he did.

"Mayra." Kina shakes my leg. "Do you want to go to the carnival? The guests want to see it."

"I want sleep."

"I'll tell them you're sleeping."

I hear the door shut. "Well, now I'm awake." I must have slept awhile, it's after lunch.

I spend an hour getting stuff together that I want to take to my ship. I get a few blanket dresses with gloves. Then I get about 10 of the veils. After that, I pack a bunch of shower stuff. Then I grab a couple more bars of gold. I need to be safe with money. They said they put chicken and vegetables there. I think even a cow for milk. So I won't starve. I get my packed bags and go out of the parking area. I get in the shuttle. "To my ship please." It drives itself up and into my ship. I get out and run to my room. I hide my stuff and run back. I can't leave now, I need to plan more. I'm sure I'll need more stuff.

The shuttle takes me back, and parks right where it was. Then I have food delivered to the royal house. I'm starving.

After I eat, I start packing the bags again. I get a bunch of plain dresses. I guess those could be important. Then a whole bag of socks and underwear. I throw a couple of extra shoes in. That should be good for clothes. Then I grab the painting of my mom and dad that was fixed. I make another trip and put it in my room.

When I get back. I see the cars pulling up to the front, and it's starting to get dark. I run to the royal house and summon some dinner.

By the time Alden comes in, I'm finishing up.

He kisses my head. "I wanted to make sure you ate and weren't still sleeping. I figured you would want to go to the carnival today."

"Maybe being in space makes me exhausted. I don't know. I only wanted sleep."

"You have been busy lately. It's ok to need extra sleep." He kisses my head again. "Will you watch a movie with me?"

"I feel like I'm still not caught up on sleep. Maybe next time."

"Alright, you rest."

He kisses my head 1 last time as I go to my room. I guess I'm here for the night. I lay down and stare at the ceiling. Next thing I know, my brother is climbing through the window.

"AAAHHH" I try to get up, but I'm stuck in the blanket. "AAAHHHH!"

He tries to pick me up, and I scratch right across his shoulder with my nails.

"Baby you're alright. You're safe. It's me." I get picked up and Alden holds me against him.

I open my eyes and check the whole room. I wiggle away and run to the window. It's shut and locked. It really was a dream.

Alden picks me up and carries me to his room. He lays down with me on his chest and rubs my back. "Everything is ok. I'm right here."

It happens a couple more times and Alden is right there for me. But when I finally wake up, he's gone. It is late though. I don't know how I slept that much really. I get dressed and summon some food.

Kina brings it in. "The doctor wants to see you after you eat."

"Ok."

"Emberlynna wants to see you after that."

"UGH! I don't want to go to her classes. I have already finished school. I'm not starting over now."

"Well, see what she wants. You can always avoid classes or go to the one's you want."

"I guess that's true."

"Hell, you could probably teach a class."

"I don't want to do that either."

"What do you want to do?"

"Nothing with school."

"Not surprised."

"I like learning to drive. That's fun."

She steals a piece of orange. "Maybe Alden will take you out again."

"He seems busy."

"He is the king."

"Yea, I won't bother him for now." I throw the last bite of egg in my mouth. "I'll go talk to the doctor."

"Ok."

I get to the doctor's office and a girl puts me in a room. I hop up on the table like always.

"Good morning Mayra. Alden said you had a rough night. You were having nightmares?"

"Yes."

"What about?"

"My brother."

"If they get to be too much I can give you something to help you sleep."

"I'm fine. It was a few dreams. Nothing else."

"You have been through a hell of a lot. It's normal that your mind is trying to help you cope with everything. Nadine said she can sometimes cope with trauma by painting."

My eyebrows shoot up. "You talk to everyone about me?"

"No. I'm your doctor. I went to Alden's office, and he looked like hell. He said you were awake with nightmares. Nadine said she paints to help her. I told Kina to send you to me. I wanted to talk about nightmares. I want you to know I have medicine that will help. If you want it, you ask me. That is all. But as I said, you have been through a lot. You are processing everything. Nightmares are common after trauma. It's nothing to be concerned about unless you can't sleep at all."

"I understand. Thank you doctor." So Alden talks about me to everyone.

"My pleasure. Is there anything you want to ask about while you're here?"

"I don't think so."

"You're free to go. Remember the medicine is here if you need it."

"Thank you, sir."

I get out of there and go to Emberlynna's ... I have no idea where her office is. I stand in the hallway. She always comes out of nowhere when I'm in the hallway. After a few minutes, I walk to Aver's office.

"Good morning Mayra. What can I do for you?"

"I was told Emberlynna wants to talk to me, but I don't know how to find her. She's always in every hallway. I waited but she never showed up."

He laughs and picks up his phone. "I'll text her and tell her you're here."

"Thank you."

"I was told that you took sword lessons?"

"Yes sir. I'm very good with 2."

"I would like to see that. Would you go against a guard in a safe match?"

"Sure."

"Hi Mayra. I wanted to talk to you about making Alden king. Right now, he's acting as king, but only you can officially say he's king. It would make life easier for everyone. It's only a piece of paper."

"Does he want me to do it?"

"He doesn't know. I'm not bothering to ask him. I figured I would bring it up. If you say 'No' he never has to know."

"What does the paper say?"

She pulls out a paper. "That he is your soulmate. And he is the rightful king."

"Yea, I'll sign that. This places him on the throne officially then?" I sign.

"Yes it does. You are still the heir, so if you take his head off by accident, you could always put someone else in the spot." Aver gives her a dirty look. "I'm only saying, the throne is hers. But she is placing him as the rightful king."

I hand her the paper. "He is the official king now."

"Great. Thank you. Now we need crowns. Do you know where they are?"

"Did anyone check the throne room?"

"I think so."

I shrug my shoulders. "My guess is they're here. I was getting crowned that weekend. My brother didn't know that, or he would have tore this place apart stone by stone. They are probably here. Check the throne room."

"I'll send a search in there. Thank you. Now go get some lunch and you can join the history class."

"UGH. I don't want to teach."

"You're not the teacher."

"Then you should fix your books. They are all wrong, and I keep having to correct them. My brother would never have been smart enough to build a blood village. That was my daddy. It was peaceful. Fane ruined it when he took over. Your books are wrong." Then I get an idea. "But I will go. I will dress as a full queen the way my momma used to. I'll put on a dress like that and everything. They might like to see a queen all done up. That's history too."

"Yes it is. I'm going now too. I want to see that. Thank you. See you soon."