The Lost Queen Book 2 - Kehlani

13. Throne

Maggie and I sit at a conference table and get some food put down in front of us. I dig right in.

"Wow, you are hungry."

"Our food is broken on the ship. We have snacks up there, but that wasn't a good breakfast."

"We didn't even think about money. We could have brought some gold."

"We'll know for the next planet we visit. It seems gold and silver will be more widely accepted."

"Yea, and keep our blanket attire on the ship. Put some gold with it. We'll be better next time."

"How many planets have you visited?"

"This 1. We got the ship 2 days ago."

Her eyes about pop out of her head. "2 days ago?"

"Yea, it's broken. The AI told us we could ping for another ship because we have no idea what the hell that list says. The ping came back in the morning. Then we flew here overnight. We were hoping someone could read the list. But you are helpful."

Maggie smiles. "Thank you so much for that. We didn't know what we'd be walking into. But we had to do something."

"I can understand that part. That would be confusing. Those ships are advanced."

"How did you get 2?"

"Another timeline. We had to go there, and then we came back with theirs."

"That sounds confusing."

"It was. I had to talk to another me. It was very different."

Another man comes in. "Hi Mayra, I'm Dr. Omar. I wanted to check on you and make sure you're not feeling weak. The brains said there's no food on your ship."

"I ate dinner last night. Then we had snacks up there for breakfast. I think we're fine. It's only past lunchtime."

"Your parents packed snacks for you?"

"No. Maggie and Maddie packed our stuff. We didn't tell anyone else we were leaving. Only us and Victor knew."

He laughs. "Oh I see, secret mission. Not wanting to get in trouble or have someone tell you no."

I smile and look down.

"So do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Maggie shakes her head. "We're not going to talk about that."

He gives her a funny look. Nadine stares at her. "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk anymore. Thank you for the food." I stand up.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to the ship."

Omar nods. "The ship is being worked on. You can't go back quite yet. Sit back down and we'll talk about something else. How did you end up finding the ship?"

"When I graduated from school, a messenger came and gave me a box. He said it would always lead me home. It was a compass necklace. Alden helped me, and we found what it was pointing at. We got the ship up but the damage on it was horrible, and we have no idea how to work anything."

Nadine takes her last bite of food. "A little island tribe of people gave me the compass necklace. They told me 'it will always lead you home.' I guess we got the same message."

"I wanted to know where home was."

"Me too. Are you a werewolf too?"

"I don't think so. Are you?"

"Yep. I can turn you into 1 if you want."

"YES."

She laughs. "It actually shortens pregnancies from 20 years to 4 months. That part is nice. Other than that, it's a wolf form. You'll be able to turn into it."

"I want to do it."

Omar shakes his head. "Talk to Alden about it first."

"Ok. What else are you?"

"Dragon and wolf are the only 2 forms I have. More would be fun."

"Maybe I'll figure out I'm something. Then I can turn you into that too."

"That would be fun. I hope you do find something."

"How long ago did you and Alden meet?" Omar smiles.

"A month or so. It hasn't been that long."

An AI walks over. "They are ready for you to come back."

Nadine smiles. "Sorry, we forgot the clothes."

"It's fine. Thank you for the food. I didn't think about eating while we were here."

We get back up to the Kings office and Dipak stands up. "Woman, we are going up to their ship. We are going to put the plants in the food area. It's either that or they have to go buy all the seeds."

"I guess that works. Whose going?"

"Me, you, Tre, and Kane. Tye, Johen, and Mason are going to check the repairs."

"Bring me a lunch for Victor. He's probably hungry too."

Alden motions at Clark. "Go up with them and ask questions."

"We can probably all go."

The man with long hair stands up. "Me and Nik can come up and give you a real tour."

I look down and nod.

Omar watches me. "What's wrong, Mayra? What did you want to do?"

"There's an animal with 4 legs in the village. I wanted to see that again."

The man with long hair smiles. "We'll take you to see some horses. We have some in the backyard. Then we'll go up."

I jump up. "HORSES."

"I think there's even a baby horse out there."

I start to shake. I can't even make words. I have to see that.

"You got her with that 1 Marcus."

"Yea I did. Come on."

I jump up and down in the elevator. Marcus joins me. Then he holds the door as Alden and Omar get in.

There are 5 horses in the barn. All I can do is stare. They are so pretty and different. They're huge too, all but the baby horse anyway. "Can I touch?"

"Sure. Be easy though."

I tip toe to a horse staring at me. I reach out my fingers, and he snorts. I jump straight into the air and wrap around Alden.

"She spider monkey's too."

"Like this." Marcus pets the horse.

I climb down and stand by him. Then I reach out and pet the horse's chest. "You are pretty."

Then a horse comes in with a man on it. "MY TURN." I point at him.

Omar shakes his head. "We can't put you on a horse. People have to take lessons to be able to do that."

I drop to my knees and cry.

Marcus smirks. "Someone needs a nap."

"NO NAP."

"HEY."

Alden has his arms crossed.

"Luke, hop down, I'll guide her around." He jumps off and Marcus picks me up and puts me on the horse.

"Look at me."

"I see you, baby. You're on a horse." Alden gets his phone out and takes a picture.

Then Marcus guides it outside by a rope.

"I'm riding a horse."

"Yea, you seem good at it too."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Your planet doesn't have horses?"

"I've never seen anything like this. We have those." I point at a bird.

"I guess a lot would be different. It would be neat to see."

"You can come visit. You can stay in the castle."

"We don't drop in on places. Would my mate be safe there?"

I watch the bird. "Maybe not. There's a bad man."

"Does he live in the castle?"

"No. But he tried to get in yesterday. The alarms went off and guards were everywhere."

"I bet." He stares at the bird. "Are you safe there?"

"Probably not. I have my ship now though. That's home... But, there are still 25,000 vampires on the planet. I don't want to abandon them. I can't leave."

"What does the bad man want?"

"To kill me. To take the throne."

"How did you keep it without your king for so long?"

"I didn't. He was on the throne. He's my brother. He killed everyone and took it."

"He didn't kill you."

"He tried. Maybe he didn't know how." I stare off into space. "I was 415. I got done with school. I teleported back to the castle. It was a trap. It was dark, and my dragon was gone. A group of them..."

"COME ON. LET'S GO UP MARCUS. WE'RE TIRED OF SMELLING HORSE SHIT."

He smiles. "We'll talk more later. I'll show your mate how to do the mate touch now. You'll like that."

I sit up straight and nod. That sounds fun.

A shuttle lands beside the barn and Marcus gets me off the horse. The other boy takes off with the horse.

Marcus gets on the shuttle behind me. "Now you have to sit with him."

Alden puts his arms out. I jump on him and snuggle.

"She might not even need the mate touch."

"Yes I do."

"Ok. All you have to do is find skin. Then lightly rub it." Marcus smiles. "You like the tingles?" I try to say yes but I yawn instead. Then I snuggle Alden. "Works every time."

I open my eyes and stretch. I'm in 1 of the rooms on the ship.

"Is there a throne room here, ship?"

"Yes, I will light the path."

"Thank you."

I follow the lights to the throne room. The thrones sit at the top of a few steps in the middle of the room. They are perfect and beautiful. They make me wish I have a king.

"You found the throne room."

I smile at Nadine. "Yea, I figured there would be 1 here."

"We had to find our crowns. But yours should be here since you can fly the ship." She walks over to the wall behind the throne. She does something and a section comes out. "They're how the ship is powered."

They are beautiful. Big gold crowns with blue stones. I touch mine and feel the tears come into my eyes. Then I hear something behind me and I push the box. It goes back into the wall. I flip around and Alden is coming in.

"I didn't know you woke up, baby."

"I wanted to explore."

"We're going to have dinner back on the planet with them. We'll be heading down in about 2 hours."

"Thank you."

He nods and walks out.

Nadine grabs my arm once he's gone. "I need that story. What's going on?" She pulls me, and we sit on the steps.

"He doesn't want me." I can't help but cry.

"I've thought that a few times."

The door opens and Dipak comes in with Alden.

She launches her shoe at them. "GET OUT ASSHOLES."

"And we'll skip this room." Dipak pushes him back out and shuts the door.

"What happened?"

"I was recovering, and he was with some werewolf. Then he didn't want to come back to me. His friends made him. He had a vacation house built by her. He was talking about how he wanted to go back. I heard him say it with my own ears." I sob it all out. "He doesn't want me."

"What are you going to do?"

"Live here I think. I could live here and explore planets on my own. It needs fixed. I don't need him to be here. This is mine. I can do this. I bet there are some beautiful places out there. Maybe I can find somewhere I'm wanted."

"I'm sure you're wanted on your planet."

"I'm not." I shake my head. "They want him." I wipe my eyes off. "Can I come visit sometimes?"

"Of course you can. We like visitors."

Then Marcus walks in with a couple more people. "Dipak said you hit him with a shoe. You good, angel?"

"We're ok. She's going to come visit sometimes."

"They got the brains fixed. This ship can make them now."

I watch the people with him, and they are actually the AI. I smile. "I won't be alone now."

Marcus puts an eyebrow up and Nadine rubs my back. "You're not alone. What about other boys? Did you ever date?"

"No. I'm not even sure what that is. A few kisses. I felt like such a monster, even taking the veil off. I did have a chosen at 1 time though."

"What happened with that?"

I smile thinking about him. "He was amazing. Looking back now, I annoyed the hell out of him." We laugh. "He didn't want me. I was a child, and he was grown and mature. Daddy saw how much I adored him though. But he signed the paper, of course. He got to play king at times because of that. He was never really interested in me. Not like that anyway. He would escort me to things. I always felt so special when he did. He never treated me like anything but the princess though."

"He gave up?"

"He had to go do something at another castle. Something routine, I don't remember. I heard about it and rushed to the entrance, so I could say bye. He kissed me on the cheek over the veil and said he would be back in a couple of hours. 3 hours later, I was informed that he had met his mate on his visit."

"That must have hurt."

"It did. But I did what I had to. I went to the feast. I smiled and congratulated them. Then I got out of there. He seemed relieved and happy. I hid and cried all night." She nods and rubs my back while my tears fall out. "After that I decided to never do that again. I would wait for my mate. Daddy decided that was ok and I could go to school after I turned 400. That's what I did."

"Was school fun?"

"I was busy. That's for sure. I made a friend after a couple of years. I had a lot of fun with her. She didn't have her mate yet either. We would talk about how they must be lost roaming around together." She smiles. "I was going to make her my advisor when I took the throne."

"That didn't work out?"

"No. I haven't seen her since school."

Another boy walks in. "We're going back to their planet with them after dinner. We're taking our ship. They are taking theirs. And the clothes are fixed. But the brains have to clean everything and make new. It's going slow. And we brought up some chickens and cows. It'll get them started on meat. The plants are in. Most everything is good."

I smile. "Thank you. All of you. I was so confused."

"No problem. And they are refilling the water tanks. They'll be ready by the time we leave."

I smile and relax. "This is perfect."

Nadine helps me up. "We'll get you sorted out. Let's go down for dinner."