Leo and Dorian paced the room where they were waiting for Laurel and the babies.
Their trip to the space port to pick up the rest of the family turned into a parade because the people had somehow discovered that they were arriving home and had lined up on the streets they would be taking, to cheer as the royal family passed.
They especially cheered for Leo, the hero of the Empire.
Leo was overwhelmed by the attention, blinking and waving at the crowd with a dazed expression on his face. A woman ran up and jumped on the wagon.
Leo, who was on the side, jumped in surprise.
“First Prince Leo, are you single?” the woman asked. Leo’s eyes widened.
“Why do you ask?”
The female smiled. “Are you only able to have sex with your mate, or…” Leo fell into stunned silence until the wagon started up again.
“What did she say?” Ellis asked. Leo had told the woman no and she had stepp
"Captain, you have a call from the Admiral," said the communications officer. "He says it's urgent and delicate, ma’am."“Send it to my room,” Christine responded curtly. “I will speak with him there.”“Understood,” the communications officer nodded.She got up from her chair on the bridge of the star ship. She nodded to her first officer to tell him she was leaving. He barely acknowledged her, but then again, he never did.She knew he was bitter about being passed over for the command of his own ship and under her leadership. Striding across the bridge, she used her thumb to open the door of her room, the office just off the bridge.Walking a little slower, she sat down at her desk and turned on the terminal. The waiting communiqué was blinking on the screen. Pressing the screen, she saw the face of her father appear. "Admiral?" she asked."I just received your report on the last mission we s
Smoothing her black uniform with a grey jacket and blue shirt underneath, she picked up her tablet from the desk in her quarters. Swiping her communicator from the edge of her nightstand and affixed to her jacket. As she was adjusting it, it chirped. "First Commander to Captain.""Captain here," Christine responded."Christine, I can't make it to the briefing at 0800. There was a coolant leak in the engineering department," he said."When can you make it?" she asked. "You are crucial to this mission. You have to be at the briefing.""I don't know. Two hours? I have to oversee repairs," he said. "Once I get through with that, I should be able to make it. I'm exhausted, though. Zero sleep over the past thirty-six hours. We need an administrator or one of those holographic AIs that the Fleet is constantly trying to install.""I thought you were against the holo people," Christine snickered."You try staying up for nearly two days and see how yo
Nearly two weeks later, they were in the orbit of C-space. It was a smaller planet that was mostly green and blue. It reminded them of a smaller version of Earth. She was waiting for the Empress in the transporter room along with another female staff member. The crew was nervous, always on the edge of the seat, and felt weird not being there to meet a traveling dignitary.“M’am, the C-space Council of Elders is hailing us," the Lieutenant said."On screen, Lieutenant," she replied, standing up. Three men were seated at a long table. The man in the middle had long black hair and a shrewd gleam in his neon yellow eyes. The man on his right had brown hair that was braided down his back and he looked bored, his blue eyes filled with zero emotion. The man on the left had short, cropped white hair with glowing pink eyes. "Greetings from the star ship. I'm Captain Christine Wright. On the other screen is my First Commander.""Thank you for making such a goo
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