Kuirilia

The Storm Bringer’s Base

11:54 SET (19:54 EDT)

August 16, 12610 (August 15, 2019)

N’ardil was taken aback by the sudden appearance of Esriro in the transmission. She had been expecting to see Esriro when she accepted the transmission, but figured that the woman was dead if someone else was using the code they had setup so long ago.

“Esriro? Why are...why does this man have your code?”

“I gave it to him,” Esriro said simply. “You still don’t look very closely at bounties do you? You just send off the closest team expecting that they’ll fulfill it. Do you know who this man is?”

“What does it matter? A bounty is a bounty!”

“It matters because this man is the son of Derech and Zandra Kidravia!” Esriro spat. “You tried to kill him and his sisters!”

“What are you talking about?! The bounty was for him and a woman named Zuni Alnanan! I know nothing of any sisters!”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” the man beside Esriro in the transmission said. “Why was she a part of the bounty?”

“How should I know? The bounty was made public three days ago and I sent a team when it came through. The only details on it were the names, locations, tracking data and reward.”

“That’s consistent with how bounties are handled, Jonuth. Dhir must have contacted the Hunter’s Guild to get the bounty placed. People don’t usually ask questions when a bounty is coming directly from there.”

“Whatever. I’ll asked Zuni why there might be a bounty on her head next time I see her. N’ardil Vilos is it? I’m going to explain what is going to happen if you don’t order your teams to ignore the bounty on Zuni Alnanan and myself. If either of us is hurt, Xigios Dryth will act on orders I will be giving him as soon as I end this transmission. Those orders will be to hunt down every single person in your organization until they are all dead, saving you for last. If you don’t think I have that capability, think again. Take it away, Abi.”

“Greetings, my name is Abi and I am an artificial crystalline construct created by a very advanced civilization millennia ago. I have been bonded to Jonuth’s family for thousands of years, and I take my duty to protect them very seriously. As soon as the ship piloted by the Hellraisers broke orbit of Earth, they sent you an encrypted report requesting instructions. I decrypted that report and know that you are currently on the planet of Kuirilia, which resides just inside the Scyftan border shared with The Confederation.”

“I have also hacked into the Hellraisers’ ship and have spent the last ten minutes downloading every scrap of information stored on their databanks. As a result, I now have the names of every member in a group like the Hellraisers, as well as the names and specifications of all fifty-six ships in your fledgling fleet. I will hand all of that information over to Esriro, and I will also use it to put out the biggest bounty you’ve ever seen if anything should happen to Jonuth. That bounty will be put on you and will be so large that friends of yours will be scrambling over each other to be the one to capture or kill you. It will be in your best interest to make sure that nothing happens to Jonathan or anyone else close to him. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” N’ardil said under her breath.

“Do you understand?!”

“Yes! Yes, I understand! I will send out a message to every group to ignore the bounty!,” N’ardil said, a very angry look on her face.

“Good. You better pray we never talk to each other again. You won’t like the outcome if we do,” Abi said, ending the transmission.

N’ardil was very tempted to throw her tablet across the room, but didn’t want to have another one replaced.

“Thasia!” N’ardil bellowed while reaching for the large bottle sitting on her desk.

The large door opened and a small Kobaloi woman entered the room, running over before standing in front of N’ardil’s desk with her head bowed.

“Write and send out a transmission to every group. State that The Storm Bringers are ignoring the bounty on Jonuth Kidravia and Zuni Alnanan, and no one should attempt it under any circumstances. They are also to prevent any others from trying to complete the bounty if they learn of it. I want every team to respond to the transmission confirming their orders. Go!”

“Yes, mistress,” the Kobaloi woman said, bowing before turning and running out of the room.

N’ardil took a long drink out of the bottle she was holding and then sat there, thinking. She knew she was careless when it came to bounties, only looking at how much they paid and what difficulty they were. There had been a few bounties over the years that her company probably shouldn’t have taken, but they all worked out in the end. This one however, didn’t seem like one that would work out in her favor. Not if she was going to be the one on the receiving end if anything should happen to Jonuth Kidravia. She needed help, and a lot of people owed her favors.

Picking up her tablet, she spent the next few hours collecting those favors.

Somewhere in the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy

The Indomitables’ Ship - Nira’s Revenge

12:09 SET (20:09 EDT)

August 16, 12610 (August 15, 2019)

“I still have some friends in The Storm Bringers,” Esriro said shortly after Abi closed the transmission with N’ardil. “I’ll contact them and get them to keep an eye on her. She isn’t one to take something like this lying down. She will fight back.”

“Fight back with what? She might win a fight on the ground but she doesn’t have a chance in space.”

“A lot of powerful people owe her favors, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she started collecting on those as soon as we ended the transmission. Many of those people won’t think twice about coming after you or have any qualms about fighting The Indomitables, either.”

“Could any forces she gathers beat The Indomitables?”

“Individually? No. Collectively? Yes. Many of the people owing her favors originate out of Confederation space and have their own private navies.”

“So what do we do?” Jonuth asked.

“Like N’ardil, I have people I can call to cash in on favors, and so does my father. We’ll start contacting them later today and put them on standby in case we need help. Besides that, there is nothing we can do right now. It will take bounty hunters a long time to get to Earth, so you will probably be safe until your fleet arrives. It will also take N’ardil a while gather forces, so she won’t present an immediate threat. She will need to be dealt with eventually, though.”

“Well, thanks for the help, I’ll let you get back to the women. Can you transfer me back to your father, please?”

“No problem. I’m not sure how much help I was, but it should buy us some time.”

“We’ll see just how much. It will have to wait until after we deal with Dhir, however. We cannot risk losing a large portion of our fleet before then.”

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that,” Esriro said with a smile. “I’ll pass you back to my father now. One moment.”

Esriro put the transmission on hold and then transferred it to her father. [Dad, Jonuth wants to talk to you. I’ve transferred him back to your screen.

[Thank you, I’ll talk to him now.]

Sol System

Jonuth Kidravia’s Ship - Abi

20:18 EDT

August 15, 2019

“Sir, I was told you wanted to talk to me?”

I nodded. “We learned that there is a bounty on me and a woman named Zuni Alnanan. Not my sisters. Esriro and I managed to get The Storm Bringers to back off for a while but we’ll have to deal with them sooner or later. We threatened N’ardil Vilos with the complete destruction of The Storm Bringers and the individual groups associated with them. Esriro thinks that she will start gathering a fleet to come after me. I have no reason to trust N’ardil, so we’ll need to begin preparations. How many of your ships need to undergo refitting when you arrive in Pygmaean space?”

“All but the newest ones, which leaves the around three hundred or so, why?”

“Abi has a plan but we can’t execute it right now. How do you feel about taking those three hundred ships and going hunting?

“Hunting? For what?”

“The Storm Bringers. Abi managed to get the names of every person in each team, as well as data on the ships those people are traveling on. That data includes engine signatures which will make them easier to track.”

“For what purpose?”

“If we try to go after N’ardil directly, she’ll probably recall all the teams to her location which makes it much harder to deal with them. If we capture those teams, then she can’t hide behind them. Besides, The Storm Bringers will cease to exist when I’m done, and I want to try offering the groups jobs.”

“Why hire them? They’re bounty hunters and mercenaries so all they’re interested in is money. What is stopping them from capturing or killing you and turning you in for a reward?”

“They’ll never get close enough to me to get the chance. The Spectres don’t have any specialized units like The Storm Bringers do, so I’m going to pay them handsomely to train the Spectres who will be leveling in Pygmaean space. Any of the people you capture are to be sent to the Warvyn shipyards where they will be injected with modified Inhibitor Nanites, whether they have agreed to work with me or not.”

“Modified how?”

“They will be impossible to remove once injected, for one. The important thing about them is that they will only activate when one of those people comes within a certain distance of me or my sisters, otherwise they will keep their abilities at all times. It’s something Abi came up with recently.”

“Well, that’s one way to deal with them,” Xigios said with a laugh.

“Abi is sending you the data she recovered. Make sure you keep your eyes open. Who knows, one of the teams might be in Pygmaean space when you arrive.”

“I will,” Xigios said a beep drawing his attention to the screen beside him. “Only fifty-six ships? I’d have thought they would have more by now.”

“They could have more, but if they do, they aren’t in the Hellraiser’s databanks.”

“Well, I’ll have one of our sensors passively scan for any of these signatures, and I’ll let you know if we get a hit.”

“Thank you. I’ll let you get back to your work, I’ve got something else I need to take care of. It was nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll talk again soon,” I said, hearing footsteps in the adjacent hall.

“You as well, young man.”

I nodded and hit the button to end the transmission. Standing up, I left the bridge and was greeted by the Hellraisers who had their hands firmly secured behind their backs using Inhibitor Cuffs.

“Abi, which one of them is their leader?”

“The woman second from the back, Jonathan.”

I made my way down the line noting that they all wore the same red armor. It looked like dyed leather, but I was betting that there was much more to it than that. There were a bunch of different species making up the group including at least two Scyftans and a Pygmaean. I didn’t know the races of the others, but one of them reminded me of an orc, and another of a goblin. There were even two that looked like humanoid versions of animals, one of them a bird and the other resembling something like a wolf.

Judging by the look in their eyes, all of them wanted to kill me, especially the leader who looked much angrier than the others. None of them could voice their displeasure as they were all gagged, however. I stopped in front of the woman Abi said was the leader and looked her over. I assumed that she was the one who was hovering over the shield, but she was smaller now, which made sense since she was in her Scyftan form.

“What’s her name?”

“Illia Kulza is the name she goes by, but I don’t know if that is real or not.”

“And how much was the bounty on me and Zuni Alnanan?”

“Two hundred million credits for you, and twenty million for Zuni Alnanan.”

“How much of that goes to The Storm Bringers and how much goes to the Hellraisers?”

“Looking through transaction records it looks like the Hellraisers only get to keep ten percent of every bounty completed. The other ninety percent goes to The Storm Bringers.”

“It seems like you and your team are incredibly underpaid for what you do. I’ve got an offer for you, would you like to hear it?” I asked, looking down at the leader of the Hellraisers.

She couldn’t talk, so all she did was shrug.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of Spectres. I will be sending approximately four hundred of them to level up as much as they can in the next six months, so here is my offer. If you accept, I will split up those four hundred Spectres between all of you, so you will be in charge of forty, each. I will pay each of you ten thousand credits for every ten levels your group of Spectres gains over those six months, and I expect them to gain a lot of levels over that time. You see, every single Spectre I will be sending is between level three hundred and five hundred, and all of them have learned the Legendary Insight Perk. In six months, I estimate that each of you could make one several million credits. How does that sound?”

The other nine Hellraisers had wide eyes, and Illia was looking right at me. I could see that she wanted to talk so I gestured and the gag loosened.

“That offer is too good to be true. What’s the catch?”

I smiled. “There are two catches, actually. The first is that I want you to teach your respective Spectre groups how to work together to take down targets like your group is able to. You were about four minutes away from overloading the forcefield before being scared away. That is what you will actually be paid for. If you can increase the rate at which your group levels, that is just a bonus for you.”

“And the second catch?” she asked.

“This one is a biggie, and will happen whether you accept my offer or not. You’ve heard of Inhibitor Nanites?”

Illia nodded, her face changing to one of fear at the mere mention of the nanites.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to inject you with the ones developed by the Pygmaeans, these ones are different. Abi modified them so that they will only activate by proximity. Once injected, they will cause you and your team to lose all of your abilities if you come within a certain distance of me, or anyone else that is programmed into them.”

“What stops you from making them work like regular Inhibitor Nanites so we lose our abilities permanently?”

“You’ll just have to trust me. After you do this job, you’re free to go off and do your own thing, though there may be another job waiting for you if you want it. The Inhibitor Nanites will remain, however, so don’t even try to remove them,” I said, looking over to the Pygmaean man. “The ones developed by your people might be built to be removed by specialized equipment, but these ones are permanent.”

“How long do we have to give you an answer?” Illia asked

“A week,” I answered. “If you haven’t given me an answer by then, then you’ll probably spend some time imprisoned until I have something else for you to do. Abi, how long until we’re back?”

“I’m dropping us into the hangar now, Jonathan.”

“Good. Ask my mom to make her way to the hangar exit, along with a couple of Spectres, please. Tell her I’ve got some prisoners.”

I gestured and the gag fixed itself over Illia’s mouth once again. “Let’s go,” I said.

I led the group through the corridors until we got to the exit. Everyone had to jump since there still wasn’t a ramp, but everyone made it down with any issue and we continued on to the hangar door. Once there, I pulsed my mana at the lock and the large door began to slide open. It seemed my mom made good time, as she was waiting with the group of Spectres I requested.

“What’s going on, Jonathan who…” she asked before trailing off, looking at someone standing behind me. “Illia?”

I looked where she was looking and saw that Illia had wide eyes and was staring at my mom. “You two know each other?” I asked, looking back over to my mom.

My mom quickly nodded. “She was my best friend from childhood and we used to adventure together with a few more of our friends. I was supposed to meet her for lunch about two years after joining the Spectres but she never showed up. I searched everywhere but she disappeared without a trace. Until this moment I thought she had been dead for the past fifteen hundred years.”

I looked back down to Illia who had tears in her eyes and had fallen to her knees.

“Release her, Jonathan.”

“But mom, she--”

“Release her!” she snapped.

Before I could send to Abi, I heard something fall to the floor as my mom began walking forward. I looked down and saw the Inhibitor Cuffs that Illia was wearing on the floor. My mom kicked them aside and then knelt down, embracing her long-lost friend.

I figured that they would remain like that for a while, so I walked over to one of the Spectres I recognized.

“Bati, right?”

“Yes, boss,” the man said with a smile.

I laughed. “Please take the other nine Hellraisers into custody. Do we have a brig or something?”

He nodded. “Yes, boss. There is a secure holding area in one of the lower levels of the base under the mountains. We can bring them there.”

“Good. They’re all wearing inhibitor Cuffs, so have two of your men take them. The rest of you stay here and watch over my mom, just in case this Illia woman’s reaction is a ploy.”

“We’ll get right on it. Is there anything else?”

“Yes, actually. Who is Zuni Alnanan?”

“That’s Yuki Morikawa’s Scyftan name,” he answered.

“Really? Do you know where she is?”

“The medical center, I believe,” Bali said. “She brought your sisters there via portal and hasn’t left since.

“Alright, thank you. I’m going to head down there now. Can you let my mom know?”

“Yes, boss.”

I nodded and walked past the Spectres who were gathered behind him. I could hear him giving orders behind me while I walked, but soon all I heard was the sound of my feet hitting the floor. I had time to think while I walked, wondering why Yuki would be a target. I don’t know much about her, but the only reason that makes sense is that Yuki is very good with Precognition. It also made me wonder if her deflecting that shot to hit Aleena’s shoulder was on purpose.

I got to the portal, the light beside it still green, so I stepped through. Two Spectres I didn’t recognize were on duty, and I had them set the portal to the main base so I could walk through.

[Hey guys, where are you?] I sent to all of my friends and waited for a response.

[The medical center. Where are you?] Anja replied.

[The lobby. Can one of you come here and show me where that is?]

[Be right there,] Mason answered.

There was a pop and he was standing in the middle. He spun around until he saw me, but I was already moving towards him.

“Hey, what happened? I thought you wouldn’t be back until much later?”

“The Hellraisers have a parent group that they work for. After talking to the leader of that group, I decided to capture the Hellraisers rather than have Abi keep track of where they go. They’ll probably be escorted through here shortly, but I left so I could check up on Aleena.”

“This way,” Mason said as he began leading me down a hall. “The med chamber is kinda freaky. It’s like a capsule and all these little arms are working on her shoulder. One of the doctors is watching over the progress but said that it will heal without a scar.”

I nodded. “I heard that. One of the Spectres that was with my mom told me that Yuki is still in the medical center, right?”

“Yeah, she was there when we got there and she hasn’t left since. She looks a little shaken up.”

“I understand that. She’s been one of the people taking care of my sisters for the past eighteen years. If that shot was deflected any lower it might have went through Aleena’s heart.”

“Here we are,” he said, coming across some doors that clearly said ‘Medical Center’ on them. I walked inside and saw two Spectres guarding one of the rooms. I walked over and looked through the window seeing Alexis, Lucille, Yuki and the rest of my friends. My sisters looked up when I opened the door, both running over and hugging me.

“Sorry I wasn’t here until now,” I said to them softly. “How are you two doing?”

“We’re fine,” Lucille said. “Both of us were able to get our shields up in time, but Aleena didn’t react in time.”

“What’s going on? Why were people shooting at us?” Alexis asked.

“I’ll fill you all in shortly. Give me a few minutes, okay? I need to talk to Yuki.”

They both nodded, letting go and walking back over to the chairs they had been sitting in.

“A word, Yuki,” I requested, walking out of the room and over to one of the chairs in the waiting area I had seen on my way in. When I sat down, I saw her come around the corner. Gesturing to the chair opposite me, I had her sit down.

“I want to thank you for protecting my sisters,” I said once she had taken a seat.

“Thank me for protecting them? I almost got Aleena killed!” she insisted.

“We both know that isn’t true. Everyone tells me that you’re better than anyone they’d ever seen at using Precognition. What did you see?”

She hesitated before responding, “Two bolts hitting her, cauterizing the wounds open as they went through. The first would have went right through her spine while the other would have went right through her heart. I deflected the one that would have hit her spine, but I couldn’t move quick enough to block the other one in time.”

“She would have been dead without your intervention, so thank you. That isn’t what troubles me, though. The thing that troubles me is that they were put in danger because they were with you,” I said, gesturing for her to stop before she interrupted me. “What reason would Kaldrus Dhir have to put a bounty on your head?”

“What do you mean? You’re saying the people we killed weren’t after your sisters?”

I shook my head. “The group that attacked me and my friends were called Hellraisers, and answer to a parent group called The Storm Bringers. The leader of The Storm Bringers, a N’ardil Vilos, said that the bounty was for me and Zuni Alnanan. That’s your real name, right?”

“Yes,” Yuki answered, standing up and beginning to pace back and forth while she was thinking. After a minute or two she stopped and turned toward me. “The only reason I can think of as to why he would want me dead is because of my ability with Precognition. How would he know I’m here, though? How would the bounty hunters even know what I look like?”

“It isn’t too much of a leap to think that Spectres might be here if I am. As for how would the bounty hunters know what you look like? Maybe they don’t. Machines can recognize a person’s mana signature. Could they have been scanning for yours?”

“They could have but I have never met Kaldrus Dhir. Where would he have gotten my mana signature from?”

“Xorin Nydror. You worked with him, right? He would have been able to supply Dhir with that information, would he not?”

“He would have, but if he did then that means that a lot of the other Spectres here will be able to be tracked by their mana signatures. Only the ones we started training after we got here will be undetectable.”

“If that is the case then you need to find people you trust to guard my sisters when they’re out in the open. They were lucky this time, but next time they might not be.”

Yuki sat back down before looking at me with a serious look on her face. “I’ll assign six of the best we have that weren’t Spectres back then. I’ve been talking with Selalea’s head of security for the last two days, and will also ask her to assign a couple of dragonkin she trusts to watch over them.”

“Good. Abi will be creating two more shuttles identical to the one I had her make for me this morning. They’ll be ready by tomorrow morning and flown down to the facility in Toronto. I want you to form two fast response squads of around eight Spectres each that will follow my sisters or myself whenever we go somewhere. Once you’ve picked enough people, take them over to the facility and have them familiarize themselves with the shuttles.”

“What about me?”

“Well, until that bounty is taken down or we find a way to mask your mana signature, you’ll be stuck on the base.”

“If I can’t protect the girls, then I want to be one of the ones going to Pygmaean space to get stronger. It’s been a long time since I leveled up, so I’ll use the next six or seven months to get as strong as I can.”

“I’m not in charge of that, so you’ll have to convince my dad. Make sure you set my sisters up with some good security before you go, though.”

“I will. There is another Spectre that is very good with Precognition, and I’ll make sure that she is one of the ones helping protect the girls.”

“Alright. If my dad gives approval to go, then you should be aware of something. Abi captured the group that attacked me, and I’m going to use them to help train the Spectres traveling to Veria to level up. All of them are very high level, and obviously work very well together considering some of the bounties they’ve taken down. I want you to be with me when I meet with Ercan Warvyn to have a team setup to surveil them.”

“Why would they do that? I would expect them to try to escape at the first chance they get.”

“Because I offered them an incredible amount of money if they do it. You know how much they were getting if they had taken us out? Two point two million credits, each. That’s it. They would have had to give up ninety percent of the bounty to their parent group, The Storm Bringers. Who knows, maybe they’ll like the job I’ll have them doing by the time those six months are over. They’ll never be able to kill me, or you, for that matter, so I have no problem letting them go afterwards.”

“What do you mean they’ll never be able to kill us?”

“They’re going to be injected with a modified version of the Inhibitor Nanites that will shut down their abilities if they get within a certain distance of us, which means the only way they could take us out would be short range with a firearm, or in a melee. Abi will also be the only one able to remove them, the regular deactivation device the Pygmaeans made to go along with their nanites won’t work.”

“What kind of range are we talking about?”

“If you’re going to Veria to level up as well, then it will probably be one hundred kilometers or something like that. In the case of my sisters and myself, probably somewhere in the range of one million kilometers. You’ll also be immediately notified if one of them crosses the edge of the max range.”

“That’s a pretty good way of neutralizing someone. Not as good as killing or imprisoning someone, but pretty good nonetheless.”

“I thought so when Abi told me she made them,” I said while standing back up. “Come. I wanna take a look at my sister and then go and eat dinner. Some assholes interrupted my friends and I just as we were eating some good pizza.”

Yuki laughed. “Mason was saying something to that affect when he suddenly teleported out of the room. I’m sure they’ll accompany you. I’m going to stay with Aleena until she is out of the med chamber, though.”

“Fair enough,” I said, leading the way back to the room Aleena was in.

The Moon

Spectre Moon Base

August 15, 2019

20:45 EDT

Illia and Alexandra had moved over to one of the benches against a wall and were chatting like the long-lost friends they were. There were still Spectres standing around them keeping an eye on Alexandra, but they were now much more relaxed now than they had been when Jonathan left. She now wore an Inhibitor Band around one of her wrists, rather than the Inhibitor Cuffs she had been wearing when she arrived.

“...happened?” Alexandra asked.

“I was on my way to the restaurant when I was hit in the back of the head by something. The next thing I remembered was being naked except for an Inhibitor Band like this one in a small, poorly-lit room without any windows and only a single door. The only things in the room were a small bed in one corner and a toilet in the other,” Illia answered, pausing for a moment before continuing. “Shortly after I awoke, two Ork men entered my cell and dragged me away. I tried to fight them, but there was nothing I could do with the Inhibitor Band affecting me. They brought me to a shower and sprayed me down before grabbing me again and bringing me to a large opulent bedroom. After throwing me on the bed, they left the room.”

“A couple of minutes after they left, the door opened and another Ork man entered the room, this one dressed in much finer clothing than the other two I had seen. He explained that he had spent a great deal of money to acquire me and that I would be serving him until he got bored of me. He proceeded to undress, raping me repeatedly before calling in the two guards and having them take me to another room.”

“The next day, a woman who had been a slave for hundreds of years came to my new room and brought me clothes and began teaching me how the man liked things done. During the day I would be cleaning or doing jobs, and at night I would be summoned to the man’s room where I would be ordered to pleasure him before being taken back to my room.”

“My duties had changed over time, but that was my life for the next two hundred thirty-six years. I tried to kill myself many times, but there was always someone keeping an eye on me, and the man, it turned out, was a very good doctor. I had never learned his name, despite trying, until one night when I was woken up by the building shaking and the sound of explosions. It sounded like fighting went on for hours before things finally went silent.”

“I sat there, huddled in a corner for hours before the door to my room shattered open and a group of people entered, the leader of those people being a Jotunn woman named N’ardil Vilos. She explained that there was a bounty on Noz’ok Dronnev, the owner of the estate I was in. They had killed him and all of his men before going through the estate and looting everything they could, finding many slaves along the way.”

“She saved all of us and offered everyone the chance to be returned to their families. You know my parents are dead, so the only person I had to turn to was you and the rest of our team. I tried contacting you, and that was when I found out that the king and queen had been murdered. I called Myllu, Kade and Sygnil, but they didn’t know where you were, and that they hadn’t heard from you since. All of them had families as well, and I didn’t want to impose. While all the other slaves were returned to their families, I was the only one to stay with The Storm Bringers, where I have remained for the last thirteen hundred years,” she finished.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that. I used every resource I could to track you down, but there wasn’t a trace. I’m also sorry that I wasn’t there when you were finally freed. I had a duty to protect the king’s children, so I was forced to take them and flee.”

“That man is one of the king’s children? The one that capture me and my team? Why does he call you mom?”

“He was only three years old when his parents were killed, and his doesn’t remember them. He has been raised for the last fifteen years on Earth, by my husband and myself. We didn’t tell him about his heritage until very recently.”

“Your husband?! When did you marry?”

“Almost six hundred years ago, here on Earth. Would you like to meet him?”

“Meet the man who finally tamed you? Absolutely!”

Alexandra laughed. “C’mon. He’s probably eating dinner right now, and I’m sure you’re hungry too.”

Illia nodded and locked her arm with Alexandra’s, following her as she led her down the hall.