The Siege Of Drakkon: Book Three Of The Drakkon Series

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Titus Tyrni

Seneschal of the Draka Alcazar

The relocation of the infected was going well, we had evacuated the planet Nurina in the Rya system, it was a smaller planet, mostly used for farming, Daxton Auerlie had been of immeasurable help, his ability to glamour people into following his orders made it so the risk of someone assisting us with this effort getting infected very low, because all the infected wanted to do was listen to him. News had not yet reached us as to how the war was going, but I was hopeful that my Queen would win and return quickly to see our progress.

Taarique was putting in a remarkable effort to help us get infected people, hosting slews of parties and inviting many people, both infected and not, it provided us the perfect cover for Daxton to simply walk them out of there with no one the wiser. Even if their worried loved ones reported them missing, all signs showed that they left the party peacefully before disappearing, no one in their right mind would suspect Lady Taarique of helping to orchestrate their kidnapping.

In just a few days time many of the planets in the Drakkon system should be cleared of infected, the castle had had many infected, they had all been since removed, and everyone was being closely monitored to ensure others did not become infected. It did not surprise me that there were so many infected in the castle, after all if this mysterious king wanted our Queen, he would want eyes on her as much as possible.

"Titus!" Taarique bursts into my office in a panic, startling me, I look at her in confusion, wondering what she could possibly be panicking so much about, something hadn't gone wrong with the transportation of infected could it? "Something was just uploaded to the stream! You have to see it!" She types on her sheeve and then swipes up on her arm, displaying the screen on the wall, showcasing the most recent video uploaded to the news stream.

"The true king has returned?" I read the title aloud and my heart drops like a weight to my stomach, this couldn't mean what I thought it did right? If it said that your new king has won the war, I would assume it was Cedric, but the true king of Drakkon was only one person. "What have you done, Aldrich?" My voice was a whisper as Taarique plays the video, and just as I dreaded Aldrich appears on the screen, his old crown atop his head and looking very happy with himself.

"People of Drakkon! Your true king has returned! No longer will you suffer under the rule of the false Queen, I am your king once more. I've ended the war and slayed the false Queen, no longer will she attempt to corrupt the great empire I've built." His face disappears for a moment to show a photo of Alessandra, our great queen, floating limp in space, dead. The image only appears for a moment but the pain I feel upon knowing her death is immeasurable, the fact that Aldrich had killed her only pained me more.

This was not the friend and king I had served for years, he never would have done this, to his own daughter no less. He hadn't been himself for years, but I never truly realized how bad he had gotten until this moment. This was not a man I would follow, I felt no loyalty to him, Alessandra had been a true Queen, it made me realize that Aldrich was only ever a shadow of what he should have been as King and now he wasn't even that much of a king, but rather a person who committed regicide.

I knew that I would not follow him, just as I knew many others would not, Alessandra had showed us the type of leader we deserved, we would not settle for less even now that she was gone, and we would not let her killer remain on her throne. "She will float in space for eternity, the false queen does not deserve a funeral for the sins she has committed. I will return in two days time to formally re-take my position as King, I am eager to see all of you again, your one and only King Aldrich Drakkon." He ended his speech without mercy, revealing that he would withhold a funeral from his own daughter.

"How can she be dead! I know that I wanted this to happen from the very beginning, for Aldrich to come back and re-take his throne, but this is not how I wanted it to happen. I don't even think that way anymore either, but it is too late to tell the Queen how I feel. She has been through so much, she went to war, and I bet she won, I bet she killed Cedric and Aldrich is just stealing all the glory, I bet he hunted her down after the fighting was over and killed her while she was weak and tired. She did not deserve this! We won't let him get away with this, right Titus?" It was strange that for once Taarique and I were aligned in our views, Aldrich had once been a great friend to me, someone I thought I would be loyal to for the rest of my life, I had been greatly saddened by his death, and overjoyed by the discovery that he was still alive, but now I wish he had just stayed dead.

"No, we will not stand for this Taarique. But we must be smart about it, Aldrich will return and reclaim his throne, but we won't let him stay on it for long. If Aldrich is allowed to throw a coup to take his throne back, we will just have to do the same thing to take it back from him." She stared at me in shock, obviously not expecting me, Aldrich's most loyal subject to suggest a rebellion.

"You're talking about rebelling? Against Aldrich?" I knew she was shocked because I imagine she just said it to say it, she was never going to actually go through with it, after all since Alessandra was dead what would be the point.

"Yes, you know as well as I do that he is no longer fit for the throne, just like you know you are not fit for it either. I think you should abdicate your position and allow Balem to ascend to the throne, he will not be as great as Alessandra was, but I believe that he is our best choice." She sputters in horror, obviously not expecting me to tell her to abdicate when she assumed everyone thought as highly of her as she did of herself.

"Me? Abdicate? I would never!" I give her a flat stare, not appreciating her dramatic response, not when I know how she had changed since Alessandra had become Queen.

"Really, Taarique? After seeing Alessandra rule? Seeing the sacrifices, she had to make for the throne? You still want it? You have more than enough power now, even if you abdicate in the favor of Balem, you would, still maintain your position of second primary, you just wouldn't be in line for the throne anymore. Second in power is much better than first, you have almost all the power with none of the responsibilities, you know this to be true, you've lived for years as second in power after Aldrich, do you really still want to be Queen?" She loses her shocked expression and looks contemplative as she thinks over my words, before slowly shaking her head.

"You know what I don't, I never thought I would say this, it has been my dream to be Queen of Drakkon for so long, but I don't want the throne, I am happy with the position I have now. So, when the time comes, I will abdicate in favor of Balem, but Titus how are we going to do this? You know how smart and cunning Aldrich is, how are we going to plan a rebellion under his nose?" Never before did I think that Taarique and I would be talking about how to plan a rebellion so that someone else can be the ruler, I always thought Taarique would one day some how get the throne and I would somehow have to serve her, but I was grateful that Alessandra had ruled now, no matter how short her rule was, it made Taarique realize some of her shortcomings and the price for being the ruler of an empire.

"Don't worry, just leave it all to me. If I can plan and prepare a grand coronation in under a day, planning a rebellion over a few days should be simple." I was a planner first and foremost, I would figure this out, and when we did, we would depose Aldrich, hopefully we wouldn't have to kill him to get that to happen.