Before the Glitches (Book 0)

She Knows

She sat in an armchair carved out of a block of ice, so close to the frigid window she could see her bluish breath fog it up. 

"Chief Myers," she called, her  voice crystal clear, deadly in all its loveliness just like her. 

"Yes, Majesty," answered a rough voice from behind her. She stood up, not bothering to turn to face him, enjoying her nearly limitless power. 

"Have you come up with a method of quickly exterminating the humans yet? I'm afraid if we don't act soon, this window of opportunity will pass. Their sun won't be wreaking havoc on their planet forever."

"Of course, Majesty," the Chief smiled, eager to please his ruler. "Eleanna and her team released a deadly pseudo-virus into their atmosphere. They're calling it the Plague. To those pathetic humans, it appears to be a simple disease, but we're actually in full control of it. It's being monitored by our computers on the Jupiter base." 

"Wonderful," she smiled coldly. "Very well done." The Chief beamed at her rare compliment. "And you're saying your wife designed and released it?" "All by herself," Chief Myers assured her. 

"Send for Eleanna Myers," she waved to a guard in the blue-white uniform of the Lessaenite court and he immediately ran through the door to fulfill his task. 

Soon, he returned with a fairly short, slender woman. Her Aura was delicate and gossamer, shimmering lightly around her, and her blue hair was pulled back in the semblance of a bun. Though she was the wife of Lessaenes's richest and most powerful clan Chief, she dressed in a simple blue robe and held her head low with respect for her ruler. Humility, she thought with delight. The humble were most easily manipulated. 

"Lady Eleanna of the Warrior clan, Majesty," said the guard, releasing Eleanna's hand and leaving with a quick bow. 

"You called me, Your Majesty?" Eleanna asked, still keeping her head down. 

"Yes," she smiled. "Exactly how deadly is your Plague?"

"Extremely so," Eleanna replied. "It kills within twenty four hours of entering the body, the most lethal biological weapon in the known universe. However, it is possible that there could be survivors."

"I know," she sighed. 

"I do not mean to slight Your Majesty's omniscience, but how?" 

"Because there are survivors, and you know it. Am I right, Eleanna?" she smiled cruelly. 

"I...no...there's..." Eleanna stuttered, her eyes filled with fear. 

"And you know their location as well, in southern Mississippi. You know they're getting ready to hide out in an underground shelter called the Module, and they're being lead by a certain male human who built a Program to hide his children in. To keep them safe from us. You knew all of this from your satellite data, yet you chose not to inform me? Eleanna Larys Myers, do you take me for a fool!?" She yelled. 

"No, it was nothing like that, I just..." Eleanna fought back her tears. 

"You traitorous animal!" She spat. "You didn't alert me of the Module's presence because you were trying to protect those pathetic humans! Fool! You think I don't have satellites, telescopes, and cameras of my own? You think you can trick me, the all powerful ruler of the Lessaenite Empire!?"

She sighed, drumming her glittering fingernails on the armrests of her high-backed chair. "Gignaer!" She called to one of her two personal guards. "Yes, Your Majesty?" he replied gruffly. 

"Throw her in prison," she said with a demonic smile, pointing to the trembling Eleanna. "She is to be executed at first light tomorrow." 

"No! Please, Your Majesty, I beg of you!" Chief Myers cried, falling to his knees before her. "I am your most loyal subject, and the Warrior Chief! I will personally bring you the head of the Module's leader. Just please, spare my wife!"

"Why on Lessaenes would you bring such a repulsive thing as a bloody head into the presence of your Queen?" she asked, smiling thinly. "No, I do not wish for you to kill the Module's inhabitants, though I do intend for them to exterminated eventually..." A twisted idea began to form in her mind. 

"Actually, now that I think of it, there is a way you can save your wife..." she put on a sardonic grin. "How?" The Chief's eyes lit up with hope. 

"Give me your daughter," she stated coldly. 

"What?" Eleanna and Chief Myers said simultaneously. 

"You heard me right," she hissed. "Give Amanda to me, and I'll let Eleanna live, forgiving her crimes."

"What exactly do you plan to...do with her?" Chief Myers asked. 

"Oh, don't worry. I won't torture her. In fact, I'll do exactly the opposite," she assured Eleanna. "I'll bring her up with everything I give to my own daughter, I'll even make her an Iceheart. She will grow up no less than a princess. You will watch as she blossoms into everything you aren't. A loyal, strong, beautiful young woman. And then, someday, she will drag you across the floor and beat you bloody. She will scold me for showing you mercy. And not because I'll order her to do so, but because she will hate you for the pig that you are."  

"No! I'd rather die any day than let you brainwash my-"

"Mother, I will go," came a young but solemn voice from behind Eleanna. When she turned around, she found that Amanda had arrived!

"How did you get here?" She asked, confused. 

"It doesn't matter," she shrugged. "What you need to know is that I'm here to save your life. Majesty," she turned to the Queen, "I'm all yours." 

"Very good, my child," she smiled triumphantly, placing an approving hand on ten year old Amanda's shoulder. "Obedience and respect for authority," she sneered, turning to Eleanna. "Two things you never taught her, yet she perfected on her own. She's an intelligent girl, she will make a good addition to Lessaenes's nobility."

"Allow me a moment," Eleanna said through clenched teeth, grabbing her daughter's hand and pulling her away from her. When they were out of earshot she whispered harshly. 

"What do you think you're doing, Amanda? She said she'll make you an Iceheart! Do you even know what that means? It means you'll serve her blindly, you'll be one of those stuck up nobles who never leave her side, always in flowing white dresses and fancy coronets. It's true, you'll be beautiful and immortal, but at what cost? Being an Iceheart chips away at your life force. The more centuries you live, the more your soul will erode away. Eventually, you'll become like the Queen, with nothing but the hollow remnants of a heart inside a breathtakingly lovely body. Is that what you really want?" She pleaded, tears welling up in her eyes as she stroked her daughter's cheek. 

"No, it's not," Amanda admitted, and Eleanna was flooded relief. However, that relief was short lived. "But if it's what it takes to keep you alive, I'm willing to accept it. No matter what kind of luxury she raises me in, I'll never be hers. I'll never betray the White Hot Flame. I promise," she whispered, kissing her mother on the cheek before running back to the Queen.