“Earth, here we come,” Maya said enthusiastically. Securing the leather cord between her fingers, she lifted the pendant, suspending the crystal in the air. As the light began to awaken, so did her hope. A smile broke on her lips. They were finally going back home.
She couldn’t wait to throw herself into her parents’ arms. Goodness knew it would be the longest hug ever. Then she would apologize to her father for breaking into the safe (not that she regretted discovering Krystan), demand to know what he knew about the planet and why he didn’t want her finding out about it, and then she would ask about the missing letter. She was ready to find out the truth about her birth parents.
“No, no, no…” She panicked when the pendant’s light started to dim. “Don’t die… Please don’t die.” She needed it to work fast, not do this. They didn’t have a lot of time. The moment the king realizes the crystal was missing, he would know it was her who took it and come for it and then they would lose their only chance and hope of going back home.
She elevated it a little higher, but that did nothing to stop the crystal from reverting to its normal colour.
“Is there something you did last time that you aren’t doing now?” Her brother asked.
“You were there Lockie. I did nothing except touch the crystal. She lowered her hand and let the crystal rest in her palm, allowing it another contact with her skin. Nothing happened. No gentle feminine voice. No blinding light. No portal.
“Why is it not working?!” Maya said, tossing it across the room in frustration.
Lockie walked up to the pendant, picked it off the floor and tried his luck as well. When nothing happened, he handed it to Tavish.
“We just have to keep trying until it does,” Tavish said when he too couldn’t figure out how to make it work. Holding it out for Maya, he added, “You at least got it to light up, even if it was for a brief moment, maybe you can get it to work again.”
Reluctantly, she took it. “What if I try wearing it around my neck like the Krystanians do?”
“Yeah,” Lockie said enthusiastically. “Let’s try that.”
***
“I heard you captured an intruder,” Cade said, pausing at the bottom of the step below the throne. “Who is he? Is he one of Marek’s people sent to harm you? The warrior didn’t tell me much.”
“No, he came after Maya.” Hunter let out a sigh. “He wanted her for himself, the same way I do.”
Cade went quiet for a moment, internalizing what he just heard. “Do you think more males will come after her?”
He nodded. “I’m afraid this is only the beginning. People are desperate to save their bloodlines and Maya is a solution.” He couldn’t blame them for wanting the same thing he did.
Cade’s palms went to fold in front of his body. “What do you want me to do with this one, my Lord.”
Hunter sat up. He couldn’t punish him for something he was also guilty of. “We’ll leave him in the dungeons until he gives us his name and vows to never go after Maya again.”
“Okay.”
“His crystal…” His eyes scanned the furthest end of the throne room. Thinking that it was the distance hindering him from spotting it, he stood on his feet and materialized there. Cade was by his side a moment later. “His crystal is not here.” He was just about to assume the warrior came for it when a realization hit him. “Maya!”
Without wasting any more seconds, he transported himself into the room where he’d left the three humans.
Relief washed over him when he found them there. They hadn’t opened the portal yet. “You have something that doesn’t belong to you.” Startled by his commanding voice, the two males spun around. “Hand it over,” Hunter said, his hand stretched out.
Maya stepped out from behind. Pushing her way between them, she walked up to Hunter and carefully placed the pendant at the centre of his arm. He was surprised, disappointed even, to see her give up the crystal so easily. After centuries of having people doing exactly what he said, he’d been enjoying the little rebellion.
“You’ll be happy to know that we’ll be stuck on this planet forever.” The glassy layer in her eyes told him how hard she was trying not to cry. “The portal won’t open.”
A smile broke on his lips at the revelation. “If only you’d listened to me, you would have saved yourself the disappointment.”
“I don’t like it here.” She raised her now broken voice. “I don’t like people staring at us with murderous glances. And I don’t want to be abducted and taken to Marek, whoever that is.”
A chill went down his body. “Did you say, Marek?”
“That’s what she said,” Tavish answered, coming to her side and pulling the now-weeping Maya into his embrace. “She’s upset enough. She doesn’t need you yelling at her.”
“We have a big problem,” Cade whispered to him.
Hunter turned to walk out. “No, we have a lead. That bastard in the dungeons will tell us exactly where his master is.” They had finally found a way to Marek. He was finally going to avenge his father and brothers. The nightmare was almost over.
Cade was at his heel as he made it out of the keep, across the corridors to the western wing and down the dark stairs into the dungeons.
“Where is Marek?” Hunter demanded, pausing in front of the cell.
The male walked out of the shadows, a wicked smile on his face. “You finally found out who sent me. Thought I would have to tell you myself.”
His grip on the rusted rails tightened. “I won’t ask you again. Where is Marek?”
The male chuckled. “You are not getting any information out of me, Hunter Dragon.”
His fingers loosened and he took a step back. “Let’s see if you’re so tight-lipped when you’re standing before me and the council. Let’s see if you won’t blurt out every piece of information you have on Marek under the royal crystal’s compulsion.” The panic on the prisoner’s face gave Hunter a little satisfaction.
“Find Marco, fill him in on what happened and tell him to inform every council member to be at the palace in two hours,” Hunter said to Cade as they walked out of the dungeons. “Then have Evera come to my study.”
“Right away, my Lord.”
He had barely sat behind his desk when a knock came and the door opened. “You called for me, my king?”
Hunter nodded, waiting until she was inside before he spoke, “I want you to continue keeping an eye on Maya.”
Her brows curved in a frown. “I thought we brought the humans to the palace because there is more security here and I won’t have to be on her watch duty.”
“Things changed, someone tried to abduct her.”
“Should we care what happens to the humans? If someone takes them away then they stop being our problem.”
“Enough!” The annoyance he felt sent him pushing back his chair and standing on his feet. “Us being childhood friends doesn’t give you the right to voice out your opinion every chance you get.” His every word was clipped, punching into the air. He jabbed the air with a pointed finger at each utterance. “You are my subject. I am your king. Every word that comes out of my mouth is the law. So if I tell you to look after Maya, then that’s what you will do. This is the last time I tell you to stop questioning my decision.”
Her gaze fell. “Forgive me, my king. It won’t happen again. I promise.”
“I’m sorry.” For a second, he didn’t think those two words came out of his mouth. A surprise looked formed on Evera’s face. Taking in a large puff of air, he urged himself to calm down. “I understand where your hate for the humans is coming from. But we can’t have Marek succeed in abducting the female.”
Her eyes flared. “Marek was behind it?!”
Hunter nodded. “We are going to catch him soon but before that happens, we need to protect Maya; make sure Marek doesn’t succeed in getting the only fertile female in Krystan for himself.”
He would die before he let his worst enemy produce an heir. No version of that male deserved to walk the planet.
YOU ARE READING
A Blood Heir
Fantasy✨Rewrite- Previously An Heir for Oragon✨ The planet Krystan has not had a live birth in centuries and the King, Hunter Rudolf knows he is in big trouble. Without an heir, his semi-immortality running out, death threats facing him from every corner...
