SWNOVELS Chapter 32
"I married her, your majesty." Patrick says back to her all of the sudden the voice I could not identify before, the one that had seemed so familiar came back to me. It was her voice both times. I try to steady myself as my emotions are all over the place as my brain is starting to put everything together. He had he known everything about me all along. My heart jumped in my chest aching from the pain of what must have been heart break. I look at the screen; I want to react some way, any way but I am just frozen.
"I told you the only way to keep everyone safe from this despicable creature was to send her to a well-guarded place to keep her happy and away from the general population." She looks at me in disgust as she says it. I look back at her and for once the anger inside does not trigger my powers. Or is it that I am truly not angry, I'm not sure what exactly I feel as I am confused and overwhelmed by all the new pieces coming in to play. I have just read that Patrick is a Raspite prince, and now my mother whom I believed was destroyed sits before me very much alive.
"It was not the only way your majesty. I love her and I was not willing to give her the life you wanted her to have." I look at Patrick. Who is this man really? What did I really know about him? He speaks of love yet he did not tell me the truth of his origins.
"You tricked me. You made me think my planet was destroyed. That she and everyone else was dead. Who are you really?" I ask him directly. I look into his eyes and showed demand for an answer. He looks back with a bit of worry on his face and even though I know the answer which was on the panel that was now hidden in my dress. I want the truth from him.
"I am or I was Prince Patrick Wolf, as of my father's death I became King Patrick of the Raspites." He looks me directly in the eyes without flinching. All this time he has lied to me. This pain I feel in my chest was new to me as I had never experienced such a betrayal.
"You tricked me. You lied to me. You did just want me to control my powers. That's what the assassin meant by his sacrifice would serve his people well." I am angry and I can feel it growing inside me now. I still don't want to be responsible for so many deaths and this ship is full of people. Lying people but still people and I didn't want their deaths on my conscience.
"No I did not send an assassin for you. My father sent me out here to try and make peace with those who saw us as the enemy. My grandfather was a brutal man who took what he wanted. My father spent all his time trying to live down the Raspites' reputation and I was fallowing in his footsteps." He seems to be telling the truth but how would I ever know as everything he has said to me up till this point has all been a lie. "I did lie to you. When we found out who you were after we pulled you from the ship wreck we were shocked. But I never lied to you about the way I felt. And once I fell in love with you I knew that I would do whatever I had to, to save you from her." I look directly at him then turn to the screen.
"What does he mean mother?" I look at her and she only glares at me. It is the first time I actually see the hatred she has for me.
"It wasn't us who sent the assassin in fact we were going to return you to your home world as a good will gesture. The council you have been talking to was faked and so was the destruction of your planet. I decided to do it to protect you." He says reaching for me but I don't want him to touch me at this point. I am disgusted with the thought of all I have given to him. I jerk away and not discretely.
"You were always a foolish child, Laoonica. Our planet is safer without you here and by this afternoon we will have a new king, Lord Renaldo." My mother's up turned nose and gesturing make me want to hurt her back as she doesn't seem to care at all about my wellbeing.
"Lord Renaldo is a cruel man who wants power to enact his own pleasures. How could you marry such a man?" I ask. On several occasions my father had thrown the lord out of the castle due to his radical ideas on controlling our people rather than making it better for them.
"Your father left me no choice. He was determined to keep you safe and neglected anyone else who wanted his attention." She didn't even love him, she didn't even care that he was dead. I could feel my anger reaching a point I could barely hold back.
"He still ruled as a fair and kind man who had everyone's best interest at heart." I scold her. I don't know where this new braveness came from but I have no intentions of backing down. My people's happiness is at stake. I have to protect them since my father was no longer able to.
"Yes well everyone except for mine daughter. After you were born he had no room for me. Something had to be done." I cannot believe what is happening. What she is saying?
"You, you sent the assassin? You are the lowliest person I have ever met." I know, I don't know how. but I know this is what my father warned me about. Our enemy was within our own walls. I can feel my stomach turn. For the first time in my life I feel hate building in me.
"Yes I sent the assassin and I had planned for him to kill all three of you, but as it turns out you survived what a shame." I hold my head high despite her obvious distain for me. "You killed several innocent people during the attack. You see I am not the evil one you are. You were a mistake and I tried to correct it."
"A trader within our walls, you told father that the Raspites knew of me so that you could set up the whole thing." I accuse her as the guards in the back ground seem to come alive hearing our conversation.
"Seems you're not as stupid as I thought you were. When they told me that you were alive Imagine my disappointment. I sit thinking of a way to be rid of you and well I did my best to try to convince them that you should be locked away and never returned to this planet. I didn't know this pathetic man would fall for you and marry you." I look at her. I know exactly what to do thanks to my father's words in my dream. I see the look in everyone's face behind her. They have all stopped in their tracks. The guards are looking at each other. With my head held high still, despite her attempts to break me down, I continue.
"Unfortunately for you because I am blood and now married I stand as the rightful Queen of Booravia. Guards seize her." I demand and without hesitation they grab her.
"Release me you fool." She demands but it falls on deaf ears as I am correct in my assumption of right to reign, they obey me.
"Mother you are under arrest for treason." I look at her face as she struggles a bit in their grasp.
"What would your majesty suggest for her punishment?" I look at them and think for a moment. Despite how much she hates me, the fact that she had arranged for my death and caused the death of my father as well as many other lives, she is still my mother. I wonder what my father would have done had he survived.
"She is to be stripped of her title and all possessions. She is to be given a shack at the other end of the Pearoto crops. There instead of being paid to work she will only work for rations for each day. Oh and here..." I hold my hand up and to my surprise it works across her left cheek is burned the word traitor. "Let this serve as a reminder to our people of the traitorous act you have committed."
"King Patrick you have control over her stop what she is doing." My mother begs her coconspirator.
"No I do not have control over her nor would I wish to. If my mother had done as you did, I would have had her killed on the spot." I look at him and back at my mother. "She is a kind and lenient woman. It is part of the reason I love her." I look over at Patrick he is standing with his hands pressed against the table. He doesn't smile at me he just looks at me in earnest. I don't know if I can trust him now. He isn't my main concern at the moment.
"Have my uncle contact me as soon as possible there are things I wish to discuss with him." I order the guards.
"Yes your highness at once." I don't even say goodbye to my mother nor do I have any regrets for what I have done to her. Now I have to figure out what it is I feel with Patrick, what is good or what is real?
I look at him for a minute then leave the room. I go straight to the elevator. This time I do not go to the green house or the room I push the button to go to the hologram room. I remember how relaxing it was the first time I was there with Patrick. I step from the elevator and enter the almost empty room. I walk over to the center control panel and press the button I had seen Patrick push the first time I was here. The room fills with the images of the stars again. I look around slowly and watch the planets and stars move pass and through me. I slid the panel out from under my dress and look at it again. I now open up the Laoonica file and look at the first entry that is under Visit to Booravia.
Entry; 13374
Planet of Booravia
First contact:
We have intercepted a transmission from the queen of Booravia to the Commerce begging for assistance, the message is a voice recording and states that there is some sort of issue. Something about a prophecy child being born with great destructive powers and this queen fears for the safety of her people. It is probably nothing as this seems to be her fifth transmission concerning the issue but the desperateness in her voice reads as authentic by our equipment. I think it is best to go and find out what is actually going on. The Raspites are not welcome many places due to our history of violence and so we will go under the pretenses of Commerce responders. I must say though the queen must be foolish indeed if she thinks the Commerce cares for such a small planet with nothing more than fruits and vegetables to offer as trade. They only care for technology and tools of war. Trust me I should know it is the reason they hate us. We refuse to give in and let them rob us of our creations for use in their quest to concur and control as many planets and races as possible.
Wait I was always told the opposite that it was the Raspites that were the war hungry people. Is it possible that they were misrepresented? Although this entry says that the Raspites have a violent past. Perhaps both sides of the war between them and the commerce were to blame. I take a deep breath in before taking a further look into the entries. Am I sure this is the right thing to do? I am a little shocked at just knowing that I had feel right into the arms of those who had always been represented as my enemy. What other things had I been so easily tricked into believing?