Page 13 of 3 Secrets to Love (Romance Tales from the Quadrants #2)

Phalon

Sitting in a boardroom was not how I’d wanted to spend my day.

I thought I would get more time in bed with Xacalla before meeting with someone from the Council of the Quadrants to give my account of what happened.

And, hopefully, Xacalla and I would be sent back to Eurebly together where we could finally have dinner.

I didn’t look forward to having to explain to Nate that I got his SDF-16 blown up, but I didn’t expect that future encounter to pale in comparison to the day ahead of me.

I woke up to banging on the door before two Gaunbian guards barged into the suite, holding their small hand plazers at the ready.

With barely any time to enjoy how well Xacalla fit tucked into me, I scrambled to a sitting position at the same time as her and held the covers in front of her almost-bare body.

“Coddleswap! What do you want?”

I’m certain I didn’t sound friendly, but their entrance hadn’t been peaceful in any way, and the plazers seemed highly unnecessary.

“Where’s Xacalla?”

one of the guards demanded with his weapon trained on me.

“I’m right here.”

She lowered the blankets to reveal her face.

“I’m fine. Why do you have plazers?”

“You’re fine, sir?”

he asked, and I realized the weapon was aimed at Xacalla, not me.

“Yes, for star’s sake.”

I slid closer to her to block their aim as best I could.

“Put the plazers down.”

“Sorry,”

the other guard said as they both holstered their weapons.

“Now, is there a reason you woke us up like that? Or can we go back to what we were doing?”

They didn’t need to know we’d been sleeping, only that they’d rudely interrupted us.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I have been assigned to escort Xacalla to meet with the task force for her debriefing.”

He stared straight ahead instead of at either one of us, and with his feet shoulder-width apart, he held his hands behind his back.

“And Senrab here is to escort you to see Minister Taleron.”

I didn’t understand why we were being debriefed in two very different ways, but I held in my argument, not wanting to risk either one of them aiming their plazers at Xacalla again.

“Okay, give us a few moments to get freshened up and dressed, and then we’ll go with you.”

The taller guard nodded as they stepped out to the entranceway and turned around. Yet, neither of them left the suite.

Xacalla didn’t wait anyway, grabbing her clothes off the floor and racing to the bathroom while holding them in front of her.

I had no time to talk to her, no chance to give her a quick kiss before she was escorted away from me.

Had I done something wrong? I’d asked for permission every step of the way and stopped when she couldn’t give me a definitive yes.

Pushing her further would have gone against every part of me and gotten me in trouble with her family.

Though maybe it was the plazers pointed at her that had made her run from me. I had no idea why the guards had believed them necessary.

After dressing and gathering the few belongings I had with me, I met Senrab in the foyer. “Ready.”

Though I wasn’t happy about any of it.

He nodded before opening the door for me and leading me down the hall to the tube.

It opened right away, as if it had been waiting for us.

Back in my apartment on Eurebly, it could take up to five minutes for a tube car to arrive, even if I only wanted to go to the ground floor.

Some beings were known to have special remotes that called the closest tube car to their location, taking priority over everyone else.

Usually, the remotes were reserved for politicians and a few others of notoriety.

Perhaps it was my upcoming meeting with Minster Taleron that gave me the privilege.

The ride was smooth and shorter than I’d expected, meaning, the minister had stayed in a nearby building.

The boardroom where we met reminded me of the training room my old space racing team used when we prepared for our upcoming races.

Only without the flight simulators.

On one side of the table, the triplets sat with contended smiles and their bodies almost vibrating in anticipation.

Minister Taleron sat at the head of the table, several hover vehicles seen zooming behind her through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the room.

She stood when she saw me.

“Phalon, I’m glad you’re here. I trust you slept well?”

“I did until two guards burst into my room.”

Glancing around, I tried to focus the blame on one of the offending parties, but Senrab seemed to have disappeared.

Chuckling as if it wasn’t a big deal, Minister Taleron gestured to the chair across from the triplets.

“From what these three Kalpierenes tell me, you are an esteemed guest, and the guards needed to be sure nothing had befallen you when there was no answer to their knocks.”

I didn’t remember hearing any knocking, but I had slept through much worse according to my former teammates.

After I took the empty seat, the man we’d met on Yatak who’d claimed he was a family friend, darted inside and pressed the button to close the door behind him.

“Please activate security blinds, Minister Taleron,”

he said as he created the largest chat bubble I’d ever seen. One that surrounded the entire table and everyone at it.

“Bubble will keep others from hearing our conversation, but not from plazer fire if our enemies happen to fly by.”

I shook my head.

“Enemies? Me an esteemed guest to the Minister of the Council of the Quadrants? What is going on here?”

All I wanted was to give my account of what happened and then leave to find Xacalla and apologize for whatever I’d done to upset her.

The man from Yatak stood and bowed at me.

“You are royal blood.”

When the Kalpierene triplets nodded as if in agreement, laughter erupted from deep within me.

“No.”

I held my stomach and chest, unable to control my amusement.

“That’s impossible.”

“It is true, Prince Phalon.”

Igo stood, gripping the edge of the table as they leaned forward.

“As Nagol said, you are the true heir to the throne on Yatak. That was our purpose for finding you, our reason for being created.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.”

I waved my hands in front of myself.

“There is no monarchy on Yatak. The Kalpierenes run our planet. They control everything. It’s been that way since before I was born.”

“Not true.”

The minister shook her head.

“Only for the last twenty star cycles. Though your mother fought hard to keep rule over the planet at such a young age, her assassination led to the new reign by the Kalpierenes. Everyone believed you to be dead along with your parents, with no other descendants to the throne. And without any type of government, the council believed it best for the Kalpierenes to take leadership until one of your own stepped forward to lead your planet, since your planet had the best trade partnership with them.”

I crossed my arms and sat back in my chair, my amusement long gone.

“And no one on the council thought it wise to keep the Kalpierenes in check? No one bothered to visit our planet to observe them relocating our villages and stripping our planet of its natural resources without compensation?”

Minister Taleron folded her hands in front of her as she swallowed.

“I admit, what has happened to your planet was wrong and should have been prevented, but no one believed the Kalpierenes to have such intentions, and by the time members of the council realized what was going on, we didn’t have a minister who was willing to stand up to them.”

“And what about you?”

I tilted my head and stared at her.

“You’ve been minister for three star cycles now. Why are you only doing something now, once these children risked their lives to find me?”

“We work with Minister during her time,”

Nagol said.

“We’ve been looking for proof. We knew Rae sent information into the quadrants but took many star cycles to find it.”

“And we’re the proof they sent.”

Ogo pointed to themselves and their siblings.

“Rae programmed the proof that you are the rightful heir into our minds and sent us in three different directions with the hope that, when the time came, one of us would find you and help you to restore the monarchy.”

“Wait.”

I sat up, remembering the picture Nagol had transferred to Xacalla’s P-comm.

“Rae was the Kalpierene scientist with you and my parents.”

He nodded.

“Not everyone on Kalpierene agreed with their planet’s control of Yatak. Many worked with us in secret to regain power. We put you into hiding and believed we’d found a temporary leader to rule until you were old enough to take your rightful place, but he was assassinated before we could present the proposal to the Council of the Quadrants.”

“That’s when Rae decided to create us.”

Igo nodded proudly.

“Yes.”

Nagol glanced at the settings for the bubble, most of them only able to last for a certain period. Though I didn’t know how long such a large chat bubble would remain stable.

“We knew they hid across quadrants. We needed to wait for right time.”

Ago smiled.

“Now we have completed our mission, fulfilled our purpose. The information was transferred to the Council of the Quadrants as soon as we arrived in Isador. We wish you the best of luck, Prince Phalon. And may you rule with a mighty hand and a kind heart.”

Suddenly, the triplets’ eyes turned black and each of them emitted a high-pitched buzz before all three of them slumped forward onto the table.

I slid my chair back, exiting the bubble and rushing toward the door.

“What in the stars just happened?”

Nalog deactivated the bubble and sighed before gesturing toward my chair.

“They were programmed to self-destruct once had completed mission. Mighty hand and kind heart phrase was signal.”

I placed my hand on my chest.

“Well, you could have warned me. I thought with everything that has happened over the last few days that we were under attack again.”

Shaking his head, Nalog reactivated the bubble.

“You’re safe for now.”

Minister Taleron leaned forward.

“Prince Phalon, you have the entire cooperation of the Council of the Quadrants as you regain control of Yatak. We will grant you security and any forces you may need until Kalpier recedes control. Though I am sure we can find an agreeable timeline to implement their withdrawal when we sit down with their leadership.”

I somehow doubted they’d leave willingly, especially with them willfully taking our resources for so long.

And I didn’t want to be the one to stand up to them.

I was a pilot, not a leader.

On my space racing team, and even when I flew with Reena, I wasn’t the one in charge.

No one trusted me to lead.

I didn’t even trust myself.

I couldn’t oversee an entire planet. Yes, Yatak deserved to be self-governed, but not by me. My heritage didn’t automatically make me a good leader.

“I can’t.”

Panic tightened through my chest as my lungs constricted, making it difficult to breathe. “I can’t.”

Pushing back in my chair, I got up and left the bubble before rushing toward the door.

I thanked the stars when I found it unlocked and raced down the hall.

As I ran, I had no idea where I was headed, only that I needed to get away from the sudden weight thrown onto my shoulders.

Eventually, I reached the ground floor, though I had no idea how I’d gotten there.

I quickly exited the building and sprinted down the street toward where I believed the spaceport to be.

I needed to find a jet and fly far away.

After running for several blocks, I stopped to catch my breath.

What was I so afraid of? I wondered what my parents would say if they saw me fleeing from my responsibilities.

My mother had been so young when she’d been the ruler of Yatak.

And it had gotten her killed.

But I doubted she would be pleased with me running away when I had the opportunity to free my home planet from the oppression of the Kalpierenes.

I needed to go back and face my responsibilities, even if they weren’t what I wanted.

I had to find a way to help my people.

“Prince Phalon.”

I barely had a chance to process that someone had said my name before a bag was thrust over my head and a hard object struck me in the back of the knees.

The impact forced me to the ground.

A being tried to grab my wrists, but I swung hard and managed to shove someone away.

I missed the other body who pressed a hypospray to my arm.

I had no idea what they’d injected into me, but my head spun immediately, and a tingling numbness spread through my body.

“We would have preferred to kill you,”

one of the beings whispered into my ear.

“But now that they know who you are, we must change our plans.”

I coughed from the sudden dryness in my throat. “You…”

No other words came out of my mouth. I could barely think of what I wanted to say, let alone speak.

“Shhh.”

Another voice came from the other side.

“Don’t talk. Just listen carefully. You need to decline your title, refuse to rule over Yatak. The Kalpierenes are doing a great job without you.”

“If you attempt to take leadership,”

the other one spoke again.

“we will go after those you love. Reena. I heard she and her wife are expecting. Or how about your former racing teammates, or that woman you fled across the quadrants with? Yeah, we’ll end their lives instead.”

I tried to struggle, to remove the bag from my head to learn the identity of those who threatened me and my friends, but my body failed to cooperate.

Instead, I fell forward, my face smashing into the ground before I had a chance to turn my head.

I heard my nose crunch, felt a sharp sting across my chin, and tasted blood.

Then everything went black and completely silent.