Page 18 of Royal Mate

18

A ddan

The screen in my quarters flickered to life, bathing the dark room in a cold blue light. I stood stiffly, arms crossed, my jaw set tighter than it should have been. After Paige left with Martainn, I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I was coming out of my skin. I wanted to smash plates and glasses, upturn table upon table of the finest food. I wanted to roar in anger. Most of all, I wanted to go after her.

I did none of those things. I fled the house and returned to work. To Planetary Defense. Alpha Station. To my quarters where I had control. Where I could do the one thing that might help. I could be a general. I could do my job.

The light copper face of Commander Zeus appeared on the screen, his oddly human brown eyes and dark hair glinting under the lighting of his ship’s command center, his gaze as sharp as the edge of a blade. Even less forgiving.

“General Natosi,” he greeted, his voice neutral, but there was something in his expression—something heavy. Before I’d requested a meeting, I’d done a little digging about the commander, discovered Zeus was half human and had somehow managed to win his command in a combat duel against full-blooded Prillon warriors.

I would not make the mistake of underestimating him. Which boded well because I needed every bit of his sharpness and his ruthlessness.

“Commander Zeus,” I said, inclining my head briefly. “Thank you for agreeing to this call. I trust you’ve received the updated reports from Insuri.”

“I have.” Zeus paused, his gaze narrowing slightly as he studied me. As if he could see through the light years between us that I was on edge. “You’re not the type to waste time, General. Let’s get to it. I assume you want answers about the princess.”

The knot in my chest tightened. The princess. It was easier when I could just call her Paige, back when she was here in this room… hell, beneath my desk looking up at me. Before the palace and the betrothal to that arrogant prince. Before she left me behind.

The memory of her lingered like a shadow that refused to fade. I could still see her defiant gaze when I teased her, the way her lips would press into a stubborn line when she fought back against the weight of everything crashing down around her. The sound of her voice begging me to make her come. The gasps and moans deep in her throat when I fucked her. Feasted on her. Filled her with my cock. She was fire and resolve, so much more than she knew. And now… she was gone.

Thank fuck the commander couldn’t see me shifting my cock in my uniform pants. Even though she’d left me behind, annihilated my heart, I still desired her to the depths of my being.

“Yes.” I forced my voice to remain steady. “You told me you would investigate how she ended up on Earth. I want to know who betrayed her mother and why she was left to fend for herself for twenty-six years. That doesn’t happen by accident. Someone planned this.”

Zeus leaned back slightly, his expression darkening. “The situation is… complicated. We don’t have the full investigation complete yet, but we’ve uncovered pieces. Enough to paint a picture, though there are still gaps.”

“Then give me what you have,” I said.

Zeus nodded, steepled his hands, and began. “It starts with Insuri’s former queen—your princess’s mother. When she was assassinated during what you call The Day of Steel and Blood, chaos reigned in the entire sector for several weeks. We know now that there was a deeper game at play, and it involved illegal weapons and technology trading.”

Holy shit.

“The Hive’s integration tech was—still is—coveted throughout the galaxy. Insuri’s neutral stance, and the fact that your planet is not part of the Interstellar Coalition of Planets, made it an ideal hub for smugglers to operate under the radar. We suspect Queen Madallaine’s murder has ties to that illegal trade. Specifically, to someone involved in the operation who wanted her eliminated.”

The bad guys wanted the ability to continue, and the queen stood in the way. So they removed her. Was that the basis of all this?

“Why?” I had to know.

“It was not widely known, but at the time of her death, Queen Madallaine was in negotiations with Prillon Prime and had been granted approval to officially join the Coalition.”

I stared at him, stunned. Processing the seriousness, the hugeness of what he just said. “What?”

My mind raced with the implications. If Insuri were part of the Interstellar Coalition of Planets, we would be required to abide by their laws. Send fighters and brides to support the Coalition Fleet.

We would also have full access to their advanced transport technology. S-Gen machines. ReGen pods. Their healing technologies were far ahead of our own. Our planet did not suffer, exactly, but we did many things the old way. We did not simply tell an S-Gen machine what we wanted to eat and watch it magically appear. We had seamstresses and tailors who made our clothing. Our weapons would not penetrate Hive or Coalition armor. I knew because I’d been part of a unit that tracked down a Hive Scouting team on Insuri nearly ten years prior. We’d managed to find and destroy them. Barely. At great cost.

Queen Alienor had hidden the incident from the people. Buried the truth. Avoided demands from a frightened and outraged public that we join the Coalition. I’d accepted her decision at the time–without question–because peace should reign along with the queen. Or because of her.

Now…?

I stiffened. “Someone wanted her dead. Wanted to keep Insuri out of the Coalition. What about Paige?” Fuck. I corrected myself. “Princess Edelene? She was an infant. It wasn’t as if she could rule or sign treaties.”

Zeus sighed, dropped his hands and leaned forward. “We will never know why the queen believed sending the princess away was her only choice.” His voice grew colder. “Our Intelligence Core has tracked the arrival of the escape pod to Earth. We believe an operative from Rogue 5—likely connected to the traitors who murdered your queen—followed the escape pod and arrived on Earth within a few hours of the pod. Whoever was on that ship most likely had a direct kill order on the infant princess. But, for reasons that we can only speculate, they grew a conscience at the last moment. Instead of killing her, they destroyed her escape pod and left the baby somewhere they knew humans would find her.”

The words hit me like a hammer. My mind raced, picturing a child—the rightful heir to a throne, helpless, abandoned, and left to survive by sheer chance. By being left. Abandoned. The thought of her—tiny, fragile, unaware of the forces aligned against her—made my stomach churn. And yet… she survived.

“So, they thought she’d never know who she was. They thought they’d erased her. Let her live her life on a far-off planet while having eliminated the threat to Insuri.”

“Exactly,” Zeus said. “Whoever it was likely believed it wouldn’t matter if the infant was allowed to live. Insuri would either fall into chaos, or the new queen, Queen Alienor, would consolidate power. A baby left on a backwater world like Earth would never find her way back. It was clean. Final.” He paused, his gaze sharpening. “Or so they thought.”

I clenched my fists at my sides, the ache of something I didn’t want to name tightening in my chest. Paige had been with me last night. Under me. In my arms. Screaming my name.

And now she was in that glittering palace, surrounded by traitors, wearing a crown that would feel more like a noose. She hadn’t wanted any of this. She hadn’t even wanted me.

I’d let her go because it was a woman’s choice, because she deserved the freedom to decide what path she’d take. Because she was the future queen, and I was no one; a soldier who followed orders. A servant to the crown.

I was not her Resonant. She had not claimed me. But that didn’t mean I’d stopped wanting her. I’d wanted her every moment since she’d left, her absence like a wound that wouldn’t heal.

“If all this stems from a smuggling operation, is it still going on? Are the same people using Insuri’s moons to trade in Hive tech after all these years?”

I forced myself back to the conversation.

“We do not know, and that is a problem.” Zeus’s tone was hard. “It’s very likely. Hive technology is leagues ahead of Insuri’s, but the Hive’s proximity to this sector of space makes your planet a prime location for staging illegal operations. We have recently discovered that Earth’s moon—the dark side of it, specifically, has become a hub for similar activities. The humans don’t have the technology to detect or intercept what’s happening there, which makes it the perfect place for the smugglers to operate undisturbed.”

“Just like Insuri,” I murmured. Like Earth, we were not part of the Coalition. We did not have the most advanced tech. “Has Queen Alienor ever tried to negotiate with Prillon Prime? Reopen the talks?”

“No.” Zeus glared at me like I was a fool. “In fact, she pulled out of all prior agreements within days of Queen Madallaine’s death.”

“There have been many here who suspected Alienor was involved in the events that led to the queen’s death, and to Paige’s disappearance, but there was never any evidence. Are you saying your spies have proof that Queen Alienor was involved?”

Paige, as a baby, had disappeared. Been followed by an assassin. Found on Earth. Helpless. Small. The very idea burned like acid. Paige had grown up without her family, without knowing who she was, because of a decision made by an evil that, to this day, remained hidden in the dark.

“No. We can prove Paige’s pod was deliberately destroyed. That is all. Whoever did it wanted to ensure there was no trace of her origin. They intended for her to disappear—permanently.”

I supposed I should be grateful for the fact that whoever had been sent to murder Paige hadn’t been able to go through with it. The air in the room seemed to grow colder as I wondered how many assassins lurked within the walls of Queen’s Castle. My chest ached with the weight of knowing Paige was there now, in danger. Nothing compared, though, to the helplessness I felt because there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

“I need proof, Zeus,” I said finally, slamming my hand on my desk. “Give me something to go on. A lead. A suspicion. Anything. I won’t stand by while Paige is in danger!”

Zeus studied me for a long moment, his expression grim but thoughtful. “I’ll do what I can,” he said. “Tread carefully, Addan. The smugglers operating around Insuri are dangerous. We believe they have connections to the Silver Scions.”

Fuck. The Scions were the most notorious—and deadly—trade guild in the galaxy. They traded in Hive tech, weapons, body integrations, genetic engineering, cloning, slaves, drugs. There was nothing they wouldn’t do. Nothing. Even the criminal Legions of Rogue 5 gave the Silver Scions a wide berth and a healthy dose of fearful respect.

I had to warn Paige.

I quickly changed my mind. No. Right now, her innocence was her shield. Her enemies—whoever they were—believed her to be na?ve and malleable. I’d seen her analytical mind at work. Sat with her for hours as she studied Insuri history and asked question after question. She would be a powerful and effective queen. If she lived long enough.

“I don’t care what it takes,” I said, my voice low but unwavering. “Someone betrayed her family. Betrayed our people. I’ll find out who it was, and I’ll make sure they pay for what they did. To her. To her mother. To all of Insuri.”

Zeus inclined his head, something almost like respect flickering in his eyes. “A queen’s life, in my sector, was, and probably still is, in jeopardy. It is my concern as well. I’ll be in touch with updates. For now, watch your back, General. There’s more to this than what we’ve uncovered, and I think whatever we learn will be even worse.”