ok - here is the much awaited update. i hope you guys like it cuz i kind of don't like it. oh well. and, as always, fb is loved and cherished!
here we go...
**
Part 10
**
Day of the Summit
**
Tristan was leaning up against the side of a deli, arms crossed, as he watched Zan and Nerissa walk inside hand in hand. She blushed and playfully swatted his arm as he leaned down, his mouth close to her ear, to whisper to her. Then he pulled back with a smirk on his face. They had gone inside to get food for everyone else. All six of them had decided that they would spend the day in the city to kill time before the summit that evening.
Things had definitely changed since Nerissa had shown up. He’d never seen Zan so...free. Granted, they had never been that close in either life, but they did have one thing in common. They both loved Nerissa. No matter what had been on Ava’s mind the night they found her, he really hadn’t meant to harm her. Ava. He had been paying close attention to her lately because every time she was in the same room with Nerissa, she looked like a predator searching out a weakness in her prey.
It hurt more than he’d like to admit that Nerissa and Zan had basically picked up where they’d left off before his marriage to Ava on Antar. In their previous life, they’d really been strangers when they’d gotten married, and even though friendship blossomed, he had come to care for her as something more than a friend. He knew she’d never felt that way about him, and he was grateful that she could at least be honest and hadn’t tried to lead him on. He’d also known that her and Zan’s love had been strong and, it seemed, it still was. He let out a weary sigh as they came back out of the deli. She was happy and she was loved. That was enough for him, even if he wasn’t the one to make her feel that way.
“I guess we’ve just become castoffs now.” Ava mumbled as she came up next to him. He didn’t even turn to look at her.
“She was always honest with me. I kind of expected this to happen, even if I had hoped it wouldn’t.” He finally turned to look at her. “Don’t tell me you honestly believed that if she ever came back, you’d have even the slightest chance with him. I mean, it’s not like you guys even had anything going before Nerissa came back anyway.” He said, an amused look on his face.
She placed on hand on her hip, haughtily and pointed her chin in their direction. She looked extremely annoyed. “You mean to tell me you don’t have a problem with all of this? If they keep going like this, by the time we get back home, they’ll be announcing their engagement and you and I will be stripped of our titles. That means you are no longer Tristan, King of Aquin.” She finished mockingly.
He knew what she was trying to do. She was just looking for someone to conspire with. It definitely wasn’t going to be him. He cocked an eyebrow. “And you’ll lose the title of Queen of Antar and High Queen of the five planets of the Luna System.” He saw some of the smugness deflate as she pulled a cloak of arrogance around her. His eyes turned hard. “Whatever it is you think you’re going to get out of me, think again. I’m not gonna be your play thing, Lavaria. Don’t underestimate me or I swear to god it’ll be the last thing you do.” And with that, he walked off toward where the other four were sitting and eating lunch.
**
“So, why exactly wouldn’t you be able to go home without me? Why wouldn’t they let you guys leave?” Nerissa asked, thoughtfully. They were all sitting in a loose cluster on the green grass in Central Park, waiting for the sun to set, and night to fall. Lonnie snapped her gum and Ava rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed.
“It’s not like they woulda died without havin ya there. They just-”
“Look Ava, I know you don’t like me much, and I’m not ignorant enough to not know why, but do you think you could just not be a bitch to me for like, five minutes. I want to know the reasoning behind possibly letting a war rage on at home when they could just take you guys back. One of those ‘next best thing’ deals. Don’t be so goddamn petty.” She bit out.
Zan smirked. If there was one thing he remembered about Nerissa, it was that she always gave as good as she got. He turned to Ava, about to say something about her little remark, when Tristan spoke up. “Shut up Ava. You’re just jealous cuz things ain’t goin the way you want them to. Zan ain’t yours, he never was, so just let it go.” Everyone was quiet for a moment, somewhat surprised by Tristan.
“Right,” Lonnie drawled, “Anyway, Rissa, the reason we can’t go home without you is cause they want the leader from Aquin and Antar. If one of those leaders doesn’t return home to help liberate it’s planet, then they’re afraid it will start another civil war all over again. Then everything would have been for nothing. The people back home have been waiting for us all to return home, but mainly, they’ve been waiting for you and Zan to return to your respective thrones. There was peace when you ruled, and they want that again. Anything less would be ‘unsatisfying’.”
“But, if they wanted someone that badly, they could have just had Rath take my place.” Nerissa pointed out, confused. “And if things back to how they were, won’t they want us all back, married, to our former spouses?” This intergalactic stuff was really starting to make her head spin.
“Well, yeah, it would’ve been easier to just have Rath come along, instead of taking the chance that you wouldn’t return, but that’s not what they wanted. For the past fifty-plus years, they’ve been laying all their hopes on you, not Rath. And the whole thing about returning with the one you were married to in your past life, well, that’s really not important to them. In all honesty, the people of Aquin, Antar, and probably the other three planets, loved the idea of the fairytale love you and Zan had. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were still hoping you two would go home married or be married soon after we got there. It was the fact that you both cared so much for your people and your planet and each other. You presented a united front on everything. You were the representation of everything pure and strong. They wanted that for the ruler of their planets.”
Zan smiled at his sister. Nerissa still had her doubts about whether or not they could be together, but after Lonnie’s little speech, she wouldn’t have many more reasons to try to push him away. He glanced at her just as she looked over at him and their eyes met and held. He noticed a slight blush color her cheeks and he raised a brow. She just smiled and turned back to Lonnie, tucking some hair behind her ear.
Oh God. She was going to kill him. He couldn’t wait until they were back home and he was finally married to her.
**
Night of the Summit
**
It was around 10 p.m. when they made the last turn onto the dimly lit street that was lined with abandoned warehouses and office buildings. The one they were going to was at the very end of the road on the right. Nerissa’s eyes wandered from one side of the damp street to the other, taking everything in, making mental notes of possible hiding place should anything happen while they were in the summit and had to make a quick escape. She looked over at her brother and Zan and noticed them doing the same thing.
“So, what time is the Summit?” “It’s at eleven, but I want us to be early so we can check things out. You and I will be the only ones actually attending the summit. Everyone else is going to be stationed somewhere inside or outside the building as lookouts and cover in case we all need to leave quickly.” Nerissa nodded and they all came to a stop outside the last building on the street.
Most of the windows had been busted and glass shards gleamed in the dim light of street lamps. The plastic that had been taped to some of the broken window, long ago, floated in the breeze and cast eery shadows that actually made her nervous.
“Alright. Ava, I want you up in the third floor of that building over there,” Zan said, turning to face the building on the opposite side of the street. The row of windows he pointed to on the third floor resembled a row of mirrors, making it easy for Ava to spot anyone coming down the street, without anyone seeing her. “Lonnie, I want you on the roof of the warehouse where the summit will be held. Rath and Tristan, you guys are gonna be inside, but well out of sight. I want you all to try and hide as much of yourself and your energy as possible. The less they know about our whereabouts, the better.
Now that all of us are here,” he glanced quickly at Nerissa, “it’ll be even more convenient for Kivar, Nicholas or anyone else, to try and take us out.” Everyone nodded and Ava took off for the building across the street, while Lonnie walked to the side of the warehouse, and began climbing up the fire escape.
“Shall we?” Tristan said, turning to the entrance of the building. “Let’s go.” Rath said, as they all entered the old warehouse.
**
After using most of their hour to check out each floor of the warehouse, they had decided that Tristan would hide himself away in the room that had the only door that opened to the back alley. He would keep himself tucked away in the shadows and make sure no one tried to sneak in the back unnoticed. After leaving him there, Zan, Rath and Nerissa, all walked into the room where the summit would actually be held. It was a large room with a table and black leather chairs in the middle. The ceiling was open, leaving the second floor visible. Rath would hide in one of the doorways up there and keep an eye on everyone in the room.
With just ten minutes left, Rath took off for his position, and Nerissa and Zan sat together at the head of the table, facing the entrance, and waited for everyone to begin showing up.
“Nervous?” Zan asked softly, glancing sideways at Nerissa, as she sat stiff as a board, her hands fidgeting in her lap. The expression on her face was stoic and concentrating until he spoke. She blew out a small puff of air and turned her head slightly to look at him. “Am I that obvious?” She mumbled, somewhat amusedly. Zan just smirked and took one of her smaller hands in his. His thumb caressed her knuckles comfortingly and she turned to him with a grateful smile. He leaned forward and placed a small kiss on her forehead, quickly, and when he pulled away, he heard Lonnie’s voice in his head.
“Zan, they’re all here.” He nodded, even though he knew she couldn’t see him, and stood up.
“Zan?” Nerissa questioned. “It’s time. Everyone’s arrived.” She stood up, folding her hands neatly in front of her, and raised her chin slightly, waiting.
The first person to walk through the door and into the large room, was Larek. He searched her out with his eyes and as soon as he assured himself that she was really standing there, he walked to her side.
“It is so good to see you again, cousin.” He said, smiling warmly. Nerissa smiled back and gave him a quick hug. “It’s good to see you too Larek.” “I knew that if anyone could find you, it would be him.” He said, with a knowing look at Zan. Nerissa smiled. “Actually, I kind of found all of them, but I’ll tell you that story when we’re finally back home.” Larek smiled and shook hands with Zan. “Good to see you again Zan.” Zan nodded, “Larek.”
As soon as Hanar and Sero walked in, their eyes became wide and the walked slowly to their seats. “Nerissa, this is a surprise.” Hanar said, cautiously.
Nerissa raised one brow and observed him coolly. “You doubted my family’s ability to locate me?” Sero smiled and Hanar searched for words. “It is not that, Nerissa, it is only that we had feared something terrible had happened to you. We had heard nothing of you, Zan himself did not even know where you were.” “Well, that’s all in the past and does not matter now.” She said, in a dismissive tone, as they all took their seats.
Zan glanced around the room. “Where is Nicholas?” Everyone’s gazed moved toward the door as he came strolling in, adjusting the tie around his neck. “Always were one for an entrance.” Nerissa mumbled, fisting her hands in her lap. They itched with the temptation of strangling him with that tie, and wiping that damned smirk right off his face.
He paused as he noticed her presence for the first time. His eyes widened slightly, but that was the only sign of surprise he gave, before he sat down. “Nerissa, lovely to see you as well.”
Five minutes into the meeting and they had hit a stand still. Kivar would not allow the Royal Six safe passage home, unless they became ‘guests’ in his palace. Zan had shared a look with Nerissa at that word, who had just rolled her eyes.
“Guests, Nicholas? Do you really consider us that idiotic? We’d just be prisoners in our own homes. Why don’t you tell us what it is Kivar really wants.”
“You get to go home, while he rules both planets in your name. As soon as you arrive, you, Vilondra and Lavaria will be escorted to the royal palace on Antar, and Nerissa, Terrath and Tristan, will be brought to their palace on Aquin. You will make all the public appearances and make the people believe you are in control, while Kivar has all the power behind the decisions. Not too bad a deal considering he could just order you back and make a nice public execution of it.” Again with that smirk.
“There’s no way he would survive that, and we all know it. The people would become more unruly than they are now and it would be chaos. The deal you offer is the only one he is capable of making.” Sero bit out. Hanar sighed, and looked to Larek, who was glaring at Nicholas. “And who exactly do you and Kivar think you are? If we decide to bring them home to help fight off the war and death you have brought down on our homes, then you can be assured we will not be asking for your permission.”
Nicholas leveled him with an icy look before turning to Zan and Nerissa. “Be that as it may, I am warning you right now. If even think about returning home, under any circumstances, without accepting Kivar’s offer, then you should know it will not be a safe trip. You will not survive.” Having said that, he pushed away from the table and turned, leaving the building.
Sero let out an exhausted sigh. “I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but I didn’t think it would be this hard. Kivar has small clusters of troops posted randomly along the outer edge of the galaxy. If even ship encounters them, that he does not approve of, he will have it destroyed.”
“What about the granolith?” Hanar whispered.
Everyone whipped around to stare at Nerissa and Zan. Nerissa had no idea what they were waiting for. She vaguely remembered the granolith as a powerful device that could be used for almost anything. Why did they think either Zan or her would know where it was? It should be back on Antar.
“I know where it is.” Zan said, softly. He watched the expressions of the other three carefully, but he only saw relief rush through them. “You can use that to bring yourself home without Kivar even catching a glimpse of you. If you use it right, it will restore all of your memories, down to the smallest detail, and it will be able to transport you to Katana in, what you perceive as, the blink of an eye. If we used a transport to bring you from Earth, back to the Luna Galaxy, it would take approximately 2 years, but because the granolith can bend time and space to an even greater degree, it will reduce the time of travel to a mere 2 seconds.”
“How will we know what to do, how to use it?” Zan asked. “It is engineered so that when you activate it here on Earth, it will automatically begin a countdown to departure. You must each place your hand on it, and let your energy flow into it and merge together. It should then, help you regain your memories, and then transport you home. When you arrive, you will be bringing the granolith with you.” Zan nodded his thanks to Larek.
Sero stood from his chair. “We must be going now. These human bodies will not last much longer. God Luck Zan, Nerissa. I hope we will be seeing you soon.” All three bowed to Zan, then turned and left.
“How did you know about the granolith?” Nerissa asked. Zan took her hand and began leading her to the front of the building. They could hear Rath going to retrieve Tristan, before following them. “Vilondra found it once when we were young, but I told her to not even tell me where it was, to not tell anyone. That way, in case someone tried to find out by going into our minds, only one of us would know, giving her the chance to at least try and get away.” He looked down at her as they finally reached the front door and stepped outside into the cool night air. Lonnie and Ava were already waiting for them.
“So, what’s the deal?” Ava asked. Lonnie crossed her arms patiently and snapped her gum. Rath and Tristan emerged from the building, behind them, and they all stood in a circle, illuminated by the garish yellow glow of a street lamp.
“We’re going home.” Nerissa said.
“When do we leave.” Tristan asked, excitedly. Zan looked at everyone and could see the same mixture of excitement, nervousness and trepidation that he felt.
“Tomorrow night.” He said.