Royal Recruit - Susan Grant Page 0,83
Rakkuu. He’s dead.”
“Ah, baby. I love you.” He threw his head back and laughed as they sprinted to the waiting escape vessel.
With the force of a bomb blast but with little actual destruction, the revolution of the believers spread to all the worlds of the Empire. Word traveled at lightspeed: the reviled warlord had abducted the Coalition goddess-queen to marry her to Rorkk, his son. Her divine blood mixed with that of the House of Rakkuu would have created the most powerful dynasty the galaxy had ever known.
That was his plan, at any rate, one years in the making. Only he didn’t account for how many Drakken still worshipped the goddesses. Even onboard his flagship were secret believers. When they saw the queen was in danger, they revolted.
Keira accepted the Empire’s surrender later that week while seated at a meeting table with her husband and her government’s leadership—what remained of it—her posture regal as she accepted the Drakken bid to become part of the Coalition. Once more the realm of the goddesses would exist under one flag, within one border. All except Earth.
With Earth’s leaders—along with Jana and Cavin—the Coalition government finalized the deal with the Terrans. “I declare planet Earth as a holy sanctuary of the goddess,” Keira proclaimed, “in honor of its being the birthplace of my beloved husband and hero of the realm, Jared Jasper. This holy ground is never to be defiled. It will be defended for all time, but will never have to defend itself. Earth will forever remain under its own, independent rule.” She nodded at the planet’s leaders. “You have stipulated no visitation and we will respect that.”
No unwelcome alien visitation, sure, Jared thought with a private smile, but as soon as Earth became a shrine, it would be showered with gifts from all over the galaxy. Poverty would cease to exist, as would most diseases. There would always be wars, but certainly none over resources. Earth would have all the assets they wanted.
He’d saved his planet. He’d completed his promise. Now he could finally go about living his life—and he planned on living it to the max with Keira.
As the meeting broke up, Jared saw Keira leave newly appointed Prime Minster Belduin’s side to square off against Zaafran, passionately arguing a point. Their relationship had changed vastly. It was now built on respect, admiration and trust, and sealed an important alliance necessary for the proper running of what had become a dysfunctional government.
Vemekk was in prison awaiting execution for her role in trading Keira to the Drakken, the hiring of assassins to kill Keira’s consorts and the murder of two intelligence ministers.
Rissallen was imprisoned, awaiting trial for his role in a bizarre plot to use Keira as bait to murder the warlord, his son, and members of the Drakken high command, and for attempting to assassinate Jared with poison.
Keira struggled with sending the evildoers to their deaths. In an act of mercy, she released her rapist from his forced tenure of humiliation at the palace, but the evil Dr. Parekka was still missing, thought to have vanished into the Borderlands, the dangerous boundary between the Coalition and the former Drakken Empire. The hunt was on.
As for Tibor Frix, well, his fate had been toughest for everyone to decide. The man had saved Keira’s life, no doubt about that, but the secrets he’d kept had brought the Coalition to the brink of collapse. Keira had chosen the best decision for all, firing him as captain of the palace guard and banishing him to his home planet—and his three wives!
Jared made a silent snort. Tibor hadn’t been a eunuch any more than Jared was sterile. On that note, new blood tests had proved his virility as well as his suspicion that Keira’s nanomeds had been tampered with. That had been corrected now.
Suddenly, the huge display illuminated. A fleet officer appeared onscreen. “I have an incoming message for Her Majesty.”
Keira strode to the front of the group. “From whom?”
“A Drakken military man who claims he was once an Imperial Wraith wishes to speak with you, Your Majesty.”
“An Imperial Wraith?” Wraiths were shadowy operatives in the Drakken military, feared by all, and rumored to have acted as the warlord’s personal assassins. “Why would one want to speak with me?”
“He has carried information about the royal family for a very long time. He wishes to unload his secrets once and for all.”
A terrible sense of dread stole over her. Was this man her family’s killer now wanting