Raife: An Aquadomina Novel (11 page)

When Sophie stepped into the room, the conversation came to an abrupt
halt. Voices died down mid-sentence and then all eyes fastened on her. The
woman sitting at the head of a long table looked at her inquiringly. She had
warm tan skin that Sophie swore had a blue tinge to it. Her kind brown eyes had
crinkles at the edges that hinted at a lot of laughter in her life. Her brown
hair was up in an intricate bun with very expensive looking pins flashing in
the salt and pepper depths. She instantly liked her and knew she was the
“Queen” of Terragale.

“Can I help you?” Her voice was surprisingly deep and rumbled out of her.
For a city based on the earth and mining it, this woman’s voice fit.

“I don’t know about you helping me.” Sophie smiled, “But I am here to
help you.” With Raife standing guard at her back, the Queen looked again at
her. Her eyes widened in shock, and then she bowed her head.

“Chosen.” She whispered. “I should have known—”

Sophie moved further into the room to take a seat left by one of the
females Raife had chased off. “Stand by the doors please Commander. No one else
is to enter.” When her eyes locked with his, she felt the warmth flush through
her at the knowledge that Raife was looking out for her. He wouldn’t let
anything bad happen to her and with that knowledge came the freedom to deal
with the Kingdoms and make a difference. Looking back at the women at the table
with their heads bowed, she hurried to say, “Enough of that please. No bowing
or saluting. I am here to get to the bottom of the issues with both Terragale
and Norhurst. With your help, I think we can clean things up.” She pointed out
the missing seats, “My commander has asked those members of your councils to
fix some problem with their credentials. The truth of the matter is, they are
Ri’Carn’s spies and I won’t have dealings with them.”

There were no gasps of surprise, or shocked exclamations. The others knew
that Ri’Carn had spies everywhere. Even in their midst.

“Well. It seems introductions are in order.” The Queen spoke. “I am
Tholl’een. Queen of Terragale.” She gestured to the females to the left. “This
is Councilwoman Char’, Councilwomen Titus and Councilwoman Plent, all of
Terragale.” She gestured to the others, “Councilwoman Vio’l, Councilwoman
Chysan and Councilwoman Dias are from Norhurst. One of their number and two of
ours were asked to leave.”

“Ladies,” Sophie began, “I was a teacher before I was brought here as The
Chosen.” She sighed, “I don’t know about the intrigues of politics and the
running of Kingdoms. I do know that there is suffering going on here in
Aquadomina, and most of that revolves around the Deviant law.” She looked
around the table. “I don’t have much time. Ri’Carn has been picked as The
Chosen Consort and I have snuck away from Castrum to be here in advance of him.
I need honest opinion on the validity of the law. In the big picture is it
better for the people if I leave it alone, or should I make changes?”

So began what Sophie liked to call “The Great Debate.” They talked for
what felt like hours and she listened to the leaders discuss their issues. The
Norhurst councilwomen insisted that the citizens of Norhurst were generally
happy with their lives, as Raife had already told her. They were mostly angry
about the Deviant laws. Not that they cared about a criminal being judged. They
didn’t agree with the previous Chosen’s decision to take the siblings for
judgment, and making them remain childless. They also had a problem with the
corruption in the adjudicators ranks. When Sophie had asked them why they
didn’t break like Kingdom Four had, they had all quieted.

“Recorded history details thousands of Chosen. Never in all that time was
it even considered that a Kingdom break from the wishes of The Chosen. Besides
all of the tradition…we needed each other. Without food from Norhurst and
technology from Aquarian, we would have been devastated in a civil war. We
still would be.” Queen Tholl’een stated emphatically. “Wildehaven however was
able to survive without any of us. They didn’t accept the law of The Chosen and
broke with our alliance.”

Sophie had already heard about Wildehaven from The Three and wasn’t
surprised they had stayed out of the way for so long. Sophie sat with the
females of Terragale and Norhurst until a plan of action was agreed upon. At
that point, everyone stood to leave the meeting and do their part.

“Remember when you see me next we haven’t met.” She reiterated, “And no
matter what I say, go with it.” She rushed to the door, “Until the celebration
then.” She opened the door and Raife turned to look at her.

“Is everything okay?” He looked past her to the faces of the Queen and
councilwomen.

“Yes.” She added, “We need to get back to the Aquavi. I will explain once
we are settled.” They made their way back to the dock, managing along the way
to dodge anyone that gave her a bad vibe. Her favorite near miss had been when
a fellow dressed like a peacock was walking toward them. Her sixth sense had
warned her to avoid him so Sophie had grabbed Raife and leaned against a nearby
building. Pulling him in front of her, she had kissed his shocked mouth before
he could ask her what was going on. Once he had gotten over his surprise and
taken over the kiss, she had forgotten they were even on the streets of
Terragale. All she could think about was Raife’s soft lips moving against hers,
his tongue rubbing against hers making her crazy.

“Get a room.” The man had snapped as he hurried away from them.

Sophie had waited until he was gone then she had grabbed Raife’s hand and
laughed as they had ran the rest of the way to the Aquavi. Sophie wasn’t given
a chance to really look around when they had left the docks this morning. Now
she was getting a good look and was amazed at the size and quantity of ships in
the docks of Terragale. There were tankers she could see on the horizon that
would put aircraft carriers to shame. She had to do something to keep the
Kingdoms together but make the changes that would benefit everyone.

“PAC.” She called out upon entering the vehicle. “Where is Ri’Carn?”

“Ri’Carn is in the Lextrium.” The computer informed her.

“Good. Launch the Castrum. Set its course for Terragale at maximum speed.
Take the Aquavi and set an intercept course. Is there anything that can catch
the Castrum?”

“No. The Castrum and Aquavi are unmatched in speed.” The computer
related.

“Relay a message to Ri’Carn saying how sorry I am that he didn’t make the
launch time. That I look forward to meeting him in Terragale. Ask that he might
travel with The Three so that I know all of them are coming to my celebration.”
Sophie almost choked on that part.

“Castrum has been alerted and launch has commenced.” The computer let her
know of the progress. “Ri’Carn has also been given your message. His reply is
as follows: ‘The Chosen’s Welcome Celebration in Terragale is something I
wouldn’t miss. Tell my beloved that I will see her soon.’ End of message.”

Sophie shuddered, “That was creepy.” She looked up at Raife and was taken
aback by the look of anger on his face. “Are you okay?” When he saw her
examining him his look became shuttered.

“Yes.” He insisted, “I’m fine.” When Sophie raised an eyebrow, he leaned
forward and grabbed her hands. “I just can’t stand the idea of that man getting
his hands on you.”

Sophie felt a thrill of happiness at the hint of possessive jealousy in
his voice, “Ri’Carn will never be my ‘beloved’ as he so eloquently puts it.”
She insisted vehemently, “I would rather be shot again and thrown overboard
before I allow that man to touch me.”

“What about me?” Raife’s question came out husky, his eyes burning
brightly in his handsome face. He undid his restraint and moved to undo
Sophie’s.

“Don’t even think to warn me about restraints.” She yelled at PAC. “I am
moving to my private quarters.” Then Raife’s hands were pulling her forward and
she let him draw her into the bedroom.

“That’s not exactly how I would have expected you to do it brother.” A
strange male voice had Sophie struggling awake.

When she opened her eyes, she let out a gasp that had Raife stirring.
There were three strange men around her bed. One was tall, with the dark hair
and similar features to Raife. The other two were fair-haired and slightly
smaller in stature. Her inner warning wasn’t screaming at her, but she did get
Deviant and very angry. Be careful.

“What can I do for you gentlemen?” She asked as calmly as possible
sitting slowly up in bed, making sure to take the cover with her. She needed to
try to get these men away from Raife. She didn’t want him to be harmed because
of her. Slowly moving her hand to her robe, she pulled the garment closer.

“Watch the hands.” One of the smaller males pointed some type of weapon
at her.

“It is just my robe.” She tried to sound calm, but her heart was racing.
Shrugging into the robe without showing too much skin, she stood on shaky legs.
“We can talk in the other room.” She held out her hands placatingly.

“We can talk here.” One of the males said menacingly.

“We can talk—” What the taller one would have said was lost as Raife
finally woke up. She saw the other males move to point their weapons on him.

“No. Don’t hurt him.” She went to jump across the bed. In that instant,
she saw Raife’s confusion at finding strange men in the Aquavi, and then she
saw recognition cross his face.

She heard someone yell, “She’s going for a weapon.” Just as she felt a
sharp pain that was worse even than being shot. She screamed in agony as wave
after wave of fire ran over her body. Then she slumped unconscious across the
bed.

When she came to, she heard Raife cursing and yelling in the main room of
the Aquavi. “What were you thinking?” Raife snarled, “You said you would wait—”

Now she knew. The secret that Raife had been keeping wasn’t what
deviation his brother had committed like she thought. Raife’s secret had been
that he was working with them. Keeping as still as she could she waited to hear
how deep his betrayal went.

 
“We have waited.” She heard
another voice counter, “You were supposed to deliver her to us. With Ri’Carn
blackmailing, bribing and bedding his way around the Kingdoms to get control of
her, you know what that means. To control The Chosen is to control the world,
and that is his aim. With or without our help, she won’t survive if he ends up
as her Consort. My people are getting restless and someone might just take
Ri’Carn up on that pardon.”

She heard Raife snarl, “You haven’t—?”

“I haven’t done anything yet. We need
her
to end the misery that damn Deviant law is causing. Which brings us back to you
brother.” The impassioned voice continued, “If you could get close enough, and
she was like the previous Chosen you were supposed to kill her outright. It
looked to me like you got pretty close.” There was the sound of flesh meeting
flesh and heavy bodies falling. Whatever was happening sounded like a major
fight. Peering through her lashes, she saw one of the smaller males standing in
the doorway watching. Jumping up and moving against the screaming protest in
her back, she pushed the male hard and he stumbled into the outer chamber. She
hit the console and the doors slammed shut.

“PAC.” She yelled tears streaking down her face as Raife’s betrayal hit
home. “Lock personal quarters, security level 5.” She remembered that security
level from Raife and hoped it still worked.

“Security level 5 confirmed.” The computer announced. “Only The Chosen
can open the door.”

Groaning slightly at the pain streaking down her spine Sophie gasped when
she heard pounding on her door. “Is there any way to gain entrance to this
room?” She was mad at herself for how scared she sounded.

“Negative.” The computer replied, “Not even a magnetron blaster could
open them.”

Sophie rolled her eyes. She didn’t know what a “magnetron blaster” was
but she hoped whoever Raife was working with didn’t have one. Making her way
slowly to the shower she cringed at the burning sensation when the water hit
her sore skin.

“Commander Raife is requesting admittance to the room.” PAC informed her
over the sound of the shower.

“Tell Commander Raife to go to hell.” Sophie snapped and then moved to
get dressed. She only had the outfit from yesterday as all her other clothing
was in the outer chamber with Raife and his buddies.

“Commander Raife says he does not know what hell is,” PAC spoke moments
later, “but if you will let him in he can explain.”

Sophie was struggling into her dress, which wasn’t easy with the pain in
her back and the water from the shower. “You tell that traitorous bastard…” She
was breathing heavy and the dress was stuck, “that I wouldn’t believe a word he
said if he was pumped full of truth serum.” She flopped down on the bed and let
the tears flow down her face. It hurt more that she had known Raife was hiding
something from her and she had let him close anyway. The pain of her naivety
was almost more than she could bear.

“Commander Raife says that you are a truth serum and if you see him then
you will know he is being honest.”

Sophie snorted, “I don’t trust anything my senses are telling me at the
moment.”

The computer responded a few seconds later with, “The Commander knows
that you are upset and hurt and would like to talk face to face.”

“Tell
Commander Raife
that if
he says one more word, I will have the Aquavi open outer doors…and I won’t
surface before I order it.” She wouldn’t really kill everyone in the other
room, she just wanted to get to the Castrum and find solitude. “Is that even
possible PAC?”

“Yes.” The computer announced. “Opening the outer doors is possible
either submerged or at a surface location.”

Sophie was done crying. She realized that she had drawn on Raife for
support and now it seemed like what she was trying to establish was going to be
impossible. Squaring her shoulders, she knew she had to keep moving forward
with her plans. More than her happiness with Raife was at stake. The future of
all the citizens in two Kingdoms was in the balance.

“PAC, how far to the Castrum?” She asked.

“Thirty minutes. There are only two vessels currently close to our
location, the Deviant’s I presume. They will not be a match for the Castrum and
will undoubtedly leave when it approaches.” The computer sounded happy to
inform her.

“Is the Aquavi safe from any type of weaponry the Deviants might have?”
She was suddenly worried that the Deviants would destroy the Aquavi instead of
letting her go.

“There is nothing the Deviants possess that would harm the Aquavi.”

“Exactly how were we boarded then?” Sophie didn’t mean to ask, she
already knew the answer and it was just one more hit to her growing feelings
for Raife.

“They had the correct code to authorize a boarding, and you never
requested they not be allowed.”

“Of course they did.” She muttered to herself. “PAC, surface the Aquavi
and prepare for an outer door opening.” Hating herself for the pang of regret,
she continued with the order, “After cleansing the Aquavi dock with the Castrum
and continue back to Terragale as planned.”

“Confirmed. Surfacing Aquavi should take five minutes.” The computer
paused, “Opening intercom. You two can talk this out.” Then she heard Raife’s
voice.