Page 18 of The Queen

“Fine.”

“Fine?” It surprised me that Lex would back down so easily.

“Yes, fine. You’re right. I’m used to doing things a certain way, but you need to learn, and you can only do that if you’re included,” he replied.

He was striding away as I tried to digest his words. Not wanting to be left behind in this dank place, I scrambled to catch up. I was getting what I wanted, so why was my stomach turning over in knots?

My mind raced, stumbling back and forth over the recent events. I was so distracted by my thoughts and my surroundings that I nearly fell when I ran headfirst into Lex’s wide, solid back. Grey reached out and steadied me as I looked around, trying to figure out why we’d stopped so abruptly.

Ahead of us was a luminous circle of light. A few alpha guards and common residents stood illuminated in a watery silver glow. Overhead was a massive opening in the ceiling, leading up hundreds of feet. Balconies I recognized as the walkways lining the Pit clung to the sides of the towering hole above. At the very top, through the glass ceiling, gleamed a moon, casting its milky light down to the cavern floor.

That didn’t explain why we’d stopped, though. Peering around the cluster of uniformed alphas in front of me, I focused on what they were all looking at. A tiny oak sapling with shiny, ruffle-edged leaves was growing from the mud-covered ground.

Unwilling and uninterested in holding myself back, I ducked between my men to get a closer look. I hadn’t seen a single bit of plant life in this entire place, and more than that, everyone else seemed stunned as well. I might not know if things grew down here, but based on the other’s reaction, this was as much a miracle to them as it was to me.

The group that had been studying the sapling stumbled back in the wake of my mates’ glares and gave me room to inspect the small sprig. In the depths of dirt and gloom, this tiny speck of green somehow persevered. I remember standing at the railing of the balcony overlooking this exact place, watching my tears fall into darkness. In that moment, when I thought all hope was lost, maybe there was light.

As if with a mind of its own, my hand reached out to trace the ragged edge of the shiny leaves, but before my fingers brushed it, Lex caught my wrist.

“It might be sharp,” he said before letting me go.

More carefully, I touched it. He was right. There were prickly spines along the edges, but not enough to cause any real harm. I felt a kinship with this little tree and decided immediately that it needed to be protected. If it could grow in a place so barren, so could I.

“Excuse me,” I called to one of the nearby soldiers. “Can you arrange for a barricade to be set up around this so it’s not accidentally trampled?”

“Of course, Your Majesty.” The alpha bowed and headed off to do my bidding.

At least someone listens to me around here.

At my request, a makeshift barrier was erected, circling the tiny spark of life, and a guard was tasked with watching the newly risen plant. Maybe I was overreacting, putting so much effort into what could just be a random weed, but thankfully, no one argued. They all seemed as interested in it as I was.

Chapter Twelve

Saphyra

The march back to my quarters was quiet and contemplative. As we made our way up the winding stairwell, Ghost spoke, breaking the silence. “Is no one going to bring up what a shit show tonight was? And what are we planning to do about it?”

I was still angry at him, but that piqued my curiosity. “What do you mean?”

He looked at me as if surprised I was willing to speak to him. Yeah, I was upset, but I wanted to know what was happening.

Lex’s lush, velvety voice chimed in to fill the void. “He’s talking about the security breach, which we have no answers for. We don’t know if someone was coming in or going out. Were they stealing something or bringing something in? They might even still be here.”

“Can’t you just check the video playback?” I asked, surprised they hadn’t mentioned that already.

“The cameras in the cargo area and the hallway were tampered with. Nothing there at all. We don’t record in most of the residential sector, and the footage we could pull was inconclusive,” Ghost said, answering my question in a professional tone I’d rarely heard him use.

Well, that answered that. “Okay, so what’s the plan, then?” I asked, bringing us back to Ghost’s original concern.

“Saphyra obviously can’t be left alone any longer. It’s too dangerous,” Grey cut in, worry thickening his voice.

“We can’t risk assigning outside alphas to guard her, either. I trust our men, but with all the new recruits, an unmated omega is too much temptation. We’ll have to take shifts,” Lex said.

Grey shot me a worried look. We were new here, new to this culture, but we’d been warned against doing that, so I wasn’t surprised when he spoke up. “What about the rules of propriety we were told about?”

“Fuck propriety. Saphyra’s safety means more than that antiquated bullshit.” Ghost growled, pacing ahead of us on the metal stairs.

“What he’s trying to say is sometimes exceptions need to be made in order to accommodate extenuating circumstances.” Lex almost smiled at Ghost’s dismissal of customs.

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