Page 5 of Heir of Draga

Chapter Two

Adelina

Royal Study

Draga Royal Palace

Planet Draga Terra

Giselle glared as Adelina entered the royal study. “Where have you been? Have you seen this?” Her sister and queen shoved her shreve at Adelina and crossed her arms over her chest.

Adelina glanced at Elara, her father’s mistress and Adele’s mate – and Adele wasn’t her only mother now. Elara was as well. They both looked concerned about Giselle’s attitude, but not overly worried.

Adelina glanced down at the shreve and saw it was a vid. With a tap of a nail she played it. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized what she was seeing. It was Adelina, the night before both her father and sister died, speaking out to every pirate and rogue in the Draga Galaxy, asking them to fly the royal flag and protect the people during the evacuations. Varan stood behind her in a show of solidarity, a predatory gleam in his eye when Adelina gave permission for the royal privateers to loot any pirate who did not fly her flag.

“This has been on repeat on the livestream since your interview this morning. Journalists have been clamoring to get another word with you. Everyone from the nobles to the scullery maids are talking about this.” Giselle’s finger jabbed at the shreve and then she ripped it out of Adelina’s grasp, but not before Adelina slipped an invisible piece of spy tech into the access port.

Oh, Adelina would kill Varan. She knew it was him as he was the only one who had a copy. Anger rose up, uncurling like a sleepy galina, and Adelina shoved it back down as hard as she could.

Then she shrugged one shoulder and raised an eyebrow in question. “And what exactly is the problem?”

“I never sanctioned this!”

Adelina turned her back on her sister, the muscles in her shoulders tightening as she felt her sister’s fury and indignation rise. Gracefully she crossed the room and sat in her favorite chair, crossed one leg over a knee and adjusted the grey mourning gown, her two purple bracelets clacking together against the new one Varan gave her. “You have been queen for one day, when would I have had the time to ask you? It was sent out before Raena…died.”

Adelina refused to believe her sister had killed herself. Raena wanted to be queen. So it was logical to assume someone had wanted the crown princess dead and was close enough to her to know how she would have killed herself. Which meant they’d been around since the Neprijat took Khara. Perhaps even before if Adelina’s suspicions were correct.

If she was right, whoever had poisoned her father with an incurable disease also murdered her eldest sister and made it look like a suicide.

“And you cleared this with Raena?” Giselle asked, still fuming.

Adelina purposefully broke eye contact with her sister and stared out the window – ignoring her for all intents and purposes. She would show Giselle her teeth. No one would bully Adelina ever again. She was done.

“Raena would have been pleased,” Adelina murmured, feeling a tinge of sadness polluted with a tiny bit of fear. Her deceased sister would have loved the vid, but could have punished her for it just to show her dominance and power.

Raena had been a volatile ruler, but she’d still been the sister Adelina loved. Reconciling the two sides of Raena would never happen. Every pleasant memory, every wish and yearning for her sister would be tainted with the fear Adelina had felt over the last month.

Giselle scoffed. “Mother?”

Adele looked up from her tea. Adelina studied her mother in her peripheral. The Queen Mother looked physically and emotionally exhausted but her face was hard, stern. “Giselle your sister did the right thing to protect our people. Either thank her, or move on to the next problem at hand. We do not have time for this pettiness.”

Adelina almost laughed. Things had changed so quickly in the last full rotation of Draga Terra. Adele had become who she’d been hiding all along. With Grandmother out of the palace and in her own estate, it had allowed her mother to open up and flower. At least Raena had done that for them.

Adele no longer tried to hide her relationship with Elara and the people loved it. They spoke on the streets how the king had been so lucky to have a wife and mistress who loved each other. Adelina felt nothing but joy for her mother. Elara would help her through the grief of losing Orion far too soon.

And Adele had no patience for Giselle any longer. Giselle made everything difficult. Being queen didn’t come naturally to her and she hated the meetings and attention. If Giselle could be nothing more than a soldier for the rest of her life she would be happy. But that was not the case. She had an entire galaxy to run and care for, acting as though such trivial things were important when their people were being slaughtered was asinine.

That she found Adelina a disgusting hybrid creature not worthy of her existence seemed to have triggered Adele’s protective instincts. After cycles of a tenuous, surface relationship Adelina was important, though it could have something to do with her new status as heir.

“And how is being queen?” Adelina asked Giselle, leaning forward to fix her tea. “Have you decided which armies you’re going to deploy and where?”

Giselle glared. “If you’re so curious then you should attend the war council today. Enjoy your wedding plans.” With that, her once favorite sister turned on her heel and left the study.

Adelina sighed and regret replaced the anger. It hurt more than she’d ever let herself admit that Giselle of all people hated her because of something she had absolutely no control over.

But at least Adelina had been able to plant a spycast on her sister’s shreve. The information would be sent out each night just before dawn. Because no matter her personal issues Adelina needed to be prepared, she needed to know everything she could to help her people survive what was coming. Her sister would never know and Adelina would be able to do what needed to be done.

“You look like you’ve lost weight,” Elara said quietly. She fixed a plate from the spread on the low table before her and then stood to bring it to Adelina.

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