Page 63 of Hunting the Warlord's Daughter

The other crew members from theUnityformed a solemn procession behind them down the long marble path to present the scripture to the queen. Except for Aral and Wren, they moved to fill several rows, sitting alongside dignitaries, politicians, and military officials. Behind the queen stood her family.

Wren reached the queen and let go of Aral. Queen Annis was startlingly beautiful, with a mass of dark brown hair lit by strands of fiery red, much like Wren’s and the queen’s two grown daughters.

Wren dipped her head respectfully. “Your Majesty, I give you this book in the name of peace. The lost scripture.”

The queen took the volume, her eyes widening as she turned to the first page, then the next, and the next. She lifted a moist gaze to Wren. “It was never lost.Youwere, my child. For a long time, we thought you dead, and our chances at a Sacred Key lost for yet another generation, or for good. Your father had hidden you that well. Then, by some miracle, you reappeared.”

The queen handed the scripture to a priestess aide who set it reverently on a dais. “As for this, the fifth volume—it’s commonly believed that it became separated from the others accidentally. That it was lost, as you say. But that isn’t true. It was intentional. Always, it was intended for the volume to be reunited with the others, and the sanctum’s contents revealed and its secrets shared. When the galaxy fell, we were separated from the sanctum. It was behind enemy lines—not lost, but lost to us. Only a Sacred Key could retrieve it. Someone like you. Pure and true. You were bred for this purpose.”

“Bred?” Wren recoiled. That concept was everything she despised and had run from. After eliminating a dire threat to galactic peace, finding love with a man who cherished her as an individual and not what she could win for him, gaining friends who felt the same—it was easy to forget that once only her DNA had mattered.

It apparently still did.

Your ancestry is your destiny.

Perhaps it wasn’t so bad if it could be used for good.

“Your mother, Sister Valla, was of a bloodline descended from the original goddesses—the First Ones—as is my family. Your sire’s lineage as well, the Rakkuu bloodline, also dates back to the First Ones, but he didn’t know it. We’re all distant relatives, actually.”

Fates.She was a goddess—on both her paternal and maternal sides—and related to the royal family.She noted a sparkle in Aral’s eye as he leaned toward her. “You really are my goddess,” he said in a playful tone, very low, in her ear.

Dazed, she closed her mouth. “The First Ones, Your Majesty?”

“They came here from a distant galaxy. Ara Ana was where they first set foot in this galaxy, with all their precious possessions. A secret as old as time.”

“The revelation of everything,” Wren said, echoing the ancient blessing. Wonder filled her as the puzzle came together. The goddesses had originated from a distant galaxy. They weren’t mythical, magical beings—they were… alien.

“You see why protecting this link to our past was so important,” the queen continued. Wren was certain their audience hung breathlessly on her every word. “We as a people have not yet traveled to other galaxies. We haven’t had the technology to do so. Now, with the advancements in T-drives, perhaps we may soon be able to explore farther and reunite with our distant relatives.”

Wren’s extended family. It was a lot of DNA to digest.

“But I know you would like to hear of your mother…”

“Anything, yes,” Wren said breathlessly. “Everything.”

A hint at a smile softened the queen’s mouth. “The warlord’s extermination campaign—his genocide—threatened to wipe out every believer, every last priestess in the Empire. Your mother, Sister Valla, believed this was imminent. Others did as well. There was no more waiting for the right moment to make the galaxy whole. No more waiting for a Sacred Key to come. They had to act quickly and efficiently. She did a very courageous thing. She pursued the warlord and became his bride. For one reason only—to produce you, Wren. The blood of the First Ones was strong in both of them. She knew you would be a once-in-a generation chance to unlock the sanctum.”

Shock jolted through Wren as the queen turned everything she had believed about her mother upside down. Lady—Sister—Valla had lied to the warlord, letting him think she’d give him a son and heir of divine blood when she’d always intended to conceive a female child. She’d pursuedhim. Seduced him. Married him. Then she’d fled to Issenda with their daughter, only to be captured and dragged back to the palace. Was this the root of Wren’s memory of being wrenched from her mother’s arms? Emotion tightened her throat.

But the sisters of the Hand of Sakkara had looked out for Wren even after she’d been returned to the warlord’s control. Through their machinations, Sabra was installed as one of Wren’s guardians. Part of the secret society of Keeper Wraiths, she had kept Wren safe. Now Wren was here—in the palace—her purpose, her mission, completed.

What she’d always assumed about herself had shifted. Her blood wasn’t tainted; it was powerful. The fiery drive she often felt, what she called her beast, came from her priestess warrior mother who was willing to do anything to protect this treasure.

Talk about the revelation of everything.

“What was lost is now found.” The queen’s eyes glittered as her voice lifted in volume. “Today we shift our focus from the past and look to the future—a brighter future.” She turned her luminous gaze to Aral and Bolivarr, nodding at each of them in turn, before acknowledging Kaz, Hadley, and the rest of the crew of theUnity. “Heroes of the realm, we are grateful to all of you.”

Heroes. “We only wanted to help make the galaxy whole again,” Wren said.

The queen’s eyes twinkled. “You did.”

* * *

Released from the queen’s presence, Wren and Aral shared a quiet moment in front of one of the many windows framing views of Sakka’s ice-covered mountains.

Aral stood behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist. “Nothing the queen said about you was a surprise to me. I saw your strength the first time we met, and I’ve loved you ever since.”

Wren leaned back in his embrace, filled with love for this brave man who changed the course of the war to protect her. “After all my girlhood daydreams of you, I have to say the reality turned out to be so much more.”

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