Page 42 of Her Alien Prince
"Come back to me," I thought with all my might before the heaviness of sleep took me.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Trent
CONFUSION FOGGED MYbrain as I glanced around to see I was in the queen's chambers, my mother lounging before me with a gleam in her dull yellow eyes.
“Come back to me,” a gentle voice thrummed through me. A sudden sharpness of clarity made me aware that I didn't wish to be here, and it took all my self-control not to immediately retreat to my rooms as my second eyelids snapped in place to clear the fog further.
Where was Mabel?I didn't dare make any quick movement to distract my mother from her delighted ramblings. On quick survey, it didn't appear Mabel was anywhere within the queen's quarters, and that was a blessing. All my mother needed was first contact with Mabel to have an easier time entering her mind to control her. I wouldn't let that happen until more of the hive had a chance to feel the draw of a new queen. The more support Mabel had, the higher her chances of pushing out my mother's influences.
"As the first mate to a queen, don't you think you should give the other mates a chance to bond with her, Trenton?" She didn't wait for me to reply before continuing, "I knew you would understand the importance of putting the hive first, over your own attachments."
At least, I knew her plan would not involve harming Mabel beyond controlling her for the purpose of the hive's repopulation. That gave us time.
"You'll return to your rooms for the remainder of the night, and you can visit her once she's chosen at least one other mate."
"Who?" It was unlike my mother to leave any room for choice about who she expected Mabel to have as a mate.
"Me," Commander Li-aq said, entering the chambers.
"Ah, Commander Li-aq, have you escorted our new queen to her chambers?"
He wore a smug smile but, after my mother's question, it flattened to stone. "Queen Mab has decided to take up different chambers temporarily. I thought it prudent to allow her a bit of freedom for now. Once I offer myself officially at her mating Kloaph, I will escort her to her new chambers with your blessing."
"I see," she was displeased with the delay, but placated by Commander Li-aq's explanation. "It's important that you begin the mating process as soon as possible. Make sure she's surrounded by your musk during the ceremony, and that you offer her your personal nectar to drink throughout the night. That should be sufficient, but my blessing will be the final incentive to have a few of her eggs drop. Bring them to me while she's sleeping off the pleasure of the completed Kloaph Rites."
"Of course, My Queen, it is my honor."
I saw white, everything blurred with a burning flame of hatred that begged for me to rip the wings from Commander Li-aq's back and shove them down my mother's throat for the ancient treachery she was planning on my mate. These were tactics of the old ways when our ancestors were little more than animals grunting and clucking to continue our race without anything but body language, and our emotions transferred through the bond. It was taboo to musk a mate without stating your intentions first. And then to give her a nectar made from his own blood was a lethal combination with musk from the same krelin, it was no better than drugging her.
And my mother left nothing to chance in her plans... she fully intended to use her blessing to influence Mabel while her guard was down. All it took was a moment of weakness, and she could pump Mabel's brain with natural chemicals that would cloud her higher functioning. She would be in a haze, with Commander Li-aq guiding her towards the feeling of losing control and letting him make her body scream with pleasure that should only be mine.
My wings buzzed, and I couldn't stop the clucking of my glands in the back of my throat reacting to my anger.
"Don't antagonize him, Commander Li-aq," my mother laughed, even as drops of blood dribbled down my knuckles as I fisted my hands, "You'll have to learn to get along with each other once our new queen accepts him as a mate as well."
"My Queen? I thought you approved of Queen Mab having me as her first mate?" Li-aq kept his tone calm, but he was obviously perturbed by sharing my mate with me. The feeling was mutual. The only reason why he still had wings this moment was because I knew my mother thought I was still under her control, and I wished to keep it that way. The only one mating with Mabel would be me, when I steal her from this hive, and take her to Kai Mountain like I originally planned.
"Of course," she dismissed. "I'll send Trenton away on his missions off-world, and you'll have our new queen all to yourself, as well as any other mate that I choose for her. But what a powerful krelin a queen's touched warrior and a queen would make, don't you think?"
"Yes, My Queen," Li-aq droned, while I seethed. I was nothing more than a male who had inherited a queen’s venom. Nothing but a tool.
I'd seen enough dazed warriors under my mother's influence to know that just because she had control of them, didn't mean they didn't have moments of defiance if what she asked of them was out of character. They would follow through, unwillingly, but sometimes they would protest while they did it.
"She is mine," I hissed my objection of this whole plot of hers.
"Oh, my dear son," she nodded mockingly, "She will be in time, just wait your turn. Now, go to your chamber and sleep. There is no need for you to trouble yourself while our new queen attends to her duties to the hive. You're both dismissed."
Commander Li-aq watched me return to my chamber, making sure that I followed orders, but stopped at what he assumed was the only exit in this dead-end of the hive. I had done many renovations to my space over the cycles, and making sure I had a rooftop deck that overlooked the whole hive was one of them. I'd go into my chamber, and exit out the roof deck, and enter in through the heart of the hive if I had to in search of where Mabel was. It would be like testing myself before we entered the caves of Kai Mountain, seeing how well I could sense our bond. I would follow wherever it led me.
So, when I entered my room to find her lying in my bed, I stilled in shock. Was I hallucinating? The door closed behind me, and I heard noises from the roof. Quickly, all I thought about was protecting my sleeping mate, so I flew through my space, and my ki snapped out stopping just short of stabbing whoever dared enter my room.
"Move and you will suffer a slow death should my poison enter your blood stream," I warned.
"Too late, brother, I already drank your nectar recently, and I'm immune for at least the next few hours still. I drank an extra serving just to be sure." He pushed my ki stinger aside, cutting his skin, allowing drops of my black poison to enter his body with no care in the world.
"Gho-ran..."
