"Okay, then could you two grab onto my arm since you don't have an idea of where you're going for this meeting," Sam asked as Shanda stepped towards Tracy and Maurine.
"I'll take you two to where the four of you will be staying," she began, "the advisors don't need to be with their royals all the time."
"See you guys later," Tracy said as she and Maurine grabbed their guard's arm and flashed out.
"Before we leave," I said, suddenly remembering something, "both of our mothers found their soulmates."
Aili's smile widened when she heard, "You got to meet my mother's soulmate," she asked as I nodded, "who is it? Is she nice?"
Sam chuckled as Aili looked at me expectantly, "My mother is your mother's soulmate," I said as her smile disappeared and her eyes widened.
"You're kidding," she said as Sam shook her head
"No," the minor goddess began, "she isn't. She found this out after her speech while you were still in the hospital. Their guard thinks it's a little ironic," she said as I chuckled
"It is more than ironic," I began as I looked at Aili, "it's weird to think of," I said with a small chuckle. "Especially when their wedding comes," I added as she chuckled
"That's how we could cover you two," Sam said suddenly as I turned to look at her
"You do know that Liliane said that we should be ourselves and hide in the crowd right," I asked as her shoulders sagged
"Right, but in the case that you two do need to be hidden, we could cover you like the sisters you will become when your mothers marry," she explained, and I nodded
"Don't you think the news and paparazzi will figure out who our parents are," Aili asked as Sam shrugged
"We'll find out," she said, "now come on, we have to see Cliff before the end of the day."
We nodded one last time before grabbing onto Sam's hand and teleporting. "I have to say," I began once we landed. "Sidesaddle is a lot less comfortable than teleporting on your own," I finished as I rotated my shoulder.
"The White House looks amazing," Aili said in awe as I turned to notice her staring at the big white building.
"Have you been to D.C. before," I asked her as she shook her head, "well then, I hope you enjoy your trip here, my dear."
Just then, I heard a crowd of people cheering. I turned to see a crowd coming towards us. "Well, there's the paparazzi," Aili said as Sam took us by the hand and led us through the gates.
"I didn't think Mic would return your looks to you right when your feet touch the earth," Sam muttered as the gates closed behind us.
"Other than being more beautiful, I didn't see a lot different with Aili," I said as I looked at her and thread my fingers through hers.
Aili blushed, "Ever the charmer," she said as we walked the path to the White House. "Within this year, your eyes have changed three colors while mine has stayed the same," she said as I arched an eyebrow. "Your eyes went from that grey-blue color to grey then to sky-blue then back to grey."
"That is quite a lot of eye color changing," I said as I held onto her hand, and we approached the door.
"State your name and business," the guard at the door said as I looked at him.
"Long time no see Vince," I said with a smile as he lifted his glasses to look at me.
"Miss Layzer," he said in shock, then looked at Sam, "my apologies Mrs. Murphy, I didn't recognize you and the royals that you were with."
Sam blushed at being called by her last name as Aili, and I blushed at Vince's bow. "Please call us by our first name Vince and you are forgiven. You probably didn't expect to see us here anyway," I said with a grin. "Could you please show us where Cliff is so we can talk?"
He nodded before turning on his heels, leading us into the magnificent building, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Aili," he began. "I hope you are doing well," he said
"I'm doing a lot better thanks to the doctors and time," Aili said with a smile as we looked around the hall.
"I wonder how the founding fathers would take this soulmate project," I said under my breath as we passed a painting of George Washington.
"I'm pretty sure he would be fine with this," she began, "not sure about Hamilton and Jefferson, but I think Madison would appreciate it."
"I think Hamilton and Jefferson would go with opposite sides just to spite each other," I said with a chuckle just as we stopped behind Vince at a door that he knocked at not too long ago.
"You may be right on that point," a voice said behind us, making us jump, "my apologies for scaring you. I wanted to talk to my husband before his next meeting."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Lee," I began as she smiled, "I am Liz Layzer, and this is Aili, my soulmate that I'm pretty sure your husband has talked non-stop about us."
"Nothing but positive things," she said as she shook my offered hand, "it's a pleasure to meet you as well. If I remember correctly, my husband mentioned you being a possible King of the religion in charge of this. Is that true, and if so, how goes the training?"
"Mrs. Lee," I began with a smile. "I was actually going in there to talk with your husband about what's going on. If you both wouldn't mind, would you like to listen in on the update?"
Her smile widened, "I would love to," she said as she looked behind us just as the sound of the door opening came to our ears.
"I hope you take care of yourself, sir," Cliff's voice said as a disgruntled man walked out of the office and down the hall. "Well, it's nice to see some familiar faces," he said as we looked at him, "would you like my wife to be involved in this update?"
"It seems best that you two know of this information," I said with a nod, "Sam could you stand guard with Vince?"
"As you wish, milady," she said before stationing herself near the door, her comfortable clothes changing into a secret service uniform.
Aili and I groaned as Cliff waved us in, "Come on in, sadly we don't have all day to catch up."
"You're not wrong there, sir," I said as I walked in with Aili. The sight of the oval office took my breath away as it looked similar to the throne room. "Now, this is an office," I said as Cliff chuckled while closing the door.
"Yes, it is," he said with a smile as he admired the room, "now," he began as he took a seat behind his desk. "What's going on in the godly part of the world? How are the King and Queen doing? If I remember correctly, they wanted to see you for something urgent. More importantly, how are you feeling Aili," he asked, "last I saw you; you had a ventilator and a cast on your neck, and now you're healed."
Aili and I chuckled as I saw a faint blush across her cheeks, "I am doing well, Mr. President," she began as Cliff raised his hand.
"Please," he began, "you do not have to extend formalities to me. I do not call you two 'Your Royal Highness' do I?"
I chuckled, "No, you don't, Cliff," I began, "first of all because we would be getting tired of it ourselves and second of all because they don't normally use those titles for us."
"Well then, what do they use if I'm talking to royalty in public and the people know who they are," he asked, leaning back in his chair.
I smiled, "My King," I began pointing to myself, then I pointed to Aili, "my Queen."
Cliff fell out of his chair, "Are they calling you by your future titles, or is that your real title?"
"The latter," Aili began for me, "but please don't bow to us. That's starting to make me uncomfortable."
"I second that," I said with a grin as I watched Cliff stand up and brush himself off. "Sorry for that surprise, Cliff," I added, "we were kind of thrown headfirst into this. It wasn't in the training plan."
He gingerly sat back in his seat, asking, "What was the original plan?"
I sighed, "It was for us to train at the camp somewhere in Ohio," I began. "We were to go in as new demigods of the religion be claimed and announce what I told you in our last meeting. Well, all of the gods appeared once I said that with Sam telling me the news of the former King and Queen dying. That same day we also found out the war was inevitable thanks to an attack in South America. This morning we were woken up by one of the enemy's trusted monsters. He was at the borders asking us to surrender. Apparently, this was a monster that knew the former King very well, and my acting wasn't very good."
"No, your acting was perfect. It was just our planning and informing that was wrong," Aili interrupted. "The monster saw through our façade when she said that you'd have a council meeting about surrendering. I have to say, though, you did do a good job of taking him down," she finished with a smile.
"So, what's your plan with this war," Cliff asked as he leaned on his desk.
"We had a council meeting after that," I began, "we concluded that the best idea was that we keep an eye on our domains and for our advisors and us to train as planned."
"Where are you going to during this," Cliff began, "can I still give you that spokesperson job that we talked about?"
"Liliane," Aili began. "Our goddess of wisdom said that it would still be best if we had it considering the position we're in with the mortal world and the godly world. She thinks that it's best for us to still live our lives as the first soulmates. I agree with her because what would the world do if we disappeared off the face of the Earth?"
"That's a good question," Cliff said, "and a good plan," he paused once more. "Have Sam send me the address of where you and your advisors are staying. I want you to be protected as much as possible."
I nodded, "Would you like her to be in charge of which secret service members to be stationed at our place of stay?"
Cliff thought for a minute before answering, "Yes, that seems like a good idea. Honey, could you get Mrs. Murphy so she can be included in this?"
Mrs. Lee smiled, "Yes, I can," she answered before ducking out of the office and coming back in with Sam.
"Is everything okay," she asked, looking around the room
"Yes," I began, "everything is fine. Cliff would like to offer something to make your guarding a little easier."
She turned to Cliff taking off the sunglasses, and looked him in the eye, "What is this offer, Mr. President?"
Cliff paled as he looked back at the intense glare of our guard, "Okay, first of all, Sam, the formalities aren't necessary with us. Secondly, you do not have to scare him like that," Aili said as I fell off the couch laughing. "Liz, be careful," she said after flinching, "are you okay?"
I got up, rubbing my head, "Yeah," I began, "I'm fine; it's just seeing Cliff's reaction to her glare."
"You have to remember that I can feel that too," Aili muttered as she, too, rubbed her head. "I don't blame you for laughing, though. That was pretty funny," she added with a smile.
"Well, it's good to know that my husband isn't the only partner who's clumsy," Mrs. Lee said as she suppressed a giggle.
"I tried to tell her to stop hurting herself once, and she shot back with it's like telling her not to breathe," Aili complained as Mrs. Lee smiled.
"That's right for many people," she said, "Cliff would trip over everything when he was younger and still does from time to time."
Cliff then cleared his throat as he pushed himself in his chair, "Right," he began. "What I invited you here to ask you is that would you mind choosing the secret service members to protect your soulmates as well as whoever you'll be staying with?"
Sam thought for a minute before saying a name, "Shanda."
Suddenly her wife appeared in the room with us, "What's up, Sams," she said with a smile, then looked around, "Is everything okay?"
"Yes, everything's fine, dear," Sam said as Shanda glanced in Aili and I's direction. "I need your say on something since we'll be protecting the four of them together."
"Wait, there's four of you to protect," Cliff exclaimed as I glanced at him.
"Yes," I began, "as you already know, there's Aili, and I but both of us have advisors. Would you like to know about who they are," I asked as Cliff nodded. "The first is Tracy Mitchell," I began, "she and I have been friends since high school and met Aili in college. The second is her soulmate Maurine Naake. I have not known her very long, but she seems to be a nice and trustworthy person. Shanda here is their guard; she is also Sam's wife."
Cliff nodded as Sam explained everything to Shanda, "Okay," her wife said with a nod. "I'm fine with that as long as I get to pick with you," she added, then looked at Cliff. "Is that alright with you sir," she asked as he smiled.
"Yeah," he began rubbing his face in exhaustion, "since you two are the head of protection, I won't mind it if both of you choose."
The two wives nodded as I watched Shanda weave her fingers through Sam's. "Thank you, sir," she began as I felt Aili's headrest on my shoulder, "here's the address so you can send them to our house, but if you excuse us, sir, it looks like these two need some rest."
As she said this, I looked at Aili, "Are you okay," I asked as she smiled tiredly.
"Fighting off your lightning was a pain in the ass," she muttered as I chuckled, "how are you not this exhausted?"
"I am, but I know how to hide it better through acting," I said with a smirk, "thank my dad's family for that."
"I guess that's one thing to thank them for," she mumbled as I wove my arm behind her back and started rubbing it. "How in the world am I paired with a caring person such as you?"
"Luck," I suggested as the two guards turned to me, "I think that's the only thing to put it up to."
"Fate," Sam answered for me, "if you remember, you two had crushes on each other even before the project, so it was Fate that brought you two together."
"Yeah, that sounds right," Aili said dreamily as I felt exhaustion ebb at my conscience. "Can we go home now? I'm about to fall asleep on Liz's shoulder thanks to her power."
I chuckled as she jabbed at my chest, "I think they're ready to take us back, Aili," I said as I looked at Sam, who nodded, "do you wanna keep clinging to me while we teleport there?"
As soon as I finished asking that question, Aili wrapped her arms around my waist, saying, "I'm not moving from your side."
I chuckled as I stood up, and Sam grabbed my hand, "Can she sidesaddle travel like this?"
"Yes, she can," Sam answered with a grin, "Shanda and I had traveled like that many times when one of us used most of our power."
"Well then," I began as I rubbed Aili's shoulder, "let's go home."