In a hospital wing of Avalia, a young woman was lying on one of the hospital pod beds. Her body and face was bandaged and she looked to be battered and bruised.
Outside the room looking in was the face of a very concerned man.
King Batsaikhan heaved a heavy sigh and turned away. Not only was his son missing, his future daughter-in-law had been beaten to within an inch of her life.
His face twisted in rage. Whoever was responsible for this kidnapping and assault would pay dearly for their crimes.
He scrambled around inside his mind, looking for the most likely culprit who could possibly enter such a high security area and then leave without a trace but he kept coming up empty.
There was no one other than family who would know how to disable the safeguards and the closest of those would be Altan.
Since he and Altan were spending time together working out the details of the impending marriage between Sharina and Süren, it had to be someone else within the family.
But who?
King Batsaikhan went back to his hover pod and made a beeline for his palace. He had barely taken off when a message popped in from his Chief of Security.
"Your Majesty," the man pressed his lips together like a clam.
"Speak."
"Sir. It has been leaked that the Grand Duke of Mistvale has sent word to the Emperor of Erenveil that he will be marrying the Royal Consort Gwendolyn to be his wife
"What???" King Batsaikhan's jaw dropped. "When?"
"Within two weeks, Sir."
King Batsaikhan gritted his teeth. He had caught the Royal Consort Gwendolyn as she was trying to escape and had placed her under house arrest! How was she able to get out to be his Great Uncle's new wife?
"What happened to the guards I placed at Prince Süren's palace?"
"Sir." The attendant bowed. "They have all been slain."
"Why was I not alerted?" King Batsaikhan howled in rage.
"Sir, we just got word not too long ago."
"Get me through to my uncle, Erden." He rubbed his eyes. Whatever Erden's plans were, they had better be good.
"Nephew." Erden's face popped up on the visuals screen.
"You can drop the niceties, Erden. What have you done with the woman?"
"Woman? Oh you mean my woman? The one you locked up against her will? That one?"
"Relax, Erden, I wasn't going to harm her. I just wanted to keep her and the girl, Laura, from interfering with my plans for my son."
"Bat," Erden sat back on his chair and stared at King Batsaikhan with desultory eyes.
"Her name is Lyra. Say it a few times and try to remember it so you don't make a fool out of yourself in front of her in the future."
King Batsaikhan stared at him with venom in his eyes.
Erden smiled. "She won't just be your daughter-in-law. She will also be your cousin since I will be marrying her mother."
"You!!!" King Batsaikhan stood up, his fists clenched. "So it was you who kidnapped my son and assaulted Sharina!"
Erden raised his eyebrows. "I wasn't even there. I was too busy picking up Lady Gwendolyn from her dungeon cell, but I heard all about it from my men."
"You drugged your own son and tied him to the bed." His eyes were dangerous. "You will pay for that, Bat. You will pay very dearly for that."
"Pshaah." King Batsaikhan spat. "Who is going to do the honors, you?"
Erden nodded and smirked. "I will lend a helping hand, that is for sure, but the one you will have to beware of the most is your own son."
"He is very upset that you locked up his mother-in-law, and drove his precious bride to jump out of a window in the middle of a blizzard."
"Süren would never do anything against me. I am the closest family he has."
Erden stared down his nephew.
"If you're family, who the hell needs enemies???"
His eyes were daggers of intent.
"I still can't believe you drugged my grand nephew to that extent! The doctors worked on him for an entire day before they could extract all the poisons you had pumped into his body!"
"All I did was knock him out…" King Batsaikhan muttered.
"He was also hit with a very strong aphrodisiac! It nearly killed him!"
King Batsaikhan's lips quivered. That had to have been Sharina's handiwork in order to secure his sexual participation in her effort to nail his consent by force.
Erden crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back with pride.
"That girl Sharina was going to sexually force herself on him, so my sweet little future step daughter stepped in and pounded her into the ground. She saved him. You should thank her."
"That girl nearly killed Sharina!" King Batsaikhan growled.
He leaned closer to the King. "That 'girl' is the Princess Lyra of Erenveil. I don't have to tell you that women like Sharina are normally chosen to be Ladies-in-waiting for Imperial Princesses like my future step daughter Lyra."
He chuckled. "Sharina is only good enough to carry Lyra's shoes and to give her pedicures."
King Batsaikhan cursed. "Where are you holding my son?"
Suddenly, someone to the Grand Duke's right side shoved him over and took over the screen.
"I'm right here, Father. You don't have to rehash anything. I heard it all, and from many sources."
"Sü—Süren." King Batsaikhan stuttered. What the hell was he supposed to say to his son, after all that had gone down?
"Be still and listen. This will be my edict to you." He stood up and held up a finger
"For the crime of locking up Lady Gwendolyn against her will, I will give my Great Uncle an entire hour to spend however he wishes with you."
He held up a second finger. "For the crime of causing my bride to almost freeze to death, I will take away all the members of your harem, including your three wives and send them back to their families."
He held up a third finger. "And lastly, for the crime of attempting to kill me for your own gains, I will depose you and take over your throne. How well you live in your dungeon will depend on how generous my mother will be to you."
"Son!" King Batsaikhan raised a hand, but it was too late. Süren had cut off communications with him.
Erden turned to Süren.
"You're serious about deposing the King?"
"Absolutely. That man is scary and dangerous. He should not be holding any sort of power."
"He has the support of Sharina's father, Julian Abberbie. Their military force is massive."
"And we have the pirates and the Erenveil Empire behind us. As soon as I take down my father, the royal troops will fall inline and follow me."
"How are you going to do that if you are out here in deep space?" Erden rubbed his jawline.
Süren smiled grimly. "I have my ways."
=============
In a darkened corner of the Avalian Royal Palace, King Batsaikhan was struggling to stay on his feet. He held out his hand against the wall and tried to keep from blacking out.
"Help!!!" He cried out. "Somebody help!!!"
He heard the running of footsteps. Through the faltering light, he saw his wife Ginger approaching.
She knelt down and leaned in close to him.
The most beautiful of all his wives and consorts, Ginger was a rare find in a faraway land. Her long black hair and almond eyes were so deeply intriguing, he had married her on sight.
The sight of her face now caused King Batsaikhan to quiver in fright.
Ginger was Süren's mother.
"You're not looking well." She took a deep breath. "I hope I didn't use too much of the same drug you used on my son."
She clicked her tongue. "Tch tch. Oh that's right. There is one more that I forgot to give you."
"This was the one that nearly killed my baby Süren" She held up a syringe filled with some nasty fluid.
"No—no!!!" he tried to tell her that he was not the one who gave Süren the aphrodisiac, but it was too late.
She shoved the needle into his arm and emptied the syringe.
"Aaaaarghhh!" He cried out as the strong aphrodisiac hit his blood stream.
"Take him away," Ginger waved a hand and a team of palace guards rushed in.
As the King of Avalia was being hauled off on the shoulders of his own palace guards, his wife Ginger was placing a call to Süren.
"It's done, Son."