The pains in Asteria’s abdomen were sharp, as if she was being clawed apart from the inside out. She gritted her fangs, nearly ripping a hole in the side of her own mouth and stretched her back, running a hand along the bulge in her stomach, waiting for the moment to pass. Thoughts of calling for the doctor, if Hines could even be labeled as such, crossed her mind, but she knew this was only a growing pain, not anything to be too alarmed about, so she rested her head back on the red satin pillowcase and took a few more deep breaths.
The girl had been there again. She’d felt her in her head. And this time, Asteria had been in too much pain to ward her off, which meant, after all of these weeks of keeping her secret from her enemy, they would know. She’d hoped to prevent them from finding out until after the delivery since Hines thought it shouldn’t be too much longer, perhaps a month’s time at most, but since keeping them in the dark was no longer an option, she’d have to decide whether or not to move forward before they struck her first.
“Oh, Perses, how I miss having you here to discuss these matters,” she lamented into her pillow. If she were human, it would be wet with her tears. She had cried for her lost love every day and night since that bitch Cadence Findley and her team of villains had taken him away from her again. She would not let the Hunter get away with it twice. This time, she was prepared to do whatever it took, no matter the cost.
That was the only reason for the delay. She wanted to make sure everything was in place before she moved forward, that the best plan was the one they’d carried out. With only Hines to help her, she realized there was no guarantee that anything they tried would work, so she had spent days looking for a suitable ally, someone to take Perses’s place. Unfortunately, that person had yet to be found.
A knock on the door had her pulling in a deep breath for other reasons altogether. “Who is it?” she called, not wanting to see anyone at the moment, especially not the quack doctor who always had promises but no results.
“Beg your pardon, Your Majesty,” he said with a nervous giggle through the door. “I have an update.”
Asteria’s eyes tipped up so that she was looking at her own eyelids as she dragged herself up to sitting. She was not used to having extra weight in her normally slender abdomen, and the bulge grew by leaps and bounds. Her back ached, and the muscles around her ribs and across her stomach strained and tore. “What?”
He opened the door cautiously and entered, taking a few steps toward her, though he didn’t come to stand beside the bed. His hair stood atop his head like an ungroomed shrub, black spikes with a tint of gray where it had been singed in the last attack. His face was still rippled on the side where the Guardian Leader’s well-timed silver nitrate grenade had lit him on fire. Yet another reason to be cautious.
“Your Highness,” he began, “I have finished the trials of the serum I mentioned to you on all of the Guardian test samples we took from Paul Larkin, and I do believe this is a viable possibility. However, I have some other ideas.”
The serum. She’d been so excited when he’d explained a chemical compound he believed would work against the Guardians. However, when he’d first told her of it, he’d neglected to tell her it simply turned the Guardians back into their human form so that they could then be destroyed. Even that would be worth the effort, except for it took several hours at best to work, which meant she’d still have to capture the Guardians and hold them somewhere while it was administered and took effects. Also, in order to be effective, they believed it had to be shot directly into the bloodstream, all things that would be difficult when facing a formidable foe, such as the particular Guardian she had in mind to destroy first. Despite her doubts, Hines moved forward with expanding the number of cages downstairs. “What other ideas?” she asked, expecting them to be just as implausible as the others he’d brought to her.
“Well, one in particular I think you shall like. Do you recall the incident in Sierraville, the one I told you about? It happened in your absence.”
“Of course I remember it,” Asteria growled, flipping her long red tresses over her shoulder. “I might’ve been dead when it occurred, but that doesn’t mean I don’t recognize its importance. What of it?”
“Well… I was thinking, perhaps we could find other Rogue Hunters, ones that would be willing to join our side and destroy the Guardians for us. Perhaps we wouldn’t need to change them then. We could just have the Hunters destroy them.”
“Yes, Hines, I’ve thought of this before.” Of course she had. Again, she wasn’t a bleeding moron. “The only problem with such a plan is though there are many Hunters who might be willing to step away from the command of those who see themselves as their leaders, none have been so brazen as to actually wish to work with us.”
“Perhaps we could manufacture some, then,” Hines continued, rubbing his hands together in front of himself.
She raised an eyebrow. “Manufacture? How?”
He shrugged. “Raise them. Make them here. Take those who are capable and force them to change here where we can convince them that we are the right side.”
Her eyes rolled back into her head again. “Not only would that take years, I believe it is impossible. I’m fairly certain that it is literally in their blood to despise us.”
He nodded, as if that had crossed his mind. “All right. Well, there are two creatures I believe we may be able to convince to take our side. They are both human now, but I should like to gain their services.”
“Who do you speak of?” Asteria asked, cocking her head to the side.
An even stranger smile than his normal expression spread across Hines’s face. “The two remaining souls who turned on them the last time. Perhaps they would have some insight. I should like to collect them. At the very least, they should stir up emotions in our enemies that could cause them to act irrationally.”
She knew who he spoke of. “You’re going to America then, are you?”
“With your permission,” he said with a nod, that ghoulish grin still on his face.
“And what of my delicate condition? You said yourself you’ve never heard of this happening before. What shall happen when this child decides it’s time to greet the world?”
“I’ll be back before then, I think. If not, there are others who can assist. I have recruited a couple of people who were in the medical field in their former lives. My assistant, Joanna, could help you.”
“But they know nothing of the child I carry.”
“Nor do I, Majesty. It should be impossible, and yet here it is before us. The baby you carry is certainly a special being, and I’m certain the others will do their best to serve both of you well.”
Holland drew in another deep breath. Perhaps these others would be better than Hines when it came to birthing her child. “Very well. Introduce me to them before you go. And, if these two you seek are unwilling to help, what then?”
“Oh, I’m fairly certain they will do what they can to help.” The smile widened, and Asteria would’ve been fearful if she didn’t know her own power.
“Well, you better hurry. The girl knows of my child. I’m sure they won’t wait much longer. I am shocked they haven’t discovered our current location just yet. I am still flooding the negative emotions, and they seem to be doing their part, but eventually, they will find us, and when they do, I believe they’ll bring everything.”
“I am not so sure,” Hines said, his lips now pursed. “I think they may be taking a different approach. So far, they haven’t hit any of our main forces, picking off insignificant pockets here and there instead. Perhaps they do know where we are but choose not to come, not yet. Perhaps they, too, are waiting for something.”
“I am shocked that my distraction could possibly have that sort of effect, but maybe that’s all it is that is causing the delay,” Asteria said. Hines had her attention now. “They’ve already moved armies of Guardians all over the world. Do you think there is something additional to the chaos I’ve been causing?”
“Do you think your emotional interference has had such a dramatic effect?” Hines questioned without answering her. “I would like to speak to the two I mentioned before to see if there is anything else, or if the Guardian Leader is so easily swayed. They might know. But have no fear, my Queen,” he assured her with a broad smile. “I have no doubt that you could do all of this on your own. None is as powerful as you.”
Asteria lifted her chin, her shoulders tipped back in confidence. “I know that,” she said, trying to keep her voice smooth. However, she wasn’t so sure now. Not only had the enemy destroyed Perses much more easily than she would’ve ever dreamed, the girl who walked in her mind seemed far more powerful than even she realized. The potential for total annihilation really wasn’t that far away, and she was afraid her bag of tricks was almost empty. She needed someone to confide in, someone she could trust, but all of her former associates were gone now, and she had no idea who she could turn to. She considered asking Hines if he had any ideas, but she wasn’t particularly sure she could fully trust him at this moment, and the last thing she wanted to do was admit she was questioning her own strength.
The baby stirred in her belly again, a reminder that there were things she had previously been unaware of that still might help her, might guide her to victory. She simply needed to know where to look. Perhaps someone else might be able to take Hines’s ideas and make them plausible. As she watched the doctor leave her chambers, she rested back against the pillows and clawed through her mind’s eye, searching for someone who might be wise enough to help. There had to be someone she hadn’t thought of yet, someone who would help her find a way to take out LIGHTS once and for all.
