Long Live the King

Alice stared at Alwen dumbfoundedly “How can you not know?”

Alwen felt incredibly embarrassed admitting this, she wasn’t even sure if she was actually feeling real love, or if she was just projecting her feelings. It had been slowly growing over the months she had trained with him, but it really started after she had talked to Gato before she visited her brother three weeks ago. She didn’t want to tell Gato because she really wasn’t sure if he felt the same way, but she had to talk to someone about this because she wasn’t sure if feelings were real either. So she had decided to tell Alice, she knew that no matter what her feelings really were, she could always trust Alice to have her back.

“I don’t know if they’re real, or if maybe its just a little crush, or, or” She spluttered unable to control herself.

“Okay, Okay, calm down.” Alice said as she laid her paws on Alwen’s shoulders. “What makes you think that you love him.”

“I, I don’t know, whenever I’m with him I feel like my heart is beating erratically and also like its as calm as its ever been. Does that make any sense?” Alwen wasn’t sure if she was talking pure nonsense.

“So like your heart is flying high, and it feels like that’s where its meant to be.” Alice said, putting Alwen’s feeling to words.

“Yeah, like that.”

Alice put her hand to her head. “I don’t know how I can help you Alwen. That sound like basic attraction to me, not love.”

“No its not like that, I mean there is a lot of that, I mean he’s very handsome despite-“

“Despite the fur?” Alice asked cutting her off.

“No, I was going to say despite his gruff exterior.”

“Oh” Alice looked a little off, and Alwen hadn’t ignore the fact that Alice had called her Alwen, not Bones.

“Are you alright?” Alwen asked.

Alice looked like she was about to say one thing before she stopped herself, Alice scowled and shook her head violently. “No, no I’m not.” She said frustratedly. “I want to be there for you, but I can’t be objective about your situation. Gato and I used to date, a long time ago. It was really intense and I don’t think I’m entirely over it.”

“Oh, Alice I’m so sorry I didn’t know” Alwen said quickly, little tears were forming in her eyes. “Just, just pretend I didn’t say anything, I’ll try to forget about-“

“NO!” Alice snapped, shocking Alwen into silence. “No, don’t do that on my account. Whatever he and I had is long over, I told you it wasn’t a pretty breakup. If you actually have feelings for him I don’t want to stand in your way, I just…I don’t think I’m the right person to confide in.”

Alwen saw how hurt Alice was on the inside, and how hard she was trying to keep from showing it. “Did, did he hurt you?” she asked hoarsely. Gato had talked about how he hurt the people close to him. She didn’t want to imagine Gato hurting anyone he loved, but hard not to after hearing how he thought of himself as a soulless monster.

“No” Allice said firmly. “I broke things off, we, we weren’t the best couple. We were kind of toxic when we were together. I thought he also had feelings for my sister, and when she died I said a lot of nasty things to him. It was unfair of me, and he didn’t deserve that kind of treatment after also losing Wendy.”

“But if it hurts you to see us together I don’t want-“

“Don’t let me get in the way of whatever you have going on” she snapped.

“I don’t even know if he feels the same way”

“He does”

“How do you know that!” Alwen was starting to get a little frustrated.

“Because I know him. I’ve known him for ten years Alwen, I think he likes you, and I think that you could be a whole lot better for his broken heart than I ever was. But if you don’t believe me then try flirting a little, see if he reciprocates your feeling.”

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

“Are you sure”

Alice laughed and reached her arm over Alwen’s shoulders and pulled her in tight. “I’m not sure about any of this, but the worst you can do is try”

Alwen laughed and snuggled into her friends warm fur. Half a year ago she had been worried about being trapped in a loveless marriage like her mother, and now here she was a half galaxy away from home and embroiled in a complex web of emotions.

~~~*~~~

Aster hissed through her teeth as waves of pain roiled through her body as her consciousness emerged fully from the fluffy drug addled sea of nothingness. Her whole body was wracked with unimaginable pain that nearly knocked her back out. She opened her eyes and stared around the room in confusion, where was she?

The last thing she could remember was her broken body lying against a wall in the King’s private quarters, after being swatted like a fly by Kazlum. The room around her was brightly lit by florescent bulbs, the walls were made of red brick, and she could just barely make out the sounds of music and laughter. She had vague memories of a purple angle, but not much else about where she was.

“Are you awake yet?” A grizzled voice asked just from outside of her field of vision. She couldn’t see the speaker, but she knew that lilted voice anyway.

“Domnall” she growled through her dry throat.

Domnall Clancy walked out from the shadows and loomed over Aster. “That’s Grand Chairman Clancy now, lass.”

Aster tried to move her self into a less vulnerable position, but not only was her body in immense pain, but someone had strapped her to the bed with leather harness’s. “Release me now Clancy” she growled as she fought with the straps.

Domnall quirked his head to the side “These aren’t my doing, that little doctor girl insisted that she needed to prevent you from moving unnecessarily. She’s quite charming actually, we had a wonderful discussion about tea over a game of chess.”

Astarte realized that if Bones had set up the straps then there was no way she was going to get free. “Why am I here?”

“You were on the verge of death, and I graciously offered my medical facilities to you”

“I meant why am I still here, the Astaroth should be in port again.”

He frowned “You and I needed to have a little chat. I apologize for turning off your morphine drip, but we need to chat sooner than later. And I had been told you have an incredible tolerance for pain”

Aster stopped struggling, and thought about her situation. She was in Domnall’s bar because she needed emergency medical aid after the battle. Which meant that her men had finished the fight already. And after how badly she had been hurt, some days had probably passed while she recovered. Domnall had somehow seceded the king, and now King Domnall wanted to have a proper chat with her. “What do you want that couldn’t wait until I could walk?”

“Kazlum killed King X’thar and half of the council, and the space battle for the station saw the death of nearly two-thirds of the pirate crews who call this place home, with your own crew now standing as the most powerful pirate force in the galaxy. In the long term that position won’t matter, new filth always takes the place of the old. But in the short term you and your crew represent the greatest threat to my power, and the remaining crews are starting to align with you. Your comrades have so far been waiting for what you have to say before taking an official stance.”

Ah, he was afraid that she might threaten his new position while he was consolidating his power. “If I wanted to be Queen of the pirates I would have killed X’thar myself, you can have this crooked kingdom.”

Domnall smiled “I figured you wou-“

“But I wont let you ascend to the throne, not without a price.” She interrupted.

His face darkened, “you want me to pay a price for your silence.”

Aster smiled through the pain “No, I want you to reward us for saving the Confederacy from Kazlum, and I want you to pay us for our support of your new regime.”

He scowled “What’s your price”

“I’m assuming X’thar offered some sort of reward for fighting the enemy if the other pirate crews got involved.”

“Yes, it was monetary compensation per every ton sunk. Your forces racked up an extraordinary amount. I doubt X’thar planned on actually paying any of it.” Domnall said.

“No, but you can. Call it a good first move of your new regime, to show the masses your generosity. I want every penny my crew is owed for our heroic defense of the Confederacy”

“That can be done” Domnall smiled triumphantly, obviously he already planned on paying that price. Aster internally cursed herself, she hadn’t guessed that he would have to do that to keep the support of the people, she had wasted one of her conditions on something he was already going to do.

“Second, if you want my support I want a spot on the new council of nine.”

“That has already been done, your comrades used the confusion to replace the Wrethren Terrors with one of your own, a man by the name of Richard Tooley.”

Aster laughed through the pain in her chest, “Lord help you, Jersey’s a councilman.”

“Indeed” He growled darkly, that must have not been a part of his plans.

“Fine, if we already have that then I want all your trash.”

“Excuse me.”

“All the trash and debris from the battle around the station, I want all of it, down to the smallest nuts and bolts.”

“You want me to pay you for every ship you sunk, and the wreckage from said ships?”

“Yes, and the Igrathoth”

“Done, so long as you collect it before a hundred standard cycles its all yours.” He agreed with a flourish of his hand.

“one last thing” she said softly, this little chat had already taxed her last reserves of strength.

“What more could you want” he growled lowly.

“This one’s personal. You can take or leave it, but if you leave it I will take it into consideration during any other deals or favors you ask for. This one will affect our relationship going forward, it will let me know we’re on the same side.”

“Say it girl before I lose my temper.” Domnall said murderously.

“The slave trade, I want you to shut it down, that and the whore houses. I want it all gone, and I want it to stay gone.”

His scowl dropped and Domnall looked taken aback and confused “Why would you want that?”

“Call it a gesture of good faith, it will make it far easier on my conscious to do business with you in the future, maybe we could even form some sort of alliance. But it all depends on whether or not you accept my terms, and if you keep your word.”

He stared at her for a long time before he stood up and fixed the lapels on his shirt “The slave trade has long been more costly than its worth, it has been a drain on the Confederacy’s funds. And those nasty Har-house’s are a hazard to public health, until they clean up and can prove their workers are there via their own free will, they will remain closed for the foreseeable future. I plan a great deal of changes for the Confederacy and these will only be the first” he said quickly.

Aster smiled “Good, then if you’d please, could you turn the morphine back on.”

Domnall looked at her and smiled softly “Of course, and when next you wake it will be on your own ship.”

He reached over and turned the drip back on, and slowly Aster felt her consciousness fade once more as the pain went away.

“Sleep well, you little Devil.” She heard Domnall say when her eyes had sunk closed. “We still have much to do before we can make the Union pay for what they did to Earth.”