Eternal Kingdom
Chapter Three

We arrived at the meeting room a few minutes late, and I apologized sincerely for my tardiness. Rory's eyes immediately met mine, but I glanced away.

I really wasn't ready to face him yet. Call it petty, but I felt genuinely disappointed in how he had been acting. It was single-handedly injuring my confidence in our relationship, which was something I never imagined Rory was capable of doing. Hopefully, Bastion would be able to get some more information out of him. And hopefully it would happen without any fighting.

I sat in my normal spot where my lunch was waiting for me. Rory's hand sought mine, giving it a light squeeze, making me flinch.

"Hey." He whispered, concern lacing his features. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Thanks for the food." I added, not wanting to be rude, regardless of my annoyance. He bit his cheek, clearly picking up on my mood.

"Are you mad at me?"

I could've pulled the whole 'I'm not mad, I'm disappointed' line, but I really didn't feel like causing drama in front of my court.

"I'm really sorry, Aria. I didn't mean to. I was just caught up in the moment." His soft and smooth voice was tempting me to forgive him, but the problem was that he had still lied to me about it.

Ignoring him, I stood, pulling the attention of my court. "Shall we get started?" I clapped my hands together, pretending not to hear Rory huff beside me.

"As we all know, our Kingdom has been struggling with supporting its people. Vegas is pretty much destroyed, literally and figuratively, and most of our supernaturals have been laid off of their jobs because of it.

Well, I spoke to Lord Lysander and he brought another matter of concern to my attention. We all know now that King Lorec's power lies in his ability to control the skies, his vast support of angels, and his skills in dark magic. This makes us incredibly vulnerable to extinction by being so clumped up, since one bolt of lightning and our mansion is burned to the ground.

We have no doubt that he knows where we are, and the possibility is also there that he plans on giving our location away to hunters, which could obviously spell trouble for us. It would keep his hands and reputation clean while also getting rid of the final two supernatural species on earth.

Well, all of this to say that I thoroughly believe a move is in order. We can't stay here. We won't last, especially not the one to two more years that the gods expect it will take for me to succeed against The Dark King.

I had asked Brett to analyze the best way to split up our citizens as not to keep them too vulnerable. Please." I gestured to our Court Advisor who stood with a stack of papers in his hands, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Thank you, Queen. After seeking council and many votes, we have decided to stick to spreading out along the east coast. We know that King Lorec's Palace is located in London, so the closer we could be to there for the sake of quick movement, the better. We have some plans regarding gathering intel that Anthony will explain a little later. Thankfully, the ARIA already had a private jet that we can use for quicker travel.

The Queen and Priest, of course, will have access to the Lord's teleportation abilities, so the jet will be kept with our General in the home we purchased in Miami. Here is the list of our court assigned locations along with jobs that have been lined up for those who are capable of working."

He began to hand papers around the table, making me chew my lip in anticipation. This would be a surprise, even for me, and I wasn't sure where we were going.

Silence ensued as we all eagerly scanned the page in haste and excitement.

"Relocation Assessment

Queen Aria, King Bastion, King Rory, Prince James, Princess Lilly

Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Jobs:

King Rory- Finance Data Analyst at MinCorp

King Bastion- Homekeeper/Personal Guard to Queen

Queen Aria- Unemployed

High Priest Jesse

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Job: Personal Assistant at Brecken Law Firm

Messenger Dylan

Location: New York City, New York

Job: Bank Teller at American Bank

Advisor Brett Lawson

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Location: Charleston, South Carolina

Job: General Manager of Operations at Green Construction

General Anthony & Kimberly Wilson

Location: Miami, Florida

Jobs:

Anthony- VP of Lime Corp

Kimberly- Data Entry Analyst at Lime Corp

Lietenunt Cory Thompson

Location: Savannah, Georgia

Job: Security Detail at Cord Estates"

I blinked several times as I filtered through the information. So many questions sprang to mind, but before I opened my mouth, my Kings began to speak.

"I don't have a real job? Why the hell?" Bastion questioned, appearing genuinely confused. Brett pushed up his glasses.

"According to my calculations, you won't really need to bring in money with Rory's backing. Besides, the children will need tended to if Aria needs to leave suddenly for official business."

It all made sense, but I could tell it wounded his pride since he casted an annoyed glare at his best friend.

"And why are my dad and Kim living together?" Ah, this was my next question, even though I already knew the answer.

The two looked worriedly at each other before Anthony cleared his throat.

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"We decided to stick close by one another. I want to be able to protect her if something goes wrong." He responded coolly, but it was obvious that it wasn't the entire truth. Before Rory could protest, I reached over, running my thumb along his tensed fist atop the table. He instantly relaxed at the powerful sensations it evoked and looked up at me with adoring eyes.

I loved him so much.

"That's fine. But how about your wife? And Alex?" I asked, glancing towards Jesse who was blushing profusely. Alex had moved into his room in the mansion a week ago, so I had no doubt that he would want to live with her.

"Oh, they just aren't listed. I only listed court staff. Each other member of our Kingdom also has assignments that keep them within a hundred miles of at least one of the court members. That way we are nearby should they need anything. Of course, Rose will be with me." He smiled warmly at the thought. They really were the perfect couple.

"You did an excellent job, Brett." I praised, seriously impressed. "It must've taken you awhile to line all of this up."

He shrugged, bashfully accepting my compliment.

"I had a lot of help. I can't take full credit. I've also included some packets for each of you with more details about your relocations. Things like nearby shops, your new home addresses, and details for work, such as schedules and job descriptions."

"God, you're amazing." I complimented him once again, earning a subtle groan from both my Kings. Jeez.

"Alright, I suppose it's my turn." Anthony stood, straightening his suit jacket. "As he said, we have a plan for infiltrating the King's palace. I have selected a handful of spies that we can use to slip into London under the guise of wanting to serve him faithfully. For security reasons, not even our own court besides myself will know their identities. They will report directly to me, and hopefully we can learn more about this King and his weaknesses. I have a feeling that it won't be as simple as overthrowing him. I'm afraid there will be a full blown war at the end of this."

The room grew quiet in reflection. Shit, I didn't want a war. War meant that even more people would die. But Lysander assured me that it wouldn't be any more than last time. I hoped it wouldn't come to genocide...

"What are the current death counts?" I asked quietly, not really wanting to know but needing to.

"Estimates say that we've lost about one third of the population thus far, Queen. That's global numbers."

"Shit." Dylan muttered what we were all thinking.

"Come on, guys. I know things are bleak, but they will get better. I promise. Remember what we are fighting for. We can do this." My little pep talk seemed to ease the tension, but only barely. "When's the move?" I directed at Brett. He shrugged, looking unsure of how we would respond.

"We leave in three days"

Holy Shit.