Page 60 of Queen Isabella

It truly felt like she’d come home as she watched her hive embrace. She’d only been on this planet and with her hive forfour days, so it seemed too soon to be so attached to them, but she was. She felt welcomed, loved, appreciated, and a horde of other sentiments that made her question how she ever managed back home. It was like her heart was blooming, opening up to all the affection. This was her home.

Isa found her six heroes in the crowd. Another litany of thank yous trailed through her mind. She was so grateful they all survived this harrowing journey. She critically eyed them for the millionth time since they emerged from the volcano, assessing how they were doing. Everyone had cleaned off the ash during one of their bathroom breaks. Operar had checked the men, and she helped gently clean their burns. Operar assured her everyone would be fine, including poor Galis. Even with his assurance she still feared some of the chemicals escaped from the weapon along with the volcanic burst. Thankfully, the six heroes appeared to be healing, they weren’t coughing today, and after some rest, their jovial moods were returning. No other surprising symptoms had popped up, either. They were far from perfect, though. Isa cringed as she took in their burns. The dark purple damaged skin had sloughed off, leaving bright purple patches behind. She was assured that was normal, and the men weren’t complaining, but it had to hurt and feel absolutely raw.

“Are you all okay to walk?” Isa fretted as Phara joined her.

“We are.” Phara wrapped his arms around her and plucked her off the ground.

“I am so glad to be back. So glad all of us are.” She leaned her head against Phara’s strong chest as he cradled her close.

“Me, too, my queen. Me, too.” Phara kissed her head and joined the others on the path that led up the mountain.

Bellator

“How are you?” Invicta asked as they led their hive up the path.

“Absurdly happy we were successful, tired, worried there are more weapons, sore, angry and confused by our queen's former hive,” Bellator rattled off the list, keeping his tone low so Queen Isa didn’t hear. She was already devastated enough by all that happened.

Unfortunately, the entire incident couldn’t be swept aside. Protecting his hive and territory was a task by itself. The responsibility grew when his queen arrived, although that was more of a joy. He didn’t have nearly enough time to appreciate that wondrous burden before it ballooned again. Now the duty of protecting his whole planet weighed heavy on his shoulders.

“I understand. Although, I didn’t do as much as you or the other alphas.” Invicta nodded, commiserating with him.

“You protected our queen. You took double shifts flying back so we could rest. And I know you would protect the hive if I didn’t return.” Bellator clapped a hand on Invicta’s shoulder. Among his four legionnaire betas, there was no guarantee Invicta would ascend into the alpha if he died, but there were signs.

“Thank you.” Invicta bowed his head. “I am relieved our queen was able to prolong the weapon’s activation,” the beta whispered with a widening of his eyes.

“I don’t wish to think about it.” Bellator grimaced.

When they sent runners to warn other hives about the Blight weapon, they made sure to warn them not to touch the control panel. They were beyond lucky their queen had emergency access to the weapon’s controls, but she couldn’t be everywhere.

Bellator glanced back at their queen curled up in Phara’s arms. It was a good thing they were almost to the hive, because she had to be exhausted. She stayed awake on the way to theignivo, resetting the weapon every span, and instead of sleeping on the return ride, she’d worried about them. She was truly a wondrous creature.

“It is stunning how the best and worst thing to happen in my life has happened in the last few rotations,” Bellator ruminated. He’d bonded with his queen, but also learned her hive wanted to kill the Vorto and nearly succeeded.

Invicta’s tongue shot out and tasted the air as his gaze swung toward the trees lining the path. Instinctually Bellator did the same, except the volcanic ash and smoke had dulled his senses. Something was there, that was for certain.

With loud crashing branches and angry whoops, a score ofsimiocame barreling out of the woods, blocking the path in front of them. The hairy bipeds blended into the foliage with their red and yellow fur, so he didn’t see the troop until they were practically on top of them. Recent events had his hive distracted, but Bellator and his legionnaires swiftly recovered. They morphed into theirferoanima and surrounded their queen. Phara ducked inside the huddle, protecting Isa with his body.

It’s the Nemus Hive,Bellator quickly realized. These weren’t actualsimio.The Nemus Hive dares to invade our territory!

Anger coursed through Bellator. The neighboring hive broke protocol by sending an entire troop of legionnaires into his territory. What’s more, they crept in in theiranimaform. Bellator snarled as he squared up with the Nemus Hive legionnaire alpha, his counterpart in the neighboring hive.

“So, it’s true. The Tumulus Hive did steal a queen from our territory,” Soleno boomed, his gaze focused on the huddle protecting Queen Isa.

Bellator clenched his jaw. He couldn’t deny the accusation, but the situation wasn’t exactly what Soleno claimed, either.

“The queen’s egg originally landed in our territory,” Bellator pointed out.

“The queen’s egg may have landed in your territory, but it skidded and came to a halt in our territory as the greatInanasaw fit,” Soleno countered, having obviously examined the crash site.

“Did you also see that the queen was gravely injured and bleeding? Your hive was not there. Should I have left her to perish?!” Bellator snarled, in no mood to fool with the disgruntled hive. Not today.

“You should have brought her to our hive for healing!” Soleno roared. The other Nemus legionnaires agreed, snarling and bristling.

Unfortunately, Soleno wasn’t wrong. That would have been the proper response. That’s not what happened, though. After one whiff of the sweet perfume their queen exuded, not even the most prudent of males would have been able to think straight. Now, wrong or not, there was no way he’d give up Queen Isa.

I’d die first.

Artifex

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