Royal Hearts
Authors: Ruth Ann Nordin
Tags: #romance, #earth, #contemporary, #queen, #fantasy romance, #time travel, #clean romance, #king, #sweet romance, #raz
Enchanted Galaxy Series:
Book 2
Royal
Hearts
Ruth Ann Nordin
Wedded Bliss Romances, LLC
Royal Hearts - Smashwords Edition
Published by Ruth Ann Nordin at
Smashwords
Copyright © 2015 by Ruth Ann Nordin
All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places and incidents are either the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any
actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely
coincidental.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes:
This ebook is licensed for your personal
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respecting the hard work of this author.
Cover Photo images Copyright Dreamstime. All
rights reserved – used with permission.
Other Books in the Enchanted Galaxy
Series
More Romances by Ruth Ann Nordin with a
Science Fiction/Fantasy Element
Chapter One
Location: Royal Palace: Combat Practice
Room
Planet: Raz
Galaxy: Enchanted
In the two years since Ann Kerwin had become
the Queen of Raz, she’d gotten used to these fighting lessons, but
Hathor had warned her that today’s lesson was going to be
particularly challenging. He hadn’t said any more than that, and
right now, she wished he had because if she had an idea of what was
coming, she would know how she should stand.
“Just one hint,” she told her husband as she
pulled her long brown hair into a ponytail.
“I can’t give you a hint every time we do
this,” he softly admonished from the other side of the room.
She stepped up to the center of the circular
mat and shot him a pointed look, setting her hands on her hips in
the best ‘do what I want’ posture she could muster.
But he only smiled and shook his head. “In
real life, the enemy isn’t going to prepare you. You need to adapt
quickly to the situation.”
“What if I give you a kiss?”
“I can’t.” He stood behind the white booth.
“There may come a day and a time when I can’t be with you. You need
to be able to defend yourself.”
Letting out a long sigh, she mumbled, “I hate
it when you’re right.”
“What was that?” he called out.
“Nothing.” Tucking her t-shirt into her
sweatpants, she added, “You’re lucky I have a weakness for
blond-haired men or I’d make you pay for your insolence.”
He grinned at her joke then dimmed the
lights.
She stood, trying to prepare herself as much
as possible for the attack. A moment passed and nothing happened.
That wasn’t unusual. The program usually took a few seconds to get
going.
A slight movement above caught her attention.
She dropped and rolled to her side in time to avoid the two-foot
vulture that landed on the mat where she’d just been standing. It
screeched, baring its sharp claws in her direction. It made a move
to strike, but she jumped up and kicked at the claws.
As she hoped, her sudden action startled her
opponent long enough for her leap over the bird’s head. She landed
behind it and quickly wrapped one of her hands around its beak then
she grabbed its claws with her other hand. Forcing it to the
ground, she stepped on its neck. It gave up in defeat and
disappeared.
She breathed a sigh of relief. First one
down. The next would be coming soon.
After several seconds, a slight breeze blew
across the back of her neck. Before she could react, something
grabbed her by the ankles. She gasped as she fell on the mat. She
struggled to roll over so she could see her opponent. If she could
see who was attacking her, it’d help her know how to defend
herself.
A cold hand gripped the back of her neck,
pinning her to the mat. She tried to grab her attacker, but it was
a futile effort since her hands only waved in the air. When she
realized she wasn’t going to succeed in turning the fight around,
she went limp and waited for the program to end.
Soon, the program shut down, and her
mysterious attacker was gone. She stood up and rubbed the base of
her neck which was sore.
“Okay, I give,” she said as Hathor left the
control panel. “What was that one?”
He handed her a towel so she could wipe the
sweat off her face. “A Paler.”
“Why would I be fighting a Paler? We’re
allies with them.”
“It’s a program from twenty years ago. While
we’re at peace with them, you never know if something else will
have the same fighting strategy. Palers are known for their sleek
and quiet movements. They’re hard to detect in an attack, which is
why they are perfect for this program.”
“I guess so.”
The last thing she wanted to do was fight
anyone. Up to now, she had been able to enjoy a peaceful reign, and
quite frankly, that suited her just fine. She wouldn’t mind it if
all these lessons never needed to be used in real life.
“What would you like to do now that we’re
done with the lessons today?” Hathor asked.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and
snuggled closer to him. “How about you let me know how good of a
job I did?”
His smile growing wider, he lowered his head
and kissed her. She responded to him, deepening the kiss. As she
did so, she couldn’t help but think that her life was perfect. She
was the queen, Hathor was the king, and they already had a
one-year-old daughter. She had the perfect life. She couldn’t
imagine that anyone would ever come between them.
But though she couldn’t imagine it, across
the galaxies, someone from her past was hoping for that very
thing.
***
Location: an apartment in Cincinnati,
Ohio
Planet: Earth
Galaxy: Average
William Nichols sat on his couch, trying to
concentrate on the show playing on his TV. But no matter how hard
he tried, he couldn’t. Ann Kerwin haunted him. Even after six
years, he still remembered everything about her. He remembered her
long dark hair, her blue eyes, her laughter, and her smile. She
haunted his every waking moment.
But she was gone. And no matter how hard he
tried to put her behind him, he couldn’t. No one had been able to
fill the void she’d left. Not his many girlfriends. Not his ex-wife
Carol. No one.
Ann Kerwin. The one who got away.
Ann Kerwin. The one who followed her destiny
to be a queen on a planet in a galaxy far away.
He’d spent the past six years struggling to
forget her, to push her memory aside, but her memory insisted on
lingering in the back of his mind, refusing to let her go.
Many times over the years, he’d recalled the
last day he saw her. A Sphinx had taken her to Raz. A Sphinx! A
creature that he thought had only belonged to mythology but had
been right there in front of him, giving credibility to everything
she’d told him about being the queen of another planet. He’d
watched as she climbed up the Sphinx’s back and flew away.
She’d waved to him as she left, and he’d
wanted to return the gesture. But he couldn’t. And he couldn’t
understand why until this very moment six years later as he was
watching the same movie he’d shown her that day.
What those other girlfriends and his ex-wife
couldn’t give him, she could. Sure, she was on another planet. And
yes, the notion of traveling to another world without the aid of a
mythical creature was unheard of. But deep down, he could feel that
their paths were destined to cross again. Somehow, someway, he’d
see her again. And when he did, he wasn’t going to let her get
away.
***
Location: Outer space near Earth
Galaxy: Average
Passing through the stars was a small device.
And not only was it small, but it remained undetected by those on
Earth who were watching for foreign matter coming to the planet.
This device had been released from Pale at the moment of Omin’s
death.
As this object passed through the galaxies
over the course of two years, no one from Pale or Raz suspected a
thing. Omin’s death hadn’t been the end. It had only been the
beginning. Raz had selected an Earthling to be its queen for a
reason. Somehow, Earth would be the key to fulfilling his alternate
plan if the first one didn’t work….and it hadn’t.
Now, the device was just about ready to be
used. All it needed was a human desperate enough to unlock it.
Having studied up on humans, Omin had been assured finding such a
human would only be a matter of time.
***
Location: Throne Room in the Royal
Palace
Planet: Raz
The next day, Ann adjusted her crown as she
sat on her throne.
“Are you ready, my queen?” Hathor asked,
putting his own crown on his head.
She nodded. “Yep. Anytime you are.”
With a bow, Hathor opened the doors to the
throne room, ready to receive anyone who came to address a concern
with her.
She couldn’t help but chuckle. Even now, he
was so formal around her. Well, he wasn’t when they were alone, but
when it came to her duties as queen, he was every bit the
professional.
Part of her job as queen was to judge matters
between those living on Raz, and she did this for several hours,
four days a week. This happened to be one of her favorite duties
since it gave her a chance to meet those she ruled over.
On this particular day, she saw two centaurs
approach Hathor.
After they talked to him in low tones, he
left them and approached her. He bowed before her then said, “My
queen, Elam and Qual had an oral contract in which Elam promised to
pay Qual 348 nems if Qual gathered enough hay to support Elam’s
family for six months. Qual says he fulfilled his part of the deal
and should be paid in full, but Elam argues Qual only gathered
three months’ worth and should only be paid half the cost.”
“Alright,” she replied. “I will call you when
I’m ready to see them.”
As he went back to notify the centaurs that
she was aware of the problem, she picked up the book of Razian Laws
and Customs from the pocket on the side of her throne and flipped
to the section she needed. There was still a lot she needed to
learn, and it seemed that each time she met with the Razians this
way, she learned something new. She read through the section she
needed and called to Hathor when she was done.
He brought Elam and Qual up to her, and the
centaurs bowed.
“It’s good to see you,” she told him. “First,
do you two agree to your oral agreement regarding that six months
of hay was to be gathered in exchange for 348 nems?”
They nodded their agreement.