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  Erica’s eyes darkened and filled with tears. She looked down at her with a troubled expression. “Honey, Hannah didn’t make it. There were only seven survivors of the Initiation Two. Travis was one of them. And now you, of course.”

  Isabella’s hand flew to her breast. She had Hannah’s note safely tucked away inside her bra, close to her heart. Tears flowed freely. “Are... are... you sure? I survived... and... I—”

  “Yes, hon. Quite a few of the computers were damaged. The others died instantly without ever waking up. They didn’t suffer, Izzy.”

  “Then how can I still be alive?”

  “If you were a stowaway, you must have been hooked up to the same computer that controlled the seven stasis units that survived the crash. When the ship crashed, you automatically came out of stasis. How have you survived all this time?”

  The handsome man Isabella recognized from the picture with Erica approached her and pinned a small device to her dress. “This is a translator. Now we can understand each other. I am Laro, Erica’s mate.”

  “Mate? As in husband?” Isabella asked. “Tanoth showed me some images on his pad, but I found it hard to believe it was actually a wedding.”

  Erica smiled. “Yes. I’m married. But let’s go inside, and you can tell us everything.”

  Chapter Five

  Isabella could finally understand the man... or lion? His deep, sexy voice was husky as he introduced himself again.

  “My name is Tanoth. I am a lion shifter. I am sorry I scared you in the forest.”

  “A lion shifter? I thought that kind of stuff was all fictional, stuff you read in books or see on TV.”

  “Not on this planet. It’s very real, Izzy,” Erica said.

  Though she was still deeply upset at the news of Hannah’s death, Isabella couldn’t help but be awed by the house and its surroundings. It was almost too much to take in. She had never seen anything like it on Earth.

  “Are you hungry?” Erica asked. “Cook has prepared a late dinner for us. Tanoth contacted us and told us he’d found you. I had no idea that he was talking about Hannah’s sister. His pronunciation of your name wasn’t quite correct, and I had no clue who you could be. We thought we had all the survivors from the seven ships and the area was cleansed of all the debris from the Initiation Two. Your unit must have fallen far away from where the crash site was.”

  “I was surprised to find the unit. Yes, it was quite far from where the ship crashed.” Tanoth helped himself to bread and cheese.

  “Everyone from the relocation program is here?” Isabella asked.

  “Almost. We suffered some losses, but many survived,” Erica told her.

  Sadness overwhelmed Isabella’s heart. Her sister wasn’t that lucky. Hannah was gone. She’d never see her again—the sister she was so close to, who had bent ass over backward to get her on that ship. Never would they sit together on her bed, giggling over stupid stuff, or play with each other’s hair, concocting new hairdos. Hannah painting her nails, putting makeup on her face. It swished through her mind in flashes and pain pierced her heart.

  Tanoth sat next to her at the dinner table. When she didn’t touch the food, he took her plate and filled it for her. The last thing she wanted was to eat right now. Her grief was almost too heavy to bear. She’d had second thoughts about it all, then had agreed anyway, and now... here she was. By herself. No Hannah, who had been the main force behind the stowaway plan and had been so happy when Isabella had drawn the short straw.

  “We can talk more tomorrow if you like,” Erica said in a soft tone. “We’ll understand if you want to be alone with your grief. And not to worry. I’ll take care of you. Hannah was one of my best friends, as you know.”

  “No, I don’t want to be by myself. I’ve been alone for God knows how long, so I’d rather talk. It has been months. I survived through the winter. I’ve become a master thief. I lived in a hollow tree. And somehow, I never got caught when I stole. Some guardian angel was watching over me. And the strangest part of it all, every night as I drifted off to sleep, a voice told me to be patient. He would come. And then he did, and he’s sitting next to me right now. And even weirder, he was a lion first and freaked the living daylights out of me. I thought I’d met my end.”

  Erica cleared her throat. “Okay, first, you’re on a planet called Ierilia. It’s in a different universe. Our ships met with an asteroid belt and were badly damaged. We were hurled into this system, and all the ships and the cargo ships crashed here. We’ve found them all.”

  “The forest I woke up in was magical. It was fairytale beautiful. When I began to explore, I found a small village.”

  “That would be Xandero,” Tanoth said.

  “Whatever the name... the first time I snuck into the village at night I stole some clothing from the market. I had to blend in.”

  “Secondly, what’s more important to me, how did you end up as a stowaway and how was this all possible?” Erica questioned.

  “Hannah...” Her voice broke, and she stopped for a moment. “Hannah didn’t want to leave me behind. Of course my cousins wanted to go, too. They’re not much older than me. Their parents both died of the virus, so they had lived with us for a long time. It caused a lot of argument, and they had almost abandoned the plan. They all decided that we draw straws. Between my parents, who mortgaged their house and emptied their bank accounts to pay for almost everything that was needed, and my two cousins and their savings, they came up with a plan. Travis and Hannah chipped in whatever they had. But then it was still a toss-up who was to go out of the three of us. We drew the straws. I was the lucky one. Lucas and Jeff work at NASA. There were extra stasis units in storage. My cousins stole one of them. Jeff was in charge of the computer technology on the ships. He was able to wire one of the computers into the cargo bay of the Initiation Two. They built a crate to disguise the stasis unit. The night before take-off, they placed me in it, and closed the crate, then loaded me onto the ship.”

  “Wow. That’s all I can say, Little Miss Stowaway.”

  “If you talk to Travis... you said he is still alive?”

  “Yes, he is.”

  “Travis can tell you about the whole plan. Like I told you, he was heavily involved, as was Hannah.”

  “And you woke up in the forest near Xandero. It’s beyond fantasy. Gorgeous. We were there not long ago,” Erica said. “Tanoth, what did you think when you came upon this young woman?”

  Tanoth grinned. Taking Isabella’s hand, he squeezed it. “She was a mirage, the woman who stepped out of my visions. I’ve seen her so often in my dreams but dared not think she could ever be real. I thought I had conjured her up—a fantasy of how I would picture the woman who is to be my mate. I so regret having scared her. The forest was so beautiful, and my lion ached to roam, so I shifted, and my lion scouted the forest for a while. And then suddenly, this lovely blonde young woman stood before me. She was so afraid, she climbed up a tree and then tried to bribe me with some food.”

  “And I thought I’d be his next meal,” Isabella added.

  Laro chuckled. “Another match decided by the gods and goddesses?”

  “Wait a minute.” Isabella looked at Laro. What the hell did he mean? Their gods matched people? Like soulmates? Her gaze turned to Tanoth. When he smiled at her, her heart skipped a beat. She shook the feeling away. “That’s just crazy. I’m only seventeen. Oops, no, I guess I’m eighteen now, going on nineteen. And how long was I in stasis? Does anyone know? I could be hundreds of years old.”

  “Old enough to fall in love.” Erica gave her a pointed stare.

  Isabella ignored that statement. “Erica, your house is beautiful. Will I be staying here?”

  “Not sure yet. Nearly all the people from Earth have moved to Initiation Genesis. The king gave us our own realm. Province or state, but they call them realms here. We’ve almost finished building the first town. You’re going to need some guidance, so maybe it would be best if you stay here. I owe it to Hannah to
look after her baby sister. It’s getting late. Tanoth, you’re welcome to stay the night.”

  “Thank you, Erica. It is so late I would have hated to wake my brother to beg a room.”

  Erica chuckled. “Ivran is lucky I have sympathy for him.” She stood and motioned to Isabella. “Izzy, let me show you to your room.”

  Isabella scrunched up her nose. “All my things are in the hollow tree I made my home after I woke up. What I am wearing is all I have with me.”

  “We can send someone to retrieve them. Don’t worry. Are they important?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t have a lot. Some jeans, shirts, and the stuff I stole of course. The most important thing I have is Hannah’s note, which I keep close to my heart. Oh, and I need my iPad. It has all the photos on it of my parents, Hannah, and family.” She dug beneath her blouse and took the note out of her bra. “They had added a small bag with rations and water to my unit. That’s where I found the note.”

  Erica read it, then handed it back to Isabella. “A memory to treasure. But now you must move on. Treasure your old memories and begin to make new ones.”

  Isabella had not slept so soundly and comfortably since she’d left Earth. She yawned and looked at the sun streaming through the windows, a soft breeze causing the sheer white curtains to billow into the room.

  She got up and went to the bathroom Erica had shown her the previous evening. Gazing at the shower and the bath, she wasn’t sure which to pick. A hot bath would feel heavenly. She turned the taps on, then went back to the bedroom to take off the nightgown Erica had lent her. To her surprise, she found new clothing in the closet. And in the drawers, new underwear but no bras. Didn’t matter. She didn’t have much to fill a bra anyway.

  After inspecting the closet and chest of drawers, she hurried back to the bathroom. The tub was full. The taps had shut off automatically. Shampoo... oh, she could finally wash her hair properly. The bars of soap she’d stolen from the market had kept her hair clean, but there was nothing like a good shampoo, and she hadn’t found anything like it at the market.

  She soaked for a while, then washed herself and her hair. As she stepped out of the tub, it emptied on its own. “Nothing medieval about this,” she muttered as she dried herself using the soft towels that were ready for her.

  The dress was beautiful. Simple, but elegant. She felt like a princess as she inspected her reflection. The blue material really suited her coloring and matched her blue eyes. The dress was trimmed with lighter blue lace. Fine, pale blue embroidery decorated the bodice and just above the hem. She attached the translator to the bodice and scrunched her nose at her image in the mirror. She had lost weight since she had been on Ierilia. She was thin, her cheekbones were more defined, and her blue eyes looked too big for her face. A princess? She looked like a lost waif. She shrugged. Wasn’t that exactly what she was?

  Wondering about the time, she ventured out of the room and down the stairs. Food! Delicious-smelling food! Skipping down the last few treads, she followed the scent and found the kitchen. Erica, Laro, a teenager, and Tanoth were seated at a large table.

  “There you are. You slept a long time. Morning, Izzy.” Erica gestured to the teenage boy. “Izzy, this is Tomas, Laro’s and my son.”

  Isabella raised her eyebrows. “Okay. You’ve been here just as long as me, not enough time to produce a grown teenager.”

  Erica smiled. “Laro was a widower. Tomas is his son, but now he is ours.”

  “Oh. That makes sense. Morning, everyone. This is breakfast?” she asked, looking at the many dishes on the table.

  Laro grinned. “Lunch.”

  “Isabella, you look breathtakingly beautiful. Your hair is like spun gold,” Tanoth complimented.

  Isabella felt blood rise to her cheeks. “Thank you.” She felt like telling him to continue talking that way... she’d probably swoon in his arms.

  “I’m glad the dress fits you, Izzy. I’ll get you more clothes, but I had to be sure of the size. It really does bring out the color of your hair and eyes,” Erica told her.

  Tanoth stood and pulled a chair out for her to be seated. She smiled and sat down. “Thank you.” And he’s a gentleman, too!

  Her stomach growled. Loudly. Last night was the first hot food she’d had in a very long time. The scraps from the inn were always cold, and often meager, but it was better than nothing.

  Tanoth had filled a plate of food and pushed it in front of her. “You need to eat, Isabella. You barely touched your food last night.”

  She took a bite of roasted vegetables and almost moaned. It was so good. “So, Erica, what do we do now? You said everyone else lives in another realm? Is that where I am going to go?”

  Erica tapped her fingers on the table. “I have set up an audience with the king for you and Tanoth later this afternoon. But I think, for now, you will continue to stay here. It will give you time to adjust and learn the culture. We’ll see what the king says.”

  Isabella gave her a confused look. “An audience with the king? Why?”

  “He wishes to hear about how you got here and survived all this time on your own. The king keeps well informed of everything that happens on Ierilia. He rules the whole planet.”

  She dropped her fork on her plate as fear pooled in her belly. Images of medieval torture filled her mind. Being thrown into a dungeon and left there. “Erica, I had to steal to survive. I can’t tell a king that! I’ll get locked up or worse. Don’t they cut hands off for stealing? Like in the Middle Ages on Earth?”

  Erica started giggling and shaking her head. “Izzy, calm down. It will be nothing like that. You’ll see. King Biryn is a kind man. Now finish eating.”

  Isabella sighed. That was easy for her to say. Erica wasn’t the thief. Maybe she should have stayed in her forest. At least there she understood how to survive. She took a bite of her food but had lost her appetite.

  Isabella was glad Tanoth had to go with them to the palace. For some reason he made her feel safe, and right then, she was scared to death. To her surprise, she had found out that both Erica and her husband were a part of some elite team for the king.

  They were leading the way to the king’s private chambers. From what Isabella understood, the queen had just given birth to a set of twins earlier, and the ruler had no wish to leave his wife’s side to hold meetings in the throne room. Yay me... At least the story won’t be heard by too many people. She could already hear the chants to chop off her head.

  They came to a stop in front of a gorgeous carved wooden door. Erica knocked lightly, and the door was opened by a tall man wearing a uniform much like Erica and Laro’s.

  “Captains.” He motioned for them to enter. “His Majesty is expecting you.”

  “Thank you, Dunmore.” Erica led them inside and gestured for Isabella and Tanoth to sit.

  Tanoth sat beside her on one of the sofas and took her hand in his. “There is nothing to fear, Isabella. The king will understand.”

  Before she could answer, a door opened across the room. A tall man with dark brown hair and a kind face entered the sitting area.

  “So this is the little girl found near Xandero. I am King Biryn.” He walked to stand before her.

  Little girl? Isabella didn’t know what to do. Awkwardly, she stood, then curtsied. “Your Royal Highness,” she mumbled.

  “Sit, child. No need to be afraid. I have not eaten any of the Earth people yet.”

  Isabella sank back to the sofa and groped for Tanoth’s hand. He took hers and squeezed it reassuringly.

  Isabella scrutinized the king. She’d had no idea what she really expected. A royal figure wearing a red robe and a crown on his head? This man looked as normal as Laro and Tanoth and wore the same kind of clothing as the villagers.

  Dunmore served them all with a glass of wine but handed Isabella a glass of fruit juice. It smelled heavenly, like freshly squeezed oranges. She stared into the tall cup. Orange Juice? The real stuff?

  “Your name is Isabella,
Erica told me, and you were a secret passenger on the Initiation Two. I would like to hear your story,” the king said, his eyes focused on her face.

  Isabella was completely honest, even branding herself a thief. When she finally finished talking, she watched his reaction. When he burst into bellowing laughter, she cringed and sat closer to Tanoth. What was so funny? Confused, she looked at Erica, who merely smiled.

  “How old are you, Isabella?” the king asked.

  “Eighteen, I guess. Almost nineteen now.”

  “That is in Earth years. You are not such a little girl. You are a young woman and a beautiful one. I apologize for laughing. I find it amazing that you managed to steal from the villagers and fool them, a little slip of a girl like you.” Biryn laughed again.

  Isabella felt some of her anxiety waning. Maybe her punishment wouldn’t be that bad. “I didn’t fool everyone. The waitress at the pub or tavern knew. She allowed me to eat leftover food and quite often left coins on the table for me. One day I would like to repay her for her kindness.”

  “Tell me, young lady, what is your education?” the king asked.

  “I finished high school early. Then I studied child care for a year. I wanted to become a pediatric nurse. I love children.”

  Biryn rubbed his chin. “That is interesting. Especially since the queen and I have been looking for a suitable young woman to assist Cylena with Eliya and Aylie, our twins. Your punishment will be as follows. You will come and live at the palace and be a nursemaid to my son and daughter. During their sleeping hours, or when the queen and I wish to be alone with our children, and your evenings, you will study Ierilian culture and our language. What do you think of this plan, Erica? You told me you know Isabella well.”

  Erica answered him. “Yes, Biryn. She is the little sister of Hannah, who perished when the Initiation Two crashed. I can vouch for Isabella. She’s a good kid.”