Chapter Twenty

“The rioters have left of their own accord after the ceremony ended,” Coran was saying while having a brief meeting in the foyer of the royal suite. Coran had invited Emilee, Keith, and the nanny to the meeting and Lotor had insisted that Grieg be present. His lovely new wife stood at his side in her pink trimmed dress. “Several of the rebels responsible for the bombings have been captured and are now imprisoned.”

“When will they be executed?” Lotor asked, and was surprised at all the looks he got from his simple question. “They are traitors to Altair and to Arus, surely you execute traitors?”

“After they are found guilty by a fair trail,” Coran said. “And have a chance to appeal.”

“If you have the evidence to arrest them,” Lotor countered. “Surely you have enough to execute them.”

“It does not work that way here,” Allura assured him. The idea of a trail for anyone willing to risk Allura’s life seemed ludicrous. Things were so much simpler on Korrinoth where criminals were disposed of whenever necessary and with very little fanfare. Or just tortured to death.

“Everything seems to have calmed down,” Emilee interjected. “But it is best if you two stay here in this suite where you can be protected.”

Lotor did not like the idea of being sequestered but the idea of being alone with Allura brightened up his mood. She had clung to him when the bombs were exploding and she was a willing participant in their first kiss as husband and wife. The thought of being alone and close to her interested him a lot.

“Our scouts are reporting that the Drule armada has gathered around Korrinoth,” Grieg added to the conversation. “There are rumors that Zarkon himself will be leading the attack against Arus.” Lotor knew that it would come to all that but none the less he did not enjoy hearing it. “We should expect to have our first skirmish within a week.”

“We will be ready,” Keith said, determination on his face. “Voltron can handle any attack Zarkon can throw at us.”

“All the same,” Emilee said, raising a brow at the captains enthusiasm. “All military personnel will continue to maintain readiness to combat the incoming armada.” Coran and Allura were nodding their heads. “I should start actual flight training today since the reception is not going to take place. All reserve pilots have been selected from the air force reserves and will be flight ready in a day or two.”

“Less than a week of flight training isn’t very much experience,” Coran commented and Lotor noticed several nods among the group. “Do we have any other flight capable craft?”

Emilee was looking at a document she pulled up on her console and frowned.

“Altair has twenty total of flight capable jet fighters,” Emilee replied. “But they are not outer space capable, atmosphere capable only. Helina will join our fight with ten more jet fighters but the other kingdoms of Arus have yet to report in.” She sighed and pulled up another document on her console. “As far as space capable vessels, we only have the Voltron Lions and one personnel carrier with limited weaponry and cannot obtain light speed jumps.”

“Our armada has one Supremacy Flagship,” Greig added. “The flagship has twenty heavy artillery space ready fighter jets. There over a dozen warships with about twenty space ready fighters each as well along with a few odd ball battle ready craft.”

“I have also taken the liberty of contacting the Galaxy Garrison for aid,” Coran said. “I am awaiting word from the fleet admiral.” Coran’s face looked more stern than usual and Lotor knew that Coran did not expect an answer at all. When Arus needed the garrison, the garrison was never available to lend aid. Just as Voltron almost guaranteed them a victory, the garrison guaranteed to be absent.

“We are better armed now that we have been in the past and we survived then,” Allura said rather soberly. “We will survive this and maybe see an end to this conflict.”

Lotor looked at his bride and hoped that she was just trying to raise morale and did not honestly believe that the out come of this battle could stop the Drules from attacking and enslaving new worlds. She was sheltered enough to believe that but her intelligence always astounded him so he would have to wait and see.

The group seemed to take heart of Allura’s words and all were silent for a long moment.

“I will have your wedding feast brought up from the kitchen,” Emilee said, cutting off Keith before he could spit out what ever thought had crossed his mind. His expression had soured and Emilee was wise enough to keep his thoughts drowned out with her practical words. Emilee opened the door and held it open for the group, all but insisting that they leave since the meeting had concluded. Keith and the nanny took the longest to vacate the royal sweet and Lotor was sure that he had his faithful smirk plastered on his face. The look that Keith gave him just before Emilee closed the door behind them all could have been perceived as a threat.

Then they were alone, newly weds with nothing to do. Allura looked quite stoic as she stood in the foyer. Maybe she was recalling the clause in the marriage agreement about the consummation but Lotor was not going to be so crass as to demand that now. Even if he was looking forward to it immensely.

Allura had a lot on her mind.

The royal suite was the pinnacle of luxury compared to what he had seen of the castle. It was not as decadent as the castle on Korrinoth but the decorative style was also very different. Lotor took a stroll about the sitting room that gave way to the bed chamber in the rear to the suite, the lavish bathroom on the right and the study on the left.

Unlike Allura’s room, the royal suite was very masculine with black leather furniture with crimson accent pillows and gold details. There was none of Allura’s signature pink or a single instance of lace or flowers.

“I haven’t been in here for a very long time,” Lotor heard Allura say from the foyer as she finally started to look around. “This was my father’s suite.” She did not need to elaborate more on the subject. Lotor imagined that she felt the same way he had felt when he had discovered some of his mother’s things in a neglected win of the castle on Korrinoth. She did not feel like she should be here, like she was disturbing something she should never have come across in the first place.

Lotor removed the restrictive coat of his tuxedo and draped it over the back of one of the arm chairs. He pulled the annoying bow tie from his throat and dropped it atop the black jacket. He still wore the starched white shirt with a pink vest over top but he was much more comfortable now.

As Emilee had promised, their wedding meal arrived. The servant quickly entered the suite, laid out the meal and left. Lotor was in no mind to eat but he had to admit that the meal smelled delicious. Arusian cuisine was very different than the bland food prepared on Doom but it was not by any means the most exotic that Lotor had encountered. Arusian food was the right balance of sweet and sours and spice and cream.

Surprisingly, Allura went to the table and poured herself a large glass of champagne. Lotor watched as Allura chugged the contents of her glass. She was pouring herself a second one before Lotor thought to say something.

“Allura…” Lotor cautioned. She looked at him as if she had forgotten he was there. Wordlessly, she filled his glass as well and plopped the bottle onto the table, not the ice bucket. He approached the table to retrieve his own glass and was relieved that Allura left her glass alone and opted to sit down at the table. She did not look as if she wanted to partake of the wedding feast either.

Lotor had a feeling that both of their nerves were frayed for different reasons.

Lotor took his glass from the table and went into the bed chamber. He noticed quickly that someone had set out lots of candles ready to be lit once the sun went down and the covers were turned down. A bowl of red berries sat on the side table as well. Emilee was the only one that did not view his union with Allura as abysmal so Lotor made a note to thank the woman for her attention to detail.

Allura’s things had been brought in already as he noticed her cosmetics and perfumes sitting on a dressing table in the bed chamber. He opened one of the wardrobe and saw an array of pink and pastels and knew that these were her clothes. One the bottom were several pairs of shoes, even the pair that she had worn the night before.

If Allura remembered what had happened the night before, she did not let on. Of course, it was probably the farthest from her mind at the moment. Her people had rioted on her wedding day and people had been killed because of it. Allura was very empathetic to the situation, almost to a fault.

Lotor went to the other wardrobe one the other side of the bedchamber to discover that it was empty except for the handful of shirts and pants he had purchases since landing on Arus. All of his Drule uniforms were left on his flagship. He would not need them any longer as he was no longer a citizen of Korrinoth.

“Lotor,” Allura said from the other room. Lotor returned to the sitting room where Allura still sat at the table, her glass of champagne untouched for the moment. Her cheeks were rosy from her previous glass. “How did you know about explosions?”

“I didn’t know,” Lotor replied. “But I could hear the rioters.”

“How is that?” Allura asked, her brows furrowing with scrutiny.

“Drules have much better hearing that Arusians,” Lotor replied. “Better than any human in fact. It’s the tall pointy ears.”

Lotor thought that he saw Allura’s mouth twitch at the mention of his ears. She seemed to be happy with his answer though. He was also pleased that she was trying to engage him in conversation. He knew that Allura was a very social creature so if she was comfortable with starting a conversation with him, the rest would fall into place quickly.

“So Drules are taller, stronger, faster, and have keener senses than humans,” Allura summed up after a brief pause. “How do you even know humans and Drules are genetically compatible?”

“Because I am half human and half Drule,” he replied as matter-of-factly as he could. He had not expected her to ask that question. His answer obviously startled her though. Her brows shot up and her brilliant blue eyes were searching his face.

“Half?” she repeated. “But you are the crown prince…”

“Drules are a right by might society,” Lotor explained after a moment. It was hard for him to articulate the differences to her since she was so unaccustomed to his world and he was so unaccustomed to hers. “I am the offspring of the king and I wanted the crown badly enough to make my rights known. Bloodlines are not so much valued on Korrinoth, if you have the might to take what is yours.”

“So I am nothing more than a conquest to add to your resume,” Allura sighed.

Lotor sighed too and took a seat on the leather couch that faced where Allura sat.

“It is not so simply defined as that,” Lotor responded. “There is a lot more going on here than a spoiled prince getting his trophy princess.”

Allura made a sour expression and took a sip of her champagne. Lotor was glad to see that she had slowed down, he did not want her to get sick from the sweet bubbly wine. It might make her more feisty but he did not want her judgment garbled.

When Allura did not pick up the conversation, Lotor looked about the suite and noticed that there was a holo-vision over the fireplace. The remote control was sitting on the coffee table before him and he clicked it on. It was set to a news station reporting on the fire bombing of the castle. Allura watched too as the reporter went over the details of the event even though they both knew from their debriefing what had happened. The news program moved onto other local events and quickly ate up an hour of their time.

When Lotor looked up he noticed that Allura was staring out the window, looking quite pale despite the rosy cheeks the champagne gave her. She was probably noticing that the sun was setting.

Soon it would be dark…