The Queen's Host [unedited version]

~ 57 ~

Ronell didn't dare open his eyes. Not even when he felt the strange gust of wind swirling around him. He clung to Apollo's neck, hiding his face in the short hair. And then, everything was still.

"Okay," he heard Aleia say with excitement. "Don't open your eyes until I get the light back on, and the door open."

He smiled to himself and did not hesitate to do as his stepsister commanded. When she told them all to open their eyes, Ronell was surprised to find they could walk out of the closet and into his stepfather's office. But it was nothing like how he remembered.

"What happened here?" Ruperto asked as the group filed out of the confined space.

"This is where Emberhand stopped my brother and I," Inanis replied, sighing as she shook his head. "Still a mess."

Just then, the group heard someone shouting and whining from outside the office, in the main hallway. Aleia made a face as she looked at her stepbrothers.

"Crap on toast," Ronell said as he took Apollo by the collar and walked toward the door. "We're in for it now."

Ruperto followed him, Athena at his side. The two opened the office door and poked their heads into the hallway.

"Hi Mom," Ronell said as he tried to hide his grimace.

***

Susanna was yelling. Aleia winced and grimaced every time the woman's voice changed octaves. But she stood next to her stepbrothers, waiting to speak.

"Do you know what you've done to my heart?!" Susanna screeched, hands on her hips. "You just up and left! Didn't even bother to let me know where you'd be going!"

"Peter left you a note," Ronell said and Aleia could tell he was trying to keep his cool.

Ruperto, on the other hand, had fallen so silent.

Are you okay? Aleia sent him a gentle thought.

No, was his reply.

"Susanna," Aleia said, this time using her real voice. "You're making a scene and it's embarrassing."

"You watch your tone with me, young lady," her stepmother scoffed. "What makes you think you can talk to me like that?"

Normally, Aleia would have backed down. Held her tongue and waited for the speech to end. But not anymore.

"Stop treating me like garbage!" she shouted, clenching her hands into fists. "When you married my dad, that meant you married me too. When you should've been wanting to form some kind of relationship with me, you treated me like a maid. A servant . . . A slave. The reason my dad even considered marrying you was 'cause he was thinking about me. He wanted to give me a mother, but I also know it was because he saw something in you that he liked. I don't know what that is, but I certainly would never try to make my dad angry at me for making his marriage miserable."

"Pfft!" Ronell started laughing, which made Aleia look at him with puzzlement. He then said, "Sis, my mother does that all on her own."

Susanna gasped and up went her hand. The three teenagers saw it before it happened. Ruperto was the fastest and took hold of her wrist.

"Don't hit my brother," he said through clenched teeth. "He doesn't know what this is like, but I do. And it sucks. If you lay a hand on him, you're gonna regret it."

Aleia noticed how he had only a gentle grip on his mother's wrist. But his voice sounded strangled as if he was fighting himself. Fighting himself as he stood up for himself and for Ronell.

"Look at you," said Susanna with a smirk. "Getting all tough. It's about time, Rupert."

"I know you call me Rupert to forget my birth dad," he replied, shaking his head. "But that doesn't make it my name. It's Ruperto."

He was about to release his mother's wrist but was forced to fend off her other hand as she made an attempt to slap him with it.

"Stop it!" he shouted as he caught the offending hand. "I'm your son! You shouldn't attack me!"

One thing led to another and Aleia found herself standing between mother and son. And dog as Athena had begun to growl and snarl at the person hurting her master.

"Susanna," she said, holding up her hand to stop the woman from advancing. "Stop this, right now."

"Or else, what?" she scowled.

"Or else I'll burn that wig off your head."

"You wouldn't dare. And what would you burn it with? You've got nothing on you except those hideous clothes."

"Oh no," Ronell said as he began to laugh again. "You shouldn't have said that."

Aleia exhaled as she turned her hand over to show her palm. And snapped her fingers, though it was only for show. She didn't need to snap her fingers to ignite the flame in her soul. It was all within the power of her mind.

Susanna gasped and took a massive step back.

"You're a witch," she whispered with pure terror in her eyes.

"No," Aleia said, shaking her head. "I'm a princess."

***

Auro waited within the office with some impatience. He was accompanied by everyone who was not Aleia, Ronell and Ruperto. He could hear shouting. And some barking, which he recognized to be Azris in her Earth-form.

"What is happening?" Lumen asked as Aleia re-entered the office. She closed the door behind her. Wearing a wide-eyed expression. Auro was at her side instantly.

"What's wrong?" he asked, cupping her cheeks as he looked her over; he was checking to make sure she wasn't harmed. "What happened?"

"I think I lost my temper," she whispered, closing her eyes a moment.

A second later, Ronell and Ruperto entered. They were laughing as they tried to get the Howlers under control.

"That was so funny!" Ronell said, he dropped to the floor as if his laughter made his legs turn to jelly. "Aleia, thank you so much for that."

"I wasn't planning to actually do it!" she yelled, looking at him as a smile crept across her face.

"What did you do?" Inanis asked, raising an eyebrow.

Aleia exchanged a look with her stepbrothers. There was a brief silence as they stared at each other, but then Ruperto spoke.

"She burned my eyebrows off."