Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (ereader iphone .TXT) 📗

consider what I'd said. He looked down at himself for a moment. "Hmm, it seems you are both correct. I am quite…how did you put it? Oh, yes. Trashed.”

I laughed a bit, and the heavy tension between Aliria and me seemed to abate for the time, as we both had to deal with a drunk Magnus. "It’s okay. Happens to the best of us. All you need is a little time to sober up."

Magnus's eyes glinted—something I said was funny to him. "You're quite right about that; I just need to sober up is all." He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. It cracked through the hall, echoing around before sinking into the heavy stone walls.

What the actual hell? In the span of half a second, Magnus had rid himself of his drunken stupor. Before, stood a sloppy drunk with glazed eyes and a bright red face. Now stood the man I had met in the throne room. His sandy hair swept out of his eyes, which stared at me, alert and with intent.

"How?" I asked.

He smiled wide at me, a knowing grin, but one that wouldn't let slip his secrets easily. "It’s bad form to ask a player about their class, and besides, that would be telling."

He had me on that one, but still. "Oh, come on, you're doing things that should be impossible. I don't think game etiquette really applies here!"

Aliria interrupted me. "I'd save your breath; he wouldn't tell me either. I had to figure it out myself, though if you guess right, he'll tell you."

I sighed as a headache crept in. Dealing with these two will drive me up the wall. "With how infuriating you both are, you guys are made for each other."

At that, both Aliria and Magnus smiled at each other, a gesture so different than what I'd come to expect from them, it put me off. It was a look of affection between two lovers, two people who cared dearly for one another. A look I knew well.

Aliria's hardened features softened as she spoke. "Well, we've had plenty of time to get used to each other." She reached across the table and took hold of Magnus's hand, to which he responded with an affectionate squeeze. "That we have, love. That we have. A hundred years, and its flown by so fast."

Their clear adoration for each other only made my longing worse. It hurt to be away from Eris, and to see such love only drove it home.

I was so lost in thought that what Magnus said hadn't really registered. And then it crashed into me as my brain caught up to what he had said. A hundred years? Has Magnus lost it?

"Hey, Magnus, you might want to check your math. We haven't been here thirty years yet, let alone a hundred," I said.

Magnus shifted his gaze from Aliria to me, and his eyes went from lovelorn to filled with sorrow in an instant. They held an emotion I couldn't place, sadness and regret perhaps. It, more than anything else Magnus had done, frightened me.

"Oh, dear boy, you don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

He sighed deeply; it sank my heart to hear, and the heartbeat between his sigh and his words stretched on forever. After a lifetime, he spoke again.

"We haven't been in the Ouroboros Project for twenty-nine years, Duran. We've been here for over a thousand."

Chapter 2 - Alone

Eris

The early morning light hit my eyes and woke me. I groaned, not wanting to get up, but I was cold and hungry, and I really needed to pee. I blinked my eyes, but they were heavy and didn't want to cooperate with me. After I wiped the sleep from them, I rolled over.

The stone ceiling above me wasn’t the same as the one in Sam’s room, which confused me for a moment before I remembered. I was in the guest bedroom. I sat up from the comfy pillows I'd been lying on and noticed Tegen and Cheira huddled together against my side, their fine brown hair a chaotic mess.

They'd clung to me ever since Sam saved them from the slavers. I know they're still frightened about being near humans, but I do hope they'll come out of their shells a bit more. They'll be scared of humans forever at this rate.

Though, those two weren't the only ones who needed to be open-minded. Sam's kept his distance from the spiderlings. I know he's afraid of spiders, but he's an adult. He can afford to be more open.

Thinking about Sam brought a smile to my lips. I hadn't spent much time alone with him in the last few days. Which is my own fault. I'd spent the entire trip back to Gloom-Harbor with the little ones. Neither of them liked being alone and were so wary of Sam and the rabbitmen that they'd refused to talk to anyone but me.

"We'll just have to change that. All right, time to get up and start the day!"

I sat up off the comfy bed reached over to shake the children. Tegen's eyes jumped open at my touch, but he smiled when he saw it was me. "Time to get up, Tegen," I said.

"It's too early, just a few more minutes," he mumbled.

"You don't want to sleep the day away, do you now? Come on, wake up your sister, and let's go get breakfast!"

Tegen just rolled over and cuddled up with Cheira. I smiled at his back. I guess it won't hurt anything to let them sleep in, and there isn't anything important to do today anyway.

That and it would give me plenty of time to bathe and get myself ready. I didn't have any of my clothes in the room with me, but Sam had cleared a bunch of space in his wardrobe for me, which