Royal Blooded, page 37
part #1 of Royal Blooded Series
“Looks like we’re just getting started.” He responded.
Epilogue
“And you’re sure he destroyed the crown?” Athena asked.
“Yes, my lady.” The kneeling servant replied.
She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, trying to decide what to do with the woman. In centuries past she would have killed a servant for delivering bad news like this. She had been trying to turn over a new leaf though, and decided to grant her mercy. “Very well. Begone.”
The servant stood and bowed deeply before quickly leaving the room, not wanting to give any time to reconsider. Athena smirked at the idea that although she had become lenient of late, others still knew well enough to fear her. As the servant closed the door behind her Athena sat on her well-worn chair, opening the book which had been sitting on her desk for the last several months.
She began to leaf through the book, scanning each page as she did. Depictions of countless artifacts cluttered each page, the vast majority of them crossed out with a red ‘X’. Finally, she reached the page with the crown before pausing. With a scowl on her face she reached for her red pen and crossed it out too before snapping the book shut with frustration.
The whole reason Athena had meddled with fate was because Eli was supposed to retrieve legendary artifacts for her, not destroy them. The crown was one of the few methods which would allow her to unite humanity behind her banner, using them as a grand army to defend against the invasion force which steadily advanced on Earth.
With a sigh of frustration, she stood and walked through her plush office to a set of glass paneled doors. Opening them wide, she walked out onto a balcony overlooking the grounds below her. She watched as servants tended the immaculate gardens below, similar to the ones she used to have on Earth thousands of years ago. It seemed like the weather itself conspired to mock her foul mood – the twin suns were shining cheerfully, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
“He destroyed the crown, didn’t he?” A voice said beside her.
Athena recognized the voice immediately. Without turning to face the speaker, she responded. “Yes, Artemis.”
“I told you he shouldn’t be allowed to awaken at that age. He was too old – his human ways are too deeply set. You said he would be an asset in the war against the Titans, now I’m not so sure.”
Athena turned to look at Artemis. She was wearing a white toga not that dissimilar from Athena’s. Her long black hair had been tied back into a bun, and across her back she had slung a quiver full of arrows and her mythical bow. Her golden sandals padded softly against the marble floor of the balcony.
“There is still time.” Athena said finally. “There are other legendary artifacts on other worlds. Once he grows into his powers, he could still retrieve them.”
“Oh, I’m sure he could.” Artemis responded, coming to a halt next to Athena and leaning over the balcony. “But the question is – will he want to help you?”
“He will. Despite our history he cares about humans, and when the Titans invade Earth he’ll do anything to protect it.”
“But he doesn’t know about the Titans yet. He doesn’t know that he needs to be preparing.” Artemis countered.
“What are you suggesting?” Athena said slowly, her eyes narrowing.
“I’m suggesting that more direct intervention may be necessary. Simply setting him on this course may not be enough.”
“We’ve talked about this Artemis. Every time I appear to someone on Earth, it draws the Titans nearer to them. It’s no different than when we lived there.”
“Yes, and if you don’t appear to him he’ll be caught unprepared when the Titans arrive. He was taught by the ignorant elves, who still think humans outnumber all the magical races combined.”
Athena furrowed her brow for a moment. As much as she hated to admit it, Artemis had a point. Eli required additional guidance if he was to serve as the catalyst for change that Athena needed. “Perhaps.” She said slowly. “We shall see.”
_____________
Author’s Note: Holy shit what a ride this has been. First off, thank you for reading my book. Seeing the comments and messages come in has been an incredible feeling – a few months ago an entire world existed only inside my mind, so to see other people talk about it is beyond cool for me. You are awesome, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.
If you’ll indulge me for a few moments longer…
In March of 2023, I was going through some stuff and needed an escape from the day-to-day grind. For reasons I won’t go into, my usual habits of video games and movies weren’t going to work. I rediscovered my love of reading, starting with SexySpaceBabes by Bluefishcake and Dragon’s Justice by Bruce Sentar. They opened my eyes to the haremlit genre, and by the end of April I had moved onto Virgil Knightley and Misty Vixen. In the span of about 2 months I devoured 26 books, and I couldn’t get enough.
As I read I started to daydream. It was often about ideas I had for sequels to the books I read, mechanics I thought would be cool to implement, or additional world building which would add to the setting. For reasons I can’t fully explain, at some point I started to write those ideas down. Eventually those ideas started to blend and congeal, and it wasn’t long before I had a rough outline of this book. At that point I figured I may as well just write the damn thing and get it out of my system. Worst comes to worst, I write it and nobody reads it.
The problem with that plan is that I’m not an author by trade. I’d never written anything over a few thousand words before, and even those longer works were mostly technical reports or white papers for work. Some very kind folks on the HaremLit Discord (shout out Subcritical and JJ Bookerson!) helped me out with all my dumb questions like whether “elves” should be capitalized or how big a war hammer was. Some other very fine folks from Reddit volunteered to be my ‘alpha’ version readers (you know who you are!) so thank you for coming along with me on this journey.
It's been a lot of fun to write this book – enough to warrant coming back to this world someday and writing a sequel. Obviously, I think there’s a lot more to explore in this setting – Freya, Naz, and Zee still need to get their dates after all! I’ve also got some vague ideas for another story I’d like to explore – something more in the science-fiction genre. However, before any of that happens I’m going to take a month off to recharge and deal with some other life stuff.
-F
ABOUT ME
I write romance stories with fantasy or science fiction elements. I try to emphasize things like respect and communication in relationships.
You can find my website here: http://fgsmithauthor.com/
You can also contact me via email: f.g.smith.author@gmail.com
Or discord: foxtrotgolfsierra
Thanks for reading!
Royal Blooded. Copyright © 2024 by F.G. Smith. Kindle Edition. All Rights Reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means electronical or mechanical without the express written permission of the author.
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F.G. Smith, Royal Blooded
