Page 46 of Dark Voyage Matters of the Heart

Kian's wife lifted a hand to her chest. "Is her hair silvery?" she asked.

"It is." Aru darted his gaze around until it landed on the tall brunette Dagor had taken notice of before. She also bore some resemblance to the heir. "The Eternal Queen is about your height, and you also have some of her features. You must be her Highness's daughter."

Turning her head toward the brunette, the goddess smiled fondly. "This is my daughter, Amanda. The charming blond lady is my daughter Alena, and the auburn-haired one is my daughter Sari. She is the regent of the clan's European branch."

As the heir continued introducing her family, her son's eyes shot daggers at her, and Dagor could not blame him. The goddess was too friendly and too trusting. If she ever set foot on Anumati, she would be eaten alive by its political sharks, which would save the king the trouble of having her murdered.

It would take many years of training before she was a suitable candidate for the throne who could swim with the sharks on Anumati, but then the resistance was in no rush.

The problem would be getting someone knowledgeable in Anumati's complicated web of politics to Earth to train the inexperienced heir.

There was an heir to the throne, though, and that was the best news the resistance could have hoped for.

Aru would have to relay it somehow to the resistance's leaders without arousing the suspicion of those listening to the patrol ship's communications.

"Dagor." The heir turned to him. "Tell me about yourself and why you joined the resistance."

He'd zoned out momentarily and must have missed part of what had been said. Darting a look at Aru, he got a nod from his leader.

"I was unhappy with the way the elite perpetuated its status. We are supposed to be a democracy, and every citizen of Anumati is supposed to have equal opportunity. Still, nothing could be further from the truth. The elite families, those with royal blood in them, are the only ones who can afford the lucrative learning institutions that prepare students for the entry exams to higher education in certain fields. I wanted to study engineering, but even if I could pass the exams, which is practically impossible without having access to prior tests, I could not have afforded the tuition. This is a broken system, and it has to go, but the king will not do anything about it because he needs the support of those elite families to stay in power."

The heir regarded him with compassion and understanding in her eyes. "My uncle Ekin was a great engineer, but without the proper tools and materials, he could not build the mechanical wonders he must have known about and was forbidden to share. I did not know about Anumati until we rescued the Kra-ell, and Jade told us where we came from. The exiled gods did not tell their children they came from somewhere else in the universe. Growing up, I believed that gods had always existed on Earth, just like humans had. When I got older and met my beloved betrothed, he told me what his father had told him in secret, but even my Khiann did not know much." She smiled sadly. "I hope the three of you know your history well and can educate me about my home planet."

Aru

Aru couldn't stop staring at the miracle before him. An heir to the Eternal King. The resemblance to her grandmother was uncanny, with the most significant difference being their hair color.

It suddenly dawned on him that Kian's wife knew somehow that the Eternal Queen had silver hair, and the only way she could have known that was via a vision. It wasn't the loss of color that humans experienced as they aged, but instead was her family's trademark. Some even called them the silver-haired nobles.

But since there was no way Syssi could have seen a picture of the queen, she must have seen her in a vision, and that worried him, although a lot less than it had before. The secret of his telepathic communication with his sister would not stay a secret for long. Soon, he would have to tell her Highness Princess Annani that he could communicate with Anumati, and relay messages between her and her grandmother through his sister and the Supreme.

"There is one more thing that I forgot to mention." The princess looked at her son. "I don't see any reason to hide it." She smiled at the one called Toven and motioned for him to come forward. "My cousin, Toven, is the son of my favorite and only uncle, and he's a full-blooded god, not the immortal he was pretending to be."

As the god started glowing, Aru and his companions bowed their heads to the noble.

"Did I fool you?" Toven asked with a smile.

"Yes," Aru admitted. "I suspected Kian of being a god, but he is only a demigod, so I assumed that Your Highness was also a descendant."

Aru was trying to decide whether he should call Toven 'Your Highness.' Toven's father had also been the Eternal King's son, but not from the Queen. He was the son of a concubine, and therefore not in line to the throne, and the same was true of Toven.

"Please, call me Toven. I cringe at being addressed as Your Highness."

"Very well." Aru inclined his head. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Toven, son of Ekin."

Next to Princess Annani, Kian groaned. "Kalugal will never forgive us for not including him in this meeting."

"I've heard that name before," Aru said. "How is he related to you?"

The princess looked as if she wanted to say something, but a glare from her son stopped her.

"Kalugal is the grandson of my brother," Toven said. "Who is no longer with us. Thankfully."

"Oh, that's right." Aru nodded. "Now I remember. He's Navuh's son who crossed over to join forces with the clan."

"That's right," Kian said. "Except for the fact that Kalugal fled his father's control many decades before he joined us. He did so to escape tyranny and potentially a threat to his life."

"Why did he fear for his life from his own father?" Aru asked. "Was he also an heir with aspirations to the throne?"