Chapter 1

December 3, 2011

Aiden stepped into the classroom and took her seat in the back by the windows. She had hated class on bad days but this day was such a good day there was hardly anything that could mess with her mood.

She had gotten up in a good mood. Her boyfriend had gotten her up with a cup of coffee and the morning paper, plus a kiss. They had spent another hour in bed before getting cleaned up and running to catch the tram to class. Her boyfriend ran to teach his class on mythology while she ran to photojournalism. Double majoring in Greek mythology and photojournalism was hard but she was pulling it off.

Her thoughts strayed to Clint. He must be getting worked up for his Roman mythology class. She was really lucky. The man she was dating knew what she was and had even begged her to bond with him. Bonding was a serious thing and required a lot of trust. The Silver or Gold gave their body and pretty much their spirit over to their bond-mate for safe keeping. If something happened to him or her while in the bond-mate's control, it could be catastrophic for the two.

Many thought the bond was just a sexual thing. That was necessarily so. For many it was but for Aiden- a woman who was skittish around men on good days- it wasn't. Yes, she enjoyed the romantic side of the bond but it wasn't all that. For her it was something special. There were only a few men she trusted with her person and she was telepathically connected with them. Adding a new bond was hard. It put pressure on the others and sometimes the bond-mate feels the need to show he or she can be like the others.

Clint wasn't like that. A quiet man who loved to read, he balanced her. His mind was a comforting presence in hers as he poured over his mythology books looking for material to teach. She had been very lucky when she met him on a bus heading for Knoxville to go to UT. He had been transferring schools just as she had. They had gotten to taking and found out they had more things in common. He was young for a teacher, only twenty-nine, but he didn't seem to mind.

She hadn't been surprised when he asked if she was connected to the hidden supernatural community four months after they started dating. When she told him she was the heir to the throne, he had contemplated it for the longest then shrugged his shoulders as if it hadn't mattered. That's the one thing she loved about him. Her past didn't matter to him, especially now that they had the bond between them.

She scratched at the marks on her back and collarbone. Celtic symbols cascaded down her back and hugged her around her collar and waist. They told of her power. The crescent told that she was of the silver faction. Well, the silver also told that but the crescent was the more identifying trademark.

She remembered the night they had burned into her skin. She had just turned eighteen and had been asleep when the burning had started. It lasted for three days. During that time her friends had taken turns sleeping next to her and rubbing her back to ease her pain. She had done the same when theirs had come in. Now that she thought about it, she was glad they had been there because if it had been Clint working with it, he would have been lost.

'You're thinking too much.' His voice wafted through her mind softly. It was as if a soft breeze were blowing through a clouded area.

She smiled happily as she dipped her head to scribble something in her book. This was one of those moments she didn't want to miss.

'Sorry. Just thinking about everything that's happened in the last few months.'

'Is it interesting?'

'Well, I did meet this wonderful guy. He was like a breath of fresh air.'

She felt his smile as if he were smiling against her skin. 'Do tell.'

'Well, he's the same height as me with chestnut hair and big, baby blue eyes that are very, very soulful. He's a professor of Roman mythology and he loves to read Sci-Fi books. He likes to sleep on the left side of the bed and plays music really low at night so he can sleep. And he's great with my son.'

Aiden remembered it all too clearly. A year and nine months ago she had met a guy who she thought she could spend the rest of her life with. They had started living together and she had gotten pregnant. She didn't think it was possible and had been so happy, even happier when she found out it was a boy.

Not three months before the baby was born, the man walked out on her stating he was too young to be a father. That had steeled Aiden's love for her son and gave birth to a happy, healthy, baby boy.

When she met Clint on the bus, he had offered to take Dylan from her so she could sleep a little. It had been a year since someone had been so kind and because she could sense anything out of the ordinary, she knew he wasn't going to kidnap her son. Ever since then, he had been a big part of their lives.

He snorted happily. 'I think you have just hit the nail on the head, madam.' She had to bite back a laugh so no one would think she was insane. 'When's your last class today?'

'I only have photojournalism and history. I should be done by three. Why?'

'Oh, no reason.'

She crossed her arms unhappily, teeth nibbling on the inside of her lower lip as she thought. 'Clint Miller, what are you planning?'

He laughed. 'Don't worry about it. Just focus on your classes. Bye.' His voice was gone but his presence remained.

She tuned in to class and the world slipped away. Something about shutter and aperture didn't make any sense to her, but if she wanted a degree in journalism, she had to take this course. Of course, the professor was great and the course sucked. She didn't hope to get more than a C out of the class.

Once the class was over, she left the room and headed to the cafeteria nearest her building. With her mind full of things, such as a grocery list for tonight once she and Clint collected Dylan and headed to the store, it seemed she didn't see the person standing in the middle of her path. At the last second, she swerved to the left and brought her fist up to land it softly on his shoulder.

"You suck at sneaking, Parker," she said as she turned him and led him to lunch.

Her cousin laughed as he followed her, falling into step with her. "I'm not as strong as you," he said in his native tongue of German.

She snorted. He was reverting to German just in case anyone should hear. Smart especially if he had some news so she followed his lead. "Is there a specific reason you're here? Or is it just a courtesy call because you're in the area?"

He didn't answer until they had trekked to the nearest cafeteria and gotten their food. They found a secluded area in the busy cafeteria and sat. Parker started eating immediately. It meant he hadn't used external means to find her. He had used one of the many natural abilities that had come when he hit puberty.

"This is good. We don't have many things like this where I work," he said with a mouthful of food.

"You know your mother taught you better than that," she replied. "Good thing Dylan isn't here to see you eating like that."

He smiled at that. "How is the little tyke?"

"Growing like a weed. Clint says he's going to be five feet tall and five feet wide if he eats that much."

Parker's smile faded and he looked at her. She could tell he was trying to probe her emotions for this man. He was an aura reader, meaning he saw the color of everyone. Regular humans were white because they didn't have the people of the Empire's powers.

There were only two powers that gave a person a white aura. Those were a Spirit Wielder or an Opulent. Aiden was the Spirit Wielder and her brother Wyatt was an Opulent, meaning he could sense the strength of bonds and break them if need be. He had only broken two in his twenty-nine years because of the toll it took on his body.

If a he or she formed a bond with a normal human, which usually is the case, the human's natural aura would change colors to reflect the bond. He was going to have a hard time discerning the aura of Clint considering her aura was white.

"Have you fallen in love with this human?" he asked cautiously. If there was anyone more skittish about love it was Aiden.

She shrugged. "He hasn't asked and I haven't said anything. At the moment we're concentrating on raising Dylan." She looked up and pierced her cousin with a golden glare. "Why are you here, Parker?"

He stabbed at a piece of meat then stuffed it in his mouth. "Mikey sent me."

Aiden frowned then sat back in her seat. "Is he okay?"

He waved her question away, fork glinting in the light as he did so. "He's fine but the Empire's not. It seems people like your way of ruling better than his." He paused for a moment as she tried to figure out what he was talking about. "Mikey's losing the faith of the Silver faction. Because he's a member of the gold faction and the ruler, the Golds on the council think that gives them the right to pass any legislation, even if it concerns the Silvers. The silvers think the Golds are trying to oust them from the community and they won't listen to Mikey when he says he's trying to be fair."

"What does he want from me?"

"He wants you to come and take your place as the Silver Queen. He wants to revamp the entire Empire but instead of it being an empire, he wants it to be a kingdom comprised of two factions and their leaders."

"A joint ruling." Parker nodded at her conclusion. "Why me?"

"You're the heir to the throne anyway and you're the strongest of any Silver." He looked up when she snorted. She knew he hadn't told her the whole truth. That was the curse of being a Truth Hearer. She knew he was lying.

He sighed. "You're the only one any Silver will listen to. When you walked away four years ago, you took four of the best minds in our day and age with you. Regardless that the number has gone down to three, they are still three of the sharpest minds our people have seen in centuries. They'll be the driving force behind your court."

"You're assuming I'll say yes and that they'll follow me."

"You've kept them safe for the last three years when you walked away from the Council. They've kept you and your son safe for the last year. There's a bond between the four of you that no one has been able to break, not even Tallyn and his stupid stunt that got him killed."

Parker jumped when electricity crackled around him. It was a testament to his cousin's power that she kept the surge concentrated around them. She watched him settle his nerves. Hanging around Austin had its kicks. She had absorbed enough of his electrical energy to use it as her own. It was great to scare her cousin.

"Tallyn was losing it when I killed him. Don't sully his name. He was a good friend up until that moment."

He wanted to argue but didn't see the point in it. She was right. Tallyn James had been by her side from the day she was adopted until the day she put a bullet in his head for killing one of their friend's significant other.

It had crushed her to do it but their laws ordered that punishment be handed down right then. She hadn't had a choice because he turned to go after her after that. She had chosen the life of her other friends over his and had pulled the trigger.

The decision had also been an Association ruling. Seconds after the innocent life had been snuffed out, word had gotten to the Five. Their sentence had been unanimous, but Aiden had already made the decision. She hadn't answered to them for it, but then again, they had questioned her either.

Before either of them had a chance to change the topic of the other's untimely death, Clint plopped his happy butt down beside his girlfriend and kissed the side of her head.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. I got caught up talking to a student," he said. He noticed she hadn't looked at him and that her jaw was set. His gaze turned. "Oh, I didn't know you had company."

"Clint, this is my cousin Parker. Parker, this is Clint, my boyfriend and my bond-mate," Aiden replied.

Clint smiled then stuck out his hand which Parker took. "Clint Miller."

"Parker Lowen."

When the courtesy was over, the newcomer looked between the two. "What's going on?"

"Parker came to bring me a message. My brother wants to see me in San Francisco."

The look on his face said he knew what was going on. Parker was pleasantly surprised that his cousin had given up information to a bond-mate. Usually it was reserved for mates in general. He looked closely at the aura surrounding the two.

At the moment Aiden's was spiked yellow with the use of electricity but otherwise it was white. He looked to Clint and had to stifle a gasp. This guy's aura wasn't pure white as was expected. His aura was white with silver dispersed.

He probed gently on his cousin's mind and was glad she opened it to him. 'Aiden, this man is your intended mate. No wonder you're bonded to him.'

The curve of her mouth told him she already knew. She had a great poker face so she wasn't letting anything go. He tilted his head in question.

'I know who he is. It's why I've told him so much. He knows who I am as well. He can feel the pull on both his heart and his mind. Dylan and I are safe with him.'

Parker withdrew from his cousin's mind and shook his head. Leave it to her to make a home for herself away from their people with only a handful of guards.

Aiden turned her head to Clint when he touched her back gently. "What are you going to do?" he asked.

She glanced at Parker. He was simply watching the exchange with interest. "We have two weeks left of class. Can't Mikey wait until then?"

He shook his head sadly. "No, it's too bad for us to wait one more day. You need to come with me."

Clint met her gaze calmly. "What do you want to do?"

She bit her lip and thought about it. "It would mean uprooting Dylan and taking him with us."

The other man looked surprised. "Us? You mean I'm coming with you?"

"With the Empire and many other supernatural communities, it's a long and arduous thing. Once I get there, I'll have to go through everything such as Council meetings and telling why I stepped down. Many people won't want me to lead them and that's okay by me. I don't want to lead jerks. I'll have to recount what I've been doing over the last four years and then you'll be brought in. Dylan will be brought in as well." She looked at him as she told everything that would more than likely happen. "It won't be easy but you'll have to come. It's the only way they'll believe you."

He scrunched up his nose in thought. "Can't they have a Truth Hearer in the room?"

Parker shook his head sadly. "Truth Hearers are born to only one family in our world. It's not something that we take lightly."

"Which family has the Truth Hearer?"

"The Royal family is the only family. My mother was the Truth Hearer before I was. I have a niece who will take over once I'm gone," Aiden replied. She looked to him. "It's up to you. If you don't want to go, I'll go alone but then you'll have to come if they order it."

Clint closed his eyes and thought about it. Having her leave would be a bad thing. He was so used to having her by his side it was going to be hard to sleep alone if she left. There was no saying she wouldn't be forced to sleep in a different room but if they saw his aura, they would know they were bonded and mates.

After a few moments, he nodded. "I'll go. One of us has to watch out for Dylan."

Aiden lifted her hand and rubbed his cheek. Then his gaze went to her cousin. "Tell Mikey we'll be there after finals. It's the only time. If things go well, we may even spend Christmas with the family."

Knowing that was the best he was going to get, Parker nodded. "All right. I'll see you in a couple of weeks. Take care."

"Bye, Parker. It was nice meeting you," Clint said. The other man nodded at him then left quietly. "Your cousin seems nice."

"He is, but don't let his good nature fool you. He can be lethal when he needs to be." She sighed and leaned back in her chair, spinning the fork under her palm. "I really don't want to do this, but I don't want people to die and they will if something's not done. It will be like the Spanish Inquisition all over again."

"What needs to be done?" He was stroking her hair gently to calm her.

"A new Kingdom will need to be made. And I have a feeling they are going to ask me."

"Will you take it?"

Aiden bit her lip again as she thought. If she did, she was going to have to move it to a different area of the country so the Golds wouldn't assume she was encroaching on their territory. This whole community was a dog eat dog world. Usually the strongest survived but with the help of her brother, everyone was getting a fair shot.

She released her lip with a smack and scooted her chair back. "We need to discuss this with the others. If I take this job, it'll be those three who will back me fully."

Clint smiled. "They'll be fine. You said so yourself, the four of you survived this long without the Empire. They may just need something to do to keep themselves out of trouble. I know you do sometimes."

She smacked his shoulder playfully as she slipped her bag on her shoulder. "I'll see you back at the house. We will have guests."

"Oh, goodie. Three mooches who don't know how to clean up when they make a mess. It will be like having three more infants around."