Robert woke up in the same room, though he was feeling a lot better physically. Emotionally was a different story. Having awoke in the same bed as last time helped cement the fact that this was indeed reality. His thoughts still lingered on his wife and child he’d never get to see again. The bed he lay in felt cramped with the void of his missing wife filling the empty space. He had spent the night grieving them, though was nowhere near done. Having a refreshed mind, however, he was thinking clearly again and decided to go over the facts that he had.

  He was in a totally unfamiliar place. A Kingdom named Luxoria that is, or will be, his to rule. He was “plucked from the aether,” or an Aetheren, he assumed. Being Aetheren means to die, from what Telra explained yesterday so clearly he didn’t survive the inauguration.

  Fuck! He was so close to being president of the U.S. of fuckin’ A. Man, why’d he have to go and die? He was clearly assassinated, right? The obvious suspect would be President Prick (technically former President Prick, though only his VP had actually finished the oath).

  Richard also didn’t exactly look like he was plotting anything. He looked like he had been pissing himself angry the entire time, as if he knew he lost but wasn’t willing to admit it. Definitely doesn’t mean he couldn’t have been behind it, still. Either way, there didn’t appear to be any way to do anything about it just yet, so was there much use worrying about it?

  Though, it did make him anxious about his family again. Hilly wouldn’t get to live in the White House anymore, and if Richard was willing to go far enough to have him capped at the podium, then who’s to say he doesn’t go after them too?

  He perished the thought as there was a knock at the door. Granting their entrance, Telra entered again, this time, in a much less formal outfit. They were folded red robes with a white trim. Looked similar to the maid's outfit, just with a different color. Must be standard work attire, he thought.

  “How are you feeling, Sire?”

  “Please, call me Rob, and I’m doing better.” He sat up in his bed and positioned his pillow behind his back.

  “Oh, I’m so glad to hea-”

  Robert held up a finger, “If I’m to be honest; however, I’m incredibly emotional right now as I’ve just lost my family and am in an unfamiliar place. I ask for your patience with me.”

  “Of course, my lord.” Guess she won't be calling him Rob.

  “Now, would you mind answering some questions of mine?”

  “Absolutely!” She quickly scuttled into the room and pulled a nearby chair over to the bed and sat.

  Where to begin, he wondered. What are the bullet points? He was to rule a kingdom, his bloodline was to rule after his departure, and he was technically a different race than these people, though that’s a total guess.

  “Explain to me how everything works here, again.”

  “Well, we needed a new King to rule our country so we negotiated with the nobles to secure the necessary artifacts to summon another Aetheren and you were selected by the ancient goddesses to rule for us.”

  Ancient goddesses? This adds a whole new flavor of questions into this stew of conundrums. “So I was chosen to rule a kingdom I’ve never heard of by some ancient force I’ve never interacted with? That makes perfect sense…” He added sarcastically.

  “That’s one way to put it, I suppose. Nonetheless, I’m glad you’re understanding.”

  That’s definitely an overstatement. “What exactly does ruling entail?”

  “Well, you’ll become the highest authority in the land, having control over national and regional taxation. You’ll be able to levy both the Royal Guard and the individual armies of the noble houses. You’ll also be required to take a queen.”

  “Please, no queen talk.”

  “Sire,” she looked at him with another concerned face. “It is crucial that you produce an heir and given that both of us are in this situation, I’d prefer not to have to summon another royal should you meet an untimely demise.”

  It was hard to argue with. Robert could see the logic in finding a queen as the first order of business but it was all too soon. He had no desire to pursue anyone. If he’d have his way, he’d still be with his existing family, of course. “Is it possible for me to go back to my world?”

  “Given that you died there, I would say no. Though magic can be incredibly accommodating at times, our mages have not mentioned any possibility of a return trip, I’m afraid.”

  That’s about what he expected. He was well and truly separated from the loves of his life.

  Seeing the look on his face, she tried to break the tension, “would you tell me about your family?”

  He wasn’t surprised she asked. “I guess that would be okay. My wife is named Meghan and my daughter is named Helly, she’s 8-years-old.” He looked down at his hands as he could feel a warmth grow across his face. “Helly was the brightest thing ever. She was so full of life and was curious about everything.” He gave a brief smile as his thoughts were filled with her.

  “Helly sounds real sweet. You sound like you really loved her.”

  “I did.” He felt pressure well up behind his eyes, “she was my whole world. Man, she was so excited too.”

  “Excited about what?”

  “Getting to move into the White House.” He chuckled sorely, “I was excited too, to be totally honest with ya.”

  “The white house? Was your previous house a different color?”

  He laughed this time, feeling just a bit lighter, “No, no. It’s just what the building is called. It is white, though it’s not much of a house, more of a…” he gestured around him, “well, kinda like the Royal Palace, but for my country.”

  “Interesting, and you were moving into it for the first time?”

  “Correct, I had just been elected President of the United States of America,” he puffed out his chest as he had done a million times before whenever he said that outside a suit.

  “I’m confused. Does your royalty not progress through bloodline?”

  “No ma’am. We done away with royal bloodlines a few hundred years ago. Even fought a whole war over it. Nearly fought a second civil war trying to stop it again…”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “That’s astonishing.” Her eyes bounced about the room as she processed what he was saying, “we’ve always had a royal bloodline, much like all of the neighboring kingdoms.”

  “Yeah, it was like that for us too for a very long time. Thousands of years, in fact.”

  “Our people have been around for thousands of years as well, though we’re not fully sure how long. Historical records were fairly inconsistent up until around 5000 years ago when we developed a written language.”

  “That’s similar to my people as well, actually. Fascinating…” he had always thought civilizations would develop similarly despite their environments. He cleared his train of thought and recentered the conversation. “Nevertheless, I have no intention of taking a queen anytime soon. That said, the rest of the authority vested in me shall be used with care, I assure you.”

  She let out a relieved sigh, as if she were holding her breath, “That’s wonderful to hear, my lord!” She grinned ear to ear. She was actually quite pretty, he admitted. Her bright blue eyes reminded him of Helly's. “Though, we will still need to discuss it. I understand you have apprehension around taking a queen but it is a crucial matter that must be addressed in the near future.”

  “Let’s table it for now.”

  After lunch, which was a surprisingly, and almost disappointingly similar experience to home, though with different names for things, he was finally up and about. Telra gave him a tour of the private grounds for the royal family first. The palace had nary a bare wall or dull corner. Every inch of the place was dressed in reds, purples, golds, and many other colors as they progressed through different rooms. The royal bedchambers had a number of rooms attached; a bathroom, a large closet, and several other smaller rooms which were explained to be reserved for queens and concubines, though he was more than content to leave the vacant.

  After the private residences, she walked him through the public offices where your typical clerks and pencil pushers worked. The public could come in to interface with the government, mainly for citizenship documents, licenses, or various other bits of simple bureaucracy. Looking at the lines and the fact that there were only two counters at all definitely meant his work was cut out for him.

  “And finally, to conclude the tour, is your office.” She opened a door to a large room with floor to ceiling windows. The room was certainly no Oval Office and honestly, now that he was beginning to accept his circumstances, was a little gleeful that it wasn’t as small as the Oval. It was still much too large for one man, though the other tables and couches suggested that he might not always be working alone in here.

  Daylight streamed in through the massive windows and shimmered off of all of the ornamental trimmings and furniture, casting dancing reflections all over the room. It looked like a victorian-era mansion before being ransacked by angry peasants. The desk he was to man was no larger than the Resolute Desk, though it was missing the titular red phone.

  Two men in blue and gold robes stood at the front of the desk, waiting patiently to greet their new King.

  “This is Magistrate Philo Cornelius. He oversees the kingdom’s treasury and trade.” Philo stuck his hand out and gave Robert’s a stern shake. “Next to him is Magistrate Drakus Neroyo. He’s responsible for matters with our nobility class.”

  “My liege, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” After disconnecting from the handshakes, they bowed deeply.

  “The honor is all mine, gentlemen. My name is Robert Pope and I look forward to working with you both.”

  “The three of us,” Telra gestured to her and the two men, “will be your closest advisors for the time being until you decide to appoint members to your court.”

  The head of the household, the head of finances, and the head of nobility made up his current advisors. From what he could understand of their duties, it sounded like a chief of staff, treasury director, and senate whip? Not much to work with, honestly.

  While this whole situation was still settling in Robert’s mind, he was beginning to feel a little more at home (or as close to it as one could get, given the circumstances). It sounded like he would have to appoint a cabinet as he would have had to originally had he not been assassinated. If anything, he was able to distract himself with governing while he worked out his feelings on the matter.

  He felt a wave of confidence crash over him for the first time since arriving here. He was beginning to see the picture and if he had to admit, this looked like a real opportunity for him. The whole reason he got into politics in the first place was to make a difference in the world. He saw what was happening around him as he grew up and decided the most sure-fire way of fixing things was to get himself into the thick of it and fix it himself.

  He went to law school then immediately ran for county commissioner in his home state of Minnesota. After serving on the board for a few years, he ran for state senate and was nearly unanimously elected (mainly because the incumbent opponent had done a piss-poor job of interacting with his constituents). Eventually he ran for U.S. Senate and served on a number of committees and boards, which is where he met his VP who had quickly become a close ally. The two of them sponsored a number of bills and managed to win over a not-insignificant amount of republicans to his defense against Price.

  Had he not been whisked away merely moments from the proverbial finish line, he would be forced to contend with opposition from the legislative and the judicial branches. Not to mention the damage caused by his former rival, he would be spending a majority of his first term trying to undo all of that.

  But this was a unique chance to start from scratch. Sure, there were already systems in place, as well as an established government, but it was nothing compared to the well oiled machine that is American bureaucracy (with some tweaks of course).

  Only a few moments had passed while his mind sorted through his thoughts, but he came out of it a different man.

  “I have a question for the three of you,” he said, approaching the window. He gazed out across the huge lawns of the palace gardens. It didn’t look much different than the views from the White House windows in the West Wing, though the view here didn’t compare to looking out across the National Mall from the West Front of the Capitol. The grander and weight of D.C.'s history invoked a measure of reverence that this place just couldn't elicit out of Robert. The walls of the palace prevented him from seeing the people and the city beyond, “Why does the Kingdom of Luxoria exist?”

  There was silence for a moment as the three pondered the question.

  Finally, the Housemaster took a guess. “Nearly a thousand years ago, King Goron Darvarious the First united the western territories before conquering the Elven lands to the south. Upon returning to the central lands, he declared himself King and worked tirelessly to build the kingdom brick by brick.” Telra lifted her chin with pride as she recanted the ancient tale.

  “Wrong answer, try again.”

  Telra took a slight step back in shock. A gasp barely escaped her lips. Philo and Drakus looked at each other before the former spoke up, “uh, so the royal family can profit off its subjects?”

  “Seriously?” He gave a pointed look to Philo before turning his gaze toward Drakus, “You wanna give it a try, too?”

  The man tapped his fingers together as he nervously searched for an answer. After Robert peeped the bead of sweat on Drakus’s brow, he gave a dismissive wave, “My country exists because we believe that the power over our money and land should be held by the people who work it rather than the people who own it.”

  “That’s quite the statement, Sire. What of the owners then? Do they no longer own their land?” Telra asked while the others looked at each other with confusing mugs.

  “Okay, well, property ownership is a little in the weeds, but the point is this: It’s called democracy. Every four years, every single citizen goes out to a public place and casts a single vote for who they think should be in charge of the country.”

  “Are your citizens expected to know ever other person in the country?” Drakus finally spoke.

  This prompted a chuckle out of Robert, “No, nothing like that. People vote several times throughout the year to narrow down candidates. We also have large bodies of political party members who conduct separate votes to narrow down candidate selections until the entire country is eventually voting between two people.”

  “That sounds like an incredibly complicated undertaking. And it happens every four years?” Philo was scratching his chin. Drakus’s eyes were locked onto Robert's now, fulling invested.

  “After doing it for,” he did some quick mental calculations, “264 years, you get used to it. Now, implementing it here would be a different matter, especially since it seems like you don’t have electronics here.”

  “Electronics? What is that?” Philo questioned. Robert walked back over toward the desk and sat in its big chair. It didn’t have wheels, nor did it rock back. It was cushioned and comfortable but not as great as modern office equipment.

  “I digress. The main takeaway here is that we have quite an opportunity before us. I was about to be the ruler of my own kingdom before I was killed and brought here. I bring with me a unique perspective on governance that could shock the world and give Luxoria the push it needs to get back on top.”