Prince Lotor woke with a start. "Where am I? What happened?" he wondered. The dark prince began to rise and then stopped. His head pounded with a dull pain and his body was sore and stiff. NOW, he remembered what had transpired! Curse his detestable father! He slowly lifted himself off of the floor of his bedchamber and stumbled to the bed. There he lay among the rumpled, silken sheets and feather pillows.
His father had finally allowed him, after several hours of kneeling on the floor in that uncomfortable position, to return to his apartments. Once he had reached his apartments he had been unable to contain the murderous violence that had been building within him. His fury had grown until he was blinded by it, and he had lashed out at everything and anyone that had been within reach. He believed now that at least two slaves were dead and one guard as well. Everywhere there was broken glass and blood. Once he had managed to pacify himself, he had ordered Altuerian crystal and Teroc wine brought to his chambers by his favorite slave. D'Lera was beautiful and a princess of an enslaved planet. She looked just enough like the Princess Allura that he could believe she was her if he was drunk enough. D'Lera lacked the innocence and purity that attracted him so strongly to Allura, but what she lacked there she made up with experience and imagination. D'Lera had shown up very shortly after he called with refreshments at hand. She had taken little notice of the room's destruction. She was well aware of the prince's rages. She had only been surprised that it had occurred before he taken of the intoxicating drink and the strong narcotic of the crystal.
The Teroc wine she had brought was sweet and cooled the prince's burning throat. The amber Altuerian crystals were bitter to the taste but soon he had felt a pleasant sensation fill his body. The crystals also fueled his lust. D'Lera was always a most willing partner for he was a very skilled lover. After he had taken her, she had slipped away back to his harem through a secret door in the recess of one wall. He had shown it to her once when he was sober and had suggested she use it when he had taken of the crystals. He had no desire to lose his favorite slave to his temper. The prince had been in the process of searching for the last bottle of wine when he had been overcome by a wave of dizziness. He had lost his balance, and fallen to the floor knocking himself unconscious. That's where he had found himself when he had awoke.
Now Lotor lay in his bed contemplating his next move. He would have to avoid his father for a while. It wouldn't do to lose his temper again, not now when he was so close to seizing the throne. He had spent so much time hoarding planets throughout the neighboring galaxies and building his forces to an undefeatable level to risk losing his life now with a hasty word or action. There was still much to do before his overthrow of his father was ready, but the day of reckoning was closer than Zarkon could imagine. Lotor would seize his father's empire and assimilate it into his own. Then he would crush his father's bones into dust with his boot.
A slow smile spread over the prince's face as he imagined his father's surprise and horror. His father really gave him far too little credit. He was a mere 25 years old and he had managed to capture hundreds of planets, some by reputation alone. He had also swayed many of his father's own planets against Zarkon as well. Zarkon would never admit it, but Lotor was the most feared ruler and ruthless conqueror in all the galaxy, not Zarkon. Zarkon had grown old and lazy and that would be his downfall.
Lotor rolled over, and a small picture Ayli had painted for him caught his eye. He took it off the wall and sat in an large overstuffed chair. He gazed lovingly at the figure in the portrait and ran his fingers down the length of the picture. It was of his love, Allura. Ayli had done it as a surprise for him. It showed the Arusian princess standing in a meadow of violet and honey-colored flowers. She was laughing, and her golden hair fanned around her in the breeze. Lotor had never seen her as happy as she was in the picture, and it saddened him. He wanted to be the one who made her smile and laugh. He closed his saffron eyes and tried to transport himself into the portrait with her. He wished he could touch her like he did this picture.
Lotor rose to go ask Ayli to use her Sight again, then though of a better, more satisfying idea. He would go to the princess in her garden when she rose the next morning.