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“Why did you believe him?” Kriz’s voice is sharp and cold.

“At first we didn’t. But he said the Priest’s were feeding Obsidian lies. That they knew Elsinor would be lost, and the only way to stop it was a suicide mission. Where are we now?”

Ra’al snarls. “Answer questions. That is all. You nearly made me lose my command, Krazak. If Elsinor had been destroyed… It would have been our heads. You put my triad at risk.”

“We just want to disappear. That’s all. Let us go, and you’ll never see us again. You saw what we had. Seeds. Tools. We just want to start a life, far away from all this.”

“Those brands cannot be removed. You are marked as soldiers of Obsidian, for eternity,” states Kriz.

“We will go where no one else lives. Solitude. All we need is her. Is she okay?”

Ra’al sighs. “Yes. She is fine.”

“How long have we been out?”

“Two weeks. I took you to an unmarked ship. The Priests want you strung up and your stomach cut open. They’ll send people for you.”

Our three auras flare up with the fire of hope.

“You’ll let us go?”

Ra’al stares at me for long moments, not speaking. “I don’t trust the Priests. It’s not certain if they lied, or they had bad intel, but all I know is that Elsinor is broiled in a civil war, not obliterated. We lost two hundred men yesterday, the Aurelian Empire the same. Krazak. If I ever hear word of a Scorp-Blooded triad with brands on their foreheads, the Priests won’t be the ones to kill you. It will be me. I don’t want to know where you’re going. I just need you to leave and never come back.”

“You put me at risk, Krazak. If it weren’t for the baby in Lola’s belly, I’d kill you now. Live for her. Put this all behind you. You’re a ghost now, Krazak. Haunt some other place.”

Then he throws the keys to the ground, and leaves the room.

We sit there for a minute when the door opens again.

Lola is in a pure white dress. She runs to me, wrapping her arms around me, sobbing. Then she grabs the keys and unlocks me. I quickly unshackle the other two of my triad.

“Lola, I’m sorry, I can’t give you a beautiful life. With us, you’ll be in the wilderness. We can never be found.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve been speaking with Rachel. Well, Queen Rachel. We’ll figure something out. Just give me some time.”

34

LOLA

He’s beautiful. The way he flexes his toes, curls then up, opens them again, gurgling happily, makes me break down crying the happiest tears. I feel so foolish, but I don’t care, not even for a second. He’s like a cherub, still with baby fat, so unlike the hard titans of men I am linked to for eternity.

I run my finger down his cheek. His skin is so soft and smooth, but it’s got the marble hue of an Aurelian. But he has eyes just like me, big doe eyes that aren’t meant for the battlefield, hazel with specks ofmygreen, the exact same shade as mine. I don’t know what he’ll grow up to be, but he won’t have the pain of his fathers.

The two triads are speaking, insistently, in the fields. General Ra’al can rarely leave his post. The attack has gone deeper into the Aurelian Empire, and I try to block out the news of planets falling. They aren’t friends, exactly, and there is still tension between the two triads despite all of our efforts, but they are able to talk strategy in a way Ra’al can’t with anyone else.

Rachel and I are sitting in the cottage my triad built for me, the shutters open to look out in the fields where our triads discuss. Plants are sprouting, and next year, we’ll have a bounty of fresh crops.

After my triad betrayed him, Ra’al was disgraced – but only until it became clear that the Aurelian Empire never planned to use orbital bombardment on the human populations of Elsinor. It took me reconnecting with Queen Rachel to explain before we could come out of hiding. Ra’al was cold at first – but he didn’t trust the Priests either. He wanted us exiled, but I convinced Rachel that her son and mine would be better off as friends. The only thing Ra’al cares more about his command is his family.

The proof that the Priests were playing Obsidian like a puppet was simple.

The Aurelian Empire did not use their orbital weapons to destroy planet Elsinor. Instead, they fought a brutal battle. Thousands of Aurelians on both side died, the territories shifting back and forth, until the Aurelian Empire was able to retake Elsinor. Their next attack on Trebulous was stopped by Ra’al’s leadership. Because of his strength commanding the defense of the planet, he kept his crown.

He would never publicly admit that he is visiting with so-called traitors, but with Rachel in his ears, he softened. And once the warnings of the Priest’s were shown to be lies, Obsidian backed him as ruler. It still sickens me how close my triad came to destroying themselves to protect humans who were never at risk. It was all lies by the Priests, to keep control of Elsinor and continue their attacks deeper and deeper.

Did the Priests really believe that Queen Jasmine would use the Flagships to raze a Fanatic controlled planet, or was it all just lies? I’m still not certain. Though Queen Jasmine wasn’t willing to then, Khra thinks that once pressed, when her back is against the wall and her dozen sons could be obliterated, she will stop at nothing.

I look down at Mattias, and I understand it. The perfection of his little nose, his ears, his tiny toes and his strong fingers.