Page 145

16

My prison, if you can call it that, is the penthouse suite of a luxurious hotel, bordering a huge, slow-moving river.

My triad is near. I can sense them.

Quint was brought to join his battle-brothers in captivity after his condition was stabilized at one of the state-of-the-art Aurelian Hospitals.

The moments during which I didn’t know if Quint would live or die will remain the most terrifying of my life – but now, the sudden urgency of terror has been replaced by a dull, nagging anxiety.

Now, my life is not in my hands.

My future belongs to Queen Jasmine, and her warrior triad.

Marcel, Lucius, and Quint don’t have the same luxurious confinement as I do. They’ve transmitted images through the Bond, and I can see that they’re in true jail-cells.

I was terrified of that, until Marcel reassured me that the worst of the criminals – the ones looking at execution – would be put in a Bond-Blocking cell.

Queen Jasmine, it seemed, did not seek to punish us by taking away our Bond.

That’s a good sign – unless she’s allowing me to feel the Bond just one last time, before she indeed cuts them down as traitors.

I close my eyes and luxuriate in our shared auras. I never want to stop feeling my triad in my mind.

I’ve been here for days now, without news. I hate not knowing what’s going to happen. I hate not knowing if the universe is at war, or in a breathless hush before sides are chosen, and allegiances forged.

My triads’ calm auras reassure me – but all four of us know the truth. Our fate is no longer in our hands. It will all depend on Queen Jasmine and her Emperor triad.

When I do begin hearing news – allowed to listen to the holo-broadcasts, and read the bulletins – I learn that the arrival of Lord Oblog’s vessel in the orbit of Colossus had wide swept consequences.

As the roots of their rebellion were revealed, the Aurelian Priesthood fled – taking with them all who wished for the Empire to return to the Old Ways.

There were a lot.

In fact, a full third of the population of Colossus fled – and left the Aurelian society shattered.

Will my triad and I be made an example of? To keep others from deserting to the side of the Priests and the Old Ways?

Will Queen Jasmine call my triad traitors? Will she convict them for smuggling supplies between the Separatists and the Aurelian’s oldest enemies, the Toads?

Or, will she hail them as heroes – for uncovering the treachery, and bringing a high-ranking Toad Lord to justice?

On the larger stage – will this ‘diplomatic incident’ plunge the universe into war?

They’re all useless questions.

All these giant concepts mean nothing to me. All I want to do is to get to Atlantis with myfamily.Marcel, Quint, Lucius. Our unborn son.

My old dream – of disappearing to X12 and starting a farm, all alone – has long since faded into obscurity. It’s changed, into something more powerful. I still want to get away from everything – but not to fade away.

I want tobuild.

I run my hand across my stomach. There’s no sign yet, but IknowI’m pregnant with my triads’ son.

I walk to the balcony. Below me stretches the ancient Aurelian capital city. Huge estates span as far as the eye can see. When an Aurelian finishes his hundred years of service, he’s granted a mansion and property – the opportunity to live the remainder of their thousands of years in luxury.

Some restless souls forsake that – to strike it out on their own, like my triad had done. They fight to carve their own legacy in this limitless universe.

But some chose to live out their lives on Colossus, basking in decadence.