Page 105 of Exiles on Earth

“Somehow, his kind heart has survived. Not because of the people who try to snuff it out, whether they realize it or not, but in spite of them.”

Slowly, I lift my head from the floor, focusing on her face. Her cheeks, flushed not with pleasure or shame, but hurt.

Could she be talking about… me?

“I mentioned he is a great leader, and I mean it,” she says, a smile wobbling on her face. “Everything’s better and brighter when he’s around. And lighter, too. He… he helped me work through my worries and taught me how to breathe again, and every task alongside him isn’t just easier, it’s… a highlight.”

I breathe in, my lungs filling with the conviction pouring through El-len’s words, each one firing me up like Gerverstock strength. I… I helped her. I make her burdens lighter.

My scales slide into pale peach and dark brown, mirroring her skin tone and the wild hair flying around her face as she speaks.

Her eyes spear straight into me, and the sight of her heart breaking in them shatters me. “Ilia Gerverstock, if you’re out there, please, just tell me you’re okay. No, better than okay, I need you more than just ‘okay’, okay?” She swipes tears from her eyes.

I did that. I made her cry.

“Ilia, I love you.”

Love. My hearts thunder, reawakened. My full strength floods into me as I get to my feet, reaching out as if to pull El-len from the vidscreen and into my arms.

“Please don’t cry,” I croak. “I love you, too.”

She dissolves into tears, and the drone cams soak in every detail.

“Leave her alone!” I bellow, the walls trembling with my outburst. “Can’t you see she’s upset? Stop exploiting her!”

The cameras cut to the Prif. “Our visitor will be returning to her planet today, so please, join me in bidding her farewell and a safe journey.”

The breath leaves my body. Today. El-len’s leaving Oloria today, forever.

And she loves me.

The door shakes as Ysura bangs it. “Be quiet in there! Imaya’s due home any moment now.”

Calling up Gerverstock strength, I thrust my fist through the door, grasping his arm. Ysura shrieks as I reel him in, slamming him against the wood, which splinters.

“You want me gone, correct?” I ask his stunned face, his purple scales a dim lilac with shock and overshadowed by my glowing red muscles.

He stammers something, the cuts in his face and hands healing as his overclocked nanites get to work.

With a patient tone I don’t feel, I explain, “I want to leave, you want to get rid of me. Let me out of the compound, and you’ll never see me again.”

“What are you doing?” Frion yells from outside, trying to pull Ysura away. But I don’t release his arm, and Ysura screams in pain. “Crazy Tuber!”

“Thank you for keeping me alive, but I need to go to my mate now.”

Ysura’s shrieks double.

“El-len, I mean,” I clarify.

Now they triple. I grind my teeth. What does Ysura want from me?

“All of you, stop,” Belora commands with quiet authority.

Frion backs away and Ysura stops yelling, and I let the young True Born go. I peer through the hole in the door at Frion nursing Ysura, Belora glaring at us all.

“Release me,” I say. Not an order, but a demand. “We all know I’m not a suitable mate for Imaya. There’s a female out there who needs me, and I have to go?—”

“A female needs you? Who would want a clone?” Ysura snaps.