“From the time I was born, I was groomed to be Sovereigna of Cruestace. There was no room for error, ever. Every move I made, every breath I took, every thought that entered my mind had to be suitable, a forethought, acceptable to one of my destiny.” Eula stared into the camera. “I hated it. I hated that I was not allowed to be me. I was a means to an end. A perfect Sovereigna in training to stand beside a male I didn’t know, who would likely never know me, and would never care that he didn’t know me. I was to be a perfect representation of what he and his family envisioned a Sovereigna should be.”
“I lived my days like this. Every. Single. Day. Eventually, my parents and my tutors got the communication. My male was coming for me. He and his mother were coming to collect their perfect little female.” Eula looked down at her feet for only a moment. Those standing nearest her could see her struggling to maintain her control.
Vivian whispered to her. “Ascend.”
Eula’s head popped up, and she smiled at Vivian before pulling her into a tight hug. Then she faced the holovid again. “I was 15. Barely more than a child. And I was terrified this would be my life forever.” Eula shrugged. “I ran.”
There was murmuring among the many holovid projected on the screen.
“I found myself on a very underdeveloped planet. The people there live off the land, they farm, they barter, and they go to war over land, and family, and honor. They are a very simple people. Technology is scoffed at, they don’t need it. One of the males there found me alone, frightened, but mostly downtrodden and hopeless. He took me in and took care of me. He became my male, and Quarin became my home.”
Surprised gasps and murmurs filled the Command Deck from the many holovid feeds. Eula waited until they quieted down before going on. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, she caught sight of movement from the corner of her eye. The male was pale-green, and reminded her of another she knew so many years ago. She turned her gaze to him and smiled with tears in her eyes.
Rokai looked right back at her, his own eyes glassy, but his pride refusing to allow him to release his tears.
Eula sniffled and began her story again. “I was happy there for sometime. But, eventually, my life was upended. My true mate, my love, Zha Tahl came after me. He found me and came for me.”
Zha Tahl smiled lovingly down at his Ehlealah.
“The moment I saw him I knew, I was his Ehlealah. Not because of all the relentless training I’d endured, but because our souls knew one another. We were part of one another. My destiny was sealed at that moment.”
Zha Tahl started speaking. “When I found my Ehlealah, my heart leapt with joy. I’d been resentful of the prearranged mating, dreaming instead of ruling with my Ehlealah by my side. Imagine my awe, when finding the two were the same. Eula recognized me as her male as well, and I took her away to Cruestace, to love her forever and give her all I have to give. But it wasn’t only Eula that I brought home. We had a child on the way. A son. And that son is as much mine as Zha Quin, or any of his other brothers. I never questioned it, Eula was mine, her unborn child was mine. And I rejoiced at his birth just as any father who sees the bright soul of his son smiling through the babe’s eyes as he feels the grasp of tiny fingers holding his own.” Zha Tahl smiled, his eyes distant as he remembered. “He was a beautiful baby, so full of life, such a kind heart. And the royal family, my mother in particular and her antiquated ideas, stole that happiness, that kindness from him — from us.”
Eula took over speaking. “I was a child, with a child, and a mate who thankfully loved me and my child. But his mother was appalled, and forced us to send Rokai away to his father’s planet more often than not. She said it was only fair to familiarize him with his true father and the ways of their people. She didn’t care about that. She just wanted him gone. And I was too young and too weak to fight her. I blame no one but myself. I should have been stronger.”
“As I should have been,” Zha Tahl added. “I’m often asked, do I have regrets? One. Only one. I regret that I allowed another to take my firstborn son from my life. I regret that my firstborn son believes he was not wanted, not missed, not loved. That is a regret that will follow me into the next life and the life after that. There is no greater travesty. And I did nothing to stop it, fearing retribution from those I’d have had to oppose.”
Eula spoke again. “Rokai ahl is our son. He is loved, he is missed, he is wanted. He is a prince of the Cruestaci people, and as one, we welcome him and await his return home.”
Eula looked directly at Rokai. “I am so sorry, my son. So sorry, and so ashamed of the way you’ve been treated.”
Rokai shook his head vigorously the entire time she spoke. When the last word left her mouth, he dropped his hands from the shoulders of the female standing with him and practically charged to his mother. He held her as tightly as she held him. She cried openly, while he sniffled, and did his best to hold back his tears.
Zha Tahl wrapped his arms around Eula and Rokai, holding them both tightly. Rokai lifted his head and met Zha Tahl’s eyes. Zha Tahl reached out, running his thumb across his son’s cheek bone, his own eyes damp and glassy. Rokai smiled and nodded. Zha Tahl patted him on the back and embraced them again.
Zha Quin cleared his throat to be sure that his voice would boom as it did when he was making every effort to scare the hell out of whomever his target was; then, he stepped in front of his parents and his brother. “Rokai ahl Tel Mo’ Kok is a prince of Cruestace. He is to be revered and respected as such.” He stepped closer to the holovid podium, peering intently into the holovid projector. “Make no mistake about it. Our family is now complete. To provoke one, is to provoke all.”
Zha Quin stared into the projector a moment longer before taking a step back. He raised his arm, and Vivi immediately ducked underneath it, standing tall, her back straight, her cloak thrown back, her dagger and her St. Christopher’s medal on display. Together they stared into the holovid until the entire viewing screen went blank, indicating that all had signed off.
“Communications Master Vennie?” Quin barked.
“Yes, Sire!”
“End Com.”
“Ended, Sire.”
Quin turned from the screen and watched his parents and his brother becoming acquainted. Not reacquainted, truly acquainted for the first time. With no threat of being separated again by anyone.
Rokai finally released his mother and stood back, reaching for Rosalita to come to him. When he did, he saw Quin standing there. “Zha Quin,” Rokai said, unable to think of the right thing to say.
Quin smiled at Rokai. “I’ve missed you, brother.”
Rokai nodded. And this time, he couldn’t stop the tears. They fell silently down his face as he hugged Zha Quin. They separated, patting each other on the back ferociously.
“I am happy you’re home.”
“Me, too,” Rokai answered.
“Me, three,” Vivian said, weeping uncontrollably. “I just can’t stop crying!” she declared.
“Then perhaps, you just need a hug,” Rokai said, smiling slyly at her.
Vivian nodded and fell into Rokai’s arms. “I’m so glad everything worked out.”
“Me, too, little Sirena,” Rokai said, hugging her gently. When she kept crying and hugging him, he gently loosed her arms and turned her toward Zha Quin, grinning at his brother as Quin pulled her into his arms and in one movement lifted her off her feet to hold against his chest.
Rokai took Rosie’s hand in his. “Mother, I have found my Ehlealah. Rosalita Consuela Contreras-Villanueva, this is my mother, Eula, Sovereigna of Cruestace.”
Eula pulled Rosie in for a hug.
“And my father,” Rokai finished, looking at Zha Tahl. “Zha Tahl, Sovereign of Cruestace.”
Rosie looked up from the hug Eula refused to end and smiled at Zha Tahl. “Hello,” she said.
“Welcome, child,” Zha Tahl said, knowing he’d need to practice her name before he could say it as Rokai could.
F
inally Eula let Rosie go, and she stepped back beside Rokai. “You can call me, Rosie,” Rosie offered.
“Thank you, I am not sure I could pronounce all of your name with practice,” Zha Tahl admitted.
“Welcome to the family, Rosie,” Zha Quin said, holding his own Ehlealah close. “We are very happy you’re here.”
Chapter 33
Two days later Rosie sat at the table she favored in the commissary. She and Synclare were doing their best to soothe a very upset Ada Jane.
“Are you sure he did it on purpose?” Synclare asked.
“Absolutely. I mean, I can’t prove it or anything, but I know it. I KNOW it. He found a way to stop that elevator and have the doors stick, so I’d miss the shuttle. And it just kills me, all I want to do is go home. He knows that. All his professing to just want to make me happy, and he’ll do anything I want him to do just to see me smile, then I get my one chance to go home. The Consortium’s shuttle arrives, and I’m scheduled to be on it, and we get stuck in an elevator, and Mr. Elite Blue-Dude-I-am-your-mate, can’t get us unstuck, so I can go home! He doesn’t care what I want; all he wants is what he wants!”
“I heard the Chairman was inquiring about it,” Rosie said.
“Really? Do you think they’ll send another transport back for me?” Ada asked.
Rosie shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s a long way and a huge expense for just one person. I’m sure at some point they will…”
“Some point… I don’t want some point. I want to go home, now!”
“Don’t you ever think of staying here with Kol? He’s handsome, and sweet, and is so in love with you,” Synclare said.
Ada Jane looked at Synclare, and she knew all the things Synclare said were true, but she just couldn’t even consider starting a new life based on what someone told her happened to her world. She needed to be there, see it, determine for herself that what everyone said was true — she’d truly been up here for 135 years. Ada simply couldn’t make peace with it, couldn’t accept it. She needed to see for herself.
“I need to get some kind of closure. If what they’re saying is actually true, I need to see it for myself. Then, maybe I could start thinking about what I’m going to do next. But for now, all I know is about two weeks ago, I was feeding the cattle. Now I’m here. I hate to hurt him. And I do care about him, but I was just lifted out of my life. I can’t just go, ‘Oh, okay, now it’s this life’. I need to go home.”
“I understand,” Synclare said, reaching out and covering Ada Jane’s hand with her own.
“What about you? Why didn’t you go?” Rosie asked.
Synclare shrugged. “I have nothing to go back to.”
“Come on, I recognize the type. No disrespect, but you come from money, socialite most likely. Surely there’s somebody looking for you. Some fortune to go back and collect,” Rosie said.
Synclare shook her head while her eyes tracked General Lo’ San as he made his way to the serving line, supposedly without even noticing she was there. “You’re not far off. But, I’m a much better person than I was then. The things I had, the thing I was doing…” Synclare shook her head. “I want no part of that woman anymore. I’m a different person now. The most difficult thing when I disappeared, I’m sure, was trying to figure out how to split up my trust fund among my parents and multitude of step-parents.”
General Lo’ San entered the commissary, and the first thing he saw was Synclare. It wasn’t surprising, she was pretty much all he ever saw anymore. In his dreams, in his daydreams, in his shower, completing his reports — Synclare was always in his mind’s eye. He chose his meal, placed his favored cakes on his plate and two more on a separate plate, then walked past her table on his way to eat with some of his fellow warriors. It was obvious from the tone of the conversation the women were having that it was an emotional one, and he didn’t want to interrupt that. Instead, as he walked past her table, he paused, placing the plate of cakes next to the plate she’d had her meal on. Synclare looked up at him and gifted him a beautiful smile. Lo’ San smiled back, lingering only a moment longer than necessary, before making his way to eat with his friends.
“See?” Ada Jane said, indicating General Lo’ San and Synclare. “I want to feel that. I do, I really do. But I can’t start another life, until I visit the last one. Until I say goodbye to it and make my peace with it.”
“I understand,” Synclare said, with a goofy smile on her face. She dipped a finger into the frosting and sucked it off her finger.
“Me, too,” Rosie said, acknowledging that she understood Ada’s feelings.
“What about you, Rosie? A princess! What’s next?” Synclare said excitedly.
“Rokai said that he’d take me anywhere I want to go. We’re still getting to know each other and getting to know his family as well. He wants to take his time and ease into any full-time relationships with them. So, he said he wants to travel, give me a sense of the universe that I’m now calling home. Maybe we’ll go to Quarin and visit his biological father’s people.”
“Is he excited to meet you?” Synclare asked.
Rosie shook her head. “No, he died in a battle not long after Rokai’s mother went back to Cruestace. But his family is there, and they’ve maintained some contact with Rokai, though limited since they don’t do technology.”
“Not at all?” Synclare asked.
“Nope. Think medieval castle times. That’s Quarin,” Rosie explained. “At least that’s how it was told to me. I’m thinking it would be cool to see.”
“What would be cool to see?” Rokai asked, striding up behind them and dropping into a chair beside Rosie.
“Hey! You even used that word the right way!” Rosie said, smiling when he leaned over and rubbed his nose against hers.
“Of course I did. I am learning the slangs so that I will fit in on Earth,” Rokai said, waggling his eyebrows.
“Um, honey, you’re not going to fit in on Earth, ever. We don’t have green guys,” Rosie said.
Rokai’s eyebrows drew down over his eyes, and he considered her words. “What colors do you have?” he asked.
“Basically, just black and white and shades of them.”
“You are golden brown,” Rokai said.
“Okay, and some brownish shades, too.”
“It does not sound very exciting,” Rokai said, thinking about it. Then he perked up. “I will be much revered, because I am unique!” he said, grinning, raising his chin in the air to imply that he was haughty.
“No, I think you would be feared rather than revered,” Rosie said, teasing him.
“Perhaps,” he finally agreed, smiling while he stole a bite of Rosie’s food from her plate.
“Are you going to Earth?” Ada Jane asked hopefully.
Rokai turned his attention to Ada Jane. He knew she was Kol’s Ehlealah, but Kol hadn’t had much luck, which made him even harder on his Elite Team. “We have not decided yet, Kol’s Ehlealah. I told my female, anywhere she wishes to visit, I shall take her.”
Ada Jane nodded and looked down at her plate.
When the conversation died down, Rokai leaned over, whispering in his Ehlealah’s ear.
Rosie’s grin slowly grew, turning into a salacious smile. “You are too bad for your own good,” she told Rokai.
Rokai watched her and licked his lips slowly, his eyes dropping to take in her luscious body before returning his gaze to hers.
Suddenly Rosie jumped up. “Well, ladies, it’s been real. But, got a better offer. I’ll catch up with ya’ll later!”
Rokai jumped to his feet and swept his mate into his arms, carrying her triumphantly over his shoulder out of the commissary.
“I want that kind of love,” Synclare said, watching them go.
“Me, too. One day. When I’m ready,” Ada Jane agreed.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Ada Jane rolled over in bed, stretching her legs out, and her arms above her head. She looked around the slightly darkened room, tryi
ng to determine what woke her. The last thing she remembered, she and Kol had been arguing, then she went to her room to go to sleep. She remembered Kol telling her he had duty, so he’d be gone for a while. She’d told him to be careful, then heard him leave, but now… she’d been awakened and wasn’t sure by what.
Then she heard it. A series of soft tones, sounding from the front door, which indicated someone was waiting at your door. She got to her feet and slipped on her clothes. “Kol?” she called, but there was no answer.
Ada walked through her rooms to the front door, only realizing that she had no peep hole, once she was already there. “Who is it?” she called.
“Rosie,” Rosie answered, in a hushed voice.
Ada placed her hand on the pad mounted next to the door and allowed it to scan her, then, she keyed in a code and the doors swooshed open.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Ada asked, looking for Rokai behind Rosie, but finding only Rosie standing there.
“I was talking to Rokai last night, telling him about Kol refusing to allow you to go home, even though it’s the only thing you really need to do so that you could maybe one day see your way to Kol.”
“Okay,” Ada said.
“Is Kol here?” Rosie asked, lowering her voice and peeking into the living room behind Ada.
“No, he’s on duty,” Ada answered, confusion coloring her voice.
“We’re leaving. Now. Already said our goodbyes. If you want to go to Earth, Rokai said he’d take you,” Rosie offered.
Ada’s eyes got big. Her heart thundered in her chest, and she couldn’t hear anything for the blood rushing in her ears. “Seriously?” she asked.
“Seriously. But you have to come now. He’s on our ship now, waiting for me, for us,” Rosie said.
“Yes! Yes, I’m coming. But, I need to say goodbye first…”
“No! You cannot tell Kol goodbye. He’d not allow you to leave, and he’d be very pissed off at Rokai.”
“Isn’t he going to be angry at Rokai anyway?” Ada asked.
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