by Eva Brandt
His anger made me snap out of my shock. “There’s no way my mother would hurt me or my baby,” I managed to say. “You’re wrong. It’s impossible.”
“I think you know it isn’t,” Knox replied. “This pregnancy isn’t exactly something you wanted and the High Priestess knows that. Let’s face it. It’s not out of the question that she’d try to help you, even if it means making you miscarry.”
“But… But… She knows I want to keep it. Why…? No, it can’t be. She’s a High Priestess of Gaia. There has to be another explanation.”
Even assuming the capsules had been the ones to hurt me, it could have very easily been an accident. My mother knew my pregnancy was risky and complicated, but she might not have understood the intricacies of Heliad biology. She might have given me something that was incompatible with a half-alien child.
“I know what you’re thinking, Selene, but we’re not making unjustified accusations,” Brendan offered. “Our… common friend is at the academy. He heard your mother talking to her subordinate—a woman named Yolanda. They were discussing their plans and your mother admitted to intending to end your pregnancy.”
There was only one common friend Brendan could be referring to, and that was Jared. But it would’ve been next to impossible for Jared to come to Tartarus without being spotted. Our base might have suffered damage from the generator shutdown, but that didn’t mean the sensors were completely offline.
He might have taken the chance, though, if he truly had heard my mother discuss such a thing. How could I be sure?
The answer was easy enough. “Jared is with Zephyrus,” Sphinx whispered in my head. “The Lower Chimera Unit is hiding him. So far, he’s safe, but we’ll have to find a way to get him out before anyone finds him.”
With Zephyrus. He had gone to his chimera. He must have been in a panic, because he’d told me he’d never quite put his faith in the Harpy.
Could it be true? I wasn’t sure, but I did know one thing. I had to be more careful with what I put in my body and the actions I took. For all I knew, my mother’s capsules had been entirely harmless and my fit had been caused by Commander Trevor’s request.
“You can always check,” Sphinx pointed out. “You still have some of the medicine from her.”
Once again, she was right, and I hated her a little for it. But that was a stupid, petty thought, and I needed to be practical if I wanted to protect my baby. “All right. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m getting a scan of the medicine I took. I have it here with me, but I don’t think it would be a good idea to share the information with Dr. Bell. After that, we’ll handle the issue with our common friend.”
“Whatever you want, Selene,” Brendan replied.
He was already extending his hand, silently asking me for the capsules. I remembered a different time, when he had been the one to poison me. In his case, it had been an accident, through Typhon’s skill, but the same thing could not be said about all the other people who had died in Gaia’s Haven.
My lovers. My mother. My child. Commander Trevor. My chimera. Jared. There were so many things I didn’t know how to handle. But I couldn’t hide or pretend anymore. Somehow, I had to settle my differences with my lovers, because if I didn’t, I might not survive it.
****
Brendan
A convenient side-effect of being the tamer of the Typhon was having a lot of knowledge about poisonous chemical compounds. Part of it was induced, things Typhon had taught me when our minds had connected. I’d cultivated that information, well aware of how useful and dangerous my secondary skill could be.
I had never expected to use it to identify a poison meant to force a miscarriage, but stranger things had happened.
We didn’t have a lot of time at our disposal, since my uncle’s patience would probably run out soon. He’d been surprisingly supportive about this whole thing, but that was just because he was under the impression Selene might be carrying my child. Dr. Bell hadn’t gotten the chance to ascertain the true nature of the pregnancy, so my uncle had taken me up on my word. That would help us, for now, but it would also draw unwanted attention from my father.
That made it all the more important to be sure Tanya Renard had truly intended to end Selene’s pregnancy. Thankfully, it didn’t take me long to verify that.
The blend of plants in the capsules shouldn’t have harmed Selene’s body. The intent had been to make her miscarry. But the herbs had had an unfortunate interaction with the energies the pregnancy emanated, leading to her whole biology being thrown out of whack.
Jared had been right to panic and to come here. If we hadn’t been informed about this, she could have very easily been killed.
“Well?” Selene asked as I set aside the scanner. “What’s the verdict?”
“I’m sorry, Selene,” I replied.
I didn’t expect her to take me up on my word, not after everything that had happened, so instead, I brought her my tablet and showed her a hologram of the atoms and particles that made up the capsules she had ingested. “These are the results from the test. Here is the biological structure of the compound in the medicine. And here is a simulation of its effects on you.”
The projected image was almost eerie, since it displayed the venomous substance enveloping her uterus and attacking the incipient cells of her baby. I felt horrible for showing her such a thing. But I had to believe in her strength and in her ability to understand and deal with the situation that was in front of her.
Selene pressed her lips together so tightly they went white. She didn’t say anything, but maybe it was better that way. If she had, we might have all fallen apart out of anguish and shame.
I had no right to hate Tanya Renard when I’d betrayed Selene too. I’d been the one to start this whole mess. If I’d been a better leader or had found another solution, she would’ve never been kidnapped by Jared in the first place. But I hadn’t, and I was well aware that her suffering was my fault.
Even so, I couldn’t accept the fact that her mother had turned on her at such a critical time. For good or ill, Selene had made her choice. She wanted to keep the baby. We couldn’t deny her that. All we could do was help her, protect her, and love the child when it did come into the world.
“We don’t know if the capsules have had any significant side-effects on you yet,” I said. “I’ll speak with my uncle again and try to secure a safer test.”
“But how will we explain the genetics of the child?” Selene asked. “It’ll be obvious that it’s not human.”
“They’ll all assume that it’s mine, like Commander Trevor has,” August offered. “There’s… There’s a lot of stuff going on here, Selene, and some of it, I don’t understand myself. But I think the best thing to do would be to make sure you’re calm and safe. Let us handle the rest.”
It wasn’t the right thing to say. Selene’s eyes flashed and something exploded in the med bay. “How can I possibly be calm when a minute ago, Brendan told me my mother tried to kill my baby?”
Technically, it wasn’t a baby yet, but I didn’t think pointing that out would help. Neither would telling her that we understood, because we didn’t, not really. “Selene, listen. You’re in a delicate condition right now. Between the pregnancy and the pills, your hormones and skills are all over the place. If we’re telling you this, it’s not because we’re looking down on you. It’s not a suggestion at all. Consider it an order from your superior officer if you must, but keep your head down and rest.”
I hated the idea of pulling rank on her. I had the authority, because I was a prince and the leader of our unit. But this was a private matter and had nothing to do with our official business. It wasn’t my place to give her such orders.
And yet, when I spoke, the tension in Selene’s stance started to settle. She collapsed onto the pillows, drained of strength, but also of anger. “I wish things were different. I wish we could have had a real family.”
“We still can, Selene. Everything is fucked
up now, but—”
“Something’s wrong with me, Brendan,” she cut me off, her voice still calm and level. “I don’t know what it is, but there’s something inside my mind, struggling to come out. I kissed Commander Trevor earlier, and I don’t know what could have possessed me to do such a thing.”
I froze. As far as I knew, Selene had never seen our teacher in a sexual light, or if she had, she’d never mentioned it. Granted, before her arrival at the academy, she’d been a virgin and we’d occupied that space in her life pretty quickly, leaving no room for anyone else. It wasn’t out of the question that someone new would try to wriggle his way in, now that she was vulnerable. But Commander Trevor? Why him and why now?
Knox sat on the edge of the bed, but didn’t try to touch her. His hand already had claws. I made a mental note to pull him aside later and make sure he took his anger out on me.
Despite his visible anguish, he managed to force a smile for Selene’s sake. “The trip to the Apsid Quasar has left marks on all of us,” he said. “It’s going to pass. You need to give yourself time. We won’t judge you for whatever you do.”
She met his gaze and in the dark depths of her eyes, I saw so much grief and pain I wanted to die. “I don’t know what to do. I’m scared. I’m being so unreasonable. Everything is falling apart. I have nothing.”
“You still have us, Selene,” Pollux insisted. “It might not mean much right now, but we’re still here.”
Tears trailed down her cheeks, as clear and bright as a Tartarus diamond core. “No. You’re not, not for me.”
She sounded so sure and, despite her pain, her voice didn’t tremble. Paradoxically, she seemed relaxed, as if she’d accepted this natural fact and made her peace with her utter loneliness.
I couldn’t let her think we’d truly abandoned her. “Your heart might not belong to us anymore, Selene, but ours still belong to you. Even if you don’t believe anything, believe that, at least.”
I couldn’t make her take us back so easily, but maybe on some level, she did accept my confession, because she wiped her eyes. She didn’t acknowledge my words per se, but she no longer seemed so lost. “We should start moving things along then. Go get your uncle. He said he wanted to talk to me. And while we are at it, make sure our friend is safe.”
“I’ll take care of that, Selene,” Pollux offered. “You don’t have to worry about a thing.”
I was still confused about Selene’s relationship with Jared. She had insisted for him to come with us from Nexus, but as far as I knew, they weren’t close. They definitely weren’t lovers and Selene was still leery of him. This had relieved me at first, since had the situation been different, we could have very easily lost any chances we might have had to patch things up with Selene. But unfortunately, it also meant that she’d had no real support from anyone who was honest in the desire to support her decisions. She’d only had her mother, who’d apparently decided it was a good idea to stab her in the back.
No matter what Pollux said, she’d probably still worry. It was foolish for us to expect anything different. But I still hoped I could protect her, at least a little. In the meantime, I had to keep my promise and go through with everything on our tentative ‘to-do’ list. And I had to start with my uncle.
He had been acting very strangely as of late. When Selene had been sick earlier, he’d shown genuine concern and had even held her hand, which was an anomaly that alarmed me.
I knew he had an interest in Selene. Commander Trevor had made that clear when we’d confronted him. But he’d also been very vague and had refused to give us any real information, claiming it was still too risky. I hoped I’d finally get some answers today.
With that thought in mind, I went to get the door myself. My uncle was waiting outside, just like he had said he would. So was Commander Trevor. Dr. Bell had left, but much to my surprise, Pollux’s mother had taken his place.
“Hello, Your Highness,” she greeted me when she saw me standing in the doorway. “I hope you don’t mind me dropping by. I was concerned about Pollux and when I heard Acting Pilot Renard was unwell, I had to see her too.”
She might have been telling the truth, but considering her relationship with my father, the last thing I wanted was to have her here. I opened my mouth to tell her to leave, but my uncle stopped me before I could do so. “If Selene is well enough to receive visitors, we will speak to her.”
His sharp tone made my hackles rise. He’d said something similar earlier and I understood the necessity of all of us being in agreement, but I didn’t trust him. I also didn’t appreciate him thinking he could order Selene around.
Both he and I were princes from the royal Chimera line. His rank wasn’t officially higher, but I was expected to defer to him because he was older and my military superior. I’d gone along with it until now, but if he tried anything against her, I’d throw all caution out the window and commit treason before I had the chance to go into patricide.
“Uncle, I hope you know that I will not allow Selene to be harmed. She’s still in a delicate condition. Keep that in mind.”
“Of course, Brendan,” he replied, his voice softening. “We understand that perfectly. We merely want to include her in planning our next course of action.”
From his place behind Odette, Commander Trevor shot me a barely perceivable nod. I still had my doubts about his loyalties and interest in Selene, but I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Besides, Selene had wanted the same thing my uncle did. She would expect to at least be informed, even if she couldn’t participate in whatever we decided to do next.
This was her baby we had to talk about. They all believed August was the father, so my uncle would want to do something about that. Commander Trevor had abandoned all pretense of not knowing that August was part-apsid, and I assumed my uncle would do the same. What did he have in mind for the child? Would he want to experiment on it or take it from her? That was an unacceptable option.
Still leery, I allowed them all to enter the room again. Pollux was visibly shocked when he saw Odette. “Mother? What are you doing here?”
“I wouldn’t be much of a parent if I didn’t provide you with support at such a difficult time, would I?”
Pollux glowered at her, and I could tell he was seconds away from pointing out she hadn’t been very supportive when Stella had died. Odette didn’t give him the chance to speak. “I think it’s time to take our plans further. I don’t know about you, but I’m quite tired of sleeping with a horrible tyrant. I’d much rather go ahead and topple him already.”
Wait, what?
Shadows from the Past
Pollux
Ever since my sister’s supposed death, I’d been convinced that my parents were lost to me. I’d hated them for using her, for offering her on a silver platter to The Grand Judiciary, for signing her death warrant. I’d hated them even more after that for collaborating with the person most to blame for Stella’s fate—and recently, for their more intimate connection to him.
I’d have never in a million years expected my mother to come out and suggest treason. Our whole unit had been planning it for the better part of a decade, but we just hadn’t found the best moment. Had someone else had the same idea?
In hindsight, it made sense that Prince Archibald would have issues with his brother. They’d always seemed to get along, but power struggles happened all the time between siblings in a royal family. But that was a bit of a problem, because even assuming they were honest about their plans, we now had two potential heirs to the throne in this room, both of which had equal claim to leading the dynasty, depending on one’s point of view.
Knox must have realized this as well, because his panic over Selene’s condition turned even more intense. He abandoned his previous attempts to keep his hands human and turned toward Archibald, growling under his breath. “Just go ahead and try something, Your Highness,” he said, baring his suddenly very sharp teeth. “I dare you. You won’t live to see tomorrow.”<
br />
Archibald didn’t seem daunted by the threat. His lips twisted into a tiny smirk. I didn’t like his expression, and I was very grateful when Brendan intervened. “Knox, stand down. If my uncle hadn’t wanted to work with us, we wouldn’t be having this conversation and Commander Trevor wouldn’t have acted so strangely these past couple of days. Let me guess. You were trying to assess our intentions and abilities.”
“Something like that, yes,” my uncle replied. “In truth, Acting Pilot Renard was a variable that threw a wrench in our plans. But if she is willing to participate, I see no reason why we couldn’t move forward with what we originally established.”
“And what, pray tell, is that?” Selene asked. “Forgive me, Your Highness, but so far, I haven’t had the best experience with The Grand Judiciary, or with your family as a whole.”
I suppressed the urge to flinch when she didn’t exclude Brendan from her statement. Fortunately, Archibald didn’t find this odd. Maybe he thought we were all the natural exception and Selene didn’t have to explicitly mention it.
“I can’t disagree with that, Acting Pilot Renard,” he said, “but that’s exactly why it’s important for us to be straightforward with one another now. Lady Donadieu was perhaps a little too blunt, but there are reasons for this. We believe we’re out of time and we have to take steps now if we want to defeat Philip. And in this case, you are the key.”
“So Commander Trevor tells me. But he hasn’t explained why that is the case.”
“First and foremost, we have your baby,” Odette said. “You never received approval from The Grand Judiciary to conceive. That makes this pregnancy illegal. The law can be bent because of your connection with Prince Brendan. We can say he gave you leave. However, the fact remains that it was never official, so you didn’t receive the antidote for the toxin that should’ve made you sterile. In other words, your body overrode a chemical The Grand Judiciary specifically created to control Terran population.”
