by L. C. Mawson
Vengeance didn’t exactly look thrilled at that response, and Love couldn’t blame him. After everything they fought for, the guillotine of losing their freedom – of Justice and Loneliness losing their child – continued to hang over their heads.
“Enjoy your celebration,” Bennett told them. “I will call again in the morning to go over the guard rotation for the construction crews.”
At that, she ended the call, and Vengeance let out a frustrated sigh as he turned to the others, before quickly downing the contents of his plastic cup.
Serenity gave him a sympathetic smile. “It’s not ideal, but I suppose that was the best we could have hoped for.”
Vengeance shook his head. “I know, I just wish that it hadn’t gone down like this. I don’t want my family to have to worry about being torn apart on someone else’s whim.”
“Vengeance...”
He shook his head. “Not anymore,” he said plainly. “No more interference in our private lives, remember? For now, at least, we have our freedom, and I’m going to make sure that I use every ounce of it. That means no more shedding our names so that they can more easily think of us as disposable. From now on, I’m Zhang Wei again.”
Serenity sighed. “Well, unlike you, I’m actually attached to my current name.” She turned to Love. “I suppose you’re going to follow suit, Claire?”
Love shrugged. “Probably,” she admitted.
She'd never been entirely comfortable with shedding her name.
Hate responded with a sigh as she wrapped an arm around Love’s waist. “I’m really going to have to get used to calling you by your old name again? You’re going to give me whiplash...”
Love smiled at her. “No, you’ll be the only one who still gets to call me Love. You never meant it as my Aspect name anyway.”
Hate turned pink at the reminder. “No, I suppose I didn’t.”
“Then I guess that will be the way for me to determine whether or not you breaking up with me is just a split-second, impulsive, poorly thought out decision in the future. I know that you only mean it if you start to call me Claire again.”
“Never,” Hate promised.
Love grinned before leaning in to kiss her, though it was short-lived, as she was startled out of it by someone tapping her on the shoulder.
She spun around, about to scold whoever had surprised her – possibly with her fists – when she realised that it had been Vengeance - or Zhang Wei now, she supposed - who should have known better, and that he was looking over to the stairs, where Jia had arrived.
Love blinked in surprise. She hadn’t seen Jia since she'd left the Tower. In all honesty, she'd begun to wonder if she'd left Earth altogether now that Hren was gone.
Hate sighed. “I suppose you should go and speak with her,” she figured. “Though if she tries to recruit you for any kind of civil war...”
Love shook her head. “Don’t worry, you don’t ever have to fear me leaving Earth.”
“So,” Jia said as Love walked over to her, “I hear you’ve moved all of the creatures out of the city.”
Love nodded. “Yep. Construction crews will come in tomorrow to start rebuilding.”
“Yes, you said that there hadn’t been a new city reclaimed since the old world fell, didn’t you?”
“No, there hasn’t been,” Love said with a shrug. “We didn’t have the resources or the manpower to do it.”
“But now that has changed, all thanks to you.”
Love frowned. “People keep saying that,” she muttered. “It wasn’t just me. Everyone helped.”
Jia gave her a wry smile. “Everyone may have helped, but they likely would not have succeeded without you. Do you think I saved humanity on my own when I came here? I brought an entire crew with me, and yet I am the one they herald as the Saviour of Earth, even if I do not deserve the title. Trust me, as someone who has lived through it on two different planets now, I know what it looks like when people start to think that you are something more than you are. As the herald of a new era, whether for good or ill. I suppose, in the end, that’s for the historians to decide. I’m in a rather unique position, to be able to return two hundred years after my death and see what people say about me. Most likely, you won’t see the lasting impact of your actions on this planet, or any other, before your death.”
Love sighed at the slightly grim turn the conversation had taken. “I don’t know that I would want to see,” she said. “I avoid public opinion at the minute as it is. They may think of me as the herald of a new era tomorrow, but yesterday they were blaming me for the death of the last Jealousy. Public opinion is fickle, and I would rather not expose myself to it any more than I have to.”
Jia smirked. “A sensible attitude and one I wish was afforded me.”
“Well, it could be. I mean, you could just decide not to listen.”
“Such a choice isn’t afforded to a princess. I cannot stop listening to my people. That’s how you get rulers like my father.”
“What if you decided not to be a princess?”
Jia shook her head. “I know that most of what remains of Earthen cultures value freedom above all else – Goddess, you just spent months reclaiming this city in a fight for your own – but that isn’t something afforded to me. My duty to my people must come before all else, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. While there are aspects that I wish I didn’t have to deal with sometimes, this is my life, and I wouldn’t wish for another one.”
She sighed. “Or at least, it was my life,” she added wearily. “I suppose I don’t exactly have much of a life left anymore.”
She shook her head once more, smiling, though it was clearly forced. “Anyway, I didn’t come all the way up here to talk about me. I wanted to see how you were. After we last saw each other... I was a little concerned that you might lose control of your powers again.”
Love frowned. “What do you mean? When we last saw each other, I managed to talk a sentient being down from wanting to kill me.” But then, it clicked. “Hate. That’s why you thought I might lose control of my powers. Because I got back together with Hate?”
Jia sighed. “It was a possibility,” she said, shrugging. “I mean, she was responsible for you losing control of your powers before. Are you truly sure that getting back together with her was a good idea?”
“Getting back together with her was the only reason why I managed to talk down Hren in the first place,” Love pointed out. “Both of us only managed to tap into new facets of our powers because of our relationship.”
Jia shook her head. “I’m still not entirely convinced that you wouldn’t have managed to tap into those powers on your own. And even if you are, technically, stronger when you are with Hate, it also makes your powers more unstable. Do I have to remind you of the fate I met when I relied too heavily on a romantic partner to fuel my powers?”
Love shook her head. “But I know how to use my powers without her now. I’ve already done it once, so figuring out how to use my powers without her in the future shouldn’t be too difficult, right?”
“You forget, I already had full control over my powers before I met the Human I fell in love with. I should have been able to recover from the loss, by your logic, and I wasn’t. I’m not sure if the ability to recover is something that you lose the more time you spend with the person or the older you get, but I’m sure that you will not be immune to that kind of failure in the future.”
Love just sighed into what remained of her drink before downing the end of it. “Well, then I guess it’s a good thing that I’m only sixteen,” she eventually said.
Jia sighed but didn’t argue. “Yes, I suppose it is.”
“So, what are you going to do now?” Love asked, in an attempt to change the subject. “Now that Hren is dealt with, I mean.”
Jia shrugged. “Hren was the most ambitious and ruthless of the brothers left, but that does not mean that the others won’t come for you in time. Especially now that they likely hold you r
esponsible for the death of two of their brothers. I think, for now, it would be best if I stayed here to keep an eye on things.”
“Just keep an eye on things?” Love asked. “I mean, this copy is temporary, right? You haven’t exactly explained what your endgame is here. What exactly do you plan to do about ensuring the line of succession is followed?”
Jia sighed. “In all honesty, I don’t know myself. At first, I simply came here to protect you and to learn as much as I could about the situation here. Now that I know more, I’m not sure what I should do. For now, protecting you and your sister takes top priority. Everything else... I’m sure I will figure it out in time.”
Love wasn’t sure what to say to that, and after a moment Jia said, “Go on, your friends are waiting for you. Celebrate while you can. I have a feeling that things are only going to get more complicated from here on out...”
And as much as Love didn’t want to, she couldn’t help but agree.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Once again, I am faced with writing an Author’s Note for one book, while writing a much later book in the series. Right now, I’m typing this between scenes of Book Four, so I’m currently trying to cast my mind back to what this book was actually about...
Not to say that I’ve forgotten what happens in the series, it’s just all a blur and I forget where one book ends and another begins.
This is what I get for launching four books in two months...
Speaking of, if you’re waiting for Book Three, have no fear! It will be released early December (2017), and for now, I have a sample chapter available on the next page.
Though first, I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who left a review on the first book (and thank you in advance if you leave a review on this one). I’m astonished and excited about every review I get, and I am so glad that people are enjoying this series. Seriously, I was a little worried about how genre-weird these books were and it makes me so happy that people enjoy them!
Speaking of, here is the preview chapter, and I hope you enjoy!
BOOK THREE PREVIEW
Given that there was only three of them, they rode Sleepy out to the Wastes beyond the city, quickly finding another set of ruins.
“What do you think?” Claire asked Em as Sleepy set down. Claire hopped off her back, followed by her sister. “This looks like it could be a good spot for expansion.”
Em nodded. “It’s kind of small... But that could be a good thing for this kind of expansion. Small steps first to build confidence in the plan.”
“Confidence? We already reclaimed an entire city.”
Em rolled her eyes. “We did that far away from the other cities. If we failed, it wasn’t going to affect anyone else. But if we fail here? Just outside city walls? It’s going to make a lot of people very nervous. If we reclaim a small area quickly, however, it will put a lot of minds at ease.”
“Right, okay, I suppose that makes sense,” Claire agreed as she walked through the ruins.
She turned a corner, only to be faced with a creature with midnight blue scales and honey eyes watching her carefully.
Claire didn’t so much as flinch and the creature quickly seemed to decide that she wasn’t a threat, any tension in its posture melting away as it slinked up to her, rubbing its head against his side as it approached.
Claire smiled. She no longer felt even the slightest amount of friction when she used her powers. They had become as natural to her as breathing, leaving her with no worry of ever losing control of them again.
Even Hate was no longer so wary around the creatures, confident that none of them would pose a threat as long as Claire was there.
The other two followed Claire through the ruins, quickly gathering a trail of creatures who were examining them with curiosity.
“So,” Claire said as they circled back around to where Sleepy had settled down to snooze in the road, “what you think? Should we start moving supplies for construction tomorrow?”
Em gave a hum of thought. “Well, I hadn’t thought to start moving so quickly, but I don’t see why we couldn’t. As long as we order some construction materials to be delivered to the Tower as soon as we get back, starting tomorrow should be no problem.”
Claire smiled, though it froze on her face as a strange wave of blue light washed over them from behind, fading a few metres out from the settlement.
“What was that?” Hate asked quickly, her hand going to draw her weapon, only she stopped dead as a hand rested on the pommel. “Love, I can’t use my powers!”
Claire frowned at her frantic voice, realising that no black lightning had made an appearance.
Though what drew her eye was the stranger standing next to them, looking similar to Claire, but not identical. Not in the same way Empathy usually did when she mimicked her.
But still, she looked familiar enough, and identical silver-lilac eyes stared back at her in shock.
“I... I can’t feel either of you,” Empathy said, jumping as the words came out of her mouth, as if surprised by the sound of her own voice. “I... I’m me again.”
“Our Bands,” Hate quickly said, nodding to Claire’s.
She brought her wrist up only to see that the pink glow usually emanating from it had gone.
It was completely dead.
Claire was suddenly struck by a hollow feeling in her chest.
She hadn’t really thought about how her powers felt when she had acquired them. It had been such a slow journey... But now that they were gone?
She felt empty.
“Love...” Hate muttered warningly under her breath.
Claire looked up at her, wondering what was causing the urgency in her voice now – the blue light had been and gone – only to realise that Hate was staring at the creatures, who were now circling them with teeth bared.
“We should get out of here,” Claire managed. “Whatever that light was, it disrupted my powers as well.”
They quickly hurried towards Sleepy, and Claire felt her heart stop in her chest for a moment as she realised that her trusty companion might also turn on them.
Thankfully, her bond with Sleepy seemed to go deeper than that, and the creature lowered her back, allowing them to climb on before heading back to the city.
Also by L.C. Mawson
Aspects
Justice/Loneliness
Castaway Heart
Castaway Heart
Castaway Soul
Castaway Love
Castaway Heart: The Complete Story
Engineered Rebel
Rebel
Resist
Freya Snow
Hunt
White
Wings
Oracle
Witch
Enhanced
Reaper
Trident
Kingsguard
Trapped
The Freya Snow Pup Trilogy: Books 1-3
Freya Snow Short Story Collection
The Freya Snow Hammer Trilogy: Books 4-6
Freya Snow - The Beginning: Books 1-6
The Almosts Trilogy
The Almosts
The Damned
The Almosts: The Complete Trilogy
The Redeemed
The Royal Cleaner
Target
Standalone
The Complete Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone Chronicles
