“And who are the korabi?” I gesture to the aliens in the rear, the ones who are smiling indulgently at the chaos among the humans. We must look so silly to them, completely lacking anything in the way of decorum.
“These are citizens who tired of living in Megaris, and who are not interested in taking advantage of humans. Not all korabi are monsters.”
I am not done with questions.
“Why didn’t we come here when we first got shot down? Why did we go back… and who shot us down?”
“There are a lot of scum, sorry, rebel factions. They shoot at anything they can get at. One of their rockets hit our shuttle. I could have taken you directly here at that point, but we couldn’t just disappear. The king had to be satisfied with his revenge. So I took you back to face your fate, knowing what pain awaited. Knowing you deserved it.”
He’s kind of an asshole, but he is a korabi. No matter how much he may love me, he will never be able to shake his essential nature. All I know is that there’s suddenly the possibility of a happily ever after that never existed before. I am going to live free with Rath and the remnants of my family. I am going to learn what it is to be absolved of the need to constantly battle a cruel state. I am free. I might even be happy.
Epilogue
The next day…
“Wait. Where’s Jax?” I knew someone was missing, and it’s not a minor someone. It’s someone I very much want to have survived all this. Jax was always the best of us even taking her youth into account. If she has died, fresh grief and guilt will join my existing reservoir.
“Jax is still in the city,” Henry says. He does not look pleased about that, and I am not well pleased by the news either. They should have told me that right away, not waited a whole day to casually mention that our youngest surviving family member is trapped inside the walls of Megaris.
“Why? Couldn’t Rath get her out?”
“Jax has been helping us all get out, from a distance. She makes things happen. You know, a patrol gets directed south instead of north, or a detonation happens just as a human is trying to sneak through a refuse tunnel. She’s the ghost in the korabi machine. She’s the only reason, aside from Rath, that we’re all here. She wanted to stay inside. She wouldn’t let herself be taken out by Rath, or anyone, for that matter.”
“Then we need to get her out.” I am determined.
“No.”
Rath appears beside me. The guy has the ears of a bat. Or maybe he’s keeping very close tabs on me no matter how much he said he’d let me have some time to reconnect with my family. He is not stupid. He knows that I am still me, and no matter how good things are, or how happy I seem to be, I will almost always find a way to screw that up.
“Jax is still in the city. I’m going back to save her,” I declare.
“You are going nowhere near Megaris. You are dead.”
“I’ve disappeared twice. I could do it again.”
“No,” Rath says firmly, his golden eye flaring at me in the way it does right before he becomes forceful as well as dominant. “We will get her back, but you and I are going to enjoy our happily ever after.”
“I’m not going to just settle down and be happy!” My temper flares. “One of our own is still there. We have to help Jax get out, the same way she helped us all.”
“A plan will be hatched,” Rath confirms. “But you will not be part of it. Your days of killing kings and running from korabi drones are over. Your happiness is only just beginning.”
“I’ve never been very comfortable with happiness,” I scowl.
“I’m aware. Just yesterday you were trying to get yourself killed by declaring yourself guilty and forcing us to use every backup plan we had. No more of that, Lyric. No more rash actions, no more poor impulse control, no more doing whatever you want…”
“No more this, no more that…”
“No more being a smart-mouthed sc…”
“Were you seriously about to call me scum? Here? In this nomadic tent city of traveling human rebels?”
“Old habits die hard,” he admits.
“You remember that when I get the urge to do some rescuing, or kill the odd king.”
“I have loved you for a long time. I have sat by and pretended not to know you. I have watched your eyes hold no recognition of me. I will not give up even a moment of the future we have earned.” He drops a careful kiss on the tip of my nose. “I love you.”
This time, I can answer the way I wanted to all along. “I love you too.”