Page 123 of Veiled Vixen

“Just think about it,” she says. “You don’t have to decide now. We should clean up and rest. Think about what we’re going to tell everyone. How we’ll explain this and how we’ll get them all back on the same side. I’m starting to feel anxious. Like we’ve been doing this too long and things are happening out there. Whatever, or whenever, that is.”

That I agree with. Even though only four days passed in the outside world when Tray, Brigit, and I were inside our virtual world for many lifetimes, four days was enough to upset our entire universe.

Veila was the one who upset it, I remind myself. She was the one who took advantage of our break from reality and captured us. And all the bad shit that happened afterward was a direct result of that capture.

“Please don’t do that,” she says.

“Do what?”

“You know what. I know what. You’re thinking about me and the things I’ve done.”

“That’s unreasonable to you?”

“No. I get it. I was that person. But you can see a different me now, right? You understand why I was that way. Why I did certain things.”

“I do. But that stuff still happened, Veila. And you’re still responsible. All these people stuck in time—they don’t know you. Hell, I don’t even know you. So how can we trust you?”

She inhales and nods. “I get it. I do. But… I’m trying. I haven’t been myself for… hell. Since I was seventeen. And that was twenty-one years ago. But this time we’ve had together…” She shrugs. “Putting Harem Station back together makes me feel close to who I was before Corla left. Maybe not yet the real me, but I’m on my way.”

“And what happens if the Akeelians or Cygnians get you back?”

“They’re not going to get me back.”

“You don’t know that. You can’t predict the future like that. They’re involved in this. We will have to interact with them eventually. And that moment when we do… that might be the most important moment in our whole lives.”

“God, I hope not. I don’t want my whole life to be reduced to one final moment in this great war. There’s more to me than the silver princess they made me into.”

I don’t know what to say to that. Every time I feel sorry for Veila I also feel guilt. I should not be on her side.

But at the same time… I want to be on her side.

She feels like my destiny.

Probably not the same way Crux and Corla found their destiny. But then again—all of us brothers found our soulmates in very different ways. Hell, Jimmy didn’t even find his. But he did find love.

And if Jimmy can fall in love with a woman who is not his One, then it stands to reason that I can find my One and not fall in love.

Do I love her?

I don’t know.

There was a spark of light when we touched during the battle and that was something big, for sure. Time doesn’t stand still for just anyone.

But was that love?

“OK.” She sighs. “I’m going back to my ship to shower and rest. I guess we’ll just meet up later and finish this.”

When I don’t say anything in response she turns and walks away down the hallway towards her ship’s airlock, then disappears around a corner.

I turn back to the station.

“What do you think?” Baby asks me.

“About what?”

“Her proposal for Corla and Crux.”

“I don’t know. Part of me feels like it’s a trap. Like she did all this to get to that question. That she will gain my trust, and maybe even my love, and then she will betray me just like she’s betrayed everyone else.”