AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“If only our people could do that,” the Patron snorts. “Perhaps we should learn from you.”
He turns his attention back to Tselia. “If I let you stay,” he says, his voice low and confidential, “this can never be spoken of again. I must list you as lost. I must report this planet as uninhabited.”
“You won’t do that. You never break the rules,” she sniffs. “Ever.”
“I will this once. For you, and your happiness.” He reaches out and touches her shoulder. “Have your babies, Tselia. Take your mate and build the life and love you crave. And perhaps, many years from now, remember me fondly. It’s clear to me that have failed you in so many ways, but I hope this time, I will not.”
Hearing him speak so lovingly, Tselia pulls herself from me and wraps her arms around her father. “Thank you, thank you so much,” she gasps with pure joy. “You have no idea what this means.”
“Oh, I know,” he says. He lifts his eyes to me. “And you. You take care of her. She was my prize, and now she is yours. She is precious, this one.”
“You have my word.”
* * *
Tselia
I cannot believe this. At the very moment I was prepared to sacrifice my happiness forever, it was granted to me. My father finally understands me, at least enough to see what I need.
He has not always been a good father. I have certainly not been a good daughter. But maybe this is enough. Maybe these moments between us, fleeting as they are, make up for all the bitterness that has gone before.
“I will be watching over you, Tselia, and all those you create,” he says, squeezing me. “I cannot stay now. I must report your loss. But I will leave you equipment to contact me with, and a shuttle, and…”
“No.”
“No?”
“I would love that. I truly would, but it would change this world,” I explain. “And you’re right, I have changed it enough. Let me live as they do. I will renounce the stars to have the earth.”
My father looks at me with respect. It’s not an emotion I have often seen in his eyes, but it is clear now. He loves me, and he admires me, and I feel his approval like a warmth in my chest, setting my old fears free.
“You are more than either of us knew you were. Braver. Stronger. I wish you well, Tselia. My love is with you.”
He releases me and steps away. Zion’s arms encircle me, comforting me as my father retreats into his powerful star vessel. I am giving up everything for this life, and I am doing it gladly.
My father leaves just as he arrived, in an instant. To our eyes, the ship simply flashes out of existence. I know from his perspective Hades Exile is already a dot in the distance, a pinprick of life and light.
In the aftermath of his invasion, I fall into Zion’s embrace and sob against his chest. I am happy. I am sad. I am everything all at once. I will never have to fear the Patron again. No more nights spend wondering if he will come to take me. I can finally allow myself to accept that this world is my home, and to enjoy the permanence of that fact.
“I will make you happy,” Zion promises me, kissing the top of my head. “You will not regret this choice, my sweet star girl.”
He is right. I will never regret it. I will never feel sorrow for having chosen to live a real life rather than to have watched others live theirs out. I may pass long before my father, but a long life is meaningless if there is no connection. Zion and I are one heart, one breath, one body and we will be forever more.
Epilogue
Patron
Two hundred years later…
“Patron! We have astounding news.” An underling comes scuttling into my chambers, clutching one of the damnable data panels they love to carry these days. “A colony has been discovered on Hades Exile. They are human! And they share a mixture of ancestral and modern DNA!” He looks at me with wide eyes.
“Oh?” It is difficult to make the effort of pretending to be surprised. I am old now, and I know very well those who live on Hades Exile. Six generations have passed since my daughter and her mate began to procreate. Now there are more than forty thousand descendants with her genetic material—and mine.
She and her love lived a long life, and a happy one. They left a legacy that is unique in all the universe. I watched from afar as her family and her joy grew. I watched the mate she chose protect her in all things. I watched her live fully, without fear, and I watched her love completely.
I failed my child in her youth. I thought I knew what was best for her. I thought our world, our ways were the only acceptable ones. But she showed me otherwise. She lived a life of her choosing and in the end I was glad for it, and for her.
