It would also mean denying the Kurians and turning my back on Kurians and Novans alike.
I can’t do that. Not yet.
Most likely, not ever.
Father doesn’t know what to do with me. I’m too strong-willed for him, and Sarah at least pretends to do as he wishes. I don’t. I just do my own thing and flaunt my willfulness in his face. Of course he is going to hate that.
But deep down. Father does love me. He might hate my actions, and I’ve given him cause to.
I am the reason why we are at odds. I could easily do as Sarah does, or I can even placate him, but no. Instead, I fight with him for everything. I don’t take a mile when he gives me an inch. I take five miles, ten miles.
If I were my son, I would probably have sent me away too.
But Father had to know that I wouldn’t just allow the Earthling authorities to dictate my actions when I wouldn’t let him do that.
Then again, Father might have been trying to get a hold of me, but if he really wanted to, he could have sent the authorities my coordinates at any time.
He didn’t.
Because he has been giving me a measure of freedom on Earth. He probably has done all of this as a test to see what I would do with seemingly unlimited freedom.
A test I’m failing.
Because that’s all I ever do when it comes to Father. I fail to live up to his expectations. Is it any surprise that he wants and demands more from me than from the others? Of course not.
I have been a terrible son, disobedient. I’ve been a real ovian bastard.
A part of me wants to call Father back, to apologize, but I also need to find Isabella. She needs to know who my father is. Once she and I determine what is best for her and me and for us together—or apart—then I will call Father. It is time for me to stop being a daredevil and time for me to start living the life I should have been living all along.
I am the overlord’s son, and whether or not I will become the next overlord, I need to start doing my part to help mold the future of the Kurians.
Quickly, I march back over to the bed, only to find it empty. Her clothes are gone. Wherever she is, she’s dressed.
With a mumbled curse, I tug on my clothes. A quick, cursory inspection of the plane reveals Isabella to be gone. My heart sinks. What if we had been too intimate? What if it had been too much for her, and she’s gone and left me?
That would be a fitting punishment for the grief I caused my father, wouldn’t it? To find love and then to lose it.
But then my stomach rumbles. Maybe Isabella is hungry too and has gone off to get us something to eat. We devoured the last of the deer meat just yesterday.
I leave the plane and glance around, sniffing. Her scent of lilac and vanilla draws me over to that perch high up on that pile of crap. There she sits as she had before, with her radio.
Quickly, I climb up to join her, and I sit beside her.
Isabella stares at me with tears.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Listen,” she murmurs.
“Do we have an update in the case?” a man asks.
“Not yet, Brad, but I can tell you what I do know.”
“Please, Jenna.”
“A woman by the name of Nina Tristin has been kidnapped. The kidnappers have not identified themselves outside of being Nina’s kidnappers, and they aren’t holding her for ransom. We don’t’ know but suspect she might be in danger.”
“Why is that?” Brad asks.
"Because two days ago, Nina told her family and friends that she had plans to see if she could go to Kuria, presumably because she wants to see about finding love with an alien."
“She wants to become pregnant. “
“Yes. One of her friends told the station, quote, ‘I want to do my part. The Novans saved us all. They’re still in danger of dying. The Kurians are the future for the peace between Novans and Earthlings. More Kurians need to be born. I’ve tried to find love on Earth and haven’t been able to. Maybe my soul mate has blue-colored skin.’ End quote.”
“And you think that this might have caused the kidnappers to take Nina?”
“Yes.”
“Wait a minute, listeners. It seems our producer…”
There’s silence for a moment, then Brad clears his throat.
“Yes, you’re right, Jenna. It appears that the authorities have received a message from the kidnappers that states they will go after any and all women who feel the need to leave Earth to get some alien cock shoved up their… ah, I said too much, didn’t I?”
Brad sounds nervous and upset, and Jenna says nothing.
Isabella turns off the radio. “We’ve had peace for the most part since the war, a peace that Earth has never known. Not entirely, not every place. But now… Can you imagine? The kidnappers—if there is a group or just one… I just can’t understand this. I can’t accept this. This is wrong on so many levels.”
A level of fury I’ve never felt washes over me. This woman, Nina Tristin, deserves to live her life the way she chooses to. No one should dictate her life for her.
“We have to do something,” I say firmly.
Isabella wipes her tears away. “I was hoping you would want to help me.”
I smirk. “You wouldn’t dare even attempt to try to save her without me.”
“Why? Because you think I would fail if I tried without you?”
“Because you need someone to cover your ass.”
“Hands off until we find her,” she warns.
“I wasn’t being sexual,” I protest.
“I know.” She hesitates. “Thank you, Strol.”
I snort. “You don’t have to thank me.”
“No. I do.”
I want to ask what specifically she’s thanking me for, but I have a feeling that’s a loaded question. For now, I
