“Torelli will be found and executed.”
The Queen’s voice is suddenly as cold as an executioner’s scythe, cutting through everything.
“But,” she continues, “that won’t help your sister. I know you love her – but I also know the Bond will grow more powerful every time you mate with your triad. You’ll soon find yourself so entwined with those three Aurelians that you won’t be able to keep yourself from them.”
She pauses.
“It’s a choice, Allie.”
I screw shut my eyes as the meaning of her words suddenly hit me.
If I stay with the Aurelians right now, I’ll grow ever more Bonded to them, quicker and quicker, until it floods my thoughts and takes over my very being.
I am prepared for that now. I welcome that…
…but I have a little sister who spent years being abused by a terrible, terrible man. I need to help her before I surrender to my selfish urges.
Queen Jasmine sighs.
“I’m sorry, Allie. I know this isn’t easy. My psychologist believes she might never fully recover. I’m concerned the fear of Aurelians is part of her now. Your little sister will probably never be able to be near your triad – to be part of your new family.”
Queen Jasmine extends her hand. Inside it is the black Orb-Ring I’d discarded in the arena.
“This Ring isn’t an escape,” she tells me. “It’s a choice.” She holds out the Orb-Ring – offering me the device that can sever the auras of my triad from my mind.
My heart wrenches.
“What’s wrong? Where are you?”
I don’t answer Hadrian’s frantic words.
“Tell them,” Jasmine urges me. “Make it clean. Make it quick. Set them free.”
I swallow hard. I suddenly see two futures ahead of me.
One, in which I surrender myself fully into the Bond. In that future, I create a chasm between me and my sister – one that can never be bridged. A future in which she never gets any better.
The second future? I requires that I cut myself from these three warriors – the men I’ve come to deeply love. In that future, I can try desperately to help Lilac get better. I’ve been searching for years for my sister...
Surely, I can’t abandon her now.
I take the Orb-Ring from Queen Jasmine. If my sister will never get better, then I can’t have the Aurelians in my life. It’s as simple as that.
I need them to know it’s over. I need them to forget about me and move on with their lives – building their harems, living their lives on their own. I can’t give them what they want from me.
I love them. I want them.
But my sister needs me more.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I love you, but I can’t be with you.”
I telepath the message – and then I put the ring on my finger.
The auras of my triad wink out like stars being extinguished.
I suddenly stand there, on the home world of Colossus – in the heart of the Aurelian Empire and surrounded by billions of people on millions of planets…
…and I’ve never felt so utterly alone in all my life.
28
Allie
Seventy years later.
The grave is a simple tombstone.
Over the past seven decades, I’ve watched my younger sister age from a girl, to a woman, and finally into a wise, old dame.
And now, finally, she’s gone. And I’m alone. I’m alone, and there’s no one in the universe left that cares for me.
That whole time – from her first grey hair, to wrinkles and liver spots, I stayed the same age.
I watched the course of her entire life, and to any observer, it would be as if I was frozen in time. I yearned for my men every day, and now I’ve lost them.
Yes, I’ve seen Lilac grow, and mature, and age, and finally wrinkle and die…
But I’ve also seen her go from a broken young woman, on the brink of insanity, to regaining her sense of self, her identity, and her life.
Lilac and I spent seventy good years exploring all the worlds we could together, ensuring we never saw an Aurelian during any of our travels. The mere mention of one could revert years of progress.
The therapists and treatments helped Lilac recover from her years of abuse – but not totally. The sight of an Aurelian was the only thing that could instantly undo all that work; triggering one of her breakdowns. She saw one, once, five years into the treatment…
…and we lost all of our progress. It took years to recover to the point we’d been at.
Every day, during all of those decades, I thought of Daccia, Kitos, and Hadrian. I even thought of taking off the Orb-Ring, countless times. I nearly cracked time and time again, and thought of going off to see them – promising myself it would only be ‘for a few days’ but I knew it was too cruel.
Cruel to them. Cruel to me. If I’d succumbed to the Bond – if I allowed it to take hold of me completely – it would be too cruel to Lilac, because I’d never have returned to her. I’m too weak to have only part of them, and so I let all of them slip away.
So, in the end, it was easier to just keep myself completely cut off from those three incredible men.
I knew if I saw them, I’d succumb to the Bond completely. I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist them. As much as I hate to say it, it was ‘all or nothing’ with them.
But that was a long time go – for a human, at least.
“I love you, Lilac,” I say, and lay the bouquet of flowers I’m holding on her grave.
She was ninety-one years old when she died – wizened and wrinkled, always cackling at my youth and beauty. Lilac was never jealous of my eternal youth. She told me once, when she was eighty, that she was actually happy for me.
She’d lived a good, quiet life. That’s all she’d ever wanted. I’m so thankful I
