The tears come out. They well from my eyes like a storm – a storm that had been waiting for decades to burst.
I soak the ground with my tears, and when all my grief is finally expended, I walk back to the simple house where we’d lived alone together in quiet solitude – away from everything else in this universe.
I look down – at the hand that hasn’t developed a single wrinkle or spot in all these decades.
I gently touch the Orb-Ring I wear on my finger.
I’m too afraid to take it off. I couldn’t bear to learn that any or all of the three Aurelians I’m Bonded to might be gone, or that they hate me for leaving them. I’m fearful that they curse my name with every waking breath.
But I touch it.
I touch the ring, and the Orb-Material it’s crafted from glows at me – blue-black, angry, and hot. It’s like the ring is filled with rage.
I know it has one purpose – to sever the link between Bonded partners. It’s like it is rebelling against its purpose. Sometimes I feel it wants to come off.
I felt like I died when I first put this ring on, in the palace of Queen Jasmine, over seventy years earlier. I felt like I’d died three times over – as each of the auras of my beloved triad winked out of my mind.
Cool, collected Daccia.
Passionate, fearsome Hadrian.
Devious, sadistic Kitos.
I let my hand fall to my side, the ring still on it. Then, I step into the kitchen and pour myself a kettle of tea. Of course some part of me wants to pull the ring off - but it’s too late. I know it’s too late. How could they still love me, after all this time? How could they still care for me, after all I did to them? I’m a survivor. It’s all I’ve done. It’s all I know. I’m not fit to be a wife, or a mother. I don’t deserve the three men. I know they must have moved on, no matter hard it was. I know they must have forgotten my name.
This was Lilac’s favorite blend.
I sip it and consider how lucky I was to be able to spend an entire lifetime with her.
It was the only thing I could do. Even when Lilac had returned to rationality, she still had nightmares every single night. I’d hold her tight, and then she’d feel better.
It took years of therapy and counselling before I finally saw the spark of the ‘old’ her. As Lilac returned to lucidity, we reminisced about our childhood, how we scrapped and fought to survive.
In all those years, she never spoke to me about what Torelli did to her. I think I’m better off not knowing. The irony was that it as just three years. Three, gruelling years that had shaped the rest of Lilac’s full life.
But it was a full life. The past seventy years would have seemed like eternity to most humans. It was, after all, a lifetime – in fact, longer than most humans get.
And yet, when I look in the mirror, I’ve aged only a few years, and so gradually it was hard to notice. Now I will have thousands of years to be lonely. Thousands of years to know someone who just survives can’t be worthy of love. That’s my nature. It always has been. It always will be. I can’t pull off the ring and let them feel my essence again.
I drink my tea, sitting on my comfortable, well-worn chair.
“That hits the spot,” I murmur to myself, as I’ve said every day for the last seventy years to Lilac.
“Nothing like a good cuppa,” the memory of her voice answers back.
I want to cry again, but there are no tears left in me. I feel so alone all of a sudden, and yet there’s a beautiful simplicity to this solitude.
Every day, I’ve wondered ‘what if?’.
What if I had chosen my triad? How many sons would I have by now? Are Daccia, Kitos and Hadrian still now alive? How many women have they collected in their harems during the past seven decades?
Before I can think another thought, I look down at the black ring on my finger…
…and suddenly, I yank the Orb-Ring off.
They flood my mind.
Instantly, the auras of my triad return – so strong, so powerful, and still so yearning.
I feel this strange… determination from them.
I don’t say anything. How could, after all these years? I wanted them to get over me. I wanted them to move on…
My legs wobbly, I stand. I stagger from my house, out into the beautiful sunshine. Blinded by the warm, gorgeous sunlight, I stand there and feel the warmth and hardness of the Orb-Ring in my palm.
Gods! It’s too painful, feeling the auras of the three men I love…
…and hearing nothing but their silence.
By saying nothing, they say everything.
They don’t want me. They’ve moved on!
I press the ring against my finger, poised to slide it back on. It must be better if they wink out of my mind again, and disappear forever…
…and then, suddenly, I look up.
The blinding sun overhead is suddenly marred by a shadow. It’s a shadow that grows and grows, getting larger and larger.
I blink with shock.
There’s a sleek, powerful spaceship coming over the horizon.
The ship slowly lands, and the doors to the side of it open.
I watch in astonishment as Daccia steps out, followed by Kitos, and then Hadrian.
The three of them have more scars on their bodies, more anger in their eyes, and they stride forward with more purpose to their steps.
“Daccia,” I can hardly believe it’s them. My voice is a croak. “I’m sorry, I…”
“Shut up,” Daccia says, and suddenly he kisses me.
My whole body melts in his embrace, and then I feel the heat and presence of Kitos and Hadrian stepping up either side of me.
Together, the three Aurelians scoop me into their arms, carrying me towards the small, simple
