The table laden with books is cleaved in half. A wind from nowhere gusts through this underground chamber. The orphans jump back with a gasp and Diana lets out a faint scream.
Suddenly I’m not looking at a dusty underground study any more. The hole in reality has opened to verdant plains, and hot, sticky air gushes through the flickering, crackling rend in reality.
Forn takes a deep breath and smiles in satisfaction, clearly tasting the air of his home world. I peer through the shimmering portal and see tall stalks of grass lazily swaying in the breeze on the other side. Suddenly, I yearn to step through and leave behind the cold, merciless reality of the Capital behind.
But am I really going to do this? Am I really going to leave it all behind?
As I stare out into the jungle planet, it really starts to hit me. I’m giving up everything.
But what is that really? I don’t even have a life here anymore. My city, where I worked hard every day to eke out a meagre living, is now burnt into a smoldering pile of ashes. Everyone I once saw on my daily walk to work is now ash and memory. I have nothing behind me. If I stay on Independence, all that awaits me is being chased and harangued by the Viceroy’s forces until I am finally taken and executed for my treachery.
Forn, Hadone and Darok may be brutal warriors, but they have light in their eyes as they stare through the portal. I remember what Lord Tenderfoot said: That though it is a dangerous planet beyond this shimmering portal, there will be a means on the other side for me to communicate with these three alien warriors.
But what will happen when they realize that I’m not their fated mate? That they found me only because Lord Tenderfoot was coincidentally opening a portal to their planet while he thought of his niece?
It’s a chilling thought – cold despite the glow of the hot sun streaming through the rippling portal.
When the three Aurelians find out that I am not special, will they decide that Diana is the one they want? It’s not fair – she has such effortless beauty; a grace and pose that I could never dream of having.
Diana is elegant while I, at my core, am nothing but an impoverished mechanic just trying to make ends meet.
I give the orphans one last hug, one by one. When it comes to Stacy, my eyes well up with tears.
“You take care of those two, okay? You’re so strong – I have faith in you.”
Stacy forces back tears. I know she’s trying to look strong for me, so I won’t worry. I break off the hug before I break down in tears, and she gives me a tiny, scared smile. I trust Lord Tenderfoot to give her a better life than I ever could – whether here, or on the forbidding jungle planet that awaits.
Forn grunts out some words in his guttural language. Lord Tenderfoot responds, the old man smiling and extending his hand. I watch them shake each other’s hands in the manner of Old Earth, and the nobleman’s small hand disappears within Forn’s huge palm.
Finally, the Aurelian leader releases Tenderfoot and just walks right through the portal – as if it’s as natural as stepping from one room into another. His ivory skin glimmers as he walks into the sunlight of the distant world that is now going to become my new home.
I can’t look back. If I take one last look at Stacy, Tod and Tyler, I’ll want to stay – but I know I’ll only draw danger to the three of them if I do.
So, instead, I take a deep breath and step through the portal – into the heat of a distant, alien world.
I’ve just left my old home world behind – and taken my first step into my new one.
15
Hadone
I step through the portal and see the most glorious sight an Aurelian can see - his mate, awaiting him on his home world.
She’s mine, now – here with me for eternity.
My pride pulses through the Bond between us, magnifying as we breath in the hot, wet air of our planet. No longer do we have to taste the harsh, dry air of the alien planet where Tammy came from. No longer will we be hounded by Scorp, or the humans with their deadly sticks that shoot lethal projectiles.
Tammy is a healer. She will heal the sick members of my tribe. She can heal anyone! I mean, I thought Forn was dead back on that planet – slain by the old man with that strange weapon, right in Tammy’s home. But Forn survived thanks to her magic. Imagine what else she could accomplish!
The start of a smile comes to my face, but then turns cold. A surge of panic hits me as I look at Tammy. She’s so perfect, but like all humans, so fragile and delicate, with a small body that could become an easy target on our world.
But it isn’t her body that I worry is fragile.
A wave of grief hits me as I remember the last human woman who cared for me.
I killed her.
16
Tammy
My foot comes down against soft ground and the long stalks of soft green grass tickle my legs. Above, the huge red sun beams down against me. A smile flickers to my lips as I get a strange sense of peace from this brave, new world.
The icy ball of stress that has lived in my heart ever since my parents died – when I was forced to leave the Capital – finally melts away. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I only notice my grief through its absence.
Eagles the size of transport ships.
My eyes dart
