I descended the ramp and wasn’t surprised when the other Titans joined me. They carried plasma rifles and blaster pistols. Ready for a fight if it was necessary.
I wore no weapons. My shield was my title and influence. If they killed me, they lost both.
I eyed the ship and the giant turret on its underside. It tracked us as we approached.
I was keenly aware every step might be our last.
Our boots crunched the charcoal gravel underfoot until we came to a stop a dozen yards out. The other Titans stood with their weapons at their sides, ready to fire on the ship at a moment’s notice. I hope none of them acted hastily.
“Hello there,” I said in a cool, level voice.
I directed it at the windshield that marked the cockpit high up on the craft.
I couldn’t see anyone through the window. Moonlight obliterated anyone who might be looking down at us.
“I am the emperor,” I said. “If you return the women you took from us, we will not open fire and you will be allowed to leave. All we ask is you give us back what you took.”
I waited for a response but none came. I shared a sideways look with the others. They shrugged their shoulders.
CRUUUUUNG!
I started as a hatch opened in the belly of the ship. It groaned loudly as it pressed itself into the dirt. I waited for someone to present themselves, someone to come and speak with us. Instead, there was nothing but empty darkness inside.
Did they expect us to go in there? I would be handing myself over to them. Was that the smartest thing to do?
“What do you think?” I said to the others.
“I say we go inside,” Chax said. “We’ve got weapons. We can defend ourselves if they try anything.”
“I say we all go in there, except you,” Kal said. “They’ll wield too much power through you if they take you captive.”
“I have to agree with Lord Taw,” Traes said. “We’d be handing them exactly what they want if you go in there.”
“I can’t stay out here while the rest of you put your lives on the line,” I said.
“We’re putting our lives on the line already,” Dyrel said.
A figure appeared in the gaping doorway.
It was small, feminine, but strong.
I would have recognized her anywhere. It was Hazel.
“Well?” she said. “Are you coming in or aren’t ya?”
I’d never been so happy to see anyone my entire life, and when she said those words, it meant she had to be okay. She wasn’t hurt and neither were the others. It was a huge weight off our shoulders.
We bolted forward but the others couldn’t keep up with me. I was greased lightning and even the Creator himself couldn’t have stopped me.
I scaled up the ramp like it wasn’t at a sinister forty-five degrees. Hazel stood at the peak like manna from heaven. She had her hands on her hips and opened her mouth to berate or poke fun at me, but I scooped her up in my arms and spun her around before she could say a word.
She forgot whatever she was going to say and threw her head back and laughed.
The others sprinted past us. With no way of knowing where they should head, they spread out when they hit the cargo hold.
“At the back, on the right!” Hazel yelled, waving her arms. “Some of them are a little frozen but they’ll be fine!”
I let her roll down my body. Her dress slid up. She tried to pull it down but I squeezed her tighter, stopping her. She slapped my arm to release her dress. I smiled and did as she asked.
“Pervert,” she said.
I nuzzled her cheek.
“Unapologetically,” I said.
I didn’t care about anything else any longer. She was all that mattered. She was healthy and happy and her smile was as big and beautiful as I remembered.
She grunted.
“Are you hurt?” I said. “Are you injured?”
“Only if you keep squeezing,” she said.
I pressed my nose to her bare skin and breathed her in.
“I was so worried,” I said. “I thought I might lose you and never see you again.”
She prodded me in the chest.
“You’re going to have to work a lot harder than that to get rid of me, Bub!” she said.
My translator strip came up empty with what the word “Bub” meant but it didn’t matter. I got the gist.
“It’s not safe for you to be near me,” I said. “I can see that now. I won’t let anything like this ever happen again. I’ve thought about it and I’ve come to a decision.”
I hadn’t thought about it at all. The moment I saw her at the top of the ramp I knew what I had to do to keep her safe from harm. If it was between her or the empire, the choice was simple.
“I’m abdicating my throne,” I said. “I can’t take the risk something might happen to you. And it won’t, so long as people don’t want to hurt me. And they will, so long as I’m the emperor.”
She looked at me strangely. Not happy, not sad… but confused.
She placed a hand on my arm, and I released her.
“What’s wrong?” I said. “I thought you would be happy.”
“I am,” she said, though her expression was anything but joyful. “I just… never expected you to give up everything for me.”
“It’s not easy. Being the emperor was what I was brought up to be. My education, my ancestry… but I would give it all up in a heartbeat if it meant I could be with you.”
She shook her head and ran a finger down my nose.
“Don’t you see?” she said. “You already have me. You will always have me.”
“Then I’ll get the papers drawn up,” I said. “I’ll name my successor and we can be away from here by the end of the day.”
“And miss the wedding?”
I smiled.
“Okay,” I said. “After the wedding.”
But there was still that pursed cluster of lines on her brow again. She was in deep thought.
“Nothing will change, you
