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Chapter 29: Seeking Asylum
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Logan woke her up the next morning with a cup of Isabella’s concoction. She drank it quickly, hoping to prevent inevitable nausea from taking over.
“I must go for a few minutes,” Logan confessed. “I won’t be long but I must sign the treaty in front of the Council.”
Ellis smiled sleepily. She heard the door click behind him and woke again a little while later, her stomach roiling with nausea. She reached for the pot and found it empty. She clapped a hand over her lips and dashed for the bathroom but a pillow became tangled between her feet and she tripped with a cry of surprise.
Arkan caught her before she hit the floor. She vomited helplessly on the floor, Arkan keeping her steady.
“I’m sorry—”
Before she could finish, a roar shook the room. They whipped their heads to the side to see an utterly enraged Logan standing at the door, his fangs bared in a snarl. Before Ellis could say a word,
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Laurel held Ellis until the storm of tears had passed. She spoke quietly to Dorian and he brought a wet cloth, which Laurel used to wipe the drying blood from Ellis’s face and hands. She even brought over Isabella’s concoction for her to drink. Ellis accepted the drink but did not drink from the cup. Instead, she stared down silently. Her mind kept replaying the look of terror on Arkan’s face and her inability to stop Logan.She had to admit that she had only screamed and had done nothing to stop Logan. She had been scared of him at that moment. Ellis didn’t think Logan could have hurt her, but in that moment, she had been terrified for both Arkan and herself and she chose to protect herself.“Ellis, you have to go home,” Laurel said gently. “Poor Logan is sitting outside in the hallway and he looks awful.”She said nothing.
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Ellis stepped into the hallway. Her eyes immediately caught Logan sitting at her feet beside the door frame. Isabella was seated beside him.“Ellis,” he jumped to his feet.“Let’s talk,” Ellis said. Nin, on the opposite side of the door frame, rose and stood silently not a hint of judgment on her face. Ellis wanted to hug her but wasn’t sure how well-received it would be. Nin had become a constant in her life, no matter what the situation was.“May I hold you?” Logan asked, his voice apprehensive and full of longing. Ellis thought for a moment before shaking her head. She saw him shudder at her refusal and look behind him to see the look of appreciation in Isabella’s eyes.That confused her.She peered curiously and on seeing the approval on Isabella’s face suddenly understood that t
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The apartment Ellis chose was small, a bedroom and a bathroom and nothing else. She liked it quite a bit, considering she would have chosen such an apartment for herself if she were still on Earth. But that was not the matter at hand. She was busy adjusting everything when a wave of nausea hit her. She ran to the bathroom and puked for a few minutes before coming out.The room to the apartment was ajar and Nin stood at the door frame looking anxiously towards the corner of the room. Logan had brought over a pile of gifts to decorate her room, it seemed. His torso was twisted, looking over his shoulder and his arms moved back and forth. Ellis walked around to the other side and gasped with shock when she saw all the blood. To see so much blood in one day…“Logan!” she ran forward and grabbed his arm, forgetting her rule not to touch him. “Stop it! What are you doing?”
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“Have you spoken to Logan lately?” Laurel asked as she perused through Ellis’s new apartment. She had been oddly silent since she arrived but now she was speaking properly.“Of course. He comes every day when he gets time off work to check if I am doing okay,” Ellis shrugged. Laurel swiveled to look at her.“If you are seeing him, why are you not living with him?” she asked, perplexed.“This is crucial,” she started. “I have compromised on what I believe in for too long. It has been two days since the incident and I have not been allowed to go to the hospital to check on Arkan. They won’t allow me because it will spread rumors.” Ellis understood that rumors could be vicious, but this was ridiculous.“They are right, you know? I can see that you are not mad at Logan or scared at him, then wh
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Logan came over for lunch the day, sitting silently and eating. It was astounding how much food he consumed, clearing the full table of food. Laurel and Isabella had mentioned that Zothean men would pack on the pounds before the birth so that they could incubate the eggs later on. In this case, they would not come out of their burrows or eat. Apparently, Logan would survive off of his fat stores and his body would shut down apart from all vital functions.“I need to go to the market today,” Logan said. Laurel had told her how Logan went out to get pillows every other day. He critically fluffed, poked and prodded every single pillow in the market stalls and agonized over the fabric types. Ellis refused to partake in such an activity as it would drive her insane.“I can’t go along,” she told him. “I have a lot of work and I need to visit the Koln hospital to see Arkan.” Ellis
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Logan was dreaming, reliving one of the last nights that he and Mitch had spent debating politics in Logan’s room. Mitch had brought over a bottle of alcohol for them to share. That was the last time Logan had drank. He could even remember the taste of it, sweet and a tinge of tang on his tongue…“I’m saying that it is impossible for a single ruler to serve all of the interests of the people of the galaxy,” Mitch said. “A country, perhaps. But when the geographical location increases to planets, it becomes unlikely and a whole galaxy? Impossible.”“If the ruler is micromanaging every aspect of the government, yes. But in our case, the Empress and Emperor oversee the general policy, to which planets and countries and adapt as per their interpretation. There is no demand that every country and planet adopt a uniform code of law or culture.”
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Though in the middle of the night, Logan rushed out of his apartment and sprinted towards the government quarters where Ellis was still residing. Guards watched in bewilderment as a large Zothean running towards them. Their fear grew and they found themselves on guard to fight off whatever fiend it was until they realized that it was their frantic Emperor.They stepped aside and watched as his form became smaller and smaller as he went down the corridor. He was sweating and panting mess by the time he reached Ellis’s door. Nin was stationed outside, her eyes trained in front of her. When she saw him at the door, she stood up and bowed.“Emperor, what brings you here so late in the night?” she asked.“I wish to see Ellis, please,” he said. He was humbling himself in front of someone else but the realization he had an hour before had rendered him incapable of feel
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“What date is it?” Ellis asked abruptly.Laurel fished around for the soap she had dropped. “Why?”“I am losing track of time. How long have I been here? I have no idea what it is like on Earth right now.”
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Technology had advanced, but Ellis and Cristine still waited for the day when they could travel to their timelines and see their parents for one last time. To ensure them that they weren’t in a hopeless state, dead or have run away from home.But the technology never allowed it. There were basic rules of the planet that couldn’t be breached.So, they plotted.Cristine had used all her free time to learn how to operate Zothean ships. She was adept at aeronautics and engineering and negotiation, so Ellis and Logan had leaned heavily on her in their negotiations. It could be said that the Empire was in a time of peace under their rule.One day, Cristine came up with the idea.“These jumpers travel to the universes all the time without breaking the fragment of the universe. The only rule is to not meet yourself or members of your own family after you have been pronounced dead, right?” she asked.Ellis nodded. “Yes,
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He hadn't seen her again until it was over until the city was in ruins and the palace itself was leveled to the ground. The underground city had been hit; Mitch must have known that Logan would try to send his family there. As he made his way to the ruins of the temple, he hoped and prayed that Ellis had disregarded his directions.So many had perished. So much had been lost.The Goddess lay back and propped her head on her hands as she looked up at the stars. "Perhaps someday, I'll show you Ellis's memories of it. She never told you the entire story of what she went through that day. I'll just say that she made me proud again for being so brave and resourceful."His mind was drawn back to the moment he had found Ellis in the rubble of the temple, his relief at finding her safe so deep and intense that he couldn't even form a proper prayer of gratitude.He had wanted to give her a shake when she told him of sending Laurel and the babies away in the escape
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Isabella drove out the Council members and the cameras, her manner so brisk and officious that no one dared question her, and shut the door firmly. She sat down beside Logan and drew him into her arms, just as she had done when he was a little boy and hurting from his parents' neglect. He was too large now to snuggle into her as he once had done, so he laid his head on top of hers and wrapped his tail around her arm."It can't have been him," he said. "It can't."She pulled back to look up into his face. Her eyes were soft with compassion. She said nothing. She didn't have to.Logan buried his hands in his hair and tugged. The pain was the only thing that felt real. But Isabella gently reached up and tugged his hands away. He wanted to scream, to attack something with his claws and shred it to bits. The pain was swelling within him to the point where he thought he might burst if he couldn't let it out in some way.Isabella pulled him back into her arms an
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He was twelve and Isabella had taken him to the market with her to buy herbs. Logan wandered over to the next stall, which sold jewelry. There was a set of jewels that his eyes kept being drawn back to as he examined the merchant's wares. It was a headband of red-black stones with a matching bracelet and ring.He imagined giving that set to his mate. Would she squeal in delight the way his mother did when his father presented her with jewels? Would she throw her arms around him and press her mouth to his? (The latter Logan thought was a bit disgusting, but Micheal had said humans liked "kissing.")Last night, he'd asked Micheal, his voice low and shy, for this question meant much to him: "Micheal, what will my mate be like?" He knew she'd likely be human. Though Earth had been one of the later additions to the database, the majority of their matches now came from its people."She will be the most beautiful creature you've ever seen," Micheal said, and his eyes t
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Despite Laurel's reassurances, Ellis didn’t leave Logan’s side until the doctor arrived. Laurel held her, gently stroking Ellis's back, murmuring soft, soothing nonsense."He has it, doesn't he?" Ellis asked the doctor after he'd run his reader over Logan's prone body. Logan's tail twitched at the sound of her voice, but he didn't react otherwise. He mumbled unintelligible words."Yes, Empress, he does," the doctor said. He looked exhausted, but his eyes were kind."Oh, my God," Ellis whispered. Hopelessness set in."There's no reason to panic," the doctor said firmly. "As long as we can keep his fever under control and keep him hydrated, he will be fine. Zotheans rarely die from this."It was all reassurance.Ellis nodded. She knew that. Logan had explained it to her when the outbreak first began, and the talk videos said the same. Just like the human common cold, there was no cure for it, and it simply had to run its course. Bu
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Drake was already gone when Izzy and Ellis came back to the dining room and her heart ached that she wouldn't be able to say goodbye to him, but maybe Micheal and Isabella had decided that Izzy would only get more upset. She gnawed on her tail as they passed through the room to where the king was waiting for her in the hallway outside. He had been seated on a bench and he stood politely when she joined him. Another of his kind stood behind him, his skin as green as the forest leaves."This is my bodyguard," he offered. The bodyguard in question ignored Izzy, but sized up her female bodyguard and apparently wasn't impressed with what he saw."Follow me," Izzy directed. The king walked down the hall beside her and Izzy noticed that she was at least a foot taller than he was.She arrived at her nest room to find that all of Drake's things had been cleaned out already and she felt a piercing ache in her heart. She sat down on a cushion beside her table, despondent.
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Logan put out an announcement that tonight would be a state dinner and so the temple dining room was packed with people, all of them speculating as to the cause. He and the empress rarely had them and when they did it was usually for a special announcement. The last had been to announce the empress was expecting Prince Edward and the one before that, to announce that Nessie was being appointed to the emperor's Council.Izzy ate mechanically. She wasn't hungry, but Aunt Cristine was right: she had to make sure the baby got what it needed. Drake was alight with excitement and impatient for the meal to end. The entire extended family was seated around the table, all of them wearing their finery. Her mother wore the glow stone tunic she'd worn to her own mating ceremony and Aunt Laurel was dressed in a purple tunic so bright that it hurt the eyes to look at it. Leo kept flirtatiously tickling Cristine's neck with his tail and then looking away innocently whenever she looked up fr
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"I saw a doctor less than an hour ago." Izzy unwound her tail from her leg with effort and gnawed on the end of it anxiously.Her father stood and without a word, headed for the door."Daddy, wait, please!" Nessie pleaded. "I'm so sorry! Talk to me.""I can't." Logan's eyes were on the door and his tail lashed in either agitation or anger; she couldn't tell which."Please," Izzy pleaded. "I need to know what you're thinking. Do—do you still love me?""Of course, I do," Logan said tightly. He twisted the doorknob."Don't leave," Izzy begged."Sweetheart, your father just needs a little time," Ellis interjected. "Let him go, and we'll all talk over this later."Goddess, didn't her mother understand that her anxiety was increasing exponentially every moment? She wouldn't survive a wait of a few hours. "Daddy… please.""You want to know what I'm thinking?" Logan turned from the door and marched back to stand in
