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Chapter 31: Not at the Cost of Her Morals
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Ellis 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 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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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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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
