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Chapter 50: Ruining the Empire
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2021-02-09 22:09:44“No!” Logan called, taking her arms to pull her back. She held up a hand to stop him. The crowd fell silent when they saw her. Some knelt.
“Everyone, I implore you to step back from the wagon. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Somehow, they heard her words and obeyed. They moved back slowly, not stomping over one another. Peacefully.
“Whore!” a man shouted. “She’s feeding us lies and ruining our empire!” He shoved through the crowd, his eyes filled with hatred. There were cries of protest from the shock and the man was pushed down to kneel.
Ellis didn’t pause to think. These people looked up to her and with the divisive violence in the em
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Ellis suddenly realized something. They were colorblind. The grey and yellow buttons… that was why. “You can’t tell them apart?” she asked politely, trying not to offend.“No, Empress. Please accept my apology.” Ellis smiled. “There is no need for that. This is green,” she said, touching a green ribbon tied to a lamp. “The one you are holding is blue. Can you tell the difference now?”The Koln looked uncomfortable. “I am sorry, Empress.” He squinted. “Side by side, one is brighter than the other,” the Koln offered hopefully.
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First, as to the protection of Kolns, we can't offer any on the Capital, not until we retake control of the planet. Secondly, the Kolns should be automatically included under things like the minimum wage laws, right? A lot of the abuses that oppressed communities suffered were things that were already illegal, but no one enforced the law for them. We have to make it clear that we will enforce the law."Isabella shook her head. “People are going to be angry that their Kolns ran off to help fight the rebellion. You have to think of a way to reimburse the owners so as to encourage them to let their ‘property’ leave.”Ellis noticed another bright moment about Isabella. She was a good orator. She understood people and she would have been a better advocate than many other people in the government.“You fear Koln owners to join the rebels, don’t you?” Ellis thought out loud. “It is possible. They might say that the monarc
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“A few women from the planet have mated with Zotheans in the past but not many. I don’t know if she will bear any children either. There are stories of princesses being forced into marriages and mating, but I don’t know if they resulted in pregnancies.” Logan brought his daughter to rest on his best and put his arm around her. Isabella purred and yawned, getting ready to nap. “He offered to support us against the revels. His planet is rich and used to war, so they have ships, weapons, and soldiers that he could give us if we agree to the match.”Ellis closed her eyes. She understood the strain in his voice now. If they united with the planet, the war could be over quickly. Thousands of lives could be saved.“If it were my happiness and life that needed to be sacrificed for the people, I would do it without thinking,” Logan said softly. “It would kill me, but I would do it. But I can’t put that on my children.
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Laurel spent the night on the bed beside Ellis. Ellis knew for a fact that she didn’t get any sleep because Ellis woke up several times to check on the babies and Logan and found Laurel sniffling each time. She laid back down in the bed and stayed away from Laurel, giving her friend the privacy to cry, be angry, and grieve.She knew how Laurel felt, especially having run away from her mate herself. It would be hell and everyone would judge her. Not Ellis, though. Not Ellis.“Laurel,” she shook her awake. “Let’s go take a bath,” she hissed. How the roles had reversed.“Oh, go away!” Laurel groaned. She had gone to sleep in the early morning, so she was beyond tired.“Get up! I’m taking revenge for all the times you dragged me out of bed. Moreover, don’t you want to see the royal bath?” She tried her hand at enticing.“When you put it like that…” she grumbled.
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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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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
