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Chapter 73: Wading Through Dangerous Waters
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2021-02-23 22:25:14She gave a sideward glance at Ellis and then walked away behind the creature. Ellis knew that Nin would fare better if she didn’t need to protect Ellis. She could finish off these things and then come back to her side.
Ellis crouched down beside Leo, trying to shake him awake. Despite multiple times, he could only open his glazed eyes and babble.
“Ellis,” he whispered. “You have to go.”
“I can’t leave you here!” she said. She glanced up and saw the reflection of the flames was closer.
“You have to! Logan—”
Ellis shook her head and said nothing.
"Glad I... didn't win you," Leo said. "Empire… needed you ... more."
“Please try…” she whispered.
“Done for…” he said, closing his eyes. “to be safe.”
Ellis nodded. “I promise. I will be safe.”
“Thank…”
She waited,
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The King's Brightest Star Chapter 74: Death, Destruction, and Rescue
Ellis flipped over and jumped to her feet, but sank again when all her strength went out of her limbs at the sight in front of her.The city was in ruin, a tangled mass of blackened rubble. She pushed herself to her feet and turned in a circle, no idea where she was.There were no landmarks she recognized. She could even tell where the streets had been. She should be able to see the temple: the tunned had seemed endless but it wasn’t that far.Her mind flashed to Micheal and Isabella and she gasped. What had happened to them?What kind of weapon had done this? Zothean aircrafts were armed with ammunition to blow up asteroids and protect their ships but this was something different.Zotheans didn’t have nuclear weapons. But she couldn’t think of anything else that could cause such destruction. Was she absorbing radiation and being cooked inside out? She hoped she didn’t find out.She shivered in the icy wind, her cloth
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“Lower me,” Ellis commanded, handing the child she held to another woman and laid her blanket aside. “Hold on to my ankles.”“No, Ellis,” Dorian protested.“I’m the only one small enough to fit through.”“Ellis, Logan will kill me if I allow you to risk yourself.”“It’s not dangerous,” she argued. “I’ll be fine.”His tail swayed in indecision.“I’m the Empress. Now, do it!” She laid down and wiggled through the hole before he could argue further.Dorian grabbed one of her ankles and another man took the other and they slowly lowered Ellis toward the terrified woman.Ellis’s hair hung around her face, blinding her.She gathered it the best she could and tied it in a knot behind her neck, stuffing the tail of it down the back of her tunic.She stretched out her arms… almost there. &ldq
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One of the walls of the temple was still standing with part of the second floor jutting out, making a crude shelter under which Micheal had set up his hospital, though it had long since expanded far beyond the temple grounds. They found him there, ragged and stained with blood as he passed from bed to bed, offering what comfort he could until they could be seen by a doctor.He glanced up and saw Ellis and Dorian. “Empress!” Micheal said as if talking to himself. “Good.”“I brought more people to help,” Ellis offered, gesturing at her group.“Good,” he repeated. He wore the same dazed look most of the survivors had. For a moment, Ellis was in despair. She was in need of his guidance, but it seemed that she was on her own.He moved to the next bed, checked the pulse of the person lying on it. “This one is dead,” he said dispassionately.Ellis winced at the lack of emotion in his voice. She k
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“Ellis?” She heard it. The voice she longed to hear. She spun and there he was, a bit worse for wear but alive and safe.“Logan!” She threw herself into his arms and he scooped her up to shower kisses on her face.He murmured her name, his face ducked in her neck, nuzzling and purring. His tail wrapped around her leg.She burst into tears as she squeezed him and kissed him. The baby in her arms squawked in protest when he was squished against Logan’s chest.Logan looked at the infant and his eyes widened in distress. “Ellis, this is not our baby.”Ellis laughed through her tears. “I know. Ours are with Laurel. I found this one and I can’t put him down because he cries every time I try.”He gave her a smile..Communication was slow and tentative because the grid was still down and runners had to be sent with messages, but there were no other reports of attacks on other
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“We should put a tracker on you and a tag to your clothes that informs people where to return you in case you get lost.”Ellis smacked his shoulder lightly.“You are easy to track, Micheal commented. “Look.” He pointed towards several flat stones that bote bloody footprints.”Logan shuddered.“What is it?” Ellis asked.“God, it must have been horrible…” he said.“Don’t think about it. I’m fine. All of us are fine. Let’s focus on that.”“Found them!” Micheal called. As Logan drew closer, Ellis confirmed that these were indeed the parents. Micheal rolled the bodies over and paused.Logan nearly dropped Ellis. “What is it?” she asked frantically.“It’s Sean… Micheal’s youngest son.” Logan said. “But what is he doing here? And when did he get a mate?”Miche
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They were taken to a minister’s home in the neighboring city. He and his mate had not been found, so Ellis felt uncomfortable using their house without permission. The Council wanted them to leave Zothea entirely, but this was as far as Logan and Ellis were willing to go. They could not leave their people in their time of need.Laurel was on her way back from the space station, and Leo and Dorian were headed to the second planet. Ellis wanted to wait for both of them, but Logan insisted they needed some rest.Ellis was certain she wouldn't be able to sleep, even as exhausted as she was because she was too wired, too anxious, too nervous. She agreed to it only because she knew Logan needed it. She decided she'd just lay there quietly with him. It would be warm and peaceful, at least, and give her time to think.They chose a small nest in one of the guest bedrooms. Logan laid Ellis amongst the pillows and she was out before Logan even had even settled down b
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Ellis considered. “It is a little better, but his children were part of the rebellion and one of his sons died during the attack. I would suggest we get somebody completely uninvolved with the situation.” But she knew Logan wasn’t going to go that far.“I trust Micheal’s judgment.”Ellis took a deep breath. “How about we appoint him as the person with most power and have other, unrelated people weigh in on the judgment.”He thought about it for a second. “I agree,” he said finally.They went to the destroyed capital together. The hospital already looked much better. Huge tents had been erected and all of the wounded were on cots with thick blankets to keep them warm. The size of the crowd was more manageable now that more help had arrived and many of the injured had been moved out to other locations once they'd been stabilized.They found Micheal sitting by a bed, taking dictation from a p
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The trial was held in the only large area in the vicinity large enough to house the crowd that had begun to gather the night before to ensure themselves a seat.Ellis had been feeling awful since waking up and finding out people had come to see rebels being punished. The thought made her stomach churn with disgust.“You look like shit,” Laurel whispered.“Thanks,” Ellis responded sourly, pulling on the most formal clothes she could find. Ellis’s tunic was too big, but at least they were warm and clean. She could ask for nothing else at that point.The tunic Ellis donned was dark brown, made out of a soft, velvety material. It was beautiful, but the dark color accentuated Ellis's pallor. She should have worn the pink, but it had seemed too lighthearted a color for attending a potentially deadly trial.Before they left, Logan tried to coax Ellis to eat. He brought her a light soup from the kitchens to sip and Ellis manag
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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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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
