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Chapter 98: Building a New House
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2021-03-07 18:23:06“Ellis…” Logan patted her cheeks. “Please, Ellis. Please wake up!”
"I am, I am," she said woozily, trying to pry her lids open. The sight of his face jolted her into instant wakefulness. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"I couldn't wake you," he rasped. He stroked the tears from her cheeks. The poor man ... she must have been crying and babbling like a lunatic.
"I'm sorry," said Ellis. "I'm sorry I scared you. I'm sorry for many things."
“You have no reason to be sorry,” he swore.
“I do. I've neglected you and I've neglected the Empire."
"Your heart aches," he said loyally, defending her even against herself.
“As does yours,” Ellis replied. “And I have been so wrapped up in my own grief that I didn’t pay attention to you or yours.”
He buried his face in her neck. “The doctor came by today… I don’t think you noticed. He said that he coul
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Leo and Dorian paced the room where they were waiting for Laurel and the babies.Their trip to the space port to pick up the rest of the family turned into a parade because the people had somehow discovered that they were arriving home and had lined up on the streets they would be taking, to cheer as the royal family passed.They especially cheered for Leo, the hero of the Empire.Leo was overwhelmed by the attention, blinking and waving at the crowd with a dazed expression on his face. A woman ran up and jumped on the wagon.Leo, who was on the side, jumped in surprise.“First Prince Leo, are you single?” the woman asked. Leo’s eyes widened.“Why do you ask?”The female smiled. “Are you only able to have sex with your mate, or…” Leo fell into stunned silence until the wagon started up again.“What did she say?” Ellis asked. Leo had told the woman no and she had stepp
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"Captain, you have a call from the Admiral," said the communications officer. "He says it's urgent and delicate, ma’am."“Send it to my room,” Christine responded curtly. “I will speak with him there.”“Understood,” the communications officer nodded.She got up from her chair on the bridge of the star ship. She nodded to her first officer to tell him she was leaving. He barely acknowledged her, but then again, he never did.She knew he was bitter about being passed over for the command of his own ship and under her leadership. Striding across the bridge, she used her thumb to open the door of her room, the office just off the bridge.Walking a little slower, she sat down at her desk and turned on the terminal. The waiting communiqué was blinking on the screen. Pressing the screen, she saw the face of her father appear. "Admiral?" she asked."I just received your report on the last mission we s
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Smoothing her black uniform with a grey jacket and blue shirt underneath, she picked up her tablet from the desk in her quarters. Swiping her communicator from the edge of her nightstand and affixed to her jacket. As she was adjusting it, it chirped. "First Commander to Captain.""Captain here," Christine responded."Christine, I can't make it to the briefing at 0800. There was a coolant leak in the engineering department," he said."When can you make it?" she asked. "You are crucial to this mission. You have to be at the briefing.""I don't know. Two hours? I have to oversee repairs," he said. "Once I get through with that, I should be able to make it. I'm exhausted, though. Zero sleep over the past thirty-six hours. We need an administrator or one of those holographic AIs that the Fleet is constantly trying to install.""I thought you were against the holo people," Christine snickered."You try staying up for nearly two days and see how yo
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Nearly two weeks later, they were in the orbit of C-space. It was a smaller planet that was mostly green and blue. It reminded them of a smaller version of Earth. She was waiting for the Empress in the transporter room along with another female staff member. The crew was nervous, always on the edge of the seat, and felt weird not being there to meet a traveling dignitary.“M’am, the C-space Council of Elders is hailing us," the Lieutenant said."On screen, Lieutenant," she replied, standing up. Three men were seated at a long table. The man in the middle had long black hair and a shrewd gleam in his neon yellow eyes. The man on his right had brown hair that was braided down his back and he looked bored, his blue eyes filled with zero emotion. The man on the left had short, cropped white hair with glowing pink eyes. "Greetings from the star ship. I'm Captain Christine Wright. On the other screen is my First Commander.""Thank you for making such a goo
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The door chimed. The Empress walked to open it. She was greeted by a human female. "Greetings, Empress," Christine said gruffly. "I’ll be checking on you over the next few days. I have another officer who can take my place. I hope it doesn’t bother you.”Christine offered a polite smile. She was talking to an Empress after all."I'm fine, Captain.” The Empress smiled. "The accommodations are quite luxurious. I've never seen such a ship with rooms like these." She gestured for Christine to enter and she looked around the space with appraising eyes. "Is everything alright?""Sorry, Empress. It's in my nature to constantly look for a threat. We received explicit instructions that you are not to be harmed," Christine said, smiling sheepishly. "Empress? Are you okay? You look a little flushed."The Empress nodded. “It’s just a new space,” she said.“Empress…” Christine began.“You
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Ellis was picking out clothes for the kids when she heard a commotion out in the hallway. Logan, who was lounging beside her with the babies on the couch sat up immediately. They looked at each other before depositing the babies in their nest and going to the door. The commotion was coming from the hallway, a woman’s voice yelling.They both darted to the door, Logan opening it a crack. Their new bodyguard, a male that looked like a dog stood in front of the doorway, prepared to battle whatever enemy tried to threaten the royal family.Logan could see over the bodyguard’s head but Ellis had to peek around the bodies.“I know my Constitutional rights!” the woman shouted. “If I am not under arrest, you have no right to detain me. I want a lawyer and my communication call right now!”“Sorry, you will not be able to contact anyone from your universe,” the person behind her said, sounding exasperated.&ldq
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"Holy fucking hell," said Cristine. She groaned and hunched over the toilet again. "Gonna murder that man, I swear to God."“I will pop over to the government building to see if Isabella has any drink on hand to keep your food down,” Ellis soothed. She patted Cristine’s back to help the girl out. If it was like her morning sickness, Cristine was going to want to slaughter Leo for making her pregnant.Leo stood out in the hallway, wringing his tail. He rushed over to Ellis, his eyebrows scrunched together in worry. "Is Crissy all right?"Crissy. They had somehow fallen in love. It had mainly been Leo pursuing Cristine and helping her get revenge on the First Commander and her people to get her heart to open up. The first year on Zothea, she had focused on getting revenge. From the second, she got more used to life on Zothea, even taking up time to go back into space expeditions to help the Emperor and Empress with diplomatic affairs.Cris
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They stepped inside the temple sanctuary. Logan kissed Ellis's forehead and went off to the altar of the Goddess, pulling a strip of paper from his pocket. Ellis smiled as she watched him go. She sometimes wished that she was able to find faith, but despite everything that had happened, it still eluded her. Micheal said it ultimately didn't matter whether she believed in the Goddess or not, as long as she could believe in herself. And maybe she'd never reach that point, either, but she did believe that with Logan at her side, she could do anything, face any hardship, meet any challenge.She went back to the living quarters behind the temple, following the sound of familiar voices. "No, Izzy, you spelled autocratic incorrectly. Athena! Are you passing notes to Elizabeth again? Give me that!"Poor Isabella sounded exasperated. Ellis pushed open the door and saw the children were seated at their desks. Little Isabella chewed on her tail, deep in thought. Ellis pitied her;
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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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The king brought Izzy breakfast in bed the next morning. She sat up groggily and accepted a cup of tea. She had to admit being impressed by his courtesy and thoughtfulness. She really needed the tea. She had stayed up late into the night and was no closer to an answer than she had been when she first lay down.She spent the day with the king, taking him to see some of Zothea's museums and cultural institutions. She was pretty sure that it was Drake who was following them all day. Once, she saw him duck behind a tree, and a tail with light hair poked out to the side. The bodyguard knew that Drake wasn't a threat and the king's bodyguard seemed to have decided to ignore him. The king, for his part, seemed to agree with them and didn't question the very large man trying to hide behind fence posts, but it made Izzy's heart ache. If the king was the one she chose, this would be Drake's life, lurking on the periphery of hers.The king was as he described himself: easy to get
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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
