35. Poppy
POPPY
The downtown district of Sueva’s capital city does not look anything like Earth.
Thank fuck.
The buildings are a breathtaking blend of towering, ancient trees and glass that glows with a soft, warm amber light. The streets are paved with smooth stones, and the air smells of roasting nuts, damp earth, and a potent, fermenting honey wine that the locals brew in clay casks.
We are sitting in a semi-private, U-shaped booth at the capital's liveliest tavern. According to the humans who’ve been here longer, it was the only tavern for a long time.
The table is stacked high with platters of flatbreads, roasted meat, and a towering pitcher of scorch your taste-buds-off alcohol.
Lily sits across from me, and next to her Ellison relaxes in a soft Sueva-spun gown. Selene’s actively tearing a piece of flatbread apart, and Lucy sits beside her, her cheeks still flushed from her Draegon heat, though she is smiling happily as she sips her honey wine.
How she’s withstood the heat this long, I have no idea.
I stare down at my drink, my finger tracing the rim of the cup.
The noise of the bustling tavern fades into a dull hum.
The weight of the last few weeks—the guilt that has been rotting a hole in my stomach since the moment we stepped onto that cursed satellite—finally rises all the way to my throat.
I set my cup down with a soft clack.
"Okay," I announce briskly. “I need to tell you something.”
The table goes quiet. Lily stops her cup halfway to her mouth, jaw open. Selene keeps up her aggressive bread-chewing, though.
Good for her.
"I need to say something," I start. My throat hitches, but I force the words out. "I messed up. I fucked up so incredibly badly."
I take a ragged breath, my hands squeezing each other in my lap.
I wish Vael was here so I could squeeze his hands, but I needed to do this alone.
"I need to apologize. It’s killing me. I had absolutely no idea it would turn out like that, but that is no excuse. There is literally nothing I can do to fix how I tricked you, change what I did, or give you back the safety I stole from you. I am so, so incredibly sorry."
I bury my face in my hands, my tears seeping through my fingers. They’ve all been acting fine around me, normal, but Tati told me I couldn’t heal until I talked about it, that I needed to tell my friends how I felt.
I wait for them to yell.
Instead, a wooden coaster smacks me in the forehead.
"Ow," I gasp, jerking my hands away to see Lily staring at me, an annoyed expression on her face.
"That is for being a grade-A dumbass." Lily reaches across the table, grabbing my hand.
"Poppy. I am going to bring this up at literally every single holiday, baby shower, Thanksgiving, and whatever the fuck holidays they have here for the rest of your natural life.
You will never, ever live this down. When we are eighty years old and sitting in rocking chairs, I am going to look at you and say, 'Hey, remember when you abducted me to an alien planet? ' and you are going to buy me a drink."
"A double," Ellison chimes in. "The verdict is: you we’re an idiot to do that, but you're our idiot. And honestly? Look at us. We survived. I'm building a life here with Rex, and…” she blushes. “I’ve never been happier."
"I have a giant alien who is currently building a garden for me because I told him I liked flowers," Lucy whispers sweetly. "I don’t know what I’m going to do with him, yet, but I forgive you. We all do."
"This has nothing to do with me." Selene bites into a piece of meat. “But I think you’re all equally stupid.”
Lily chuckles, raising her glass to that.
“You don’t hate me?” I ask, slightly stunned.
“I mean, don’t fucking do that again,” Lily says. “But no.”
"Thank you," I whisper, lifting my chalice. "To us." I let out a laugh, remembering the mantra that got me and Vael through. “Strength in numbers.”
"Strength in numbers,” they chorus, clinking their wooden cups together in a loud, joyous toast.