Chapter 46
Gemma
I t had been five days since my father’s arrest.
And nothing would have ever prepared me for the aftermath of it.
Every day, it was waking to a fresh hell. Whether it was my sisters’ sobs behind the closed doors of their room. Or the United Alliance messengers who had arrived on our doorstep the following evening, threatening us to keep silent about the circumstances of the arrest. Or the news breaking across the Quadrants, a scandal that others could gawk at and whisper about, snickering and lapping up every detail as speculation had run rampant. Or the crowds that had begun to gather outside our gates. Residents of the Collis who had come to offer their sympathies to the Hara daughters, though they’d just wanted to pry the truth from our lips.
We’d begun locking the gates. Keeping others out.
The news shocked New Earth and its colonies. That much was clear. And it was only the beginning of a long road ahead.
“They’ll stop coming to the gates. They’ll move on eventually,” Fran assured us on the fifth night when we were all sitting around the—mostly empty—dining room. Sorj was here too. Mira’s friend, who looked like something more now. The Killup male was holding her close, her face tucked into the gills on his gray neck. I was thankful for him. I was thankful he could offer Mira comfort and support.
Watching them made me miss Azur. It made me miss him so much that sometimes it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
Piper…Piper, on the other hand, had surprised me.
My youngest sister had jumped into action.
“What do you need?” she’d asked me the morning after Father had been taken off planet. “What do you need me to do?”
She’d contacted our grandparents on New Inverness without me telling her to. My mother’s parents, who had, truthfully, been pulling away from our family since her death. Secretly, I’d thought they’d always blamed my father for it in some way. And I couldn’t help but wonder if my father had asked them for money in the later years, because they’d stopped taking his calls entirely.
But they’d answered Piper’s without question, and they were traveling to the Collis even now. To help us.
“I’m so sorry, Gem,” Piper had whispered raggedly one night as we’d been standing at a darkened window, looking at the crowd beyond our gates. “I never knew how bad it truly was. What you must’ve had to deal with all these years. And I was…I was such a spoiled bitch to you. When you were only trying to help us.”
I’d finally come clean. About everything. The loans. The collectors. The debts.
It had felt like a giant weight off my shoulders, being honest with my sisters.
Only, that burden had been replaced with a new one. Guilt. Guilt that I’d pushed my father into his confession, causing this turmoil within our family, causing this grief and uncertainty for our futures, even though I logically knew that it had been the right thing to do. It had been the only thing to do.
“Don’t blame yourself,” Piper had told me, her tone harsh but sad. “ He did this. Him alone. You just held him accountable. I…I don’t even know if Mother had the strength to do that. But you did.”
I’d left a Halo message for Azur the night of my father’s arrest, speaking into the orb he’d gifted to me. I’d told him what my father had told me: the location of where they’d buried Aina’s body on Pe’ji. In a dense jungle to the northeast of the town, at the base of an ancient black tree about one mile down the road where she’d been killed. I’d told him that my father had been arrested, that he was being transported to the High Quadrant Council.
“I…” I’d trailed off when I’d recorded the message, blinking back tears. I miss you, I’d wanted to say. I need you. Instead, I’d said, “I’m sorry. I truly am, Azur.”
I hadn’t heard from him. I assumed he’d immediately gone to Pe’ji, or perhaps one of his brothers or even Kalia had, or he’d sent a team there to recover Aina.
We were all sitting at the dining room table this night. Fran. Sorj and Mira. Piper. My grandparents would likely be here tomorrow.
And there was still so much to do . It was like a death in our family. I had to make sure my father had no other outstanding debts he was hiding, no other collectors waiting in the wings to swoop in. I had to find the deed for ownership of the house or if the property could be claimed by the United Alliance or the Earth Council. I had to organize the management of the blue salt mines—the manager I’d hired on, I’d learned, had stepped away from the position. The workers needed their wages, and I’d already dipped into the 200 vron I had in my account to pay them in full. Most of them had decided to look for work elsewhere in the Collis, and truthfully, I couldn’t blame them.
I had to figure out what the hell to do with the estate. I felt restless in its hall. An aching wound and memory. A disgusting reward for a tragedy. I didn’t want to be here, but I had to be. I needed to be strong for my sisters. For Fran, who had nowhere else to go too.
We had to clear the media that had been lining up at the gates every single day. The circumstances of my father’s arrest would no doubt leak soon. Everyone would know what he’d done during the Pe’ji War, and soon, the Collis would turn against us. I wondered if it was even safe to remain here. We would have to leave eventually.
But this is where she’s buried, I couldn’t help but mourn. We cannot leave her behind.
“What are you thinking?” Piper asked me quietly, reaching over the table to take my hand. She was different, I noticed. I hadn’t been gone long, but it felt like years had passed since I’d last been within these halls.
I managed to muster a small smile for her, one that didn’t reach my eyes. It was getting late. We were all going to turn in soon, knowing nothing more could be discussed tonight. And frankly, we were all exhausted.
Just as I opened my mouth, a loud banging came at the front door.
Boom, boom, boom!
My heart froze in my chest.
“Oh no,” I breathed. “They’ve gotten past the gates, haven’t they? Sorj, you checked the lock, didn’t you?”
I rose from the table, already striding from the room.
Behind me, Sorj called, “I did this morning. They were locked up tight!”
They must’ve climbed the fence. Getting desperate for a statement, though trespassing was against the law in the Collis, punishable with imprisonment. We would become a clip in the intergalactic news coms. A human hero, fallen from grace, his family in hiding.
I steeled my spine. Piper was behind me. Mira and Sorj and Fran too. We could do this together. We would just tell them to leave or else we’d called the Collis Patrol unit.
The door handle was within reach.
With a deep breath, I tugged it open, a quick burst of movement, already opening my mouth to tell the trespasser off.
Only a gasp left my lips instead.
My nostrils burned.
My throat went tight.
Relief and happiness and shock mingled inside me.
“ Laraya ,” Azur rumbled, those red eyes connecting with mine and burning . His wings were flared wide—likely to shield the onlookers’ views from the gates, since I could hear the shocked gossips from here—impossibly large. I’d forgotten how big he was. When I made no movement, not a twitch, he drawled, “Are you going to invite me in?”
I launched myself at him.
I felt like I could finally breathe again.
Azur grunted and caught me, those warm arms embracing me tight. His scent . His familiar heat. The hard press of his black vest against my cheek. His wings coming around me like a blanket on a cold day.
His head dropped. His lips brushed my ear.
“You’re here,” I choked out, letting myself fall apart against him. My hands shook when I reached up to clutch his vest, holding him to me. “How are you here?”
“Have you already forgotten who your husband is? I’m an heir to the Kaalium. I can go anywhere I please,” he murmured in my ear, as arrogant as ever, and I felt affection burst through me, a laugh of disbelief escaping my throat. The first time I’d laughed since…since the night of the lore harvest ball, perhaps.
His words belied the gentle press of his lips to my temple, as sweet as honey. I savored his embrace, nearly forgetting that we had an audience.
“You’re here,” I whispered, wiping my tears shamelessly against his vest, “and I feel like such a mess.”
His arms tightened.
Softly, Azur said, “You don’t have to worry anymore, kyrana . I’ll take care of everything. I’ll take care of you. I promise.”