171. Epilogue
171
Epilogue
S ix Months Later…
Willow
There’s a hollow ache in my chest at random times when I think about the family back on Earth I’ll never see again. But today? Gosh, I wish they were here. My dad, when he got over his shock, would be so damned proud of me. I’ll just have to settle for the pride beaming at me from everyone in this auditorium, especially my two mates who are sitting on either side of me.
Has it only been six months since we survived the Down to Three competition? Six months since we shared that amazing week on the Pleasure planet? Not only did we discover a hundred interesting positions for three—some more challenging than others—but we found time to enjoy other things.
Paragon is known for its pleasures of every description. We did a few touristy things, but we were recognized everywhere we went. We knew the entire galaxy was tuning in to The Game , but being confronted in the flesh by fans, and some angry people who felt we cheated their favorite teams—thanks, Jahzara Zedd—was more than we bargained for.
That’s okay. The three of us enjoyed sitting on the front porch of our getaway cabin, looking out at the ocean. It was so much more beautiful and relaxing than our imaginary front porch on the asteroid where we tried to forget we were slated for death within hours.
Although that, awful as it was, will always hold a place in my heart because it was where we declared our love for each other.
On Paragon, we watched the waves, held hands, and got to know each other better.
Valor finally explained why he burrowed so deep inside his mind sometimes. When he explained being bombarded by all the pain and negativity around him when he’s open to Braveheart and me, we began experimenting. After a few days, we developed a technique that allowed us to stay linked, but kept the outside world at bay. I can feel the relief this gave him. He’s promised he won’t hide from either of us again.
Sometimes we walked on the beach and told stories about our past in an effort to get to know each other.
They loved my past better than their own. They listened raptly as I described nuclear families and how they loved each other and worked together. Although we were already developing our own little family, they liked knowing there was already a blueprint of how to support and protect those you care about.
I knew their lives had been hell, but sometimes it was all I could do not to burst into tears when they told me of their harsh treatment as children. After a few of their stories, we came to an unspoken agreement that I’d heard enough. I can love and support them without knowing all the heart-wrenching details.
It was almost by accident we turned on our vid player and heard that Judge Harcourt Fenton Mudd was removed from the bench for his part in taking bribes for handing down bogus sentences. His long history of exchanging shorter sentences for sexual favors was revealed as well.
Sometimes anger flares deep in my belly when I think about Mistress Blenara Chine. She’d been kind, for a slave owner, until she betrayed me and sent me to prison. I know she was trying to side with her blood relations over me, but still, what she did could have killed me. I called her out on galaxy-wide vid. I can’t imagine she maintained too many friendships after that.
Sadly, the news of The Game’s renewal for another season, starring Jahzara Zedd, was also announced while we were on that trip. That female deserves punishment. I hope she gets it someday.
We returned to Marentine and were immediately recruited into the secret Resistance movement, which is led by none other than President Alcantar himself.
Because of their extensive military training, my mates were put in charge of a battalion. General Altair wanted to put them in charge of their own units, but they work better together. Which is great. Now we can all be stationed together.
They look amazing in their black leather kilts, boots, and chest sashes. My uniform is thin, supple leather that covers me from neck to ankle. Much more catwoman than Down to Three coveralls. It accomplishes the same thing, but it’s sexy.
Although my dad forbade me from racing cars, he never said anything about flying fighter spaceships. I’ve been training for the last six months and can out-fly almost every pilot in the fleet.
The three of us are being formally inducted tonight. Everyone in the Resistance who’s on Marentine is here for the ceremony.
Blaze and Xzavic, the winners of Down to One , and Sadie and Anubis, the winners of Down to Two are flanking the three of us. The two Earth women and I have become best friends. My guys and their guys love to get together, swap stories, and play the outer space version of Texas Hold’em— Klempto .
The Resistance is growing, and the Revolution is coming. There’s no denying it. It may not happen soon, but people from all over the galaxy are quietly, sometimes in groups of only threes and fours, deciding it’s time for slavery to end.
Not just slavery, the President hates the creation and use of geneslaves and has decreed the use of the word illegal.
Things are changing.
I rub my flat belly and smile. As deeply invested as I am in the upcoming revolution, I hope it doesn’t happen too soon. In a month or two, that black leather catsuit isn’t going to fit. As big as my guys are, this baby’s going to be huge.
I can’t wait to tell them. I’m planning to do it tonight. They bought a bottle of fancy liquor to share when we get back to our little house on the outskirts of the President’s palatial estate. I’ll say no when they offer me the Sillerian whiskey, and then tell them why.
I love our psychic connection, but it’s hell on keeping secrets.
It’s okay that you won’t be drinking a toast with us tonight, Braveheart says as he winks at me.
My eyes widen. Did I just give away my secret?
We’ve known since the moment you have, my little mate, Valor says with a smile, his third eye swirling his calm, happy cerulean blue.
You read my mind? That’s so unfair. I wanted it to be special when I announced it.
They both look at me and sniff deeply.
We didn’t read your mind, we read your smell, they say in unison.
We let you hang onto your little delusion, but tonight, little Willow, we’ll all skip the Sillerian whiskey. We’ll celebrate in other ways.
They both lean in and, like bookends, sniff from my collar bone up the column of my neck to the sensitive spot behind my ear.
Since you guys have already had a good laugh about my deception and then some serious discussion, should I ask how the parentage will affect you?
It will be all of ours, Braveheart says as he palms my belly, a warm look in his citrine eyes.
We know how to love, says Valor. How can there be any doubt we’ll love the youngling?
That’s good to know, in the back of my mind there might have been a little worry. Now that we’ve settled that, What other ways are we going to celebrate? I ask with a flirty smile.
They both flash me pictures of many sexy possibilities.
You pick, love, Valor says.
She’s not that far along yet , Braveheart quips. We can each pick one for tonight.
T hat’s the end of this story
Six Months Later…
Jahzara Zedd
“Um, Miss Zedd?” my assistant is comm’ing me. I can’t recall her name. They come and go so quickly.
“Yes,” I snap. This one will soon learn not to interrupt me.
“I, uh, know you’re searching for your next location for the Galaxy Games. I, uh, found something.”
“Out with it!”
“I know Earthers aren’t your favorite species…”
This assistant isn’t going to last long if she thinks, even for a moment, that I want one more human entered into The Game.
“But I found what might be a great venue for the next season.”
“Unless you start talking in the next thirty seconds, you’ll be leaving the building with your things in a box.” When she doesn’t start talking immediately, I snap, “If you can walk at all!”
Her next thoughts come at me rapid-fire.
“Our recon teams found a large alien spaceship buried in an uninhabited portion of Earth near their polar ice cap. Due to the planet’s global warming, aliens who have been in stasis for millennia are preparing to awaken from their pods. Ms Zedd, our intel says when their pod doors release, these things are going to be hungry . I sent you some pictures of the alien species. I’ve got a notebook of ideas on how to maximize excitement and increase viewership—”
I terminate the comm the moment I see the aliens. The words horrifying and grotesque come to mind.
“What a brilliant idea you’ve come up with Jahzara,” I say to myself. “Pathetic humans, freezing cold, and hungry aliens who look truly… monstrous. This is a recipe for provoking terror and printing credits . I think I’ll call it Down. To. Earth.”