Epilogue, Eve
It’s been a year since I married the Sovereigns, but still, some people in the galaxy are surprised to see me working at the Celestial Spire, proudly wearing my liaison pin.
Sometimes, a guest will ask me where my collar is, or if I still eat kibble at the Sovereigns’ feet in private.
As if I should be forever frozen in time for my crimes.
But I guess for some people, just like the Sovereigns will always be Imperial, I will always be a criminal to them.
I have learned not to let those comments bother me.
Partly because, I still am very much a criminal. I’m just better at not getting caught these days. Terra Ka still calls. Not often. But when they do, I always answer. And Ambassador Tiro spends more time at the Spire than he ever did in the past.
I casually commit a crime every day. Sometimes multiple times a day. Always for the same purpose; to help humans who have found themselves in desperate circumstances in the galaxy.
I route messages. I mislabel cargo. I delay scans by seconds that save lives. I help names disappear from manifests before bodies are loaded into cages. I can’t free everyone, but I do what I can, when I can.
And sometimes, I go out of my way to make things happen. When I was a pet in the Obsidian Palace, Autumn helped me when she didn’t have to, and so I did the same for her.
When I returned to my position at the Spire, one of the first things I did was search for Autumn’s daughter, if she had had one, through her previous owner before Gai. It was heartbreaking when I discovered she had had a daughter and that child had been sold.
It took me months to find her. And when I did, it wasn’t easy to get her out.
She had been a pet her entire life. Thirty-five years old and never a day of freedom.
I created false audits. Traded a favor for another favor.
I lied to the right person with the right authority using my position at the Spire as leverage and then, in the end, Terra Ka had to move her the rest of the way, quietly through the galaxy.
When she arrived at the Celestial Spire, she didn’t know why I, another human, had bought her.
She thought she was going to be a human pet to me.
But I gave her a uniform and Dr. Veil reset a lot of her core memories, in an attempt to give her a good start here at the Spire.
I thought of it as a kind of rebirth, the same kind Gai had given me.
Maria has been working her for three months now.
She’s obedient, obviously, but also growing in her own way.
I have her working as my assistant, so I can always keep an eye on her.
And Autumn was right, she looks entirely human, even though she is half-Imperial.
And sometimes, out of the corner of my eye, I think it’s Autumn standing next to me instead of Maria.
I never told Maria why I hired her. That isn’t my truth to tell, and I won’t take that away from Autumn, if she ever wants to reveal herself to her daughter. Which I don’t know. It might be enough for Autumn to know that it happened and her daughter is safe now.
I sent the hire notification to Gai, in the hopes that he would mention it to Autumn, while he reads his correspondence at breakfast, which his custom.
I gave Maria the official name: Maria Autumn Liberty. I know it’s excessive. But I wanted Autumn to know. I wanted her to know that she imagined nothing. And that her daughter was safe now with me. Forever.
As for my former colleagues at Terra Sanctum, I sent Miranda and Sophie an email, that at first glance, would look like a regular internal memo:
RE: Ascendant Alliance Promotional Positions
Miranda.J@
Sophie.L@
I arrived safely. The work is exactly as described, but the promotions are permanent. If anyone ever asks whether it’s worth applying, tell them this: there is a world beyond Earth.
For better or worse, I have found my place here.
E
As for me, I never escaped the cage that Rafe and Lorian created for me. I just stopped waiting for it to open. And I learned how to move inside of it without letting it decide who I was, what I owed, or what I was willing to sacrifice.
This is my surrender.