just remained as we were, you and I, no forcing of young ones upon your poor, sweet body, Sink Lar!”
Synclare stood there, realizing she’d misunderstood his words. “I thought you meant we should have remained friends,” she said.
“Never! Do you truly think I could live one day without you at my side? Without knowing you were waiting for me to return to our home? To know that above all else in life, you value me?” Lo'San asked incredulously.
“But… you lied to me about the treatments, you didn’t tell me it should have worked the first time I accepted the treatment.”
“I knew how much it meant to you. And I kept thinking each time would be the answer to your prayers for a young one. But I cannot watch you suffer any longer. I need you, Sink Lar. Only you. Come home with me,” Lo'San begged.
“This letter,” she said. “You wrote this letter. And it says you don’t want me. It says that I poisoned my body and cannot give you children through my own actions! Only you and a few others know of my past! And the credit band, it’s loaded with your credits… Only you could have done that!”
“My mother did all of this. I do not know how she learned of your past. But it matters not! Your past has nothing to do with us or our future. We all have pasts, my Sink Lar. You know I never cared about any behaviors you took part in before me. It is no different than you disregarding my behaviors before you. Ph’eel found our letters to one another. They scanned them into her tablet, and had letters created for both of us. My mother’s plan was for me to believe the letter I received from you, and for you to die from too much medication, but failing that, if you woke, to believe that I’d written the words in that letter. Those are not my words!”
“She wanted me dead?!” Synclare said, shocked.
“She’d instructed Ko'San to give you two more doses before leaving you here. Ko'San confessed all of it. She wanted me broken, returning to her and joining Ph’eel’s household to take my rightful place in their society once more.”
“Here,” Rokai said, walking up to the guards who still stood before Synclare. “Move!” he barked out.
When neither of Synclare’s guards moved, Rokai simply inserted himself between them, daring them to lay hands on him. “This is the letter they created for Lo'San,” he said, pushing and shoving his way to reach out toward her while her guards attempted to shove him back.
“It’s alright, let him through,” Synclare said, reaching out for the letter Rokai offered her.
Synclare opened the letter and began to read. When she was done she raised her eyes from the page and looked up at Lo'San. “Why? What did I do that was so horrible?” she asked.
“Nothing, Sink Lar. Which is exactly why Ko'San didn’t do what they told him to. He didn’t carry out their intentions to end your life, and was filled with such guilt over their treatment of you that he sought me out to tell me of what they’d done. Ko'San left you here, not me. I will never live one moment without you by my side, Sink Lar. You promised forever, and forever is all I will accept — not a moment less, my mate. Please, Sink Lar, please, look at me. Remember our vows, remember how we love, do not allow them to win.”
Synclare reached into her pocket and withdrew the letter she’d been reading over and over again. She stepped from between her guards and walked slowly past Rokai toward Lo'San.
Lo'San watched her approach, wanting nothing more than to snatch her up and run for his cruiser, but he knew she had to choose to come back with him.
Synclare held out the letter to him, waiting for him to take it and read it for himself.
Lo'San took it from her and unfolded it, reading the words printed there in what appeared to be his version of the English letters. “It even looks like my handwriting,” he said. As he finished the letter he let it fall to the floor. “Not a word of this is true. I want you, Sink Lar. I’ve only ever wanted you. Please…” he said.
Synclare stood just in front of him, and a tear slid down her face. “It hurt so much to think I’d failed you, that I wasn’t enough.”