chants and cries echoing around the city, bouncing off the mountain, and she’d sit there for hours listening to them, wondering if it would be enough. They seemed to never stop.
One night, as she listened to the noise, she looked up at the sky and recognized constellations that she’d seen at Jaxor’s base. It made her miss him. Terribly. She pressed a hand to her stomach, knowing that it was already growing.
She would be a mother. Sometimes, she forgot that. Sometimes, she forgot that she was pregnant. Just that afternoon, she’d held Ollie in her arms while Kate ate and she’d been overwhelmed with the jolting knowledge that she’d have her own child in her arms soon. One that might have piercing blue eyes and dark horns, just like Ollie.
Jaxor took up most of her thoughts. For good reason.
And that night, as she listened to the Luxirians’ protests, as she sat out there alone on the Ambassador terrace, looking up at familiar constellations with a cool wind whipping through her hair…she found the clarity that she’d been desperately seeking.
She’d found a male who loved her, who wanted her safe and happy even if it meant giving up his own happiness, his own life. She’d found a male who had lied to her, who had made some admittedly bad decisions...but she had the choice to forgive him and move on. And isn’t that what she’d always done? Move on?
Except, she knew that she didn’t want to ‘move on’…unless Jaxor was right there beside her.
And when Erin realized that, she took in a deep breath, deciding right there and then that she forgave him. She decided right there and then that she wanted to start fresh. She wanted him. She chose him.
I’m sorry, Jaxor, she thought, biting her lip, feeling her throat begin to burn.
She was sorry that she’d been a coward, that she’d been too afraid to get hurt again. She was sorry that she’d been quick to believe everything Tavar had told her, that she hadn’t considered what Jaxor’s motivations had been. She was sorry that her mate still didn’t know that he would be a father. She was sorry that she’d kept silent when he told her he loved her.
Looking up at the night sky, she knew that if he was exiled, she would go with him. Wherever that might be. Though it was a frightening thought, to journey to a new planet when she’d just become comfortable on Luxiria, she would do anything for him…and for their family.
Because that was what they could be. That was what she wanted to be.
A family.
She just hoped it wasn’t too late for them.
The next morning, three days after Erin had spoken with Bruxilia at the Archives, two warriors from the command center appeared on their terrace.
“The Prime Leader and the elder council are requesting your presence at the command center,” one of them said, looking straight at Erin once he’d entered their dwelling.
Erin’s heart thudded in her throat. “Me?”
“Tev,” the warrior said, inclining his head. “Immediately.”
Has something happened? She wondered, rising to her feet, her breath quickening.
The other women watched her quietly. Lainey caught her hand as she passed, “Will you be all right?”
Erin squeezed her hand. “Yes. Don’t worry.”
Erin didn’t know whether she was shaking with anxiety or relief. It had been three days of endless waiting, all while counting down the minutes to Jaxor’s trial. Three days of not seeing him, not hearing his voice or feeling his touch, of not telling him all the things she wanted to. Would she be able to see him now if she was going to the command center?
She’d insist on it.
The two warriors boarded her onto a hovercraft and they flew off the terrace, heading in the direction of the command center. The pale blue dress she wore billowed with the wind. It was in the Luxirian style, light and airy and silky, flowing to her ankles.
A gasp escaped her when she saw the crowds…when she saw the sheer amount of Luxirians outside the main entrance of the command center. She’d heard the chants, had known that there was a large gathering, but nothing prepared her for the size of the protests.
It looked like over a thousand Luxirians were gathered there, spread across the black sand, billowing out from the entrance. When the hovercraft began the descend, cries went up into the air, angry words and chanting being hurled at them. There was a line of guards keeping the entrance to the