The Alien Heiress

Chapter 16: The Return

During Titan's night cycle's darkest afternoon hours, Eddie sits comfortably within the breakfast nook. Coffee in hand, she converses casually with Cron, asking, "What about you? You never found anyone else after your wife's passing?"

"No," he answers. "Rhea and I were together for so many centuries... YEARS, I mean, that I just couldn't bring myself to look at another."

"You're nothing like my late husband," she admires. "Blane's motto was always, the more, the merrier."

"You didn't mind that sort of arrangement?"

"I was too high in those days to care," she admits honestly. "I was married to Blane for about three years, remembering only six months of that time. He wasn't a complex person, asking very little of me. The only thing he cared about, was being the center of attention, and in return, he showered all of us with money, clothes, drugs, anything we wanted. He was both fun and easy to live with, more so than my parents at the time. Looking back on it now, I think I liked the idea of getting one over on Vivian, far more than actually being in love with Blane. Sixteen years of staying clean and mostly sober, gives a person time to reflect on the terrible life choices made in one's youth."

"Yet you stuck around to look after Zyrina?"

"If I didn't, nobody else would have," she reminisces. "Not long after Blane died, there became serious talk within the group, of what to do next to keep the operation going. With many, eyeing Zyrina who wasn't even ten."

"Jesus!"

"I sobered up quick after that!" she bellows. "I offered to take Zyna's place, suggesting doubling our prices and market us as Blane's Personal Harem. It worked, netting Damien more money than ever before. This allowed us to stay in this house, giving Zyna time to become of legal age, and mentally prepare her for this life."

"A life that she didn't choose," Cron comments.

"She never had a choice. One night, while chasing the dragon, Blane made Damien, Zyrina's Legal Guardian."

"Wow," Cron shakes his head. "Poor kid."

"Yeah. But thanks to your son, that life is over."

"WHAT?!"

"Meaning," she clarifies her statement, "Had Jaxon not come along, and the situation not played out as it did, Zyna would still be in servitude to Damien's whims. We both would be."

"Yes, of course," he replies calmly, silently slowing the thump of his racing heart.

The doorbell rings.

Eddie looks up from her coffee. "That's not like Jaxon to forget his card key," she says, rising from the table to answer it.

Cron gets up to follow behind her.

Moving quickly through the Great Hall, Eddie answers her front door and sees Vivian Grayson Dimeter standing there. "Vivian?" she says in a surprised tone of voice. "What are you still doing here on Titan?"

"At the moment, I'm standing on the front step," she retorts, "May I come in?"

"Yes, of course," Eddie apologizes, welcoming her into the manor.

"I still have business to attend to, so I never left," she explains while walking across their threshold. "I'll be leaving soon and just wanted to drop by to see the kids."

"They're in the Arboretum," Eddie informs her. "Which is the only place they can go, without being hounded by the Press. Normally, you'd find them in Zyna's room, or in the Entertainment District, since old habits die hard."