Diana's POV
I actually have a good time, sharing fresh donuts with Orlai and Jitters while we walk around the Kor Hold, since I'm still high and bouncing around with the return of my daughter.
And one more precious fact.
The fear is gone.
Kor's love. Elion's love.
Krora, my imagination, my deepest fears were unrealised.
I relate this all to Orlai and Jitters, the whole story, letting them know every detail.
I'm beaming with happiness, so is Orlai, entranced by the idea of Alpha Centauri putting his own life at risk to save a puny Empress.
Until Jitters randomly adds, talking and chewing with a mouthful of a cream donut, "...unless it was deliberate..."
I pause in my pacing down one of the elaborate Kor Hold Halls, "What do you mean?"
"Like double crossing, is that the right term?" Jitters mulls it over, "Hmm. Oh, you're not smiling anymore, Diana... sorry, I was just thinking out loud."
"Look, it felt real to me," I grind this out, "The Estori could have created a singularity. He would not have done that deliberately."
"Honor would suggest he is helping you to term, last time you were pregnant by Mars, Alpha Centauri was your Guardian – so he acts as it now," Orlai's comforting words have the opposite effect of making me feel like he just did it out of true love.
"So he did it out of honour?" I groan.
"Well, we're just talking," Orlai tries to gentle the ideas, "You look exhausted, Diana... a bath, then sleep?"
I nod, feeling sick all of a sudden. I had many sleepless nights and only a brief nap on Neastron – while plagued by a nightmare. I had no idea which parts were real and fake.
Orlai and Jitters show me to a room with a narrow shallow pool, nothing too deep.
It's warm and bubbly, and I immediately undress and sink to my knees, kneeling in the water so it reaches my neck.
Orlai joins me. Jitters lounges on the side, laying on her back, checking out her tiara.
Orlai places her hands on my shoulders. She didn't have to start giving me a massage but I'm not complaining, I feel utterly wrecked at this point. From both relief, renewed doubt and the weight of infinite questions. The more answers I get, the more questions I have.
"What's the Dark like," I whisper it, knowing she can't answer but being too tired to censor my question.
"I can't say..."
"What's it like when you die?" I change my wording. Jitters looks a little queasy at my curiosity, "When the Estori turned you to dust. Your own mate? What did you feel?"
"I was angry... sad... part of me accepted it. If I could narrow it down to one word? Hopeless," Orlai trails off, "Like... he had given up hope – or hope had died between us."
"When did it die?" I ask, curious.
"A slow burn of hating each other – letting hate and fear win, until we both stopped fighting..." Orlai's hands are doing wonderful work, releasing the tension in my shoulders, considering the darkness of the topic.
"Do we have to talk about that?" Jitters asks, nervous, "I don't like thinking about it, let alone..."
"I'm sorry," I apologise, "You're right – let's talk of something other than the End."
"I don't want to die," Jitters whispers into the quiet, "I want to have fun – then one day, escape," I smile at that, Orlai too. We both glance at Jitters, who is now grinning at the ceiling, "Yeah – that's the plan, experience the best sex in the universe, then run like hell."
"You know they're the best hunters in the universe and can teleport?" Orlai reminds her.
"You escaped," Jitters smirks, "It's possible. Do you think Alpha Centauri is with us right now, Stealthing, listening in?"
"Most likely," I groan out.
"Alpha Centauri has a big dick," Orlai surprises me with her cheeky response as she unhands me and she looks over her shoulder, looking around the empty room. I look around with her, as Orlai continues, "But it's not as big... as his alter ego."
"Alpha Centauri is a giant smurf," Jitters snickers.
I cover my mouth with my hand as I try not to laugh, "Does this count as bullying – considering all his friends aren't here and he's all alone with three puny humans to guard?"
"I could just kill all three of you," Alpha Centauri appears at the pool's edge, at the soles of Jitter's feet and wriggling toes. He drops the spear in his hand, swings it at the centre and the tip of the screw tucks a stray hair off Jitter's cheek, behind her ear. I tilt my head at the precise movement.
Jitters has stopped breathing, "Fuck me," she breathes.
"You feel better, Estori?" I ask him, hopeful of that.
Alpha Centauri makes the spear disappear in a flurry of universal magic.
Jitters breathes easy but also quietly slips into the water, dress and all – to get away from him. She floats over to us, dragging her dress with her in her fingers.
"Do you?" Alpha Centauri slyly returns the question, and I can tell he's in no mood to play, he's both grumpy and short-tempered.
Even Orlai doesn't continue the joke from earlier. She just hides behind me, where Jitters has also promptly placed herself.
"I am honoured," I say, "For what you did."
"Did you achieve anything on Neastron?" Alpha Centauri has become suddenly aggressive, as he paces down the pool, glaring away, "Empress – what did they show you? The Enta?"
"I had a nightmare," I explain, "I was sleeping. I saw women in cages. Stuff like that."
"What else?" Alpha Centauri spins at the end of his pacing and catches my eye, "You owe me everything."
"I'll tell you – if you tell me what they really are, deal?" I ask.
Alpha Centauri pauses and now he looks mischievous, "Cinta's Weapons. Now you."
"They taught me how to fly," I snipe back.
"Thought so," Alpha Centauri suddenly takes a step into the shallow pool, the water up to his shins, "Anything else?"
"Velorum called the Entary a hopeless King – why?"
"Cinta seduced them, promised them everything. They were the first Kors she ever showed love too. A winged species. She broke their hearts," Alpha Centauri explains, "They make Empresses rise and fall. Now tell me the rest."
"I only saw one other thing of interest," I gulp as Alpha Centauri slowly closes the distance, while listening to my thoughts, "My greatest fear. An imagined woman – Krora. She told me Kor love isn't real but I am the best chase you ever had. That's basically all that happened. Aside from flying, after tasting their venom –"
"To which you would have made a demand," Alpha Centauri releases a rare full blown snarl – judging and disapproving of my action, "I thought you were a peace-making Empress, Diana?"
Jitters panics and heads for the pool's edge with his growing political aggression.
Orlai too.
I didn't expect to be abandoned.
I look around me as they both jump out, Stealthing as they scatter off in different directions.
To be fair – they weren't Empresses.
While I could take Kor wrath, they were more expendable.
I swing back to Alpha Centauri and he grasps my neck after closing the distance, now holding up my face, "Did you enjoy the power? Be honest."
"I did," the Estori lets my pulse go and I grab a hold of his wrist, suddenly feeling faint, "I wish you weren't so intense – I'm very much at my wit's end here. I need sleep –"
"You need venom," Alpha Centauri has bared all his teeth to lean down, to growl that in my ear.
He's not wrong. It would help immensely – and I needed it for the healthy growth of my daughter.
"Fine. Not too much," I place a hand on his rippling torso, while still holding his wrist as I tentatively expose my neck.
"Any time could be the last, my Dark Estoria," Alpha Centauri kisses my neck with his six fangs, dragging them back and forth.
The Estori sinks his fangs, flooding me with venom.
He burns with – ex –
Excitement?
Why?