“Lower me,” Ellis commanded, handing the child she held to another woman and laid her blanket aside. “Hold on to my ankles.”
“No, Ellis,” Dorian protested.
“I’m the only one small enough to fit through.”
“Ellis, Logan will kill me if I allow you to risk yourself.”
“It’s not dangerous,” she argued. “I’ll be fine.”
His tail swayed in indecision.
“I’m the Empress. Now, do it!” She laid down and wiggled through the hole before he could argue further.
Dorian grabbed one of her ankles and another man took the other and they slowly lowered Ellis toward the terrified woman.
Ellis’s hair hung around her face, blinding her.
She gathered it the best she could and tied it in a knot behind her neck, stuffing the tail of it down the back of her tunic.
She stretched out her arms… almost there. &ldq
One of the walls of the temple was still standing with part of the second floor jutting out, making a crude shelter under which Micheal had set up his hospital, though it had long since expanded far beyond the temple grounds. They found him there, ragged and stained with blood as he passed from bed to bed, offering what comfort he could until they could be seen by a doctor.He glanced up and saw Ellis and Dorian. “Empress!” Micheal said as if talking to himself. “Good.”“I brought more people to help,” Ellis offered, gesturing at her group.“Good,” he repeated. He wore the same dazed look most of the survivors had. For a moment, Ellis was in despair. She was in need of his guidance, but it seemed that she was on her own.He moved to the next bed, checked the pulse of the person lying on it. “This one is dead,” he said dispassionately.Ellis winced at the lack of emotion in his voice. She k
“Ellis?” She heard it. The voice she longed to hear. She spun and there he was, a bit worse for wear but alive and safe.“Logan!” She threw herself into his arms and he scooped her up to shower kisses on her face.He murmured her name, his face ducked in her neck, nuzzling and purring. His tail wrapped around her leg.She burst into tears as she squeezed him and kissed him. The baby in her arms squawked in protest when he was squished against Logan’s chest.Logan looked at the infant and his eyes widened in distress. “Ellis, this is not our baby.”Ellis laughed through her tears. “I know. Ours are with Laurel. I found this one and I can’t put him down because he cries every time I try.”He gave her a smile..Communication was slow and tentative because the grid was still down and runners had to be sent with messages, but there were no other reports of attacks on other
“We should put a tracker on you and a tag to your clothes that informs people where to return you in case you get lost.”Ellis smacked his shoulder lightly.“You are easy to track, Micheal commented. “Look.” He pointed towards several flat stones that bote bloody footprints.”Logan shuddered.“What is it?” Ellis asked.“God, it must have been horrible…” he said.“Don’t think about it. I’m fine. All of us are fine. Let’s focus on that.”“Found them!” Micheal called. As Logan drew closer, Ellis confirmed that these were indeed the parents. Micheal rolled the bodies over and paused.Logan nearly dropped Ellis. “What is it?” she asked frantically.“It’s Sean… Micheal’s youngest son.” Logan said. “But what is he doing here? And when did he get a mate?”Miche
They were taken to a minister’s home in the neighboring city. He and his mate had not been found, so Ellis felt uncomfortable using their house without permission. The Council wanted them to leave Zothea entirely, but this was as far as Logan and Ellis were willing to go. They could not leave their people in their time of need.Laurel was on her way back from the space station, and Leo and Dorian were headed to the second planet. Ellis wanted to wait for both of them, but Logan insisted they needed some rest.Ellis was certain she wouldn't be able to sleep, even as exhausted as she was because she was too wired, too anxious, too nervous. She agreed to it only because she knew Logan needed it. She decided she'd just lay there quietly with him. It would be warm and peaceful, at least, and give her time to think.They chose a small nest in one of the guest bedrooms. Logan laid Ellis amongst the pillows and she was out before Logan even had even settled down b
Ellis considered. “It is a little better, but his children were part of the rebellion and one of his sons died during the attack. I would suggest we get somebody completely uninvolved with the situation.” But she knew Logan wasn’t going to go that far.“I trust Micheal’s judgment.”Ellis took a deep breath. “How about we appoint him as the person with most power and have other, unrelated people weigh in on the judgment.”He thought about it for a second. “I agree,” he said finally.They went to the destroyed capital together. The hospital already looked much better. Huge tents had been erected and all of the wounded were on cots with thick blankets to keep them warm. The size of the crowd was more manageable now that more help had arrived and many of the injured had been moved out to other locations once they'd been stabilized.They found Micheal sitting by a bed, taking dictation from a p
The trial was held in the only large area in the vicinity large enough to house the crowd that had begun to gather the night before to ensure themselves a seat.Ellis had been feeling awful since waking up and finding out people had come to see rebels being punished. The thought made her stomach churn with disgust.“You look like shit,” Laurel whispered.“Thanks,” Ellis responded sourly, pulling on the most formal clothes she could find. Ellis’s tunic was too big, but at least they were warm and clean. She could ask for nothing else at that point.The tunic Ellis donned was dark brown, made out of a soft, velvety material. It was beautiful, but the dark color accentuated Ellis's pallor. She should have worn the pink, but it had seemed too lighthearted a color for attending a potentially deadly trial.Before they left, Logan tried to coax Ellis to eat. He brought her a light soup from the kitchens to sip and Ellis manag
They failed at both. The audience roared again, this time in anger. There were voices shouting things like “kill them!”They wanted blood. They wanted someone to pay for the attacks, all the deaths, and all the suffering.“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Micheal asked.Cecilia pleaded, repeating the same excuses she had before. She had an air of desperation as if she could delay the inevitable as long as she could keep talking.Micheal cut her off with an invitation for Abe to speak. He refused, remaining silent and still. Ellis had to give him credit. He was facing his fate with dignity, making no excuses, not begging or pleasing like his mate was.“I will discuss with the jurors now,” Micheal announced.It took fifteen minutes of deliberation before Micheal and the jurors returned.“We find you guilty of High Treason,” Micheal said and the crowd screamed its approval. &ldquo
As they were leaving, they had been approached by a small contingent of Koln groups, carrying a small stone block between them. It had been carved, they explained, by a Koln who had once belonged to a stonemason, and on it, he had inscribed the names of the soldiers who had been killed in the attack. He had left a blank space in the center for more names to be added in the future, and from the tone in which they explained this, they seemed to expect that the names it would bear would be their own, but they seemed oddly proud of that fact.“I have an idea for what should go in the center,” Ellis said.If Mitch had thought that attacking the Koln shelter and training camp would deter any others from joining, he had been grossly wrong. Kolns from all over the galaxy were pouring in and there were a few protests from Zothean citizens, but their help was sorely needed. Zothea got a close-up look at what the Kolns were capable of and it shattered the stereotype t