Page 52 of The Alien I Fell in Love with on Walpurgis Night

Lia doesn’t answer me. I know she knows but is refusing to tell me. “Don’t you have any feelings?”

“Axl, Mother has a good match set up for you. It’s clear you are finally ready to marry after all of these years. Why do you want to marry a human?”

“Why don’t you think she is good enough for me, but Aru is? Would you really rather spend your meals with Aru than Georgiana?”

“No, honestly I wouldn’t, but I think you’d come to resent Madame Georgiana and she you. She ran from the High Priestess. She won’t accept her position in the Empire as a human. She’s too clever to be content here.”

“You like her too.”

“I never said I didn’t like her. If she were an Alliance woman things would be different, but she’s human. I don’t make the rules in the galaxy or in Alliance society. I would hate to see her suffer and House Zu suffer because of her. You need to accept that this was doomed from the start.”

“She’s one of the Lost People.”

“Who, as I told you before, should remain Lost. It’s too late for them to return.”

“When is she scheduled to leave the Capital City? You know I can ask other people but I’d rather get the information from my sister.”

“You’ll find a good wife in another marriage to an Alliance woman.”

I walk out which is preferable to saying something in anger to Lia.

I leave House Zu and head to the military barracks. It’s rare that the admiral of the fleet is on planet but as luck would have it, he is here today. I don’t know him personally, but I know he has a secret human wife, a secret that everyone knows, but isn’t documented anywhere.

I take the House Zu transport to the barracks. After using my ID as a pass, I’m allowed into the officers’ area and then to the imperial officers’ area. Once there, I look around for the admiral. It would be ideal to meet him casually rather than arranging an official appointment. I find a place in a quiet corner and make it look like I’m researching my next mission.

After about three hours, the admiral walks in with his first officer. I’ve never met either man but I know them by reputation and no doubt vice versa. I put away my IC and approach them.

I bow. “The goddesses shine their light on us,” I say. “I was hoping to meet you here, Admiral.”

“Axl of House Zu,” the admiral replies, “What could I possibly offer such a man as yourself?”

The admiral is not imperial by birth, but by rank. “I have an issue that only the most powerful man in the Empire can help me with.”

“Ah,” he says. “Let me guess, your relationship with the Empress has finally turned sour?”

“Yes.”

“That’s the most dangerous part of your job I suspect, working with the Empress. I suppose this has to do with the human woman you were seen with while disembarking from the Hio?”

“Yes.”

“I had heard she’s a guest of the Empress in the palace. But what advice could I give you? Forget about her.”

“Admiral, please,” I say. I don’t want to publicly talk about his wife so I add, “She knows nothing of the Empire and is all alone.”

“Send your sister.”

“I have. The Empress is sending Madame Georgiana back to Earth.”

He searches my face. He’s too slick to ask who she is to me. Like him, this isn’t something I want made public. “If I help you, you must help me in return. Otherwise we both know the Empress will make sure you never see that human woman again.”

“I’m listening.”

The admiral gets out his IC and sends me a few classified documents. They are for men’s eyes only and are genetically coded. “Look over those, if you are willing to take on the extra work, I’ll make sure that certain ships are waylaid for spot checks and specific passengers shifted.”

“I’ll look over the files and give you an answer by the Watching.”

“Walk in the goddesses’ light Commander Axl and remember the god of war has not abandoned us.”

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