Page 79 of The Alien I Fell in Love with on Walpurgis Night

“We actually were when we exchanged the marriage bracelets and then had sex on the Lio,” I admit to her.

“But you said…You let me go. Everyone on this base let me go.”

“I wasn’t going to force you to live in a place you hated and the Alliance Force reviewed our unique situation. They wanted to give you a choice. They wanted the goddesses to guide us.”

“It was more than me not liking the Empire, it was dangerous, Axl, the Empress had me imprisoned.”

“And there was that.”

“Is she going to try to kill me now that we’re married?”

“No. I have equal leverage against her now.”

“The sex?”

“Yes.”

“But why did you do that?”

“It was her price and as it turns out she can no longer extort me. But I didn’t enjoy it. I felt dirty for weeks afterwards. I couldn’t even watch our holos because I didn’t want to taint them.”

“I’m sorry. But?”

“But then the Empress wanted me again and I refused. I told myself that I’d rather live with the memory of our holos than be with the Empress ever again, no matter what the cost to my career. You see she saw me as her pet now that I’m officially over 50 and no longer able to marry.”

“But what about our marriage. You just said it was legal.”

“And it was, but no one knew what happened between us on the Lio except that crew and Alliance Force. There is some honor among men in the galaxy.”

“How could you let me go? You must have known.”

“How could I not? It’s what you wanted. It broke my heart into a million pieces to let you go.” Now that we are alone, I don’t reign in my emotions. “I missed you every second we’ve been apart. I went over our last conversation in my mind a thousand times, wondering if I could have done anything differently to have convinced you to stay.”

She caresses my cheek. “I’m sorry for doubting you. I’m trying to make sense of all of this.”

“There’s no point to try and find sense in this. Emotions can’t be completely articulated and perhaps this was our fate all along. If you had stayed in the Empire, you would have been unhappy. If we would have moved to Reima Two, I would have been unhappy. But it took you leaving me to accept this position here. It took me being punished and stepping down from my prominent position for Alliance Force to accept me and see our relationship as authentic. This is how the goddesses intended our lives to be.”

Georgiana puts her hands in my hair and urges me to kiss her. Then she says, “Do you think seven children are also a part of our fate?”

“Seven sacred children,” I say. “I don’t see why not. Everything else about our fictional relationship has proved true. I adore you. And I break my own cultural norms by telling you I love you all the time because it frees me. You have freed me.”

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