"I thought you knew," Aru said. "Besides, I didn't believe that we would find them, so it was irrelevant. Also, we weren't sure that they were indeed half-gods. There were rumors, but it's not done on our home planet. The two species do not intermingle, and it's considered a taboo by both." He waved a hand at the stasis chamber. "Their survival confirmed that their father was a god."
Earth had witnessed its own share of strange taboos on interfaith and interracial marriages, so Jasmine wasn't shocked that two species that differed so much in appearance and longevity placed taboos on having hybrid offspring.
It suddenly occurred to her that the twins' paternal genes could have made them look more like gods than Kra-ell and therefore, more human.
After all, Aru and his teammates were gods and looked like the best version of humans.
"So, if the twins are not fully Kra-ell, do they look more like their father or mother?" she asked.
Aru shrugged. "Given their current state, it's hard to tell, but I guess they will have some traits from both parents."
Jasmine's brow furrowed in confusion, her head tilting to the side as she regarded Aru with a questioning gaze. "I don't understand. If there was such a strong taboo on intermixing, wouldn't that have been a problem for the queen if her kids looked like gods even a little bit?"
Aru sighed, his expression turning somber. "That's why their mother consecrated them to the priesthood from a very young age. They were always veiled from head to toe, their faces and bodies hidden from the public. Some speculated that they were deformed in some way and that their mother sought to hide their imperfections from the world. Others whispered that they were the product of an illicit affair, a forbidden union between the queen and a god during their years in the resistance when the queen was still just the heir apparent."
Jasmine felt sympathy for the twins, her heart aching at the thought of the prejudice and scorn they must have faced. "Were they in danger? What would have happened to them if anyone discovered that they were hybrids?" She had a good idea but was afraid to hear the answer.
Aru's jaw tightened. "If the Kra-ell had discovered that the twins were not purebloods, they would have been slaughtered without mercy along with their mother, the queen." He shook his head. "Not that they would have fared much better if they were discovered to be truly deformed. The Kra-ell are a cruel people in many ways, primitive and warlike. They have a long history of culling the weak and the imperfect from their ranks."
Jasmine felt a chill run down her spine at Aru's words, a sense of horror and revulsion washing over her. What kind of people would have done that to innocent children just because they were different?
"The current Kra-ell queen is trying to change things," Aru continued. "She's working to end the practice of killing off children deemed less than perfect. But the taboo against intermingling is still going strong. Both societies see the offspring of such unions as abominations, feared and reviled."
Jasmine swallowed hard, her throat tight with anger and sorrow. It was unfathomable to her that someone could be hated and persecuted simply for the circumstances of their birth.
It was no wonder that they had been sent away in a desperate bid for survival. Their mother had done everything she could to save them.
She must have been such an incredibly brave and foolish female. Why had she risked her life to have an affair with a god?
Had they been in love? Or had it been an act of rebellion?
"You said that the queen got pregnant with the twins when she was still a princess and that she met their father when they both took part in a rebellion. Who were they rebelling against and why?"
Aru smiled. "That's a long story. Let's save it for the flight back home."
54
EDGAR
Edgar adjusted his grip on the controls as the wind whipped at the helicopter. Scanning the horizon where the Himalayan peaks cut sharply into the gray sky, he took a moment to admire the landscape of jagged peaks and deep ravines.
Julian stayed behind in town to watch over the stasis chamber containing the princess, so Edgar made the journey back to the mountaintop alone, enjoying the solitude but not the disturbing thoughts swirling in his mind.
They had maneuvered the princess's stasis chamber into Julian and Ella's room, which meant that the prince was going to Edgar and Jasmine's, which did not make Edgar happy.
He didn't want to be stuck with the mummy in their room, especially since the prince wasn't really dead. Was he aware of anything happening around him while in stasis?
The only time Edgar had experienced losing consciousness had been during his induction ceremony at the age of thirteen, and he remembered being completely out. Then again, he had been unconscious only for a few minutes and not thousands of years.
Who knew if the twins' brains had remained intact after all that time? He didn't wish them ill, but if that happened, Jasmine wouldn't be interested in the prince, so Edgar wouldn't be too upset if that was the case. After all, it was a dog-eat-dog world, and he had already done his fair share of altruism.
Even the Fates couldn't hold his lack of compassion for the hybrid twins against him.
As the gusts of wind became even more violent, buffeting the aircraft, Edgar adjusted the cyclic and pedal, anticipating and counteracting the worst of their shifts and swirls and stabilizing the craft as he kept a steady course.
It was a challenge to land, and as he touched down on the rocky plateau, the rotors kicked up a cloud of dust and debris that, thanks to the wind, took flight.
He climbed out of the helicopter, his boots crunching on the loose gravel as he made his way over to where Aru and the others were waiting.