Page 60 of What Makes an Alien a Dad?

Chapter 20

Maya

“You what?” I choked on the question.

Kear wrote Walter’s letters?

That wasn’t the truth I had expected. It made no sense.

“I didn’t just read those letters, Maya. For the past three and a half months, I wrote them all.”

Stunned, I could only utter, “Why?”

He raked his hands through the fur on his head, skimming around his star-sparkling horns.

“I found you crying over one of his letters—”

“So, you thought you could write better?” My voice rose with disbelief.

“But I did write better. Look at you. You’re smiling, laughing, thriving. You’re happy.”

“Happy to be lied to?”

The world was spinning in a slow circle. The night air seemed to thicken, like a dark whirlpool dragging me under.

The door to the auditorium opened and Jazir poked his head in.

“Professor, Governor Drustan would like to speak with you.”

Kear stabbed his fingers through his fur again, then gripped his horns with a growl. “Fuck the Governor.”

Jazir froze, blinking in astonishment.

“Go, Kear,” I said, biting my lip. “It sounds important.”

“Nothing is more important than this.” He gestured between us.

I struggled to breathe.

I thought I was falling in love with the man behind those letters. But it was all a lie. There was no man to fall in love with. Kear made him up.

Walter never heard from me and never responded. For all I knew, he’d been living a happy single life for months now or worse, dating someone else already.

“How long have you been doing this, you said? Three and a half months? Is that how long you’ve been making a fool out of me?”

He winced as if I’d slapped him.

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