Page 42 of Lover from the Waves

“I’ve never once, not for a single second, regretted Hera. I’ve never once thought longingly about what…what might’ve been, because without her…none of it has any meaning. She is my purpose. My everything. I would gladly choose to face all the hardships we endured over the years again and again so long as it meant having her.

“And…whatever I lost in walking this path, she’s lost too—and more. She gave up everything she’s ever known for me.Everything. I don’t… I don’t deserve that. I’ve done my best to be worthy of her, but even if I get through this…there’s just not enough time left to earn her. But Iloveher, and I’ll take whatever she’s willing to give.”

With faint tremors running through his limbs, Luke lifted his head and sat forward, looking directly at the recording device. “I love my Hera. If anyone finds this someday… I want the whole universe to know it. I can’t claim to be a great man, and…and I’ve always wondered if I…”

Luke hung his head. His long hair fell in front of his face, but it wasn’t enough to fully hide the fresh tear drops spilling from his eyes. He took several slow, shaky breaths before he could speak again, his voice now softer, thinner. “Always wondered if I could’ve done more in Pontus Alpha to stop what happened. To…to save the kraken and make sure they never had reason to do what they did. I spent my time complaining to myself instead ofreallyhelping. Instead of pushing for change, instead of fighting against a system, a situation I knew was wrong. That makes me just as guilty, doesn’t it?”

He fell silent, tears still flowing, shoulders sagging. A deep ache clutched Ector’s chest. His memory traveled back over the last several years, returning to the bloody fight that had taken place in the Facility when a group of disgruntled kraken had attacked both the humans who’d taken residence there and the kraken who’d accepted those humans.

The ache in Ector’s chest was soon accompanied by a constricting feeling around all three of his hearts. He’d lost himself in contemplation over the events that had led to that terrible night more times than he could count, even knowing the futility of that contemplation. Nothing could change what had already happened. But the same questions that had haunted Luke centuries ago had plagued Ector for a long while now.

Could he have done more to prevent that conflict? Could he have handled everything better, could he have handled it differently? Could he have kept the peace and prevented the loss of life that had ultimately occurred?

He tipped his head aside and rested his cheek on Kathryn’s soft hair. When he drew in a deep breath, her scent—now colored by the flowery aroma of the soap she’d used to wash herself in the stream—filled his nostrils, calling him back to the present.

“But no matter what,” Luke continued, “no one can say I didn’t love her with all my heart and soul. No one can say I haven’t put my all into loving my Hera. Don’t forget that no matter how else you must judge me—as a coward, a traitor, a deserter—I was also a man who loved his woman as much as anyone can love. And even if I die in the next minute, my love for her will persist. It’s undying, it’s…forever. I love you, Hera, and that love is bigger than both of us. It’s bigger than the land and the sea, than the moon and the stars. Bigger than…than anything.”

The recording ended, allowing the sighing of wind and sea to return to Ector’s awareness—but they seemed distant and diminished now, more like hazy memories of a time long past than part of the here and now. The feel of Kathryn’s little fingers, so warm and gentle, dancing over the skin of his side was far more immediate, far more demanding of his attention. Luke had known lifelong love with Hera; Ector wanted the same with the female tucked against him. It didn’t matter if that meant another year or thirty more. He wanted Kathryn and nothing else.

He couldn’t be sure how long had passed when Kathryn finally spoke; it might have been seconds or hours. He knew only that he would’ve been content to sit with her in silent companionship until the sun rose.

“There’s one more,” she said, voice barely above a whisper.

Ector stared at that last symbol. Even if those letters and numbers held no real meaning for him, the icon they were attached to did—for better or worse, it meant the end. It was the end of Luke and Hera’s story, but it was also a reminder that Ector’s story would also come to an end someday. Everyone’s did eventually. He wasn’t fond of that understanding, not so soon after having Kathryn enter his life.

He lifted his gaze to the dark water ahead, which glistened with reflected light from the twin moons hanging over it.

You do not have me yet. You cannot.

Ector looked back at the screen, extended an arm, and touched the last symbol with the tip of a claw.

Once again, the hologram depicted the inside of the little home Luke and Hera had shared. The place was a bit darker, a bit dirtier; it was on its earliest step toward what it looked like today. Hera was alone now, squatted beside the table upon which the recording device must’ve been positioned.

Eyes downcast, she remained still but for her breathing, which was slow and steady but raspy. One of her hands was raised to her bare chest, and her fingers were absently tracing the petals of the wooden flower she wore around her neck. There were lines on her face—deep, clear lines earned over a long life. And even in the dim light, it was apparent that her once vibrant skin color had faded considerably.

“I do not know if this is working,” she finally said, flicking an uncertain glance at the recording device, “and…I do not know what to say. But this device…it holds my mate, and I wish to speak with him one final time. The sea may have claimed his body, but part of him remains here. I…I must believe that.” Her voice was weak, but retained a confidence, a decisiveness, that surmounted its frailty.

Hera raised her gaze and held it up, solid and unwavering despite how thin and frail she now looked compared to the earlier holograms. “My Luke, you are gone, and I have been alone for two years…but I see you everywhere, in everything. I know it is not real, that it is just in my mind. You are in my mind always. You are here”—she pressed a hand over her chest—“always.”

She lowered her hand and her gaze simultaneously, leaning her elbows on the edge of the table. “I still do not know who you were talking to when you used this device, if you even knew…but if they are listening, I want them to know about you. About my mate. My Luke.”

Ector noticed only then that she was toying with something between her fingers—the small shell that Luke had worn.

“You were brave, and you could be stubborn,” Hera said. “You were a warrior but not a hunter, a protector but not a provider—not at first. But whatever I needed from you, whatever role you had to fill, you dedicated yourself to it. You adapted and overcame your shortcomings. You always found a way. Yet none of that is why I love you. Your kindness is what drew me to you, my Luke. That kindness you showed to me and my people in a place otherwise flooded by cruelty.

“From the first time our eyes met to the very last, you looked at me as though there were no greater wonder in the world. I…do not think I have the words to explain how that made me feel. We were looked at by other humans as beasts, as tools to be exploited. You looked at me as a person. As a female. And even the faintest memory of the way you used to look at me is enough to fill me with heat and joy.”

Hera lifted her gaze again and smiled. The expression made her eyes sparkle with youthfulness at odds with how tired she appeared. “I am glad you captured yourself on this device, my mate, because it has allowed me to be near you again, to hear your voice, to know what your thoughts once were. These glimpses of you have given me strength to carry on.

“You survived your leg wound, my mate, though the battle you fought to do so was very, very hard, and it cost you much. Your leg was never the same…and neither was your health. You were ill through much of the next rainy season, but it was not until the next year that you finally lost your fight. I know you did not want to leave. But you, more than anyone, deserved rest.” Her nostrils flared with a heavy exhalation. She pressed her lips together and closed her hand around the shell. “If you can hear me, you need to know that I have never regretted any of it either. All I left behind wasnothingcompared to you.

“Even if I had to endure ten times the suffering, I would choose to endure it again and again to have you as my mate. I hope the burden of your guilt has been lifted, for you were never at fault. You only brought joy. You made me so, so happy.”

She twisted to the side and bent down slowly, wincing as she moved, to pluck up a familiar metal chest from the floor. “But…I am tired. I feel it in my bones. My time is near…and I will soon join you in the sea.” Hera placed the chest atop the table and opened the lid. She raised a piece of folded cloth first—no, not just a piece of cloth, but Luke’s uniform shirt, tattered and faded from years of use. She tucked the shirt into the chest. Its fabric billowed over the sides. Gently, she placed the shell in the chest.

“I do not know who may one day find this,” Hera said as she reached up and removed the carved flower from around her neck. “We have not seen anyone in all our time here. But I want it to be known in this world and any other hiding amongst the stars…”

She took in a shuddering breath and placed the wooden pendant and its twine string in the chest. “My mate was not a coward or a traitor. He was a man who resisted doing wrong even when it was demanded as his duty. He loved me with all his heart, and I still feel that love to this day, long after he had to leave me.”

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