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I squeezed her hand back and looked at her.
“Don’t lie to him,” I said. “You’re innocent in all this.”
“I knew exactly what I was doing!” Harper snapped.
Didn’t she realize she was condemning herself to death talking this way? Didn’t she understand she wasn’t making the situation any better for herself? And that there might still be a way for her to escape from here alive?
“She doesn’t know what she’s saying,” I said. “I admit she got under my skin. The way to end it and keep me on your guard is to send her far from here, somewhere I could never find her. I will never betray you again. I’ve served as a reliable member of your honor guard my entire life. Grant me this and I will be yours for the rest of my life.”
Krial pursed his lips, considering it. It was possible he would engage in such an idea. He was a puppet master and enjoyed adding more strings. It would amuse him to see me struggle to come to terms with a situation of my own making.
Instead of giving me his answer, he turned to the little bundle in his arms.
The baby.
Our baby.
It lay quite happily in the curves of his large hands, a bottle of milk pressed to his lips. At least, I hoped it was milk. I wouldn’t put it past him to fill the baby’s bottle with poison. Krial needed for the baby to die so he could sever the link.
The baby suckled on it contentedly. Already some of the color of his flesh had returned while Krial had turned a little wrinkled and haggard. He still possessed the majority of the baby’s youth but less than he had just a few short hours ago.
“I sometimes wonder what the children would have become if I let them live,” Krial said. “Hundreds of aliens running around and doing their own thing. Most would have been forgotten. But there might have been one or two that might have actually done something with their lives. Of course, we’ll never know for sure. Greatness takes time. Far more than a single lifetime in most cases. They unknowingly sacrificed their lives so I might live a great one.”
Then he turned to face me.
“You were meant to protect me,” he said. “Instead, you shamed me. You pursued your own selfish desires. You owe your very existence to me.”
“You’re right,” I said, prostrating myself before him. “I am a worthless maggot, undeserving of your kindness. But please, release the girl. She means nothing. Take her far from here, to somewhere she will never return from. Back to her homeworld. They are a backward species and they still have not stepped into the cosmos. I will be your faithful servant for all time.”
Krial stood and approached me. His toes were shriveled with long yellow nails. I didn’t hesitate to kiss them.
“Do you know how I discovered your treachery?” Krial said. “It was the child. We share the bond, a deep link that only the gods understand. My species studied it for centuries and we never unlocked its mysterious secrets. The same as the link that connects two lovers. Another link we do not fully understand. I suspect we never will.
“I knew the baby had not yet perished. And its link, though faint, was not as faint as it ought to have been if it’d been dashed against the rocks below. The others told me they saw you drop the child, and yet, here it is. Still in one piece. How can this be so? And when I discovered the child tucked away inside the shuttlecraft, all became clear.
“The child you dropped into the precipice was not the child at all. It was a reflection of the child. It is your child and there is the possibility it inherited the same ability of all Miragians. To create reflections of itself. You drew out its reflection and dropped it into the precipice. The real child never left your arms.”
I wet my lips with my tongue. He was right. No link with Krial had survived much more than a few minutes after he’d absorbed its youth. I had no idea if Krial could sense the baby was still alive out there or not. I had no choice and had to take the chance.
Krial stood over me, clutching the child close to his chest, and peered down with his black eyes. There wasn’t a hint of compassion in them.
“Here’s what I’m going to do,” he said. “The child will be destroyed and I will draw what life remains from the girl. You will watch what your disloyalty has brought upon your loved ones. You will learn. And if I am in a merciful mood, I might allow you to continue serving me. If not, I will chain you up and force you to live every day alongside me, into infinity. I will reverse-Reave you and keep you alive so you might remember and be a reminder to your brothers and sisters. You will remember this day, and all the others you betrayed me and weep.”
He turned on his heel and carried the baby back to the chair.
I rose to my knees.
“Master!” I begged. “Please don’t do this! I beg you! Please! Punish me. Not the girl. Not the baby. Punish me. I deserve it.”
Krial fell into his chair and hugged the baby closer.
“I have made my decision,” he said, turning his head away and waving his hand.
Tus stood over me.
“You should have used the black pill,” he said softly. “I warned you.”
I reached out a hand for Harper. Her eyes were swollen with fear and her lips quivered. I held her tight and felt that ball of pulsing golden light in the center of my chest.
