“It’s been hours since I left.”
“At least a full day.” Tyler nodded. “His resolve seems sincere.”
“St. Cloud has never done anything with less,” Exton retorted. “That’s why he’s Osgood’s right-hand man.”
“He’s threatening more missiles if he doesn’t get Aerie back. I think he really does love her.”
“If he’s threatening war against the whole Perdition, he’s going to end up killing her, Tyler. It seems like an empty threat.”
“He’s not talking about war with us, exactly. He said the next target is going to be Petra.”
“What?” Shock slammed into him. “How does he even know about Aunt Patty’s settlement?”
“I was hoping that you would go and ask him that yourself,” Tyler admitted. “Emery sent for me to find you immediately.”
“I should have just killed them all,” Exton said. “I should have just destroyed them back at the beginning.”
“You know why we didn’t, and why we couldn’t—and why we still can’t. The Ark and the Biovid are still not complete.”
“I know,” Exton exclaimed. “I know. I thought we would be able to outlast them, to run away and start over. I know it’s not possible now. Not if he knows about Petra.”
“But if St. Cloud really does love Aerie, he’ll keep his word after we—”
“I don’t care if he loves her.”
“I’m also guessing you don’t know how he can,” Tyler snapped.
Exton’s anger disappeared as confusion replaced it.
Tyler’s voice softened. “You don’t know the length a father will go to protect his child.”
“My father—”
“Even a child who hasn’t been born yet.”
Exton finally stopped and stared at his friend.
Tyler met his gaze steadily. “Emery’s pregnant.”
Exton looked away. A rush of emotion, happiness and joy for his friend and sister, tackled him, conflicting with the grievances in his heart.
He was going to be an uncle.
He attempted a smile. “You guys sure didn’t waste any time, did you?”
Tyler smiled back. “We’ve wasted a lot of time already, Exton.”
“What do you mean by that? You both came up here with me of your own choice.”
“I’m not talking about that, Exton. I’ve known you for nearly eight years. It took me a long time to admit to myself I loved Emery, and that things would settle down and then I could tell her.”
“You just started dating last year.”
“So? I’ve known her long enough to know she’s the one person who I want to be by my side the rest of my life.” He grinned sheepishly. “And it took her some convincing, too, of course.”
“To fall in love with you?”
“No. To love me more than she feared the future.” Tyler shrugged. “I know what it is to be afraid. I know what it is like to wonder if loving someone is worth the risk of losing your life.
“But it’s too painful to wonder.” Tyler came up beside him. “And I see the same thing going on with you. It’s too painful for you not to see Aerie.”
“What do you mean?” Exton asked.
“If she’s causing you pain, it’s because she gives you so much pleasure. Go and talk with her. I know she cares for you.”
“She said she loved me.” The words barely sounded out of his mouth.
“Then give her the chance to live up to it. Denying her now is just denying your own heart.”
“Tyler,” Exton said. He gripped his friend’s arm. “What if I use her against the URS? Or the general?”
“The URS doesn’t hold the same value on families that we do,” Tyler reminded him. “I don’t think you could find a way to use her against them. And you wouldn’t anyway, if you love her back, because her pain would be your pain.”
“What about her father?”
“Is there anything a father dreads more than having their daughter fall in love with the enemy? She’s already a pawn. You might as well make her your queen.”
Exton was surprised to hear himself laugh, bitter and hopeful all at once. “Chess is for a civilized fight,” he said.
“Well, it’ your move,” Tyler said.
“I don’t know what to do. I can’t trust her.”
“Trust is not inherently given,” Tyler reminded him. “It is something that must be earned.”
“That’s not very helpful.”
Tyler gave him a contrite look. “I’m running out of ideas, because I need you to come with me to the Bridge.”
“Come on then,” Exton said, gripping his friend’s shoulder in comradery. “I don’t want to make Emery upset. Especially if she’s pregnant now.”
Tyler laughed. “We just found out a few days ago. We were going to say something at the Harvest.”
“We’ll plan a celebration later,” Exton promised. “No niece or nephew of mine is going to be neglected because of a little thing like war.”
♦26♦
“I want her back.”
“Well, it is nice to see you again, too, St. Cloud,” Exton muttered disdainfully. He’d barely managed to get into the room before the screen was lit up with St. Cloud’s stern face.
“You did find her, though, didn’t you?” St. Cloud asked. “Aeris is there with you?”
“Having doubts about my abilities, are you?” Exton knew he was only human, so it was only right that he indulged in making the older man squirm in anger. Especially if St. Cloud was going to be forced to cooperate with him.
“She is my youngest daughter,” the general said. “I need to have her back.”
Exton sighed. “Yes, she’s here. What would you do for her?”
“There’s going to be a price on this?” St. Cloud frowned. “I would have thought that the Ecclesia would be against that.”
“They probably are, but you’re dealing with me, not them,” Exton replied, grimacing as he thought about his conversation with Dennis. Reverend Thorne might be willing to act as a messenger, on the bright side.
“If you require a price,” St. Cloud finally remarked, “I would trade myself for her. If that is what you want.”
Exton sighed. “No, I mean, what would the URS do for her? Will she be safe if I return her?”
“I am not acting under Osgood’s orders by reaching out to you,” St. Cloud reminded him.
“Yes, I know.”
“I am not saying this lightly, Exton.” St. Cloud’s brow furrowed. “This is treason for me. But I want my daughter back. I have her placed under medical leave here; no one but me knows the truth.”
“No one knows that she’s been missing at all?” Exton was surprised. “It must be nice to have the military clearance to do that.”
“Aerie is my youngest daughter.”
“Daughter?” Exton repeated.
“Some might call her a charge,” St. Cloud amended.
But he did not correct himself in the use of the term, Exton noted. Inwardly, he groaned. Was it possible Tyler was right about him?
He cleared his throat. “You willingly called her your daughter. Do you love her then? Even more than the State?”
“Of course I do. That is treason, too, as you well know.”
Exton felt hate boil up inside of him. “I know. I loved my father.”
The general said nothing, only closing his eyes. Whether in sorrow, submission, or new understanding, Exton couldn’t say.
“I hear you’re threatening to bomb Petra if we don’t give her back to you,” Exton said. “Is that true?”
“I will do what it takes to get her back. Even bombing the last sustainable remnant of your resistance movement and the last giant hub of the Ecclesia.” He glared at Exton through the screen. “It would be a shame if you lost the rest of your family and your father’s hopes.”
Exton tried to ignore his baiting. “How do you even know about Petra?”
“I know about Petra. Osgood doe
s not. Yet.”
Exton was taken aback by that admission. “Will you tell him right before you order the air strikes against us?” he asked.
“He doesn’t need to know,” St. Cloud said, “unless there is a need to bomb them.”
“Such as the failure to return Aerie to you.”
“Yes.”
Time to go back to the situation at hand. “What would the URS do to her if she was returned?” Exton asked. “It might surprise you to know—or maybe it won’t—that she has many friends up here, and many people who have befriended her, freely, and without compulsion.”
“That’s Aerie.” St. Cloud snorted. “She wanted to go into the military, but she has no mindset for it.”
Exton agreed, but said nothing. “You seem to have a similar weakness at the moment.”
A frown appeared on St. Cloud’s face. “Just tell me what you want, and I’ll give it to you. Anything for her, anything at all.” He ducked his head down. “She’s the last of her mother that I have with me.”
St. Cloud knew who he was, he knew about Petra, and he was committing treason against the URS to get his daughter back. Exton knew he would need time to analyze everything.
“I’ll have to think about it,” Exton said. “And I have to ask her, too, of course.”
“Fine. Can I see her?”
Exton turned away. “We’ll make arrangements soon. How long is this line secure?”
“This line will be secure for another day, before the URS technical moderators recognize that I’ve had it altered.”
“I’ll talk with you again before the end of tomorrow, then.” Exton paused. “And you should know, as her father, Aerie is up here with us. She’s actually enjoying her time here, from what I’ve heard from others who are working with her.”
“She’s happy? And safe?”
“For the moment.”
And isn’t that the truth of it?
St. Cloud nodded. “Thank you.”
Exton narrowed his gaze as he looked at the older man on the screen. Relief barely touched on his features, but he’d never known St. Cloud to let his emotions interfere with his judgments.
It was, Exton recalled, one of the things he had trouble with himself. St. Cloud had called it weakness before.
He probably would say the same thing now, except he is the one benefiting from it.
“If you really love her,” Exton asked before he turned off the screen, “would you be willing to let her go?”
The general sighed. “It’s complicated,” he said. “She has a duty to the State here. While I am willing to negotiate her release, I need her back before they realize her records have been falsified. She will be branded a traitor. And then there will be no mercy for her.”
“Well,” Exton said after a moment of thought, “you would be the one to know the extent of the URS’s mercy.”
At the sight of St. Cloud’s stricken expression, Exton signed off, too overwhelmed to continue sparring.
Exton breathed in deeply, trying to steady himself. He was getting tired, he noticed. He needed rest.
Probably a whole week of rest. Or two weeks.
He turned around and headed out, immediately coming face-to-face with Emery’s blue-green eyes.
“Well?” she asked. “What did he say?”
“He said he’d rather not blow up Petra, for one,” Exton assured her. “And two, he wants Aerie back.”
“You didn’t send her back.”
He knew from her tone she disapproved, even if she understood. “No.” He sighed. “I locked her in my room.”
“You don’t want to send her away.”
“What I want doesn’t matter,” he insisted.
“That’s a lie,” Emery argued. “You can’t keep lying to yourself, Exton.”
“I’m not lying to myself,” he insisted. “I know, for example, that Aerie lied to us—all of us—about who she is. I know that I can’t trust her.”
“I know you’re tempted to.”
Exton flinched, feeling the sting of her words. “More tempted than I’ve ever been in my life,” Exton agreed quietly. “But I can’t risk Petra. Not even for her.”
“I understand,” Emery said, putting her hand on his shoulder. “But I also know that sending her back is the last thing you want to do.”
He shrugged.
“Because you love her.”
“Of course I do,” Exton snapped. “But it’s not enough. It’s not enough to save people, Emery. It’s not enough to help us now, here, right in this place.”
“We need to find another way.”
“There is no other way.” He glanced around. “St. Cloud said she’s been put on medical leave, under his orders. All she needs to do is to get back there, and she can resume her life. It’ll be easy for her. She has her boyfriend or whatever waiting for her, and her father, and her whole life.”
“She loves you.”
“Then she’ll make it easier for us to get rid of her.”
“St. Cloud knows about Petra. We could still be in danger.”
“I’m not using her as a political card,” Exton snapped.
Emery gave him a warm smile. “No, you wouldn’t do that, would you? You never even thought of it.”
“Oh, I’ve thought of it,” he assured her. “But I’m not going to do it just because it would feel good.”
“Not paying for your pleasures?” Emery asked, and the small, half-hesitant note in her voice irritated him.
“Not this time,” Exton snarled, before he walked away. He stopped and then added, “By the way, congratulations on the baby. I’m happy for you.”
Emery came up beside him. “Thank you,” she said, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him from behind. “I love you, Exton. You’ve always been a good brother to me.”
“No, I haven’t.” He patted her hand. “But I’ll try hard to be a better one.”
“Then give Aerie a chance,” Emery said. “She told me the truth, you know. Before you found out. We were on our way up to see you when … ”
“I don’t care,” he lied.
“Go and see her.”
“I might hurt her,” he said softly.
“No more than she’s hurting now, I’ll bet.”
Exton shrugged. “I can think of worse ways to suffer.”
“Do you want me to go with you?” Emery teased. “Hold your hand, like Mom used to when we were scared?”
He frowned at her, which only made her smile grow.
“Keep it up and I’ll convince the medics to put you on medical leave,” he warned.
Emery giggled as he headed out of the Command Bridge.
♦♦♦♦
She was asleep.
Exton had been reluctant to believe it at first, but after hearing her quiet breathing, he was sure of it. Just as sure as he was that he wasn’t dreaming or disoriented, even if the clean room gave him pause when he first walked in.
Especially when he didn’t trip over anything.
The small lamp by his bedside was on, casting a small light on her as she slept, curled up on his neatly made bed.
He couldn’t stop the smile when he saw his old copy of The Hobbit open and partially peeking out from under a pillow. Her uniform jacket covered her upper body, while her boots hung over the bed.
Exton sat down at his desk, trying to relax in his chair. He watched her, his eyes never leaving her face.
We have time. Not much, but we have some time.
He walked over to the closet and pulled a spare blanket out from the top shelf. He spread it over her, tucking her feet under the cover. After a moment of consideration, he decided to leave the light on.
And then he carefully, so as not to disturb her, slid down and lay next to her. He closed his eyes and allowed sleep to settle into him, figuring that if she tried to kill him the door was locked, and he would choose death at her hands over life without love.
Sleep seemed to only last for a moment, before th
e waking world called to him again.
“Exton.”
“What?” he muttered, his voice heavy with sleep while his eyes were still closed. He curled into the warmth beside him and tried to block out the light.
“I love you.”
Exton stilled. Aerie.
Long, silent moments passed as he gradually realized she was lying against him, her body pressed into his, her face buried in his shoulder.
As he woke up, he realized his arm was wrapped around her protectively, possessively.
He remembered the day in the Captain’s Lounge, where he told her, foolishly and naively, that she was his.
“Do you mean it?” Exton murmured down into her hair.
“Yes, I do.”
He jolted at her response. He hadn’t been expecting an answer.
“I’ll make a deal with you,” Aerie whispered. “I’ll love you if you love me.”
Her voice was playful and hopeful, and it was all too easy to agree to that.
But he knew better.
He sighed and moved away from her, sitting up in the bed. Exton opened his eyes and blinked, allowing the rest of the room to come into focus.
“What? What is it?” Aerie asked. The hope had disappeared from her voice. “Did I say something wrong?”
“I’m the one who usually sets the terms for the deals,” Exton said.
“That’s not enough of a reason to say no,” Aerie objected.
“Love isn’t like that, Aerie. Real love does not use conditions and stipulations. Relationships do, but not love.”
“Why did you come back here at all then?” She sat up on her knees. “You could have just left me alone here to rot away in your room.”
“I thought about it.” He smirked. “It would have been easier.”
He regretted his teasing when he saw the shimmer of tears in her eyes. “But your father wants you back. He’s threatened to destroy Petra if we don’t take you back down to him.”
“Petra?”
“My aunt’s settlement, in the Antarctic zone.” Exton stood up and straightened out his uniform. “He’s not even supposed to know about it. No one does, outside the Ecclesia, really.”
“Maybe someone told him.”
“Yes,” Exton looked at her pointedly. “Maybe someone did.”