CHAPTER 19
“Poor Ewenami,” I sighed with genuine compassion. “She traded the burden of secrecy for the burden of grief. And she didn’t even have the comfort of getting to stay alongside the man she loves. I’m amazed she holds herself together so well…You were right,” I added, an expression of true admiration on my face, “She is extraordinarily strong.”
“Yes, she is,” he quietly agreed. “I just hope that someday we can put our lives back together and give her the opportunity to enjoy true happiness. It will be hard for her to surrender the guilt of giving our parents so much grief over rejected suitors. Despite how it sounds, they were very caring and generous people…They only wanted the best for her.”
“I think she knows that,” I reassured him. “And I suspect they knew she wasn’t deliberately trying to hurt them. Some children just don’t react well to being controlled,” I smiled wryly. “A concept my father understands well, thanks to me.”
“Believe me, no one could ignore parental authority quite like Yours Truly,” Aeron smirked. “My sister was definitely not the problem child.”
“Yeah, sure,” I scoffed. “You’re the picture of respectability and moral character…You expect me to believe you were your parents’ worst nightmare? What was your criminal act of choice—drunken bar fights? Or maybe grand theft auto? Don’t tell me you sold the crown jewels to buy drugs…It’s so disappointingly cliché.”
“Okay, so apparently it wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” he laughed. His expression turned more serious as he clarified, “I just led my father to believe, quite convincingly, that I would give up my claim to the throne.”
“Yikes,” I cringed. “I gather that wouldn’t have gone over well?”
“Not in the least,” he shook his head slowly with a guilty smile.
“Did you mean it? Or were you just bucking authority?” I certainly understood the occasional compulsion to make stupid decisions just for the sake of proving your independence.
“Oh…It depended on the moment.” He stared at the floor as he pondered the question. “Obviously I ultimately came to a different decision.” He looked up with a half-hearted smile.
“Was it the right decision?” My question was sincere.
“I haven’t exactly done everything perfectly, but I’d like to think I’m helping my people…” He seemed to think I was questioning his ability to fill the shoes.
“I know it was the right decision for Onontí,” I dismissed his self-doubt. “I’m asking if it was the right decision for you.” I raised my eyebrows slightly as I eyed him thoughtfully.
“The truth?…” he asked apprehensively.
“Of course,” I nodded in encouragement.
“I don’t know yet,” he sighed, his face slowly settling into a warm smile. “But I’ll let you know when I do.”
Having long since finished our meal, we stood to clean off the table and headed back toward the lab. As we walked down the hall, Aeron asked me thoughtfully, “Do you feel like you’ve made the right decision, Palta?” He could tell from my puzzled expression that I had no idea what he meant. “Choosing to be alone…” he added. “Your sister seems to be very happy with Dominick, and it’s clear from the way she looks at you that she wishes you had a similar companion.” He was impressively adept at reading people…Maybe he had a touch of his sister’s gift after all.
“Oh…I don’t know,” I sighed and bit my lip nervously. I thought for a moment and decided to be as honest as possible. “I’d give anything to love someone the way Sabela loves Dominick.” I studied a spot on the floor ahead of me. “But I’m not interested in just any random man…He would have to be the right man.” I involuntarily looked up to meet his eyes right as that last part came out of my mouth.
Aeron slowed his pace and reached up to gently take hold of my elbow, pulling me softly to a stop. “There’s something I need to make clear to you, Palta,” he began seriously.
As a look of mortification crossed my face, I stammered that I wasn’t implying that he was the man in question. “Just let me speak, Palta.” His gentle voice urged me to keep calm as he made a pacifying gesture with his free hand.
Unable to find any words, I simply nodded in understanding, exquisitely aware that his hand was still tenderly grasping my elbow.
“I owe you another apology…” he began, “for last night.”
“Don’t apologize,” I reacted quickly, looking off to the side. In my humiliation, I couldn’t bring myself to meet his gaze. “You suffered a lapse in judgment…It happens.”
“I don’t regret kissing you, Palta…” He reached his free hand up, gently turning my face toward him. His sorrowful eyes locked on mine as he explained, “What I regret is the reality that your life was much less chaotic before I arrived. I don’t want to drag you into my mess any more than you already have been.”
“Any mess I’ve been pulled into is not of your making, Aeron,” I softly asserted. “You didn’t choose to bring the war to my doorstep. And you had no obligation to consume so much effort to stop it. I know I reprimanded you last night, but the fact of the matter is—Earth didn’t have to become your responsibility…You could have easily taken off long before now.”
“You really think I could do that?” His troubled eyes studied mine for a moment.
I gave no response, entranced by the intensity of his gaze. He spoke again, his voice almost a whisper as his thumb stroked my cheek softly. “I’m beginning to think I could never leave…not as long as you remain here.”
My heart stuttered in my chest as I wrinkled my forehead in utter disbelief. He cleared his throat, his voice gentle as he continued, “All my life I dreamed of traveling to Earth. My father never could understand my fascination…and I couldn’t explain it. It was like a compulsion—this strange sense that something was waiting here for me.” He glanced off to the side, examining his own thoughts. “Upon hearing your father’s story, I came to the assumption it was him. Everyone was convinced he was long dead, but somehow I suspected differently. It was so surreal to finally find him last night. I was greatly relieved to know he was still alive…and that I wasn’t imagining things. But I knew when we spoke that he wasn’t the source of that magnetic pull.”
He fixed his eyes back on mine, his expression hesitant. “The answer came when I kissed you…I felt for the first time in my life that nothing else was pulling me away from that moment.” He slowly moved his hand from my elbow to my cheek, cradling my face gently in the palms of his hands. “It took all my strength to push myself away from you,” he added softly.
“Then why did you?” My voice was barely a whisper, as I remembered my devastation when he’d broken away from me last night.
“It took me years to accept that I belong to Onontí,” he replied solemnly. “I never wanted to belong to anyone—I craved independence. Yet the moment I kissed you, suddenly the oppressive weight of duty and obligation to the throne vanished. My own independence became insignificant. It was as though I belonged to you…and I was strangely at ease with that fact.”
His intense eyes turned apologetic as he remembered the abrupt conclusion to last night’s kiss. “In the moment, my thoughts and feelings were so confused that I took them to mean you would keep me from fulfilling my responsibilities—not intentionally, but through my own careless distraction.”
He took a slow breath, stroking gently along my cheek as he continued, “I have since come to realize that your presence in my life is a source of strength. It brings me a sense of peace about my purpose as a leader. You calm that restless need for freedom…In your company, I am comfortable being the man I’m supposed to be.”
I closed my eyes, my head spinning as I took a slow breath in, soaking up the warmth of his hands on my face. I finally exhaled, opening my eyes to meet his, as he anxiously searched my face. I slowly reached my right hand up to rest on his chest, feeling his heartbeat—the same drum
that had brought me such comfort the night he almost breathed his last. Only today it was drumming faster, with the urgency of his anxiety to hear my true feelings.
“Aeron…” I hesitated, trying to find the right words. A sheepish smile crossed my face as I confessed, “I think we both know the power you have over me…”
The corner of his mouth turned up in a guilty smile.
With a deep breath, I continued earnestly, “I would follow you anywhere you ask…All I ask in return is that you promise never to run from me again.” My eyes were pleading as I confided, “I withstood a lifetime of loneliness when I had no alternative. But now that I know you…I can’t go back to that isolation again.”
His heart sped faster as he nodded slowly but fervently. “I promise,” he whispered, “I will never leave your side.”
In the quiet stillness of the empty hallway, I could hear his steady breathing mixed with my own heartbeat thundering in my ears. We stood frozen in that moment, neither of us daring to move. Then slowly—almost imperceptibly—he began inching his face closer to mine, still tenderly grasping the sides of my face.
As his lips barely grazed mine, I matched the pace of my breath to his. The hair rose up on the back of my neck, sending a tingle down my spine, as he pressed his lips softly to mine. This kiss was much different from the night before—there was no feverish impulsivity. He moved slowly and deliberately, savoring the taste of my lips again and again.
The fingers of my right hand gripped his shirt tightly as I rested my left hand at his waist. He slid his hands slowly down to my neck, leaving his thumbs to gently tilt my chin up to face him, as he continued kissing me tenderly. It seemed like hours passed in that moment. The universe around us faded into the background, taking with it our worries of the past, present, and future.
The perfect serenity was broken when the unexpected sound of footsteps appeared at the end of the corridor.