Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
“I don’t know, Korrath,” she said slowly. “I don’t want to be so far from my daughter. She’ll be married soon. I’m hoping she’ll have babies—and I want to be there for them. To be a grandmother.”
“I will go to Earth for you,” he promised fiercely, his arm tightening around her. “Anywhere you want to be, I will follow. You are my fate.”
His words pierced her, both thrilling and terrifying. And then—almost casually—he added,
“It’s the reason I called your daughter to the General Draft. I knew you would come with her, and I couldn’t get you to come to me otherwise.”
Miranda froze. She pulled away from him, off of him. Then she twisted to face the big Monstrum, her eyes wide.
“Wait. What did you just say? You called Hanna on purpose to get to me?”
Korrath nodded.
“Of course. It was the only way to reach you. You were not in the Draft but your daughter was.”
Her heart stuttered painfully.
“Did you know how busy we were? How much stress you caused her? We were preparing for her wedding, Korrath! Her wedding! And you—you said you saw me in your dreams. So you must have known.”
“I did,” he admitted quietly.
Her throat closed around a lump of fury and hurt.
“Do you have any idea how upset Hanna was? How terrified she was when she thought she’d been called as a Monstrum bride? And all along, it was never about her—it was about me. Why didn’t you just call me?”
His eyes softened, but his voice was unflinching.
“If I had called you, would you have answered? I think not. And I had no legal standing to summon you. Your name wasn’t in the Draft.”
“That’s because I’m too old for the Draft!”
Suddenly, everything felt like too much. She’d been living in a fairytale for the past twenty-four hours, but fairytales didn’t last. It was time to get back to reality—which didn’t include a seven-foot-tall Monstrum Warrior. She felt tears stinging her eyes, and she didn’t even try to hold back.
“I’m too old for the Draft and I’m too old for you!”
The silence between them was sharp and awful. Korrath reached for her, but Miranda flinched away.
“Our day and night are over,” she said thickly. “I need to get home and help my daughter get ready for her wedding.”
Korrath inclined his head slowly.
“All right. I’ll take you back.”
“No,” she said sharply, her chest aching. “Find someone else to bring me home. I think we’re done here.”
His expression crumpled, but he nodded.
“As you wish.”
27
MIRANDA
Miranda took a quick shower and got dressed as quickly as possible. She chose one of the dresses the Spider Monstrum had made for her and pulled it on, packing the rest in their tiny garment bag in her purse. Before she knew it, Korrath was leading her silently back to the Docking Bay where rows of golden Monstrum ships stood waiting.
Her heart was aching as a massive Monstrum with the horns and bulk of a bull—a Taurus Monstrum, she thought hazily—prepared to take her back to Earth. Korrath stood a few paces away, his face shadowed.
“I care for you deeply, Miranda,” he said at last, his voice hoarse. “I hope you’ll forgive me in time.”
She clenched her fists and looked away. Her time with the big Monstrum had been a beautiful dream, but that dream was over now—broken by reality. And she couldn’t forgive him for giving Hanna so much unnecessary stress right before her wedding.
A wave of guilt swamped her—god, the wedding! She ought to be down there right now. She should have been there all along, supporting her daughter through this stressful time—not up here orbiting Mars and getting her fantasies fulfilled by a huge, anthropomorphic panther-man!
“I have to go,” she said tightly, barely looking at Korrath. “Please don’t try to contact me.”
And then she turned away from him, climbing onto the shuttle, forcing herself not to look back.
It was over…forever. And she wasn’t going to let herself cry about it.
28
KORRATH
Korrath stood in the Docking Bay, his fists clenched at his sides, watching the shuttle rise from the platform. The Taurus Monstrum sat at the controls, broad shoulders hunched with concentration as the small craft lifted towards the atmosphere shield in the ceiling. A moment later, the shuttle cleared the shield and shot into the blackness of space—carrying Miranda away from him.
His chest ached as though someone had driven a blade straight through it. He had faced battles…wounds…even death before as a warrior, but nothing had ever hollowed him out like this.
I should have waited. I shouldn’t have called her when I knew her daughter was in the middle of such a seminal life event.
The thought circled endlessly in his mind, a carrion bird picking his bones clean. He should have waited for another Draft…another chance. But General Drafts only came once a year. The moment had been too perfect—the Dream Sharing too vivid…too undeniable.