Chapter 11

Lorelai

A s it turned out, it was not that simple. While my stomach tied itself in knots that disallowed me to eat any of the food the flight attendant served—along with a hearty dish of cold stares for me—we waited to be connected to the spokesperson of the Asterion Council. Ellax—I'd decided since we were, apparently, legally married, despite neither of us having any true memories of it, that I should start calling him by his name—put in the call but was told the signal was spotty, likely due to our passing through the asteroid belt. And the spokesperson was busy. We received an encrypted text message, which passed easier than a video call, confirming that our request had been received, and the spokesperson would call as soon as she was available.

From then on, there was nothing to do except wait. Ellax appeared completely unbothered. He sat down at the dining table that had almost magically popped out of the floor, uncovered the trays, and commenced a hearty breakfast. I paced and chewed on nothing except my fingernails. I'd figured I was doing okay handling my anxiety. After all, I wasn't crying, screaming, throwing a fit, or even badgering the Overlord. In fact, I was pretty proud of myself for letting him enjoy his breakfast in peace. I supposed he didn't see it that way, for he broke the silence with,

"That is a vile habit. One you must break."

I spun on my heel, dropping my hand from my mouth. "What?"

"I said that is a vile habit," he repeated, gesturing towards my hands with his fork. "Do you know what diseases can be trapped beneath fingernails? At any rate, you are too old to be chewing your nails, like an adolescent."

The criticism hit me like a ton of bricks. The fact that my nerves were already strung to the breaking point didn't help anything. I spun and paced to the window, bracing myself with a forearm against the glass, breathing deep to stop the tears. In my head, all I heard was Charlie.

Lose some weight, Lorelai.

Have you considered dieting?

It's really annoying when you nag me all the time.

You treat me like a child.

Why don't you wear makeup every day?

Your clothes could use a refresher. Something younger.

Never mind. That's too young. You should dress your age.

And on and on and on it had went.

Little had I known, the more complaints Charlie had, the more women he was sleeping with.

This wasn't the same situation, but the words hit me with nearly the same impact. Beating me down. Wearing me down with the same message— You're not good enough .

Clearly, the Overlord didn't realize what he'd done. Or, if he did, he didn't care. While I struggled to bring myself under control, he continued his breakfast. I could hear the occasional scrape of his fork over the porcelain plate, and the sounds of thick mug as he raised and lowered it.

I don't know what he thought I was doing by the window, but he finally pushed back his chair, rose, and walked over to me.

"You should eat," he suggested. "Fasting will do nothing to alter our situation."

Mute, I shook my head. If I hadn't been hungry before, I certainly wasn't now.

"Very well," he said. "It is your choice if you wish to make yourself ill over this. It is nothing to be upset over. The Council's spokesperson will reach out to me shortly with the news that they will be contacting Captain Osiris, telling him to void the marriage in his record books. All will be handled promptly."

"Wait, our wedding was entered into the captain's record books?" I spun, aghast. "You didn't mention that earlier!"

Ellax gazed out at the stars, holding his mug of coffee, a drink aliens had found they enjoyed, and shrugged carelessly. "All of the captain's major interactions are entered by his scribe into the ship's record books, which are automatically sent to a central command on Asterion. It is a method of keeping our captains and ships accountable."

"So, there's no way of saying it didn't happen? The captain can't look the other way or keep it between the three of us? This is real, then?"

The alien's golden eyes shifted to me, a frown creasing his dark silver skin. "Of course not. Why would you deem that a possibility?"

I sighed heavily. I'd hoped, best case scenario, the Asterion Council would respond with a message like, since only the captain and the two of us knew about it, it was no big deal and they'd ignore it like it never happened. Or annul it like it never happened. I'd had no idea our wedding had apparently been witnessed by the captain's scribe, or had already been entered into official record books, and had now been seen by who-knew-how-many folks on Asterion! A calamitous feeling settled over me. Turning, I sagged my body weight against the window.

"We're not getting out of this, are we?" I moaned. "We're doomed."

Ellax snorted. "Ridiculous. Why are humans so given to despair?"

I wanted to smack him, but didn't dare hit him with anything more than a dark glare. Which he totally ignored.

"I will say it one more time. When the message from the Council's spokesperson arrives, it will contain the best directives for tidying this mess."

"You better hope it does," I affirmed. "If it doesn't—"

I trailed off. Not like I had anything to threaten him with. Luckily, a knock at the door filled in the silence of my dangling sentence. Ellax went to answer, casting me a triumphant glance along the way.

"Doubtless, this is the message we hoped to receive," he said.

He was so confident, so assured. I wanted to take comfort in that. I also wanted to stick my tongue out at him behind his back. I did neither. Instead, my hand found its way to my mouth, and my thumbnail received a few nibbles until he closed the door and turned around, at which point I hastily dropped my hand so I wouldn't risk being reprimanded again.

"Here we are," he said. "A missive from the captain himself." He unfolded it. Before reading, he paused to glance out the window. "I assume we must be past the asteroid belt if he has taken the trouble to write this himself."

Inwardly, I was screaming with impatience. Did this Overlord really not care? Did he really not care that we were legally married, that it had been reported in the captain's log and sent on to Asterion, and something had to be done? Did he really not care that the captain had taken the time and trouble to send us a handwritten note? Didn't that mean bad news? Why else would the captain have gone to all that effort?

Unless it's good news , I consoled myself in the brief few seconds that Ellax's eyes dropped to the page and he began to read. It could be good news. Please let it be good news.

"By the divine stars!"

The soft exclamation, which I took to be an Asterion curse, ripped me in half. I practically felt the blood drain from my face as the Asterion lord's golden eyes lifted from the page.

"Forgive me, Lorelai," he said, his voice taught.

I knew. Deep within, all of my worst fears had instantly come true. I knew.

We were indeed doomed.