by P. S. Power
Letting his voice go low, Gerent ignored the man, and the King, and looked directly at Pet, turning toward her. Then he let his eyes go downward.
"I... Hired five men. We took him to a remote location, and then forced him to go over everything he did to you. Then, for the same amount of time, the men... did that to him." He nodded a bit, then glanced at Count Ward. "Everything. When that was done, earlier today, I killed him with my own hand and buried him, then sealed the grave with focus stone, and left it otherwise unmarked."
A warm hand touched his, as Petra clasped it, pulling him toward her a little bit. She didn't explain, or look too upset by what he'd just said. She understood it however. Everyone there did.
After a moment Count Ward stormed out, along with his wife, who glanced at Petra and him before they went. It was a worried look.
The King glanced at the broad back of the man leaving, and went blank. His face nearly a thing of stone, it was so unmoving.
"We can only hope that our efforts were enough to save innocent lives. Thank you all for coming. I hope the next time we meet, it will be under better circumstances."
There was a soft murmur from the room, but no one swore loyalty or dropped to a knee to beg forgiveness for what they'd done before. It wasn't until everyone else left that the King waved to him, indicating that he should stay. Petra certainly didn't move. It was either the plan or she was going to insist that the King send her away if it was about something else. He didn't, just taking the Queen's hand, reflecting what they were doing.
"I'm very sorry. I should have seen to that situation myself, but other matters pressed on me. I do hope that this won't impact your coming wedding negatively? It was a dark chapter, but it has lifted some now, I think. I hope."
Then, as if it made total sense, and he hadn't just spent weeks helping to torture a man, and having him raped over and again, a packet of letters and contracts came out, from various nobles to people in Harmony. Tiera, Tor, Tim and Patty, Karen and Smythe. The bulk of them were actually for Sam Builder, however, the Ancient of Noram, which was good to see. He just took them as if it were perfectly normal to do so.
"I should have these there tomorrow. Right now..." At that moment he didn't know what else to do, but smiling, he looked at Petra, who seemed somber and like she was thinking deep things that he probably didn't want to know about. "For now, I think that I should spend some time with the people I love."
That earned a little hand squeeze at least. When they left, a few minutes later, the dark skinned woman next to him didn't speak. He could have worried over it, but figured that it was probably just a sign that she was going to break things off. It wasn't until they flew back to the space craft that she looked at him directly, and leaned in for a kiss.
"You love me? I knew it! My natural charm, wining the day, again." She over emphasized the words, playfully, but he nodded. He kind of did love her, didn't he? It was a real enough thing.
"Well, it really did, so I can't take that one away from you. The good looks didn't hurt, but it was mainly that other thing. Your charm. So, are we still getting married?" Love or not, that was something that might be going away, only it was clear it wasn't.
"You bet we are. I was thinking, we need to get a house. Where should we put the first one?"
He had an answer for that, and packed away the Tim-craft after they climbed out. It was dark outside, but the space ship glowed a faint blue color, making it easy to see, in the new landing area outside of the city.
"I was thinking that we should try Harmony first. We could start our own little city, if you want, to make room for others that will want to move there. Then, I don't know, but County Ward seems like a good place. As long as the weather doesn't get too bad. I'm getting worried about that. These storms and floods..."
She looked at the craft and moved toward it at a quick walk.
"Tell me about it. The Ancients are dead and still we're suffering from what they did. Millions have died and more are going to, even with all that's being done. Harmony, that sounds nice though. Let's do that. In fact, we can go and see to that right now. There's only two weeks until the wedding."
Gerent kissed her on the cheek, and held her hand as they climbed up the ramp to the ship. Then, a few minutes later, they took off, going straight up into the sky.
Looking down he realized something. No matter how much damage had been done, or how hard life was, looking at Earth from space, from far enough away, it was still lovely. A blue and white ball of clouds and ocean, with just a few hints of land here and there. Even the massive spinning storms were beautiful, in their own way. Deadly too though.
For the moment however, he needed to get to his own planet. His new home. Because he was the Envoy, and that meant making sure that the messages got where they needed to.
Thinking that, he touched the bottom plate on the arm rest and jumped, doing most of the work in an instant. Then, holding Petra's hand, they finished the journey, side by side.
Together.
Would you like to know when the next P.S. Power book is coming out? Or find out the secrets that go into creating all the fascinating and wondrous lands that come out of his head?
You can! Just go to pspowerbooks.com and enjoy!