Marco nodded, voice choked. "It will keep you safe."
"Marco . . ." She tugged at the straps. "Marco, help me."
It broke his heart to see her confused, struggling in her bonds, here in this small white chamber. A prisoner.
"Do you remember what happened?" he said.
She looked at him, confusion on her face, then nodded. A tear ran down her cheek. "I remember. I'm scared, Marco. Is it still inside me?"
He nodded, unable to stop his own tears. He held her hand tightly. "We're going to fix this. We're going to heal you. Once we reach the frontier, they have the best doctors in the cosmos. They'll get it out of you, whatever is inside. They'll heal you, Lailani."
She closed her eyes. "I cannot be healed. It's who I am, Marco. I was so stupid. So stupid." She wept. "I'm a monster."
"No." He shook his head and stroked her hair. "No, Lailani."
"I hurt you. I killed Elvis." She trembled. "I'm so ashamed. I'm so scared."
"They made you do it," Marco said. "The scum."
"The scum fathered me," Lailani whispered, and she opened her eyes again, eyes flooding with tears. "Help me, Marco. Help me, please. Take it out of me. I can hear it inside me even now."
There was just enough room for Marco to lie on the bed beside her. He lay on his side, caressing her cheek, gazing into her eyes.
"Do you remember that time Elvis smuggled all those packets of jam out of the mess in basic, and they burst open during our crawl under the barbed wire, and Singh thought Elvis had shredded himself half to death?"
Lailani nodded. "I remember."
"Do you remember how Addy and I found the vending machine, how we feasted that night? My God. Addy must have eaten half the machine, but you only had a few bites."
"I was full," Lailani said. "And too slow."
"But nothing beats that meal the old lady in Greece cooked us. Remember? We sneaked into her yard to pee, during that rescue drill, and instead of kicking us out, she fed us peppers stuffed with rice, tomatoes, and beef."
Finally a faint smile touched Lailani's lips. "That was a good day. That was my best day. The best day in my life."
"Better than Sundays at Fort Djemila, when we just lay in our tent all day, holding each other, naked, while the others played soccer outside?"
And now her smile turned into a grin that showed her teeth. "Okay, those were even better."
Marco slung an arm across her, and he kissed her cheek. "We'll have more good days together. Because that's who we are. Those two people in that tent. Those two people who ate stuffed peppers. That's us. That's who we'll always be."
Let us never know loss again, Marco added silently. Let us never forget who we are.
Lailani nodded and leaned her head against him. He lay beside her, holding her, as the stars streamed outside. The Miyari flew on through space, leaving their nightmare far behind, heading toward the frontier.
The story continues in Earth Rising (Earthrise, Book 3).
Click here to read the next book in the series:
DanielArenson.com/EarthRising
AFTERWORD
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Daniel
NOVELS BY DANIEL ARENSON
THE MOTH SAGA
Moth
Empires of Moth
Secrets of Moth
Daughter of Moth
Shadows of Moth
Legacy of Moth
REQUIEM
Dawn of Dragons Requiem's Song
Requiem's Hope
Requiem's Prayer
The Complete Trilogy
Song of Dragons Blood of Requiem
Tears of Requiem
Light of Requiem
The Complete Trilogy
Dragonlore A Dawn of Dragonfire
A Day of Dragon Blood
A Night of Dragon Wings
The Complete Trilogy
The Dragon War A Legacy of Light
A Birthright of Blood
A Memory of Fire
The Complete Trilogy
Requiem for Dragons Dragons Lost
Dragons Reborn
Dragons Rising
The Complete Trilogy
Flame of Requiem Forged in Dragonfire
Crown of Dragonfire
Pillars of Dragonfire
The Complete Trilogy
ALIEN HUNTERS
Alien Hunters
Alien Sky
Alien Shadows
EARTHRISE
Earth Alone
Earth Lost
Earth Rising
OTHER WORLDS
Eye of the Wizard
Wand of the Witch
Firefly Island
The Gods of Dream
Flaming Dove
KEEP IN TOUCH
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Twitter.com/DanielArenson
Earth Lost (Earthrise Book 2) Page 23