Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
It seems to take forever for Simon to shuffle through and find what he is looking for. He has deeds and titles to many lands, worlds, and souls. He owns so much more than he has any real interest in owning. What I am asking for is nothing to him, and he gives it to me with a grinning smile, the papers that have kept my family in servitude in their very homeland. He hands them to me with a complete casualness, as if he were handing me a flyer. These are the documents that will free everybody I have ever loved.
“You have what you want, and I am sure you know the police are on their way. Go now. Take the roof. There’s a hovercar up there. Take it to the space port and go back to your home world. You’ll never hear from me again. You’re free. Leave me now, to finish what I started months ago.”
Simon has always known me as a person of honor. I have served him for many years. I have allowed him to exploit many starlets without question, and that is why he does not see what happens next coming. He does not know how important Lyric is. He does not understand her significance to me.
I tuck the deed into the back of my pants, and I unleash a torrent of flame at Simon Scowl, burning his mane from his face instantly. His scream is entirely satisfying, and it is only the first of oh so many screams I intend to draw from him.
Lyric
Zayne begins to break Simon. Bit by bit, he takes vengeance for me, for myself, for my wounds, for his family. It is a terrible, vicious, gruesome, animal sight. And it is justice. I am in so much pain, and I am so scared. I do not know what will happen next. I do not know that I will survive my wounds. But I do know that justice will be done, and that Zayne will do it for me.
“Step away from the lion!”
Police announce their presence in booming voices. And they are not in an understanding or even particularly curious mood. Their weapons are leveled at Zayne, and their fingers are just a hair away from squeezing the triggers.
Zayne steps away, leaving the remnants of Simon Scowl on the floor. Police rush in, cuffs out — and arrest Simon, or at least what is left of him. None of us expected that to happen, but Zayne is by my side now, afraid to touch me in case he worsens my wounds, but steadfastly there.
“Help me!” Simon protests weakly. “These brutal criminals are attacking me! I've been forced to defend myself.”
“Save it!” One of the officers points to the camera installed on every single courier vest, including the one Zayne has been wearing this entire time. “That’s been transmitting from here to the interstellar web since he came up here. We’ve seen it all,” the officer says. “And so has everybody else.”
“Oh shit,” I whisper as the ramifications of that revelation sink through my pain-addled mind.
“It is your turn to be hunted now, Simon. Your turn to be afraid of what is to come, and your turn to hide.”
I couldn’t have said it better than Zayne does as he gives Simon one last kick and finally comes to my side.
“I am so sorry,” Zayne says, cradling me ever so carefully. “I failed you.”
He’s not entirely wrong, but I don’t know what else he could have done. I was clear from the outset, I didn’t want this to be about me. I didn’t want to return to stardom. I just wanted something good to come from all the bad. I wanted his people to be free. And judging by the papers sticking out of his pocket, I think I’ve finally achieved something that actually matters for once.
“Should have known not to trust a courier to turn up on time,” I groan.
He makes a broken sound that is nothing like a laugh.
“Where’s the patient?”
I hear officious, caring voices. Medics are here. I am going to be put back together again. I don’t have to be brave anymore. I don’t have to be strong. I can let myself go. I can slip into blessed unconsciousness. And that is exactly what I do.
14
Lyric
I am standing on a volcanic plane with Zayne by my side. My wounds have healed, though some scars remain. I try not to dwell on the weeks it took to recover, even with the best surgeons and the most advanced regeneration techniques, what Scowl did to me was almost unsurvivable. And yet I have survived.
The air shimmers from heat, the landscape molten red and dark gray in turn, marked here and there with bright, shimmering purple, blue, and green iridescence from rocks and liquid flows. This is a world that shines through the rich steams of its still-settling tectonic plates. It is a place in flux. I sense danger here, but I sense something else too: freedom.