A WAR AMONGST THE STARS

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

SERENA'S POV

We come upon the entry way to where the door to his royal quarters once stood.

Zurhen stops in the middle of the hall, right before the heavy, fallen steel door that lay upon the ground.

He takes note of it, then turns, gazing upon the wide-open, charred hole that now peeps through to another room, across from ours.

The sullen giant reaches a finger out and swipes it across the white ash that surrounds the perimeter of the blast.

Slowly, he turns back around, raises that dusty finger, holding it at the height of his face. He stares, blankly. "You did this?" he asks. I nod. "Use your words," he reminds, his tone deep, yet void of emotion.

"Yes," I answer. "Well, no."

"Well, which is it?"

"When she takes full control—I tend to black out during the transition, slowly wakening just after growing conscious within. I don't remember blasting my way out of here. It was The Star. She blew the door off," I blame, not that I am incapable of doing such an act.

He nods, gazing at the opening in the wall. "That was my sister, Morvlyn's room," he says. "I did not trust my two brothers to keep an eye on her while my family and I traveled off planet, so I kept her close. Right across my room."

"You have a sister and two brothers?" I ask, my voice rising in joy at the chance to possibly meet them one day.

He looks to me, his expression lifeless, his eyes filled with an abundance of torment, and his heart... guilt. So much guilt, I feel as if it were my own.

"Had. Had a sister and two twin brothers," he admits.

"No," I gasp. My chest constricts, my breathing halts. A surge of emotions strikes me, all nearly stunning me in place.

As my eyes blur from the heavy tears that threaten to fall, I choke back the unbearable urge to cry out for the both of us. He lost them. He too, lost his siblings just as I have. How unfair. How...fuckingunfair.

Now panting, my fists clench, my jaw tightening in an angry glare, not at him but with life. How many lives must be lost? Too many. Why? Why must it be like this? Why him? No, not him. Anyone but him.

I gather my composure, attempting to suppress the negative emotions.

Zurhen gazes down at the door then wipes his dirty finger against his dry, blood-stained pants.

Lost deep in thought, his mind goes off, wandering down some dark, depressing hole. "She was beautiful. She looked just like my mother. I miss them. I miss them all," he cracks, his voice holding onto every, last bit of strength he owns, before it broke during that last line.

Me too. I miss mine too.

Gone is the strong, resilient, mighty king I have grown to know, and now stands a lonely, mourning, fragile being whose heart still bleeds, and his soul—I blink, seeing it through the eyes of my star.

What was once a radiant, bright blue, is now a washed out, faint, pulsing hue hidden behind the wall of light that if I had not given him—the aura of his soul would have greyed or worse... darkened just as mine had done long ago, yet his still shines. It's weak, but at least it's lit.

Bless his heart, my sweet, giant alien still clutches on to whatever keeps him from losing his sanity and for that, he will always be a better person than me. A stronger person than me. Like me though, he hides his pain well, burying it somewhere in the darkest depths of his mind, but as one who has mastered the art of suppressing the things I do not wish to confront, I know it is only a matter of time before he too, blows, and for that, I must be here for him. Iwillbe here for him. Through it all. Hand in hand. Every step of the way. No matter what because that is love and God knows I truly love him.