Star-Crossed

Chapter Twenty-Four: Honey, just put your sweet lips on my lips

TONIGHT, WHEN I dream of Rania of the Cosmos's life, I am with her. The goddess-like woman who held my head in her lap as I dreamed of Rania merging her soul with mine. We are on Niburu in this memory, her hand is wrapped tightly around mine as we walk side by side through the peaceful pathway, gazing at Niburu's beauty. The trees of blues and ripe yellows, marking it summer. The air passes us by, a sharp scent-like the marvelous scent of a fruit on Earth called apples-brushes across our faces.

"Sister..." I begin hesitantly, tightening my hold on her hand to pull her back.

My sister pauses, just like I expect for her to. She pauses, her eyes-an icy blue with swirling golden patterns surrounding them-study me appraisingly.

"What is the matter, soror?" She asks gently, eyebrows knitting together in confusion and worry.

"Are Mother and Father...?" She stiffens as I say their name and this causes me to redirect my question. "Why did you leave all those years ago."

"I found my Consort," she answers stiffly, not meeting my eyes.

"So have I, but I will not leave," I say gently, my mind traveling back to the day Rhea left. In my mind, it hadn't seemed like she was leaving, it was more like she was fleeing. Like Niburu and our parents disgusted her and the very idea of being here made her skin crawl. She comes back to visit, like now. But she never stays longer than two days, and she hasn't talked to our parents since that fateful day three-hundred Earth years ago.

"Rania..." She begins softly, sighing. "Our parents..." She shakes her head, sighing.

"What, Rhea?" I ask my voice pleading. "What happened?"

Her lips thin slightly and she blows out another sigh, nodding once.

"In just a few months' time, you will be queen. I suppose there's no use hiding the truth from you any longer." Despite her words, my sister hesitates, her perfectly arched eyebrows knitting together. "Are you sure that you wish to know, my sister? Once you know, you can never forget what you have learned."

The tone she uses is serious, more serious than anything I've ever heard from Rhea in the one thousand Earth years I have known her. That tone makes my breath hitch in my throat and it makes me pause. For that nanosecond of pause, I am tempted to turn back and maintain my ignorance. But, Rhea is right. My parents fade away with each passing day and soon they will be gone. When that day comes, I will be queen and in being queen, I must carry the weight of this planet on my shoulders. I cannot afford ignorance.

"Tell me," I insist.

Rhea pulls her hand out of mine, anger, and disgust clouding her face. I have never seen such abysmal hatred on her face, which many have called far lovelier than the Cosmos.

"Mother and Father lied to us, Rania," she begins coolly. "They are not at all who they let us believe they are. Do you remember the battle they told us of? The one in the city of Niutu?"

"The one where Mother and Father fought side by side with the warriors and their people to defeat the beasts who came looking to conquer Niburu one city at a time?"

"That's the one," says Rhea, giving a cool, unamused smile. "What our dear parents left out, Rania, was that they were concerned about "population control" in Niutu, so they used the chaos of the men who came to attack us to burn Niutu to the ground. They killed men, women, children." She shakes her head, the hatred on her face is strong.

"That's not possible," I say, my entire body feeling cold. I am here, but I cannot possibly be here, listening to my sister say our parents murdered innocent people. Innocent children.