Page 68 of The Thren's Fated

After an apathetic goodbye to Dronzal, Lena made her way to her room, finding it just as she’d left it, the sheets still jumbled from where Screl had pinned her to the bed. She slumped onto the mattress, staring at the chrome ceiling, electricity pulsing through her though she wished she could just close her eyes and forget everything.

Even as the physical pain had waned, the sense of loss clenched her chest, tears threatening to restart at any second.

Screl had changed her irrevocably, and she hated him for that. She loathed him and yet felt no remorse about having met him.

A sick part of her wanted to get on Dronzal’s shuttle and hurry back, even if it was just to feel those arms around her once more, the tentacles brushing through her hair.

He doesn’t love you. He doesn’t care about you. He sent you on your way, and where is he now? If he cared, he would be here. If he loved you, he wouldn’t let you be in pain. He’s probably out finding new escorts to fuck, new people to bring to his bed now that you’re gone.

Stubborn tears refused to fall, but she felt them in her face and chest, tension raking across every inch of her skin. The bottle of sleeping pills still sat on her side table where she’d left them, and she grabbed for it, dry swallowing double the proper dosage before curling up under the covers and trying to sleep.

INTERLUDE

Oh, Lena. I am so sorry for everything. I will never be worthy of your bond, your affection, and that knowledge pains me more than anything my father could do to me. There is not a moment I don’t think of you, your fiery hair, your shy smile, your beautiful laughter. I am grateful for every punishment I receive because it’s what I deserve after hurting you, deceiving you. I don’t know what will happen to me, but at least I told my father the truth.

CHAPTER 22

Each day apart from Screl was more miserable than the last, even if the combination of pain meds and sleeping pills attempted to dull the persistent throbbing.

Every muscle ached like she had run a marathon or climbed a mountain, but her brain was the worst of it. So many conflicting thoughts floated through her head, and it seemed like she would explode at any moment.

And her heart. Her fucking heart.

It actually ached, not that heartache bullshit you hear about, but a physical pain which clenched and tightened every time she tried to take a breath.

Lena was tired of being beholden to pills, especially after the short stint in Screl’s presence had made her feel more alive than ever before, even before the joining which had permanently altered her life.

Ochin was more than happy to welcome her back to the bar, but every day was filled with the same empty monotony as the one before. Michaela tried to get her out of her quarters, inviting her to dinner or drinks on more than one occasion, but she didn’t have the energy to do anything besides work and sleep.

Or attempt to sleep, at least.

Her insomnia was as bad as ever now that she was apart from Screl, and even her normal meds weren’t helping. She missed the way he quieted her mind, eased the anxiety that had been so engrained in her since childhood, which only made her hate herself more.

What connection did she really have with Screl? Just because he’d acted nice didn’t forgive his cruel actions. Besides, any affection he had for her was fabricated, was it not? A compulsion from some biological process that she didn’t understand, which forced him to like her. Not real.

None of it had been real, and that hurt her most of all, that the way he’d pleasured her and cherished her had meant nothing.

As she lay on her bed—her only activity beyond going to work when she was scheduled—her thoughts were disrupted by the bell at her door.

A visitor? Michaela and Ochin were the only people who ever stopped by, and she knew for a fact that they were both working tonight.

Lena lumbered out of bed, the sleeping pills having done nothing anyway, and stepped up to the door, her hand hovering over the button to open it.

“Screl? Is that you?” she silently asked, remembering the way she’d heard his voice in her head during her visit with the Sovereign.

There was nothing but silence, and she sighed, pressing the button as tears burned at her eyes. Her excitement flared and deflated when she saw a Thren, then realized it was Dronzal instead of the one she had been hoping for.

“What is it?” she asked when Dronzal said nothing.

The Thren had found quarters on the station, and Lena often saw her mulling about Ochin’s, but this was the first time she’d come for a visit.

“I have received word from Botune. Commander Screl has been imprisoned.”

“Imprisoned?” Lena gasped, a stab of pain piercing her and making her wince. “Why?”

“He attempted to renounce his position as a prince, but the Sovereign would not hear it. He refused to believe that his offspring is fated to a human, and imprisoned him at the palace.”

“Why did he try to renounce?”