Free 04 Dark Space by Jasper T. Scott Page B

that it’s not your mistake,” Kurlin said.
    “Your concern is duly noted,” Alara replied. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, I believe the guests are waiting for us in the garden. I’ll see you both there.”
    Ethan shot Kurlin a smirking look as they walked by. Kurlin glared back. Ethan and Alara turned a corner and passed through an open door into her father’s library. “Where did that come from?” he breathed as soon as they were out of earshot.
    Alara shook her head. “I almost forgot why I left home. They want to control everything I do!”
    Ethan smiled, thinking to himself, now you know how it feels, but he couldn’t blame her for considering her father’s offer. She was pregnant and afraid for the future of her child. That was enough to make any woman rush to put down roots. They reached the garden and Alara stopped beside the doors and turned to him, taking both of his hands in hers.
    “No regrets?” Alara asked. Ethan smiled and shook his head. “Even if we do have to sell our ship?”
    Ethan hesitated, but again he shook his head. “It’s just a ship, Kiddie.”
    “It’s your dream.”
    “Not if it means losing you. Then it’s a nightmare.”
    Alara’s features softened and her eyes filled with tears.
    “Hoi,” Ethan chuckled. “Don’t smudge your make up. I don’t want people to think you’re unhappy to be marrying me.”
    Alara shook her head and smiled broadly. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
    “Good.”
    “I’ll meet you at the altar,” Alara said, nodding to the doors.
    Ethan nodded back and pushed through those doors into the garden. All of five minutes later he was standing at the altar under a wooden arbor overgrown with hanging white crystal flowers and looking out at the sea of faces watching him. Over a hundred people had been invited—friends of Alara’s from her youth on Forliss, and friends of her parents. One or two distant relations of the Vastra family were also there, but no one had much extended family these days—not since the invasion had killed all of them.
    Then the band began to play an old classical piece and Alara came walking down the aisle on her father’s arm. Ethan’s breath froze in his chest and all conscious thought came to a grinding halt. All he could think about was how beautiful his bride was, and how happy they were going to be together. All three of them.
    Three.
    I really am starting my life over, Ethan thought, smiling. Alara reached his side, and Ethan took her hand as they turned to the priest. The music stopped playing, and a nearby fountain began to make itself known, splashing down into the swimming pool which lay behind the altar. A pair of blue birds flitted by overhead, chirping out a pleasant tune.
    “ We are here today to celebrate the union of Alara Vastra and Ethan Ortane. In these uncertain times, after humanity has lost so much, we can only thank the Immortals for two such as these who remind us that no matter how much we’ve lost, life does indeed go on. Love, faith, and hope for a better tomorrow, these endure no matter whether we are a multitude or just two.” The priest spread his hands. “Ethan is there something you’d like to say to your bride?”
    Ethan nodded and turned to Alara. “ Forever isn’t long enough for us, Alara. I’d need to live the lives of a thousand men to even begin to do justice to the love I feel for you. You are everything I have, and everything I want. Thank you for marrying me. I promise I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe and to make you happy. You are my dream, Alara. A dream come true.”
    Alara’s lower lip began to tremble, but she clamped down on it with a smile. “After all the years we spent working together, with you insisting you couldn’t ever be more than just my friend, I thought this day would never come. I’d contented myself with that and accepted that, and now . . .” Alara shook her head as a pair of tears spilled down her cheeks. “Now