Leonidas sat alone in the captain's quarters, the ship's hum a low heartbeat beneath his skin. Outside the viewport, stars drifted like distant witnesses. He turned a small silver locket over in his hands, the metal warm from his palm. When he eased it open, three tiny photographs caught the dim light.
The center one was of him as a child - slender, defiant as he was cradled at the hip of his mother Lady Seraphine while his lord father Duke Aleric stood behind them. To the left was a portrait of Illiana, moonlit silver hair, a half-smile that had made him stare in awe. On the right was a photograph he rarely let himself look at. A woman, dark eyed and unreadable, hair cropped at the name and wearing military uniform. Her nameplate had been smudged out, but someone had written a single name across the margin.
Selena.
A holo-news feed flickered to life in the corner of the room. The anchors voice was calm and practiced, the kind of cadence meant to soothe outrage.
"It has been nearly a year since the Riots of Novara," the projection sounded out. "Investigations persists into the deaths of demonstrators and the subsequent escalation. Authorities maintain that protesters engaged in violet sabotage, though the families and independent witnesses disputed that account."
The words hit him like a fist to the gut. Images on the holonews appear - footage of imperial police enforcers advancing through tear gas, of bodies collapsing - folded over his memory and pulled him backward
The memories came In a flash, sudden and fast. He had tried very hard to forget. He could not.
He was in his father's study. Both sides of the wall, decorated with medals and maps.
"You knew she was undercover, and yet you did not see it fit to tell me, father!" Leonidas barked. The accusation left no room for courtesy.
Duke Aleric's jaw tightened. "She volunteered. She knew the risks. Hers was a soldiers death, doing her duty. Besides, by imperial decree I could not disclose any information. Even to you. I could not forsake my duty. "
"Damn your duty. She was with child! My child. Your grandchild," Leonidas shouted. "And for a year, you let me hunt down my own wife like a criminal. I am done with duty. I hereby tender my resignation from the force."
For a heartbeat, the study held only the distance between them - a gulf none could fill had formed, built of protocol and regret.
Then a knock at the door had echoed. For a long moment Leonidas stared at the name: Selena.
He rose, slipped the locket around his neck once more.
The memories were like ghosts to him, haunted at every turn. Sought refuge from them amongst the stars, but he could not leave them behind simply by crossing a star-system. Nor would he ever.