“I’m not a pet!” I yell. “I’m standing right here.”
Hela looks me in the eyes. “I’m sorry Lara. Please go and rest. You are perfectly physically healthy.”
Gael and Lara
{Duet}
l.I don’t say anything but storm out of the medical center. I start making my way to where my quarters used to be but Gael stops me.
g.“Come, take my quarters. I will sleep elsewhere.”
l.“No.”
g.“Please.”
l.“No. I just want to be in my own space.”
g.“You can’t be in the room you had before. It’s occupied. We’re completely full. And now that this is done I thought…”
l.“You thought what?”
g.“Lara, you are my wife.”
l.“You thought that we were going to have sex? Just pretend nothing happened between us leaving the Fertility Goddess’s Temple and now?” I look at him in disbelief. “Has everyone lost their minds? Do you know what I had to do in Kamos’s palace? Do you have any idea how close I was to staying? Oh and also,you could have told me you and Coco were lovers? That was a nasty surprise.”
g.I motion with my hand for her to enter my quarters. “Let’s at least discuss this in privacy.”
l.Inside I’m too angry to sit down so we both stand in his sitting room. “I’m waiting for you to explain yourself.”
g.“Coco and I had sex a few times. It was mostly physical and more than a year before I met you. It meant very little to either of us which is why it wasn’t important to mention.”
l.“You and I didn’t have a deep emotional connection before we married and had sex,” I point out. “Yet you treat me differently. How can that be?”
g.“Becauseyouare different. You’ve always been different. Sex is just touching another body for momentary physical desire. But I swear I have only ever made love to you. It was different even that first time. We have a deep connection and I know you feel it too.”
l.“But then why didn’t you touch me when we came onboard theSisu? I was practically begging for any kind of physical connection then.”
g.“I wanted to, but how could I do that with what I was asking you to do?”
l.“But now you think…”
g.“Lara, no I didn’t think you were just going to jump in bed with me. But I wanted you to have my room at the very least.”
l.“Are you saying you really want to be married? Is that why you didn’t annul it? Not to make me stand trial?”
g.“I swear to you, I will kill myself before I let the IGC take you for my crimes. And just so you know, if I’m dead you’re off the hook.” I take out my gun and hand it to her. “Shoot me now and you’re free of me and my crimes.”
l.I begin to cry.
g.Seeing Lara like this is overwhelming. I take my gun back before she hurts herself or me and then I take her into my arms slowly. She doesn’t resist. I stroke her hair. “I’m so sorry.”
l.“I thought all this time you didn’t want me. I thought you were only using me and that you hadn’t even been honest about why and that you were going to leave me with Kamos.”
g.“No that would’ve never happened. I would’ve gotten you out.”
l.I look up at him. “How?”
g.“I’ve not been completely honest with you Lara. I have a connection to Kamos.”