2.7

Lariel tried to talk to Kamily, who was sitting hunched over and looking at the floor.

"What did that Palien say to you?"

She wept bitterly, covering her face with her hands.

"I will be banished for disobedience".

Lariel started up:

"What does he make you do?"

"I don't want to be a Queen Bee who has to give birth to children from everyone. Horrible! I am pregnant again."

"I told you about Erin, you did not believe that he only wanted a child from you... Palian demands to bear him children?"

"No yet! He wants me to force women to live with syrinxes and bring him three princesses who have been reborn among humans".

"Are the princesses reborn? Don't worry, we'll figure something out."

"What kind of idiotic role does the Queen have? I do not like this fate - to give birth to children from different men, what kind of nonsense is this? — Kamily couldn't calm down. — He came up with all this to punish me. Hate him!"

"No. This is the norm of the Xantari social order".

"How terrible it is! Where did I get? Why such a life? I want to run away somewhere".

Her sobs tore his heart, he was afraid that she would want to end her life and tried to calm her down:

"My baby, I will always be by your side if you want. Don't be stupid, we'll get through this together. Exile is not an option. You don't have to run away from problems, you have to solve them."

Since then, Lariel has been watching her all the time. While he finished building the palace, Kamily and their son walked in the garden in his field of vision. Little Eki crawled amusingly on the grass, sat down, gurgled and fluttered his grown wings. His sight could melt any heart with emotion, but Kamily felt empty and was in deep sadness, sitting on the grass.

On the eve of the coronation Erin getting off the starship rushed to his beloved but stumbled upon her coldness. She sat with her legs crossed and did not jump up to meet him.

"Kami, what's wrong with you? — He sat down next to her grabbing her hands and looking into her eyes. — What happened? Someone offended you?"

"Erin, I trusted you so much, I didn't expect you to conceive, I didn't ask for it. You all do this to me, use me like a flower pot!"

A wave of anxiety washed over Erin.

"Remember, you said that you love me and want to live with me".

"But that doesn't mean you have to breed right away".

"Sorry. I thought that you adore children, and this surprise will please you. You love Eki, even though he is an unwanted".

"You do not understand? Nobody asks if I want it. I do not want to be the Queen Bee - the endless mother of an entire race. I want to be free from all obligations! I escaped Xantari not from Palien, but from this system. I hid all my life in the forest in the body of an ordinary woman with no memory of the past, so that no one would find me. Then you appeared, and everything repeats again. I was trapped again!"

"We'll think of something, —  Erin hugged her, trying to calm her down. — Palien will not stay here forever. The fleet will fly away, and we will continue to live as a friendly family..."