BooksBarbecue
Back Love Code
Chapters (32)
  1. Cover
  2. LOVE CODE
  3. CONTENTS
  4. About the Book
  5. Dedication
  6. Copyright Page
  7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  8. [  1  ]
  9. [  2  ]
  10. [  3  ]
  11. [  4  ]
  12. [  5  ]
  13. [  6  ]
  14. [  7  ]
  15. [  8  ]
  16. [  9  ]
  17. [  10  ]
  18. [  11  ]
  19. [  12  ]
  20. [  13  ]
  21. [  14  ]
  22. [  15  ]
  23. [  16  ]
  24. [  17  ]
  25. [  18  ]
  26. [  19  ]
  27. [  20  ]
  28. [  21  ]
  29. [  22  ]
  30. [  23  ]
  31. [  24  ]
  32. AUTHOR’S NOTE

Foolish question. So many things were that he could list them for quite some time, and since she’d set them on this path, she should listen to each complaint.

“That’s what I wish to know. You are…different here. And I don’t like it.” Helix took one step toward her, then another. “I have been candid. I have told you that you are necessary to my existence, but I can feel you withdraw from me, even if you have not yet departed physically. You are preparing me for that eventuality. Why?”

[  13  ]

Helix waited for Qalu’s reply, however baffling and painful it might be.

She drew in a breath, evidently shocked at his blunt assessment. Perhaps this was not how a Tiralan would handle such matters, but he was done with conforming to expectations that did not match his own ideology. To him, it seemed far more efficient to confront issues directly than to avoid them. If she required an apology, he would proffer it, once they cleared the misunderstanding that caused her to retreat.

“It is for the best,” she said finally.

“In what regard?”

“I can’t be with you forever. Therefore, you should learn to connect with others to avoid loneliness when I return to Tiralan.”

There were so many logical problems with her statements that Helix didn’t know where to begin. “Why can we not remain together indefinitely? If it was your intention for us to part, why not do so more expediently on Tiralan? And why does my connection with you preclude an association with others? Love groups are customary, are they not? Your mothers gave no indication that Tiralan affections were possessive in nature.”

Qalu stared, as if she had no answers for any of these inquiries. Her head tendrils flexed with obvious distress, before she said, “I may have read the situation incorrectly. Since you are not native Tiralan, I feared you would focus on me to the exclusion of all others…that you would seek no further for emotional support. And if I allowed it, that would be—”

“I feel that you’ve taken these measures in some attempt to protect me from myself. You believe that you have power over me because you created the prototype, yes? Because you have taught me many things. But…at what point do you acknowledge me as a sovereign being? You don’t wish to take advantage of me or prey on an inexperienced person. Yet as you deny me intimacy, you also disavow me as one capable of granting consent.”

“I never thought of it like that,” she said softly. “I just…on Tiralan, I was literally the only person you knew. I felt that you should experience other options before deciding whether I’m someone you—”