Alda was ready the moment I left the room. She was several feet outside the office standing midway between two lab benches. “Are you all right? What can I do?”

I studied her, staring into her eyes to make sure it was the same Alda in there. “How long have you known?” She’d always been there for me, but she worked for the royal family. Had they truly kept her in the dark this whole time?

“Only a few hours longer than you.” She maintained complete eye contact, as if trying to convey a deeper level of truth.

“How? How did you find out?”

“I overheard Dr. Graham speaking with Caspian last night. I did some digging...” She put a hand on my arm. “I know I should have told you sooner, but I needed to know for sure. I could hear your conversation with Dr. Graham on the track… I knew he’d tell you... it’s still so hard for me to accept, let alone explain.”

“What kind of digging?” I struggled to stay calm. There was too much coming at me all at once.

“That footage he showed you is real… I checked up on it myself as soon as I learned.”

“What do you mean?” There was no way she’d gone to the Emperor. If she we wouldn’t have been standing there.

“I checked the master systems and lists. There is no record of Earth exploding. The detonation was cancelled.”

I put my hands on my knees and breathed in and out. “I can’t breathe.”

Alda fell to her knees next to me. “Sure you can. Slow, even breaths. That’s it. In and out.”

I listened. I tried to calm down. “I have to confront him.” I relaxed down to my knees. “I need to hear it from him.” I assumed I didn’t need to use Caspian’s name.

“But it might be too late… if he finds out you know...” She rubbed my back. “Can you risk that?” Alda was questioning Caspian. I never imagined I’d hear her do that. Could she really help me even if it meant going against the royal family? Was she putting herself at risk?

“No matter what I do, what will happen to Dr. Graham? How can I think of leaving and letting him get in trouble? Or you? What if they found out?”

“We’ll make it look like you found it out yourself. You’ve been acting odd already, and your work with the androids is impressive. It is completely plausible that you hacked the master systems yourself. You have been obsessed with the Explorers, so it makes perfect sense you’d want to further your studies of the outer galaxies. And don’t worry about me. I have always taken care of myself just fine. I’m thinking this might be a good chance to see my family. I haven’t been out of the capital in years.”

I was hit by guilt. Her family? In all the years I’d known her I had never figured out she had a family somewhere else. “You’ve thought this through.” And I was surprised. Not that she’d be loyal to me… Alda had never been anything but true to me, but that she’d devise a plan to let me leave.

“I know of no other way to live with myself. Pampered or not you were a prisoner, and I helped keep you here.” Large tears slipped down her face. “I will never forgive myself. Your poor family. I can’t imagine what they’ve been through.”

“This isn’t your fault. You didn’t know.” Unlike Caspian who knew and let me believe a lie. A fresh wave of anger surged through me. Followed by hurt.

“But I should have.” Alda wiped tears from her eyes.

“Do you think Caspian knew all along?” Had he truly lied to me from the very beginning? Had every minute of our friendship been based on untruths?

“I can’t answer that. Only he can.”

“Yet you said it yourself, it’s dangerous to ask him.”

“What will you do now?” She rose.

“I don’t know. I don’t even have a room to rest in.”

“You have Caspian’s.”

“It’s his room.” And the last thing I wanted to do was spend time in anything belonging to him. I wasn’t surprised the Emperor would trick me. Even Gardenia I could accept. But Caspian? How had I fallen for his act for so many years, and why was it that I was just starting to see through it when the truth came out? What had changed so suddenly?

“He’s away. It is yours for now.”

“Do you know for how long?” I’d never hoped for him to take a long trip before. I used to hate when he went away, both because I missed him and because I was jealous of all the different places he got to go. I’d been nowhere aside from tours of Andrelexa all within a ship. Other than those short treks I had never been outside of the palace.

“I can’t know for sure, but for now he’s away.”

“Your point is to take advantage of it while I can.”

“Yes. And not just for sleeping.” She winked.

“You think I can get access into his system?” That might be the only chance I had to find out exactly what he knew.

“I think you can. What can’t you do given enough time? Besides, if you hack into his system, you have bought the doctor cover.”

I nodded. “No one else knows I know?” That’s what everything was going to hinge on. This wasn’t going to work if I got caught a few minutes in. Besides finding out more on Caspian’s involvement, I needed to know more about where I came from and what was left. I wanted to see the Earth’s history and uncover any details I could about its true location. Had they lied about that too?

“No.” Alda shook her head. “Dr. Graham came directly to me.”

“How did he know I came from Earth?”

“I knew because Caspian told me.” Dr. Graham stepped out of his office. “It’s how I connected the dots and determined you were a prisoner.”

I turned toward him. “Were you listening to us this whole time?”

“There is only so much these doors keep out.” There was a flare of something in his eyes. Not a twinkle, more a flash of something else. What he was really reminding me was that walls were thin. There were plenty of ears all over the palace.

“I need to go figure this out.” There was too much going on to handle it all. And I couldn’t give up the little time I had to find answers.

“Take your time but not too long.” Dr. Graham leaned on the door frame of his office.

“I know.” This would be my only chance. Memories were starting to come back, a fog was lifting, and I knew I’d never be happy until I had answers.

Alda and I walked back toward Caspian’s wing of the palace. We talked about pointless things like music and upcoming events so if anyone was listening they would think we were having our typical conversations. I took Dr. Graham’s warning to heart. If anyone had looked closer they would have noticed the dry tears on Alda’s face and the stress on mine, but thankfully we didn’t run into any guards who gave us more than a quick nod.

“Have a nice afternoon.” Alda bowed before leaving me at the door of Caspian’s room.

I pushed the door open, trying to work through the onslaught of new information. Above all else: Earth still existed. My entire life had revolved around the premise that my home planet was gone. That Telton had saved me from a certain death. I was one of only a handful of survivors. Otherwise my species was gone. Yet none of that was true. Or so it seemed. I believed the footage. It was all too real, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t follow up on things myself.

I closed the door, once again lamenting the lack of locks. I doubted anyone would be barging into Caspian’s room. Besides Caspian. His arrival could be without a moment’s notice, so I had no time to waste. I went over to his desk and set to work breaking into his login. Generally everything needed to be done through a facial or fingertip scan, but I knew there was a couple of fail-safes. I was wearing one of them.

I leaned over and let the medallion sit on the sensor. There was a small beep, and the screen lit up. I’d found one good use for the necklace.

I sat there for a full two minutes debating what to do first. I decided to go right for what would hurt most. I pulled up Caspian’s off-planet travel records. Most of the names listed were of the usual places, planets we had treaties with, a few names were of planets that had been destroyed. I continued scanning down. And there it was. Earth. The visit had been within the past year. I scanned down further. That recent visit proved he knew the truth, but not how long. I saw nothing. I scanned all the way down to the year I arrived but saw no other mention of Earth.

I wasn’t sure what to make of the information. He’d still lied to me. Even if he’d known for less than a year, that was still enough time to tell me everything. And he had to have known longer. That reality bugged me. It latched on and refused to let go. There was no way he’d been kept in the dark for thirteen years.

Caspian’s account had access to everything and everyone. I found my name under off-planet arrivals.

I clicked on it.

Rachel Miller

Origin: Earth. City of New Orleans. Parents deceased. No other known family.

Was that true? No. It wasn’t. There was someone. A brother? I struggled to remember, needing to know who the new face in my memory belonged to.

I closed my eyes. A name came to me. Benjamin. Yes. And we had an aunt. Aunt Ruth. There’d been a war. Faint memories started to come back to me.

I pushed away the memories. I’d save them for another time.

I went into the planet directory. I clicked on Earth. It pulled up. I found myself staring at a blue and green ball covered in white wisps of clouds floating in space. A blue and green ball I’d watched explode over and over in videos. A blue ball I believed had been gone for thirteen years. I felt sick. I signed out of the portal and ran over to the bed.

Not only had they lied to me, but they’d gone through the effort to create fake videos.

There was a knock on the door less than two minutes later. I said nothing. If it was Alda she’d just come in. There was no one else I wanted to see.

“Rachel?” Kelby called from the door. “Are you ill? Shall I call a doctor?”

“No. I’m not ill.” I forced myself to sit up. I had no desire to see any doctors. I wasn’t even ready to see Dr. Graham again. I had no idea what I was going to do.

“You haven’t been at any of the meals today.” Kelby walked into the room.

“I wasn’t aware I needed to be.”

“You don’t, but you also failed to order any meals to your room. You need to eat. Caspian would want you to eat.”

“But I’m not hungry. I will eat when I’m hungry.”

Kelby sat down on the edge of the bed. “I know that you are up to something. I can tell you are spinning lies.”

A shiver ran through me, but I tried to brush it off. I couldn’t let on. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I do.”

“You don’t.” I refused to accept it. If he knew I was out of options.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. Your place is here.”

My place was there? How much did he know? My chest clenched, but I tried to play it calm. “Of course my place is here. I’m Caspian’s life mate.”

“It’s not his fault.” Kelby looked down at his feet. “He didn’t mean to surprise you like that.”

“Well, I was surprised. Very surprised.” So all of this was about my reaction to receiving his medallion?

“The Emperor gave Caspian an ultimatum.”

“An ultimatum?”

“Officially claim you or—”

“Or what?” I was in no mood for theatrics.

“Or he’d find a new place for you.”

I said nothing. I felt nothing. There was only one reason I lived in the palace. I shuddered to think of the prison the Emperor would want to send me to.

“But that’s not why I’m telling you.” Kelby leaned in.

“Then why are you?”

“Because Caspian doesn’t know it yet, but there’s going to be another ultimatum.”

“How could Caspian not know?” He was next in line to be Emperor.

Kelby put his hand over mine. He never touched me, and I knew this couldn’t be good. “If you don’t give him an heir quickly, the Emperor is going to make sure Caspian selects someone who will.”

“He’d take this back?” I picked up the chain. Maybe there was a way to remove it after all.

Kelby looked down again. “You know that chain can’t be broken.”

“Then how could he select someone different?” The icy reality hit me square in the face. “Oh.” There was only one way the chain could be removed now.

“Please, Rachel. Caspian would be destroyed if that happens.”

I pulled my hand away. “Caspian would be destroyed if his father cut off my head. Is that what you are telling me?”

“I—no. Yes, he would be. But I don’t want that to happen.”

“Please leave.” I pointed to the door.

“Rachel. There is a very easy solution. Caspian will be back and everything will be okay.”

“Please leave.” I fought back the tears and rage that begged to spill.

Kelby stood. “If that’s what you want.” He bowed before slipping out the door.

He had to be kidding. I was beginning to realize my whole life was one big never ending joke.