Se connecterXen called later, right after Vera stepped out of the shower covered only in a towel. Her wet hair hung loose around her shoulders, dripping slowly over her skin, and the towel sat low enough that her chest was almost fully exposed. When the hologram opened, Xen went still. His throat moved as he swallowed, and for a moment, all the controlled general energy he carried cracked right through the middle. He tried to keep his face calm, but his eyes betrayed him before his mouth could. Vera saw it immediately and almost smiled.She was brushing her hair when she answered, moving slowly on purpose. Of course she did it on purpose. Their desire would flare, and the more they wanted her, the better for her. She was pregnant with their babies, and she had already done something shameless with three men at the same time, so being shy now was out of the question. If Xen wanted a chance, he could suffer a little while proving it. She tilted her head slightly as she dragged the brush through her
Belinda tried the dish for the first time and immediately went for seconds. She did not ask. She did not comment. She simply picked up the bowl, walked back to the pot, and helped herself like someone who had decided manners were a palace problem and this was not the palace. Vera watched her do it and said nothing because honestly, same.The former queen of the galaxy was sitting on a wooden stool outside a house in a garbage sector, eating rice porridge with both hands wrapped around a clay bowl, and she looked more content than any portrait Vera had ever seen of royalty. Her silver hair was pinned up loosely, a few strands already escaping from the work she had done that morning, and there was a small smear of pumpkin near her wrist that she had not noticed yet. She looked like someone's grandmother. A terrifying, magnificent, fire-breathing grandmother who had once ruled the known galaxy, but still.This place had lit up her spirit in a way the palace had not done in decades. The t
The next day was super busy. Planting resumed at full force, and when Vera saw how many pre-orders had already been placed, she sent the team straight to work. She decided to make more baked potatoes and pumpkins because everything would sell, and if she had extra, it would only bring in new clients. Everyone had a task now. Some villagers harvested, some washed vegetables, some sorted the best pieces for fresh sales, and others helped prepare the ones that would be cooked. The whole place moved like a proper settlement instead of a forgotten exile zone, and Vera liked seeing it. A few days ago, most of these people had been thirsty, hungry, scared, or half-lost in madness. Now they were working, arguing over baskets, laughing at the kids running between rows, and looking healthier every day.The grain was dry by midmorning, and Vera decided it was time to actually figure out rice before she embarrassed herself in front of anyone. She had eaten rice before the apocalypse, plenty of ti
She unblocked him again and called. When his face appeared on the screen full of smiles, Vera frowned. “Blake, why did you change my hospital? I needed to be at the market that day. The one before worked better. Change it back, please.”Blake’s smile faded a little. “The other one is better.”He was taken aback by her reaction. He had expected her to appreciate it, maybe even soften a little. He thought a better hospital, a private team, and proper care would show her he was trying. Instead, she looked pissed.“I have my own plans. I do not have time to go to the city. Change it back, or I am not going at all.”“Vera, please,” Blake said, trying to keep his voice gentle, but her face did not change.“I said change it back. Stop making this complicated. I did not want to call you again. You said I was bothering you, and now you are the one making things complicated. You said it yourself. I was annoying trash, remember? So I blocked you and gave you your precious life back. What else do
Vera thought for a moment and looked at both men. They looked honest enough, but honest enough was not the same as safe. Still, Kate knew them. Her husband had saved Vera in the book, which meant his family’s character was not poor. Dan had helped Kate, and Caleb was offering actual property as security. Plus, if this was a scam, Vera could get two buildings out of it. Not a terrible outcome either way.“Okay, here is the deal,” Vera said. “I want the carrots, onions, and your seeds. If those seeds are promising, you get stock first. The pricing will be the following. I am giving you potatoes at two thousand per bag and pumpkins at three thousand per bag. You will send Anna how much you can actually store for a week. Each week, I will come, collect the money, and give you more stock. I also have peppers, rice, grain, rice flour, and regular flour. Those will be ten thousand per bag. One bag can last a month for a family. The ground flour will be twenty thousand.”Caleb and Dan were b
Kate and Anna walked in together and sat in the chairs across from Vera. Both women looked tired, but not in the same hopeless way they had before. Now they looked busy. Like people who finally had work that mattered and numbers that could change their lives.“We have at least one hundred bags of potatoes and fifty bags of pumpkins left,” Anna said, showing her hologram with all the numbers. “Tomorrow, after we pack all the orders that came through, plus the extras you asked for and food for the village, we will still have enough left. I did not include props yet, but those should be ready too.”Vera leaned closer and looked at the numbers. Her head already hurt, but this was the good kind of pain. Orders, stock, sales, salaries, expansion, land paperwork, transport, defense. Everything was moving, and that meant she needed to stop thinking like a survivor with one bag of food and start thinking like someone who was about to build an actual business.“Okay, here is the thing,” Vera sa
The lights pressed closer. Vera held them for a long moment and let herself be gentle because here, no one could see it and mistake it for weakness. The apocalypse on Earth had made her cold because being kind got people killed. Trust did the same. She had watched good people die first, generous pe
Vera sat inside the space car and finally let her shoulders drop. The guard had brought her water and a small snack, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. To him, this whole situation was ridiculous. He and his wife had spent every saving they had just to nurture one child from a tube, and those
The judge stared at her for half a second longer than necessary before sending his secretary to finalize the paperwork. He already felt beaten down by the situation. He could have given her a less harsh sentence if she had fought him. He could have delayed the case, ordered proper defense, demanded
“Your Honor, I do not have all day,” Vera said, her voice cutting through the courtroom before the lawyers could start another round of barking at each other. She kept one hand under her belly and the other pressed against the side of her cage, not because she needed support from fear, but because







