Confessions

**Angro’s POV**

We had managed to escape. Shaira was still asleep, completely vulnerable, lying on a makeshift blanket in the middle of our hideout in the jungle. Zania, always on alert, didn’t take her eyes off the officer we had taken hostage, keeping the ion pistol pointed at her. The officer, for her part, hadn’t said a word since we left the fortress, walking with a calmness that unsettled me. I knew that sooner or later, we would have to talk, and the answers she gave would be crucial for what happened next.

I approached Shaira and checked her pulse. She was fine, breathing steadily, just still under the effects of the anesthesia. The relief of seeing her safe made me let out a small exhale. But the danger was still there, lurking like an animal in the dark.

Finally, I decided it was time to get some answers. I turned to the officer. “Who are you?” I asked in Eteri, keeping my voice low but firm.

The officer raised her eyes slowly, her face emotionless as if she had already anticipated the question. "My name is Xandria," she responded without hesitation. "I’m a friend of Shaira."

A friend of Shaira. That answer took me by surprise. I couldn’t imagine Shaira having a friend in that place, in the fortress. But what intrigued me more was why this woman had offered herself as a hostage to help us escape. It didn’t add up.

"Why did you help us?" The question left my lips before I could stop it. I knew Zania had her doubts too, and although she didn’t understand the language, I could see the tension in her face as she waited for me to translate.

Xandria looked at me directly, not breaking eye contact. "My only interest is to ensure nothing happens to Shaira. I’m willing to be her prisoner if it guarantees her safety."

I translated Xandria’s words for Zania, who kept the gun aimed at her. Zania nodded slowly but didn’t lower her weapon. “Ask her if it’s true that her own people were willing to kill Shaira.”

I asked the question in Eteri, watching Xandria’s reaction closely. I saw a flicker of doubt in her eyes before she responded.

“It’s complicated,” she started, taking a deep breath before continuing. “My superiors believe Shaira fraternized with the opranchi when she was captured. They think she might have helped them gather sensitive military information. Plus, she’s suspected of being involved in the murder of three soldiers in the colonists’ territory.”

My heart flared with a rage I could barely control. I felt the heat rising in my chest—a mixture of anger and helplessness. Shaira was being accused of treason for something she hadn’t done. I was the one who killed those soldiers! Not her. The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them.

“I was the one who killed them!” I shouted, my fists clenched. "Shaira had nothing to do with it. It was me!"

Xandria looked at me, surprised, and I saw the spark in her eyes, as if she had just found a key piece to the puzzle. My heart sank as I realized what I had just done. I had implicated Shaira without meaning to.

“So, it’s true?” Xandria asked, with a mix of surprise and sadness in her voice. “Shaira was wandering through the jungle with you? She was with the opranchi all this time?”

I didn’t know how to respond. I had made a mistake by speaking so quickly, but it was too late now. The words couldn’t be taken back. Xandria knew the truth, or at least part of it, and now she had enough to ask deeper questions. I stayed silent for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts.

Zania, who had remained quiet until now, couldn’t understand the exchange, but she noticed my expression. “What’s happening?” she asked in a low voice. “What did she say?”

"She’s asking if Shaira has been with us all this time," I replied to Zania. Her face tensed, but she said nothing more. We both knew we couldn’t keep the truth hidden forever, but we still had to be careful about what we revealed.

I looked back at Xandria, trying to find the right words. “Yes,” I finally admitted. “Shaira was with us. But it wasn’t her choice. She was a prisoner at first, but then… she decided to stay.”

Xandria nodded slowly, processing what I had just told her. I could see in her eyes that she was trying to understand the complexity of the situation. “She decided to stay?” she repeated, as if struggling to believe it.

“She’s not the same person she was before,” I explained, hoping she would understand. “She’s not an Eteri anymore, at least not in the way you see her. She changed. She saw things differently. She wasn’t helping the opranchi betray her people. She just wanted to survive.”

Xandria closed her eyes for a moment, her face showing a mixture of pain and understanding. She knew this wasn’t what she had expected to hear, but she couldn’t ignore it. There was a truth in all this that even I hadn’t fully grasped until now: Shaira had changed, but that change had put her in danger with her own people.

“If my superiors find out about all this…” Xandria started, but left the sentence hanging, as if she didn’t want to finish it.

“What will happen if they do?” I asked, my voice hard. “Will they kill her?”

Xandria opened her eyes slowly, her expression grim. “If they find out she stayed with you by choice, if they discover that you were the one who killed those soldiers… yes. Shaira will be executed for treason.”

The weight of her words hit me like a ton of bricks. Not only had we escaped the fortress, but now we were more trapped than ever. One wrong move, one word spoken in the wrong place, and Shaira would pay the ultimate price.

I looked at Zania, who remained alert, still pointing the gun at Xandria, though now the tension in her body seemed to ease a little. "We have to keep her safe," I said quietly, almost to myself.

Zania nodded. “We will,” she replied, her voice firm.

Xandria watched us, silent, but I could see in her eyes that, despite everything she had discovered, she still had the same goal: to protect Shaira, no matter the consequences.

And in that moment, I realized that even though we were surrounded by betrayal, secrets, and death, we weren’t alone in this. Shaira had a friend in the enemy. A friend who was willing to risk everything for her. And that, perhaps, was the only thing that would give us a chance to survive.

I cursed myself silently for having spoken too much. I had been a fool to let my anger get the best of me, revealing more than I should have. Now Xandria knew that Shaira had been with us, and that she had chosen to stay. But for some reason, I couldn’t explain, I felt I could trust Shaira’s friend. There was something in the way she looked at us, in her calmness, that told me she wasn’t here to betray us.

I let out a sigh, looking at Zania, who still kept the ion pistol steady, aimed at Xandria. My mind was racing, but I knew there was no point in hiding the truth anymore. If we wanted to get out of this situation, the only option was to speak. And to speak well.

"All right," I began, my tone more relaxed, though still firm. “I already said it, Shaira is not guilty of anything. I was the one who found her first, after her 'bird' crashed from a ground-to-air missile. She was badly injured, disoriented. If we hadn’t found her, she’d probably be dead by now.”

Xandria listened carefully, without interrupting. Her eyes showed a mixture of interest and concern.

"After that," I continued, "an opranchi warrior captured her. He wanted to enslave her, make her his property. But I couldn’t let that happen. I had to step in to save her. Since then, Shaira has only tried to survive. She never sought to betray her own or help us get information. She just wanted to live."

I translated part of what I was saying so Zania could understand the conversation. She nodded, staying alert but not interfering.

Xandria seemed to process my words, as if something finally clicked in her mind. “Now I understand why Shaira didn’t want to speak… she was protecting the people who helped her survive,” she said in a whisper, more to herself than to us.

I nodded, satisfied that we at least agreed on that. But I knew the most delicate issue hadn’t yet been addressed. Xandria wasted no time bringing it up.

“The murder of the three soldiers,” she began, cautiously. “That’s what worries my superiors the most. What really happened? If you have anything to say, now would be the time.”

I stayed silent for a second, but I had already gone too far to back out now. “Those men wanted to rape Shaira,” I said coldly, without sugarcoating the truth. “They left me no choice. I killed them to protect her.”

Xandria closed her eyes for a moment, as if the harshness of my words hit her. When she looked back at me, her expression was a mix of understanding and sadness.

“I understand,” she said, her voice soft. “You have feelings for Shaira, don’t you? That explains everything.”

I couldn’t deny it. I knew my feelings for Shaira were evident, even if I hadn’t openly expressed them until now. It wasn’t just a matter of protection or survival. There was something more, something deeper that bound me to her. And Xandria had figured it out.

"Yes," I admitted, with a sincerity that surprised even me. "I love her. But that doesn’t change what’s at stake. I won’t let her go back to the fortress to face a military tribunal that will do nothing but condemn her to death. I don’t care how well you try to explain what happened. They won’t listen."

Xandria nodded slowly, as if she knew I was right. But she wasn’t ready to give up so easily. “Listen, Angro. We can resolve this another way. Let me take Shaira back to the fortress. I can explain what happened. I’m her friend, I can convince them she’s not guilty of anything. But you need to trust me.”

I shook my head. “I can’t let her go back there. I don’t care how much you trust your military justice system, I know how it works. They’ll use her as a scapegoat. They’ll execute her no matter what you say. I can’t risk losing her like that.”

Xandria frowned, surprised by my refusal. “Then what do you suggest? We can’t keep hiding here forever.”

That’s when I knew. The only way to truly free Shaira from all this was to make her death seem real. It was a radical idea, but it was the only thing that would guarantee she could live in peace.

“I have a solution,” I said, looking Xandria directly in the eyes. “I want you to go back to the fortress and tell your superiors that Shaira is dead.”

“What?” Xandria exclaimed, confused. “Why would you want me to say that?”

“Because only then can she be free,” I replied firmly. “If everyone believes she’s dead, they won’t chase her anymore. They can’t condemn her for treason. They can’t do anything to her. You’ll tell them we killed her, that we executed her for being a spy. And with that, they’ll leave her alone.”

Xandria looked at me as if evaluating every word. I knew the idea sounded extreme, but there was no other option. I couldn’t trust a military tribunal to set her free. But if everyone thought Shaira was dead, they’d have no reason to look for her.

“I don’t know if I can do that,” Xandria murmured, still processing my proposal. “It’s… it’s too big of a lie. Shaira is my friend, I can’t…”

“You’re saving her,” I interrupted. “What matters is that she stays alive. And the only way that happens is if everyone thinks she’s dead. Think about that.”

Xandria remained silent, her eyes full of doubts but also of a growing understanding. I could see the internal struggle she was facing, the moral dilemma of lying to save her friend. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she nodded slowly.

“Alright,” she said quietly. “I’ll do it. I’ll say that Shaira was killed by her captors. That she died bravely.”

Hearing those words, I felt a mixture of relief and sadness. I knew it was the best option, but it also meant that Shaira, at least to her people, would be dead. But she would live. And that was all that mattered.

Zania slowly lowered the pistol, watching Xandria closely. We both knew that our plan now depended on the officer’s loyalty. We were betting everything on a lie that could either save Shaira’s life or doom us all if anything went wrong.

We remained silent for a moment, knowing that the next step would be crucial.