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She was the newly coronated ruler of a grand empire, but when that empire began to crumble around her, Chaarani only felt like a frightened thirteen year old desperate for her father’s love and guidance…not that Khan Noonien-Singh had ever given much of either.
He had left a handwritten letter explaining the truth of his sudden absence, but Charaani only glanced at it briefly before burning the thing. She had been more perceptive than her father gave her credit for and had already guessed that his recent interest in space travel wasn’t academic and that no matter how diplomatically he tried to spin his motivations in that letter it was cowardice that made him flee to the stars.
There were questions from every angle, but Chaarani’s answer was always the same.
“I do not know my father’s whereabouts.”
A lie told to protect herself and her siblings. The old man’s ship could crash and burn for all she cared.