Born of Betrayal (20 page)

Sadness darkened his gaze. “My wife was killed in battle against The Tavali two years ago. My mother keeps nagging me to remarry. But I'm not ready.”

“I'm sorry.”

He shrugged as he found a vacant table for them and set his tray down. “You didn't know.”

An awful feeling went through Fain as he glanced to Talyn's leg. “It wasn't…”

“No. Different fight. I was grounded by then. I tried to get her to ground out with me, but she didn't want a command position. She lived to fly.”

“Now he spends his time with the cheapest females he can find. Which is why I give him a hard time over it.” Talyn set his tray down by Gavarian before he went to help Vega and War with their food.

Gavarian nodded at Fain. “Yeah, I prefer no commitments. Those females don't want emotional ties any more than I do. We share an even exchange of goods … if you know what I mean.”

As the kids returned with their trays, Talyn handed Fain a to-go box and drinks. “I'll make sure they both get back to their condo and are locked in.”

“Thank you.” Fain ruffled War's hair. “You two need anything before I go?”

“We're okay, Paka.”

He glanced over to Vega and arched a brow.

She stood up to hug him. “Sorry about earlier.”

“No problem.” Fain leaned down to hug her. She kissed his cheek before she pulled away.

“Goodnight, Paka.”

“'Night. Be kind to Talyn and Gavarian. Don't make them crazy.”

Fain left them, but paused at the exit to look back and watch as they joked and ate together. A strange warmth spread through him at the sight. Gods, how he hated the years he'd missed with Talyn and Galene as a family.

Sick to his stomach over it, he headed back to the command center where Galene was taking a status report from the Andarion prime commander for the day. She was impressive in her role of elite military ruler. Unlike his mother, Galene wasn't condescending or belittling with her leadership. She held an inner calm that allowed her to listen and take charge with a bold confidence that was contagious. She was absolutely inspiring. How he envied her that ability.

Personally, he was an asshole. He rubbed everyone the wrong way and reveled in that ability most of the time.

As she finished her call, she turned toward him with an arched brow. “Something wrong?”

He smiled. “Just in awe of your military skills. You remind me a lot of Hermione Dane.”

“Ryn's mother?”

Nodding, Fain closed the distance between them. “And yes, it's a big compliment from me.” He held the box out toward her. “I brought you some dinner.”

“Oh!” She sucked her breath in and bit her lip in the sexiest move he'd ever seen. “Thank you! I'm actually starving.”

So was he, and it wasn't for food. Damn, it annoyed him how she could reduce him back to the days of insecure teenage stupidity with nothing more than one simple coy look. It wasn't fair that she had so much power over him and he didn't appear to have any effect on her at all.

She took her food to eat at the small desk where she could monitor the station and communications.

“Mind if I join you?”

Returning to her seat, Galene scowled at his question as she unpacked her food. “I assumed you would.”

He sat down beside her and fumbled in his own box.

A light, adorable smile played at the edges of her lips.

“What?” he asked, dreaded its meaning.

“Talyn must have picked this out.”

“How do you know?”

“It's disgustingly healthy. He still eats like he's training for the Ring. Even Felicia complains that he's permanently damaged his taste buds from it.”

Laughing, Fain held his food out toward her. “Want to trade?”

She peered at it suspiciously at first, then nodded eagerly. “I forgot what a gourmet you were. You still cook?”

“Not as much as I did. It's hard to come by and keep spices in space. And you can forget baking on a cargo carrier.”

She shared a bite of her food with him. “I'm sorry.”

“For what?”

“That you can't do something I know gives you pleasure.” She twirled her fork in the noodles and took a bite.

Fain sat quietly as painful emotions choked him. No one had ever known him better than Galene.

Not even Dancer.

Because she had never judged or mocked his dreams, he'd shared things with her that he would have died before he told anyone else. And it made him remember the things she used to do when she was young. The way she lived so voraciously, as if trying to suck the very marrow from the bones of life.

“You still talk to your sisters?”

Sadness darkened her eyes. “No. My family cut all ties with me when I left home.”

He winced.

She covered his hand with hers. “Don't. I made that choice. I could have given up Talyn and they would have moved forward with another contract.”

“Why didn't you?”

Galene debated on how to answer his question. In the end, she spoke the honest truth. “He was your son. And mine. Yes, my life would have been easier. But no life is without hardship and tragedy. If I had to have such misery in mine, I'd have rather had it with my baby beside me than to have been left wondering where he was. How he was doing. If I'd ever see him again. And yes, he has
every
bad habit of yours. I swear to the gods. It's as if they cloned you when he was born.”

“He must have made you crazy, then. All my mother ever did was bitch about what a burden I was to her and her sanity.”

Galene fell silent as she caught the pain underlying his teasing words and she remembered some of his mother's harsher criticisms. “Actually, they're some of my favorite parts of your son. He's very thoughtful and kind. Sweet even.” She inclined her head at his food. “Notice how well balanced your icky meal is.”

He laughed. “It is, indeed.”

She fed him another bite of her much tastier spicy noodle dish. Then she tsked as he made a mess of it and she was forced to wipe his chin with her napkin. But her smile faded as she caught sight of one of the scars in his hairline from the brain surgery where Venik had either implanted his kill switch or the neurobinders for his ship.

“You okay?”

Galene nodded. “Just admiring your handsomeness.”

“Careful, I might begin to think you like me.”

“Ah now, we can't have any of that,” she teased.

Fain fell silent as memories rose up to choke him so fiercely that it was hard for him to swallow his food. Gods, how he'd missed this female. Being with her now made it so much worse. It just brought home with a stinging clarity how much of his life he'd screwed up.

She licked at her fingers while she ran over reports. “By the way, are you aware of how much Vega adores you?”

“Excuse me?”

Glancing up, she typed and did three other things, all the while carrying on a conversation with him. Damn, he'd forgotten how well she multitasked. “She told me about how you saved them. That you defied Venik's orders so that you could keep them here as your family, even when he threatened to kill you if you didn't get rid of them.”

Without conscious thought, Fain reached up to touch the old scar that ran through his parietal lobe where they'd embedded the chip that could one day end his life.

Or render him a vegetable.

Venik had been hotter than the core of a sun when Fain had returned from that mission, hauling two human kids with the cargo he'd been sent after.

“What the hell are you thinking, Slag-wart?” Venik had grabbed him by his neck and shoved him back into the wall. “We're not running a nursery. We've got enough orphans from good Tavali who've fallen. We don't take in strays.”

Fain had ground his teeth to keep from speaking. In that mood, Ven wasn't about to hear anything, anyway. But being a slave himself, Fain had refused to be part of a system that ruined another set of lives. “I'll pay for their room and board.”

“With what? I already own you.”

“I can make extra runs.”

A cruel smirk twisted his lips. “You really want to keep them? You can pull time in the arena.” He slapped Fain's cheek twice. “How 'bout that? You still want them now?”

Fain would always give Venik credit. He knew how to hit the rawest nerve to wring the most pain from anyone. “Yeah. I still want to keep them.”

Ven had pushed him back. “Fine. You can report for duty tonight. I'll make sure they add you to the menu.”

Sick to his stomach, Fain had headed back to where the kids were waiting on board his ship. Only ten, Stellavega Jaswinder had barely come up to his knee. But that look of vulnerable courage as she held onto her brother's hand and comforted him had reminded him so much of Galene that he'd been lost to it. Smiling, he'd held his hand out to her. “It's all good. I'm going to take you to a place where there are other boys and girls, and a nice lady who watches over you. If you have any problems, you can always call me and I'll take care of it and you.”

That was one of the few promises in his life he'd been able to keep. And he was grateful to the gods for it.

Sighing, he shrugged as he met Galene's curious stare. “They're good kids. And I knew Ven wasn't going to kill me. He might make me wish he had, but he's got too much vested in me as a pilot and Tavali to end me for anything other than personal betrayal.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah … I've pushed him enough to know it conclusively.”

Galene didn't speak again until The Tavali in the comm center left and they were alone. Then, she pinned him with a stare that made him instantly uncomfortable. “Did you really get a vasectomy?”

“What made you go there?”

“It's been on my mind since you mentioned it.”

“Why?”

“Just wondering. It's not something an Andarion does lightly.”

Since it was against every organized religion on their planet and their entire cultural teachings, yeah. Andarions were taught to protect and expand their bloodlines with as many children as possible. “I know.”

“So why did you?”

He shrugged. “Omira didn't want a hybrid baby. She was afraid of what it might do to her to carry it. I didn't care enough to argue. Given how the humans and Andarions treat mixed heritage children, I figured it would be for the best, anyway. Kid would have a hard enough time without a mother who couldn't stand it, on top of everyone else.”

“If you felt like that, why did you marry her?”

“I was alone, Stormy. Cast out of my race and family. She was in a bad situation at home, and she was desperate to get away from her abusive father. While I knew I didn't love her, I knew I'd never hurt her. In the beginning, she was nice to me so it was easy to pretend that it wasn't so bad.”

“Then what happened?”

He held his hand up. “While I was at work, she found a photograph of you where I had it hidden and realized it was your ring she had. By the time I came home, she was all kinds of insane and gunning for my ass. Since it was inscribed in Andarion, she got it translated and came for my testicles. She confessed that she didn't love me either, that she'd only used me to get away from her father.”

“Oh, Fain … I'm so sorry.”

He sighed. “That wasn't the worst. She told me that she was pregnant and threw me out of the house. Sadly, I didn't believe it. I thought she was lying to hurt me. Three days later, I came home to get a few things and found her in bed with her old boyfriend … and I saw the test that confirmed her pregnancy. I knew then that she'd been cheating on me for a while.”

Rising to her feet, she pulled his head against her stomach and held him close. “I hate that you went through that. You didn't deserve it.”

“For leaving you, I did, especially the way I did it. I should never have allowed Merrell and Chrisen to threaten me and drive me from you.”

“You were just a kid. Really. What could you have done?”

“I don't know.… But I think it's why I'm so suicidal with Ven. Having given up my life to them, I don't give a shit what Ven does to me now.”

She pulled back to stare down at him. “You should. I care.” And with that she gave him a kiss so sweet that it left him reeling.

Closing his eyes, he breathed her in as she teased his tongue and tasted him fully. He cupped her face with his hands and savored every last chill her kiss gave him. In that moment, he forgot where they were. Forgot all the years they'd been apart.

All he remembered was that he needed her to live.

His blood rushed through his veins with so much intensity that it left his breathing ragged and his body so hard it physically hurt to not be inside her.

Suddenly, Galene pulled back with a gasp.

Since he had no blood left in his brain, it took him a second to catch up to her as she returned to the panel and began pressing the screen. “W-w-w-what is it?”

“Did you hear that?”

Honestly? The only sound he could hear was his heart pounding in his ears. But as he strained, he caught a masculine voice speaking in Andarion to someone.

A female.

There was something familiar about both voices. Yet he couldn't quite place them. “Wait … is that—”

“Eriadne,” she finished for him. “They've released her from her confinement.”

“Is that her speaking?”

She shook her head. “No. Believe me, I know that bitch's voice.”

He scowled as they continued to speak. “Who's Nyran?”

“Merrell's youngest brother.”

“I thought he was dead.”

“So did I.”

Fain's breath caught as the transmission cut off as if the sender realized they were listening. Sitting back, his head spun. At one time, Ven had been in bed with Eriadne—literally and figuratively—double-dealing against the Andarion race. Was it possible he might be doing it again?