Born of Betrayal (5 page)

“I had no idea until Fain opened the door on our arrival here. I was just a kid when he was disinherited. I didn't know anything about a previous pledge … but, in retrospect, his embarrassing a Batur and breaking pledge with that prestigious lineage explains a lot about my mother's unforgiving hostility toward him.” Dancer narrowed his suspicious gaze on Talyn. “I'm surprised your father married your mother, given that.”

Talyn had to force himself not to roll his eyes at his uncle's dense stupidity.

“Lena's not married,” Jayne said before Talyn could stop her. “She's never been married that I know of.”

Dancer went pale as he mentally did the math and realized who Talyn's father had to be.

“Yeah,” Talyn said drily. “So glad I inherited my intelligence from my mother's side of the family.”

Seeing the look on Dancer's face, Jayne scowled. “What?”

Dancer looked sick as he struggled to accept the bitter truth. “Why didn't she say something?”

“To whom?” Talyn asked defensively. “Who in your family would have given a single shit?”

Dancer raked a hand through his braids. “Does my mother know?”

“Know what?” Jayne asked. “What do you two know that I don't?”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Dancer jerked his chin at Talyn. “That he's my nephew.”

She snorted derisively. “Impossible. Keris would have been…” Her voice trailed off as she finally put it together. “Oh my God, no wonder she shot him. I'm just surprised she didn't go for his head.”

Talyn scoffed. “I'm surprised she didn't go for his crotch. It explains why he was holding a helmet there when he came off the ship. She must not have changed much since her youth.”

Dancer approached him slowly. “I knew you looked like Fain. But damn … I just thought that was why she'd picked you for a lover.”

He screwed his face up in painful distaste. “That's my mother you're talking about. Do you mind?”

Dancer laughed. “No. No wonder you attacked us like you did. You were protecting your mother.” He tried to pull him into a hug, but Talyn shoved him back.

His uncle took the rejection in stride. “Fain's going to shit when he finds out. I can't believe he has a son.”

Jayne's evil laughter joined his. “Who's going to tell him?”

Stepping back, Dancer shook his head. “Not me.” He reached to cup Talyn's cheek in his hand so that he could examine his features.

Talyn slapped his hand away. “I'm not your whore,
giakon
. Get your hands off me.”

Again, Dancer shrugged his insult away. “The guilt from this is going to destroy Fain.”

“Good.” Talyn stepped out of his uncle's reach. “I hope he chokes on it.”

“Careful. That's my brother you're talking about, and he's a good male. He's stood by me when no one else has.”

“Nice to know he can be loyal to someone. The gods know, he never showed that side of his character to my mother.”

Jayne came between them. “Whoa, guys. Breathe and stop before you say something you're going to regret. You both are entitled to your feelings. But Dancer, you don't know how hard their lives have been. I love every one of you. You're my family. That being said, Fain hurt them. Badly. And Talyn … you've no idea what your father's been through. Trust me. Fate got him back. With interest. He hasn't lived a fairy tale, either. There's a reason he's in a Tavali uniform.”

“And I don't really give a shit, Aunt Jayne.”

The door to his mother's office opened. His father came storming out.

Fain curled his lip at Talyn, then turned his attention to Jayne and Dancer. “I cannot work with that…” His voice trailed off into a choked sound as he gestured at the door. “She's impossible!”

Talyn grabbed him. “Did you hurt her feelings? What did you say to her?”

As his father went to punch him, Dancer came between them. “Stop it! Both of you!”

“Talyn!”

He froze at his mother's sharp tone and withdrew from the fight.

“Yeah, you better keep walking,
whelp
.”

“Fain!” Dancer snapped through gritted teeth. “Bite it!”

He held his hands up in surrender. “Call Nyk. I'm out of this.” With long, furious strides, he quit the office.

Dancer let out an elongated breath as he locked gazes with Galene. “I know you hate my brother and I'm sure you're entitled to it. But you should both know that while you had each other, he had absolutely no one. He didn't even have a country to call home.”

Galene curled her lip. “What about his
human
?”

Dancer's gaze turned sharp and biting. “Let's just say that out of the two years they were together, his happiest memory is probably you shoving him naked into an auditorium full of family and friends, and locking the door behind him.” And with that, he followed after Fain.

Galene couldn't breathe as those words echoed in her ears.

Two years?

What?

She looked at Jayne for an explanation. “What happened to his wife?”

“Before or after he caught her screwing a human male in their bed?”

Bile rose in her throat. “You're serious?”

Jayne nodded, then pulled her into a comforting hug. “I had no idea Fain was the one who left you.”

“I had no idea you were such close friends with his brother.” Because of her less-than-legal activities and associates, Jayne never talked about her friends or family in anything more than the most abstract of terms or nicknames. She never mentioned anyone, other than her husband and children, by their real names. And only if you were really close to Jayne did you get that much.

Without commenting, Jayne glanced to Talyn. “How are you holding up, sport?”

He shrugged. “I'm Andarion.”

“That's really not an answer.”

“For him, it is.” Galene rubbed his arm. “Notify the team that we'll try this again tomorrow with The Tavali. I need the day to mentally regroup.”

“Yes, ma'am.” He gave her a sharp salute before making an about face and leaving them to carry out his orders.

Jayne snorted. “I'm so used to him as a civ that I forget how military our boy really is when he dons that uniform.”

Galene smiled proudly. “I'm far more likely to break protocol than he is.”

Jayne let out an elongated breath. “I'm really sorry about this, Lena. I'm the one who suggested you for the position. I had no idea what I was getting you into.”

Sadness choked her as she thought back to the day she'd first learned she was pregnant with Fain's child. It had been one of the tiny handful of perfect moments in her life. They had been pledged on his sixth birthday. Only two days apart in age, they'd been raised together and had gone to the same schools. Since he was to be her husband, she hadn't even looked at other males.

Back then, Fain had been her entire world. A renowned and regaled athlete and champion, he had been destined to become a war hero like his father, and she'd planned on med school like her parents. Their wedding had been set for the fall following their graduation.

And Talyn had been conceived on Fain's birthday. Her virginity a gift to her beloved fiancé.

Instead of becoming a delighted father and devoted husband as she'd expected, Fain had shattered her heart and thrown her love away as if it were meaningless. She'd never recovered from his betrayal.

He was her one and only.

And she was nothing to him … just discarded garbage he'd left in the past and never looked back for.

“I hate him so much,” she whispered. “But he did give me the greatest gift of my life. I couldn't ask for a better son.”

“He's just like his father.”

Galene quirked her brow at Jayne's comment.

“He is,” Jayne said defensively, with a nervous laugh. “Now that I know, I see it clearly. I don't know how I could have missed it all these years. Talyn's not Fain's son so much as he's his clone. Driven. Fierce. Solitary. Intense. Stubborn. Loyal.”

“I will argue that last bit.”

Jayne shook her head in disagreement. “Something happened, Lena. Something really bad. I know Fain and have for years. If he broke pledge with you and you don't know why, it was something foul. He wouldn't have just walked away for no reason. That's not the male I've known. There is no one more honorable or loyal than Fain Hauk.”

“He was in love,” she spat the word.

With a human.

Jayne screwed her face up. “Maybe, but here's a question for you, and you're from a medical family so you'd know the answer better than I. Keris, Dancer, and Talyn are permanently stralen. What are the odds that gene missed Fain entirely?”

She shrugged. “Genes are strange things.”

“Yes, they are. And it is an extremely rare trait, but … think about it.” Jayne walked away.

“It's possible Fain never loved either of us,” she whispered under her breath. However, if that was true, why would he have left his Andarion heritage behind to marry a human?

He wasn't quite
that
stupid.

As much as it pained her to admit it, Fain's life must have sucked as much as hers did without his prestigious lineage. He'd been military royalty before the scandal. One of the original twelve warrior clans of Andaria.

The
first of the warrior clans. His family of War Hauks had established and set the standard for every warrior who had followed after them. It'd been his direct ancestor and older brother's namesake who'd founded The League they were currently fighting.

In the blink of an eye, like her, Fain had lost everything. And Jayne was right. As rare as the stralen gene was, for two brothers, Talyn, and other direct family members to have it, it would be extremely unlikely for it not to be in Fain, too.

Of course, there was one way to know for sure.

Tell him he has a son
.

Regardless of his feelings for her, his body chemistry would kick that gene into overdrive if he thought his son was threatened.

Not that it mattered. She wouldn't risk Talyn's life to find out. Fain wasn't worth it.

Still … it did give her something to think about.

 

C
HAPTER
4

“We need
you
to do this.”

Fain cursed at Nykyrian Quiakides—royal Andarion prince and pain in his ass—who sat behind an ornate black desk on the screen in front of him. “Ryn is the Tavali ambassador—”

“Whose mother is in charge of the Wasturnum—twelfth generation to rule that branch—and his beloved little brother is the Caronese emperor. The UTC won't see him as impartial, and you know it.”

Still, Fain argued against his appointment to serve with Galene. “I'm now an Andarion tiziran. Won't they have issues with
that
?”

“It's not the same, and you know it. You weren't raised by my mother and have no real loyalty to her. You're not blood related to the throne and can't inherit. End of the day, you're still one of the pirates. Just like them. Disinherited. Disowned. A freed slave. Someone who has no use for the laws and traditions of any known nation.
You,
the Universal Tavali Council will trust.”

In that moment, Fain seriously hated the UTC.

“What about Chayden?” he asked Nykyrian. “Can't he do it?”

“Qillaq prince by birth whose beloved, full-blooded sister is the next queen of the Exeterian Empire and whose father was a Gondarion prince and commander. Yeah … it's a no-go, too.” Nyk sat forward to pin him with an intense glare. “
You
have no real political ties to any throne and no blood loyalty to any single Tavali Nation or group. You don't even run your own crew. Your only blood tie is to The Sentella, and that, The Tavali trusts. Best of all,
we
trust you. Because you're an Andarion male with strong military ties and heritage, the Phrixians will follow you. There's no one else who can do this, Fain. You're in a unique position for it.”

Bloody effing awesome.

The irony of it disgusted him. The very things that had ruined his life were now the very things that locked him into a position of power he'd never craved. While he wasn't a follower, and had always adamantly refused to be one, he wasn't a leader, either.

Both positions sucked. It was why he didn't run his own crew.

He just wanted to be left alone to live what was left of his miserable life.

“I can't work with her. She hates my guts, every individual one of them.” Fain gestured to the blast mark on his battlesuit. “She shot me, Nyk. Point blank. No warning. In the heart!”

“Well … we've all had the urge to shoot you, Fain. She just had the fun of it.”

He childishly mocked Nykyrian's misplaced humor. “And you want
her
to lead
your
army?”

Nykyrian nodded. “I'm told you're the only one she hates to this degree. Everyone else should be safe from her aim.”

“You're not funny.”

“I'm a little funny.”

Fain growled at him. “You're an asshole.”

“Is that the worst insult you can toss at me? Really? You're slipping in your old age.”

Fain fanged him. But because they were such old friends, it didn't faze the bastard at all. “Is she willing to work with me? Or do I need to buy thicker armor?”

“I've been assured that she won't shoot you again.”

“What about cutting my throat?”

“We didn't get that specific. Would you like me to draw up a contract, with her listing any and all possible ways she could end you and saying she won't?”

“I hate you.” Fain sighed heavily. “Fine. I'll go get her and take them to the Porturnum. But if I die doing this, I plan to haunt you every day of eternity.”