Part 5 (1/2)
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.
Chapter 4.
”W.
e need you to do this.”
Fain cursed at Nykyrian Quiakides royal Andarion prince and pain in his a.s.s who sat behind an ornate black desk on the screen in front of him. ”Ryn is the Tavali amba.s.sador-”
”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.”
b.l.o.o.d.y 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 a.s.shole.”
”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 b.a.s.t.a.r.d at all. ”Is she willing to work with me? Or do I need to buy thicker armor?”
”I've been a.s.sured 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.”
”Good. I won't miss you, then.”