Part 6 (1/2)

And that is her son. Effing figures. She'd probably had him beat Fain's records just for spite.

Feeling like an idiot, he rubbed at his sore jaw. No wonder they called the kid the Iron Hammer. He definitely hit like one.

Disgusted with himself for how he'd behaved toward them, he sighed at his own childishness. He should have recognized the Hammer. How could he have been so stupid as to not realize who Talyn was?

But that thought ended as he noticed the date on the boy's graduation certificate.

If that was correct...

Carefully, he scanned the doc.u.ment more closely. It was only partially filled out because it was missing Talyn's paternal lineage.

All of his father's heritage.

For that matter, Batur was her family name. And now that he looked closer at the photos of Talyn as a boy, Fain realized how much Talyn favored his nephew Darice. How much Talyn looked like him and Dancer.

Then his gaze went to Talyn's caste code that was listed on his certificates. -12-6. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d son of a disinherited male. That slammed into him like a cheap kick to his stones.

Ah, s.h.i.+t.

He stiffened as he sensed a presence behind him. Turning, he saw Talyn there in his Andarion battlesuit. Talyn, who was the same exact height and build he was.

The boy's gaze went past Fain to the diploma before he called out. ”Hey, Ma! Dad just figured out how to do the math to calculate my age and date of conception. He's having some kind of apoplexy over it. I think you need to come in here before he p.i.s.ses on your floor. And if he does, I did not do it, so don't yell at me for it. And I will not clean it up.”

Fain couldn't breathe as Talyn confirmed his fears.

I have a son.

A beautiful, strong, grown son.

Stunned and awed, and feeling like a total a.s.shole, he reached to touch the bruise he'd given Talyn yesterday during their fight.

His white eyes filled with hatred, Talyn pulled back and licked at the scab on his lip from another blow Fain had gifted him with. ”Don't touch me.”

Dressed in her uniform, Galene hesitated in the doorway. No wonder she'd shot him. It all made even more sense now.

Completely aghast, Fain stared at her. ”Why didn't you tell me?”

”I tried, and you told me to shush... that you didn't have time for me. You were busy.”

Fain winced at the memory of her hurt expression that day in the locker room before she'd stormed out, only to return a few minutes later to confront him with Merrell's lies.

”That was what you came to tell me?” he asked her.

”Yeah. Congratulations, Fain. You're a father.”

And how had he thanked her for her precious gift? He'd allowed her to believe that he was in love with another female. That he'd shamed her with a human lover. ”No wonder you shoved me into that auditorium.” He shook his head. ”You still should have told me.”

”Why? So that I'd be forced to marry a male in love with someone else? A human, no less. Call me provincial, but I wanted better than that.”

Fain twisted the ring on his pinkie around with his thumb. Fate had seriously f.u.c.ked him over.

No, fate had f.u.c.ked all of them over.

”I'm so sorry, Galene.”

”I'm not the one you need to apologize to.” Her gaze went to Talyn.

His features were absolute stone.

Fain wanted to embrace him. It was a physical ache inside him to touch a son he'd never thought to have, but it was painfully obvious that Talyn wanted him to die on the spot. ”I'm sorry, Talyn.”

”There are some things sorry doesn't fix, old man. This is definitely one of them.”

”I know. Believe me, I know.” His heart shattering, Fain blinked against the tears that choked him as he thought about everything they'd all been deprived of. The years that the three of them should have been a family.

I have a son...

A child he'd never been able to hold and soothe. A son he'd never taught to fight or protect himself. One he knew absolutely nothing about. Bitter, aching regret choked him hard.

Talyn met his mother's gaze. ”I'll give you two the room.”

As he started past her, Galene touched his arm. ”Are you okay, baby?”

”I'm fine, Matarra.”

Galene winced. That wasn't true and she knew it. But it was the best she'd get out of him. Talyn never showed anyone his emotions. His childhood had been too brutal for that.

Without another word, her son headed for his room.

Her heart hammering, she watched as Fain scanned the other photos of Talyn over the years. Their son had been a beautiful child. Overachiever to the extreme.

But then, Talyn had been forced to be three times better at everything he did to be seen as half as good as others.

Fain met her gaze again. ”I don't know what upsets me more. The number of times I made money off Talyn's wins, or the times I lost money betting someone would gut him in the Ring.”

”Don't even talk to me about that, Fain. Or I will kill you where you stand. You've no idea how much I hated him fighting for a prestige that should have been his at birth. How many times I've paced a waiting room floor, praying he'd live through the injuries he'd sustained because he had no future without battling for it. And even then, he was never given his due, because he never had a fully Vested lineage backing him.” She clenched her teeth and glared at him. ”d.a.m.n you for that.”

Fain choked on the pain inside his heart. As a boy, he'd thought to trade his own life and future to save Dancer's. Instead, that ”n.o.ble” action had cost his son his.

Galene's and Talyn's futures were not supposed to have been part of the bargain he'd made with Chrisen and Merrell Anatole to keep Dancer and Keris safe. Nothing had turned out the way it should have.

And never had he hated himself more.

”I can imagine what you've been through.”

”No, Fain. You can't. Not really. You were always so popular. Everyone loved and adored you. Wors.h.i.+ped the ground the mighty War Hauk tread upon... Our son has never known that. Most decent, self-respecting Andarions won't socialize with him. At all. Even as an officer, he wasn't allowed to shower in the same barracks area as any Vested soldier. The only female who will have anything to do with him is a paid companion he has set up in his condo, across town. I had to send him to school with Hys.h.i.+ans because our race wouldn't allow him to attend an Andarion school with a broken lineage. Every door he reached for was brutally slammed, not in his face, but on his little hands.”

He winced in response, and well he should.

”The Hys.h.i.+an and human children weren't allowed to play with him because he was Andarion. And the Andarion children weren't allowed to talk to him because he was the b.a.s.t.a.r.d of an Outcast father. Do you know he was even too humiliated to tell me that he'd finally broken down and paid for a mistress? Had he not been coldly shot down by his own commander who hated you and almost killed, I'd have never known he had that much in his life.”