Part 20 (1/2)

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 hards.h.i.+p 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 G.o.ds. It's as if they cloned you when he was born.”

”He must have made you crazy, then. All my mother ever did was b.i.t.c.h 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 s.h.i.+p.

”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. G.o.ds, 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. d.a.m.n, he'd forgotten how well she mult.i.tasked. ”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 h.e.l.l 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 s.h.i.+p. 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 G.o.ds 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 a.s.s. Since it was inscribed in Andarion, she got it translated and came for my t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es. 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 s.h.i.+t 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.