Part 36 (1/2)
Fain glanced to Gavarian, then Talyn, before he returned his furious gaze to Venik. ”It don't make it right. I'll take the hazard. Just leave him alone.”
Ven's gaze went past Fain to Gavarian as he debated the offer. ”He has motive. His pregnant wife was killed in a dogfight with us. Did you know that?”
”He told me.”
”And you still think him innocent?”
”I believe that he's not the kind of male to seek vengeance, yes.”
”Then you're a fool, and he's going to lockup. h.e.l.l, I might even s.h.i.+p him back to Eriadne, with my compliments.”
Fain cringed as bitter nightmares ripped through him. A part of him was tempted to keep his mouth shut. Gavarian was a grown male. A trained officer, with battle experience. Not the callow innocent he'd been back in the day.
But as he met the boy's steeled gaze that said Gavarian was more than ready to take them all on, he knew the truth.
For all that fire, Gavarian was too young to be in Tavali lockup alone with the types of animals who would be waiting for him. Criminals who wouldn't hesitate to take out every bit of their anger at what they perceived as social injustice on the son of an alien aristocrat. That kind of fury unleashed...
No one deserved it.
And he wasn't going to stand by and see it rained down on an innocent kid.
”I know he didn't do it. If he wanted revenge, he'd have taken it against me personally.”
”Hauk,” Talyn barked in warning. ”Don't!”
Fain swallowed hard as he glanced to Galene and braced himself for what was to come.
Venik scowled. ”Explain.”
”Hauk,” Talyn stressed one more time.
Fain ignored him and did the right thing, in spite of the consequences he knew would bite him hard on his a.s.s. ”The major and Talyn both saved my life. Twice. And they both know that I led the Tavali a.s.sault against them that got them both grounded out of the Andarion armada.”
Galene sucked her breath in sharply as Talyn cursed Fain for his stupidity.
”And the major knows that I was the lead on the same raid his wife was flying in when she died. If he wanted revenge, he'd have killed me, or allowed me to die. He wouldn't have gone after civilians. He d.a.m.n sure wouldn't have protected War and Vega for me.”
Venik narrowed his gaze on Talyn and then Gavarian. ”Is this true? Did you know that?”
Talyn sighed heavily. ”Of course we did. Not exactly something you forget.”
His gaze haunted, Gavarian gave a subtle nod. ”Code name Blister tends to stick out.”
”Very well...” Venik closed the distance between him and Fain. ”You have thirty minutes to report to your new quarters. I want you there any time you're not on duty. You are not allowed any free time I don't give you. Understood?”
Fain glared at him.
”Do you understand?”
He understood. He just didn't want to verbally commit to something he had no intention of following.
Venik growled low in his throat. ”Don't make me kill you, Hauk. I will if I have to.”
”Do whatever allows you to sleep at night.”
Venik's nostrils flared. ”Captain. Stay here and make sure Hauk reports to quarters. If he fails to, I want him arrested. Shot if he resists.”
”Yes, sir.”
And with that, Venik and all but four of the Corps soldiers left.
Fain turned toward Galene. The sudden chill in the room told him it was time to go. He was no longer welcome here. Talyn had been right. She would never forgive him for what he'd done. And he didn't blame her at all.
”Why didn't you tell me?” Her voice was scarcely more than an anguished whisper.
”I told him not to.”
She turned on Talyn with an angry glare. ”You knew all this time?”
Talyn nodded. ”From the moment I saw his s.h.i.+p and its serial.”
”And yet you said nothing?”
”I didn't want you hurt.”
Fain took a step toward her. ”Stormy-”
”Don't!” she snapped, stepping out of his reach. Her eyes flared with hysteria. ”You... you weren't there. You didn't see what you did to my baby.” Her breathing ragged, she struggled to speak as tears welled in her eyes. ”What was left of him after you blew his s.h.i.+p into twisted fragments. They told me to pick out clothes to bury him in! That he'd never again wake, or then walk. You weren't there while we watched him struggle every day, in anguished pain, so that he could relearn to speak, talk, and walk. To do the most basic tasks for himself... because of you!”
Those words struck him twice as hard given what he'd felt when he heard the explosion earlier. While he loved Vega and War, he hadn't carried them in his body. He could only imagine what she must have felt when they brought Talyn in from battle and she got that call.
Fain swallowed hard. ”I would never have hurt him. Or you.”
”But you did. Dear G.o.ds, how you hurt him! And me. So many times.” Wiping angrily at her tears, she gestured toward Gavarian. ”And Vari... he barely survived Lettice's death. You stole a part of his young soul when you sent her to her grave.”
”I know. I'm sorry.”
”And there are some things that sorry will never fix.” She glared at him with the same ball-shriveling hatred she'd given him that day in the gym. ”Just go.”
Fain pa.s.sed a glance to War and Vega, who stood silently beside Felicia. He expected to see condemnation on her face, too, but only sadness showed in her pale eyes.
And sympathy.
Without another word, he led the Hadean Corps out of their condo and headed for his new quarters. There was no need to gather his things. He didn't have any.
Talyn moved to comfort his mother, but she shrugged his embrace away.
”I'm so mad at you right now, I could beat you myself.”
He blinked in stunned shock. ”Me?”