Born of Defiance

Patting Galene’s back, Felicia forced herself to stop crying long enough to answer. “Talyn’s still in surgery, but he was coding when they brought him in.”


Only then did his mother pull back to frown at her. “Who are you?”

“Felicia.”

Her brow furrowed by confusion, she looked up at Erix. “Who is she?”

“Talyn’s female.”

She blinked as she scowled even more. “Since when?”

Erix arched a brow. “For weeks now, that I know. Didn’t he tell you?”

Shaking her head, the commander raked a less-than-flattering stare over Felicia. At least that was what she assumed until Galene lovingly cupped her face in her hand. “You take care of my baby?”

“As best I can.”

Galene pulled her in for a crushing embrace and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”

Completely confounded, Felicia wasn’t sure what to think. With a ragged breath, Galene finally stood and allowed Erix to help her into a chair.

This wasn’t the callous Andarion mother Felicia had expected. For one thing, the commander was really young. She couldn’t be more than her mid-thirties, if that.

Since the commander refused to attend his matches, Felicia had assumed Galene would be uncaring and cold – something that wasn’t unusual for their mothers. But as the hours went by, and his mother tearfully regaled her with hundreds of pictures, and story after story of Talyn’s childhood antics, she learned exactly how much his mother loved and adored him.

Scarily so.

Galene even had copies of his elementary and primary school transcripts and grades on her link, as well as the stats for every fight he’d ever been in.

Most of all, Felicia learned that Talyn kept everything about himself bottled up. Felicia wasn’t the only one he was reserved around. He really didn’t talk about anything with anyone.

Not even his own mother.

In fact, he told Felicia more about himself than he did anyone else. And given how little that was, it was truly frightening.

When Felicia briefly mentioned med school to his mother, Galene had no idea that Talyn had ever applied. Never mind been turned down. Repeatedly. Felicia had barely caught herself before she outed something he must have kept from his mother for a reason.

Galene got up to pace again. Like her son, she was a fierce, intense beast. A force to be reckoned with. She checked the time and cursed.

“He’ll be okay,” Felicia reassured her.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because if he’s not, I’m going on a killing spree, and I’m sure the gods don’t want me to do that.”

His mother snorted. “I’ll help.”

“Good. I need someone to reload.” Felicia stifled a yawn. It would be daybreak soon. They’d already changed out surgeons, which was a good and bad thing. Good that Talyn was doing well enough in surgery that they were willing to keep going. Bad that it was taking so long.

Erix had fallen asleep about an hour ago and was curled up in a chair, snoring.

“I’ll get us more coffee.” Felicia had just stood up and stretched when the surgeon came through the doors.

He approached them with practiced stoicism. “Is one of you Felicia?”

“I am.”

With a grim nod, he acknowledged her. “Major Batur was calling for you when they brought him in. The first surgeon wanted me to tell you that and to make sure you were on hand whenever he wakes.”

“How is he?” his mother asked.

“We won’t know for at least twenty-four hours. If he makes it through, it’s a good sign. But there was a lot of swelling in his brain and he had a number of broken bones that we fused back together. He’ll probably have a permanent limp from the surgery on his left leg. Several internal organs were damaged when the dampners gave out, and it’s probably what injured his head.”

Felicia took Galene’s hand into hers as she listened intently.

“Can we see him?” Galene asked.

“He’s in recovery right now. But as soon as we move him to a room, I’ll have a nurse come get you.”

“Thank you.”

He inclined his head to them before he vanished through the OR doors again.

Yawning, Erix joined them. “Is he all right?”

“He’s out of surgery and in recovery.” Galene patted his arm. “Why don’t you go on home?”

He nodded. “Call me if you need anything.”

“I will.” She turned to Felicia. “You should probably go on, too.”

“I’m not leaving,” she said adamantly. “Not as long as he’s here.”

Galene pulled her against her and held her close. She placed a kiss to Felicia’s head. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me. Not where Talyn’s concerned. It’s my highest honor to care for him.” Felicia smiled at her. “I’ll go get our coffee. You want it plain again?”

She nodded.

“I’ll be right back.”

As Felicia entered the break room, she heard two of the nurses talking.