Born of Defiance

She sat down next to him. “Why? What is it?”


He hesitated before he answered in a whisper. “I don’t want to hear her tears. And I don’t want to see the guilt in her eyes that will make me feel like an asshole for having caused it. Just one time in my minsid life, I want to be selfish. I’m tired of eating my pain and hiding it to protect her feelings. I’m sorry she feels guilty for my life. But just once, I want to feel sorry for myself, and fuck everyone else!”

She stroked his cheek. “Okay. You’re allowed. The gods know you’ve earned it after what you’ve been through.”

His breathing ragged, he looked away from her. “I ran away once, Felicia. Right after I graduated. I had this stupid idea that I could find peace, somewhere else.”

Felicia’s jaw went slack at a secret she was sure he’d never shared with anyone else. “What happened?”

“I learned that as much as the Andarions hate me for my birth, the rest of the universe hates us even more. For a month, I tried to find work. I went system to system, looking. Everywhere it was the same. Humans hate us. Phrixians don’t trust us. I couldn’t even find housing. No one would rent to me. Not even for a night. I had to sleep on the street, in alleyways. Had to travel in cargoholds.” He swallowed hard. “I came back home and my mom didn’t even know I’d been gone. She was at a summit meeting with the tadara. That’s how irrelevant I am.”

“You’re not irrelevant, Talyn. Have you any idea how important you are to me?”

He scoffed. “I’ve ruined you by having you in my life. Tainted you. Forever.”

“No. You’ve given me a life and home the likes of which I never thought I could have. Until you, I felt worthless and irrelevant. Unwanted. But every time I hear your voice, my heart sings.”

Talyn brushed the back of his index finger down her cheek. “I don’t ever want you to regret me, Felicia.”

“How could I?”

Talyn started to smile until a dark shadow appeared in the doorway. He expected it to be his mother.

It wasn’t.

Tadara Eriadne of the Most Sovereign Blood Clan of eton Anatole stood there with a royal contingency of guards. Well over six feet, she was the epitome of a bloodthirsty queen, who’d murdered half her family to take her throne. And she eyed him as if he was the next to join them in their graves.

Felicia jumped up with a small squeak before she bowed to her queen.

“Leave us,” Eriadne said without even looking at her.

That pissed Talyn off. And the way Felicia hurried from the room didn’t help his mood even a little.

How dare the bitch treat Felicia that way. Even if she was queen. In his world, tadara meant nothing.

She was nothing.

Once the guards had withdrawn, the tadara approached his bed. “You’re not afraid of me?”

He curled his lip. “Should I be?”

“I could have you killed.”

Good luck with that, bitch.

Even though it was illegal, he met her gaze without flinching. “Death doesn’t scare me. And neither do you.”

“You are a bold one, aren’t you? Full of that great War Hauk spirit. It must be hard-coded into your DNA.”

Just as ruthlessness must be coded into hers.

“To what do I owe this pleasure, Tadara?”

The tic in her jaw said that she noted that his delivery of her title was more insult than obsequiousness. “You should watch your tone, boy. You have assaulted members of my direct family. You’re lucky you’re still alive.”

Actually, they were lucky he wasn’t dead. Had he not survived, he had no doubt his mother would have gone on a royal killing spree.

Starting with Eriadne.

But he refused to be intimidated by her. “Why are you here, Majesty?”

She swept a withering glare over him. “When I leave, my secretary will enter with forms for you to fill out. The pardon your mother and my daughter lobbied for comes with certain conditions.”

He quirked a brow.

“You are never to speak of anything that happened to you. Should anyone ask, you were off on an official assignment.”

Yeah…

“And my hair?”

“You were disciplined for your behavior.”

For his behavior. Priceless.

“Failure to fall in line, Captain, will have most dire consequences for you.”

“I’m a major, Majesty.”

A sinister half smile curled her lips. “Were. Again, let me reiterate how lucky you are to be let off so easily.” She slid her gaze toward the door. “Next time you assault a member of my family, it won’t be you we throw into a pit on Onoria.”

And with that, she walked out.

Talyn sat in bed, barely controlling the rage inside him. And when the secretary handed him the nondisclosure and he read through it, the lies and injustice scalded his throat and branded his soul even worse than the abuse he’d survived.

“Is there a problem, Captain?”