Born of Fire

“Do you realize, Mistress of Justice, that your son has been running from tracers and assassins for twenty-three years because he’d rather be killed by them than ask anything from you? Even a fair trial, which is the very least of what he deserves?”


Shahara boldly looked the overseer up and down, noting that she took her words in stride. “From the outer looks of him, he has far more of your genes in him than his father’s. But then, I guess maybe I’m wrong. Unlike you, Sheridan would never allow an innocent man to die without a hearing. He’d at least take the time to listen to the case before he condemned the person to a death he didn’t deserve. And he sure wouldn’t condemn someone for his own actions that they didn’t have any part in. He’s remarkably decent that way.”

She felt her eyes water as she thought about Syn and the son he continued to claim in spite of everything Mara and Paden had done to him. “You should also know that unlike you, he still provides for his son even though he’s not the biological father . . . and his ex-wife, like you, has tried repeatedly to kill him and arrest him, not for his crimes, but for those of his father.”

Poor Syn, to have been relegated to such cold-blooded bitches in his life.

“As a young man, he crawled out of the sewers you abandoned him in and went to med school on his own dime. He became a surgeon until a reporter exposed his past. Even then, he didn’t become his father. He built a shipping company and was leading a respectable life until I screwed him over.”

“What of Kiara Zamir? Did he not rape and murder her?”

“She’s alive and well, if you’ll bother to check. Sheridan was protecting her when her father threw a fit and, rather than give him the benefit of the doubt, he called out an execution. Syn’s only crime was not handing his best friend—the man who is in love with Kiara and who still protects her—over to President Zamir. He would rather die than betray his friend. Again, not the actions of his father—but those of a decent man. And at this point, I have no idea where he learned his decency.”

She turned to leave.

“Wait,” the overseer said, stopping her.

Shahara turned to face her.

“You have proof of his innocence?”

Crossing the floor to stand before the desk, she reached inside her pocket and pulled out the chip. “This proves his innocence conclusively, as well as the guilt of the Merjacks.”

“You have reviewed the chip?”

“Yes, Mistress of Justice.”

The overseer took it from her hand and placed it in an airtight container. Positioning it carefully before her, the overseer studied the tiny chip that held Syn’s entire future.

Shahara held her breath, praying for a miracle.

Finally the overseer looked up at her. “I can get him a fair trial, but that’s all. If our court finds him guilty, then I’ll do nothing to stay his execution.”

“That’s all I ask.”

“Very well. Where is he being held?”

“Ritadaria.”

She tilted the container so that the chip fell into one corner. “I’ll send an escort with you to have him transferred here for incarceration until his trial.”

“Thank you, Mistress.”

Silence fell between them. Shahara could tell the overseer wanted to say something more, but doubt hovered in her eyes while she continued to study the chip. “Tell me something, seax,” she said at last.

“Yes?”

“Really, is he a decent man?”

“Yes, Mistress. I’ve never known a more noble one. He does you proud every day he lives.”

She smiled.

“And may I ask you a harsh question?”

“Why did I leave them?”

Shahara shook her head. “Why did you try to kill him when he was an infant?”

The color faded from her face. “What?”

“Digger told me that you tried to kill him when he was an infant.”

Her cheeks darkened with anger. “That’s a lie. Talia had wanted to bathe him and I let her. She’d allowed him to fall beneath the water and drown. I was the one who revived him, but Indy wouldn’t believe me. I never hurt my children.”

“But you left them.”

Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. “I had no choice. Indy would have killed me had I stayed. I kept hoping that I could convince my parents to take them in. After awhile, it just got easy to live without them.”

“And when he came to you when he was twelve?”

“He caught me by surprise and I didn’t know what to do. I would have lost everything I had if anyone ever learned that I had been married to Idirian Wade. I panicked when I saw Sheridan and overreacted. By the time I came to my senses, he was gone.”

Shahara shook her head. “You see how easy it is to be misjudged when you don’t have all the facts?”

“Don’t lecture me, child. You have no idea what I’ve been through over these years.”

“And you have no idea what your son has had to face alone because of what you did.”

The overseer didn’t speak as those words hung between them. After a few seconds, she glanced up. “Do you know whatever became of his sister, Talia? Is she all right?”