"I will argue that last bit."
Jayne shook her head in disagreement. "Something happened, Lena. Something really bad. I know Fain and have for years. If he broke pledge with you and you don't know why, it was something foul. He wouldn't have just walked away for no reason. That's not the male I've known. There is no one more honorable or loyal than Fain Hauk."
"He was in love," she spat the word. With a human.
Jayne screwed her face up. "Maybe, but here's a question for you, and you're from a medical family so you'd know the answer better than I. Both Keris and Dancer are stralen. What are the odds that gene missed Fain entirely?"
She shrugged. "Genes are strange things."
"Yes, they are. And it is a rare trait, but..." Jayne walked away.
"It's possible he never loved either of us," she whispered under her breath. However, if that was true, why would he have left his Andarion heritage behind to marry a human?
He wasn't quite that stupid.
As much as it pained her to admit it, Fain's life would have sucked as much as hers did without his prestigious lineage. He'd been military royalty before the scandal.
In the blink of an eye, like her, he'd lost everything. And Jayne was right. As rare as that gene was, for two brothers to have it, it would be extremely unlikely for it not to be in Fain, too.
Of course, there was one way to know for sure.
Tell him he has a son.
Regardless of his feelings for her, his body chemistry would kick that gene into overdrive if he thought his son was threatened.
Not that it mattered. She wouldn't risk Talyn's life to find out. Fain wasn't worth it.
Still ... it did give her something to think about.
*
"We need you to do this."
Fain cursed at Nykyrian, who sat behind an ornate black desk in front of him. "Ryn is The Tavali ambassador--"
"Whose mother is in charge of the Wasturnum--fourth generation to rule that branch--and his beloved little brother is the Caronese emperor. The UTC won't see him as impartial, and you know it."
Still, Fain argued against his appointment to serve with Galene. "I'm now an Andarion prince. Won't they have issues with that?"
"It's not the same, and you know it. You weren't raised by my mother and have no real loyalty to her. You're not blood related to the throne and can't inherit. End of the day, you're one of the pirates. Just like them. Disinherited. Disowned. A freed slave. Someone who has no use for the laws and traditions of any nation. You, the Universal Tavali Council will trust."
In that moment, Fain seriously hated the UTC.
"What about Chayden?" he asked Nykyrian. "Can't he do it?"
"Qillaq prince by blood whose full-blooded sister is the next queen of the Exeterian empire. Yeah ... it's a no-go, too."
Nyk sat forward to pin him with an intense glare. "You have no real political ties to any throne and no blood loyalty to any single Tavali nation or group. You don't even run your own crew. Your only blood tie is to The Sentella and that, The Tavali trusts. Best of all, we trust you. Because you're an Andarion male with strong military ties, the Phrixians will follow you. There's no one else who can do this, Fain. You're in a unique position for it."
Bloody effing awesome.
The irony of it disgusted him. The very things that had ruined his life were now the very things that locked him into a position of power he'd never wanted.
"I can't work with her. She hates my guts, every individual one of them." He gestured to the blast mark on his battlesuit. "She shot me, Nyk. Point-blank. No warning. In the heart!"
"Well ... we've all had the urge to shoot you, Fain. She just had the fun of it."
He mocked Nykyrian's misplaced humor. "And you want her to lead your army?"
Nykyrian nodded. "Besides, I'm told you're the only one she hates to this degree. Everyone else should be safe from her aim."
"You're not funny."
"I'm a little funny."
Fain growled at him. "You're an asshole."
"Is that the worst insult you can conceive for me? You're slipping in your old age."
Fain fanged him. But because they were such old friends, it didn't faze the bastard at all. "Is she willing to work with me? Or do I need to buy thicker armor?"
"I've been assured that she won't shoot you again."
"What about cutting my throat?"
"We didn't get that specific. Would you like me to draw up a contract, with her listing any and all possible ways she could end you and saying she won't?"
"I hate you." Fain sighed heavily. "Fine. I'll go get her and take them to the Posturnum. But if I die doing this, I plan to haunt you every day of eternity."
"Good. I won't miss you then."
*
Fain knocked on the door of Galene's condo. Only a block from the palace, it was one of the nicest buildings in the bustling metropolis of Eris--the Andarion capital city. The doorman had been a little skittish on his arrival, but since Fain had come in with an Andarion royal guard, he'd let Fain pass with nothing more than an irritated stare.
So what the hell was taking her so long to answer the door, anyway? Her condo couldn't be that big.
She's doing it strictly to piss you off.
Most likely.
He knocked again.
The door slid open to show her boytoy in nothing but a simple white towel. He had a blaster in one hand while he eyed them warily.
Anger boiled inside Fain at the sight. So she hadn't been lying. They really did live together.
This day keeps getting better and better.
Fain curled his lip. "I'm here for the commander."
Her boytoy sneered at him. "You should have called first."
"She was told to expect me."
"Not first thing in the morning." Grimacing at the group, the boytoy allowed Fain into the elegant condo, but not the others. He closed the door in their faces, and headed toward the kitchen, where he had a bowl of hot cereal set on the countertop. He placed his blaster beside it before he sat on a barstool and returned to eating.
"You have company, Commander."
At his disgruntled words, Galene leaned over the counter to see Fain. Dressed in a short lacy nightgown, she gaped, then pulled her robe closed and belted it. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm supposed to escort you to the Posturnum's HQ. Remember?"
"In an hour," she growled.
"What can I say? I couldn't wait to see you again."
She rolled her eyes at his sarcasm.
Her boytoy stood up and leaned over the counter to place his bowl in the sink. He met her gaze and arched a quizzical brow. "You want me to shoot him this time?"
She had the nerve to smile. "Don't tempt me, scamp." She moved his blaster away from his hand. "You should finish dressing."
"Yes, ma'am." He headed for the hallway.
"And don't leave your damp towel on the floor again. Hang it up."
Without a word, he jerked the towel off his hips and tossed it at her. Completely naked, he passed a smug, taunting grin at Fain before he headed to the back of the condo.
Disgusted by his flagrant display, Fain wanted blood. It took everything he had not to go after the punk and teach him a valuable lesson in manners.
Laughing at they boy's actions, Galene took the towel into what must be the laundry room. She came out to add her own glare at Fain. "I wish you wouldn't antagonize him."
"I antagonize him? Are you serious?"
"Yes. I would think you're old enough to know better."
"But not him, huh?" Fain curled his lip. "Maybe you should sleep with someone closer to your own age."
She didn't respond as she headed for the hallway. "We'll be out in a minute."
Biting his lip, Fain had never been so furious in his entire life. It was actually painful.
As he waited and contemplated murdering them both, he drifted into the spacious living room that held an incredible view of the city. S
omething he would have appreciated more if he'd been in a better mood.
But right then, only bloodshed would placate him.
Trying to put it out of his mind, he swept his gaze over the contemporary furniture and noted the number of pictures in the place. More than that, he realized that the photos were all of her pet.
Little effing bastard ...
He paused at one of her with the boytoy when the kid was a lot younger ...
A lot younger. Like around six or seven, and dressed in a lorina costume for a play.
Scowling, Fain stepped closer to the frames that held the boy's graduation certificate, and an article from a sports magazine about him.
Talyn Batur.
Oh dear gods, he's her son.
Shit! Talyn Batur.
Talyn B-a-t-u-r, the Ring fighter of the century, was her only son. Her kid was an Andarion legend. That little bastard had also beaten every record Fain had set in the Ring. Every one of them. Records that no one had ever thought would be beaten by another fighter.
And that is her son. Figures.
He rubbed at his sore jaw. No wonder they called the kid the Iron Hammer. He definitely hit like one.
Disgusted with himself for how he'd behaved toward them, he sighed. I'm such an idiot. How could he have been so stupid?
But that thought ended as he noticed the date on the boy's graduation certificate.
If that was correct ...
He scanned the certificate more closely. It was only a partial certificate because it was missing Talyn's paternal lineage.
All of his father's lineage.
Batur was her family name. And now that he looked closer at the photos of Talyn as a boy, Fain realized how much Talyn favored his nephew Darice. How much Talyn looked like him and Dancer.
Ah shit.
He tensed as he sensed a presence behind him. Turning, he saw Talyn there. Talyn, who was the same exact height and build he was.
The boy's gaze went past Fain to the certificate before he called out. "Hey, Ma! Dad just figured out how to do the math to calculate my age and date of conception. He's having some kind of apoplexy over it. I think you need to come in here before he pisses on your floor. And if he does, I did not do it, so don't yell at me for it."
Fain couldn't breathe as those words slammed into him like a hurricane.
I have a son.
He reached to touch the bruise he'd given Talyn yesterday during their fight.
His white eyes filled with hatred, Talyn pulled back and licked at the scab on his lip. "Don't touch me."
Galene hesitated in the doorway.
Completely aghast, Fain stared at her. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I tried and you told me to shush, that you had much more pressing news."
Fain winced at the memory of her hurt expression that day in the dressing room. "That was what you wanted to tell me?"
"Yeah. Congratulations, Fain. You're a father."
And he'd told her that he was in love with another female. "No wonder you shoved me into that auditorium." He shook his head. "You still should have told me."
"Why? So that I'd be forced to marry a male in love with someone else? A human, no less. Call me provincial, but I wanted better than that."
Fain twisted the ring on his pinkie around with his thumb. Fate had seriously fucked him over.
No, fate had fucked all of them over.
"I'm so sorry, Galene."
"I'm not the one you need to apologize to." Her gaze went to Talyn.
His features were absolute stone.
Fain wanted to embrace him. It was a physical ache inside him to touch a son he'd never thought to have, but it was painfully obvious that Talyn wanted him to die on the spot. "I'm sorry, Talyn."
"There are some things sorry doesn't fix, old man. This is definitely one of them."
"I know. Believe me, I know." His heart shattering, Fain blinked against the tears that choked him as he thought about everything they'd all been deprived of.
Talyn met his mother's gaze. "I'll give you two the room."
As he started past her, Galene touched his arm. "Are you okay, baby?"
"I'm always fine, Matarra."
Galene winced. That wasn't true and she knew it. But it was the best she'd get out of him. Talyn never showed anyone his emotions. His childhood had been too brutal for that.
Without another word, her son headed for his room.
Her heart hammering, she watched as Fain scanned the other photos of Talyn over the years.
He met her gaze again. "I don't know what upsets me more. The number of times I made money off Talyn's wins, or the times I lost money betting someone would kill him in the Ring."
"Don't even talk to me about that, Fain. Or I will kill you where you stand. You've no idea how much I hated him fighting for a prestige that should have been his at birth. How many times I've paced a waiting room floor, praying he'd live through the injuries he'd sustained because he had no future without battling for it. And even then, he was never given his due, because he never had a real lineage to brag about." She clenched her teeth and glared at him. "Damn you for that."
Fain choked on the pain inside his heart. As a boy, he'd thought to trade his own life and future to save Dancer's. Instead, that "noble" action had cost his son his.
Galene's and Talyn's futures were not supposed to have been part of the bargain he'd made. Nothing had turned out the way it should have.
And never had he hated himself more.
"I can imagine what you've been through."
"No, Fain. You can't. Not really. You were always so popular. Everyone loved and adored you. Worshiped the ground the mighty War Hauk tread upon ... Our son has never known that. No decent, self-respecting Andarion will socialize with him. At all. And the only female who will have anything to do with him is a paid companion he has set up in his condo, across town. I had to send him to school with Hyshians because they wouldn't let him attend an Andarion school with a broken lineage. Every door he reached for was brutally slammed, not in his face, but on his little hands."
He winced in response, and well he should.
"The Hyshian and human children weren't allowed to play with him because he was Andarion. And the Andarion children weren't allowed to talk to him because he was the bastard of a disinherited father. Do you know, he was even too humiliated to tell me that he'd finally broken down and paid for a mistress? Had he not been coldly shot down by his own commander--who hated you--and almost killed, I'd have never known he had that much in his life. And even then, because of his standing, her agency had refused to allow them to take anything more than a five-year, limited contract."
Fain ground his teeth. Every Andarion mistress he'd ever heard of or known would have sold her soul to make a lifelong pact with a military officer. Especially one who held the second-highest rank in their armada, and wasn't fifty years old with it. Not to mention the fact that Talyn Batur was an intergalactic champion regaled by every known world who followed the Andarion Ring sport.
It sickened him to think of what his child had gone through because of him.
"If I'd had any inkling, Gay, I would have busted hell wide open to provide for both of you."
She let out a weary sigh. "It doesn't matter now, does it? We can't go back. We both have a hand in ruining our son's life."
"I don't know." He gestured at the trophies and awards on the shelves and wall. "You look like you've done an amazing job with him."
Galene looked away. Tears filled her eyes as she tried not to remember the past. "Every day, I ask myself if I could have done more."
Fain gave her a hard, harsh stare. "You're a much better mother than I ever had. At least you loved him. Protected him. You didn't eject him from your house and make him an Outcast who didn't dare step foot in any Andarion territory without a death sentence hanging over his head."
She swallowed at those words. Funny, she'd never thought of Fain that way. For all these years,
he'd been a target for her hatred. She had never really considered how hard it'd been for him to be alone, without lineage.
Mostly because she hadn't cared. She'd wanted his life to be lived in total misery. Wanted him to pay for leaving her.
For leaving Talyn, and causing her baby harm.
Now that she knew he had, it didn't make her feel better as she'd thought it would.
It, too, made her sad.
"Having raised Talyn, I will never understand how my parents did me the way they did. Or what yours did to you. There's no way I could ever hurt him. Not intentionally."
"As I said, you're a much better mother than any I know. He was lucky to have you, Gay. The only thing he got shafted in was the father department, and for that I am so incredibly sorry."
"Commander?"
They both turned as Talyn rejoined them.
He handed a link to his mother. "There's been another attack."
Flinching, she took the link from him and left the room to answer the call.
Awkward silence filled the air between them as Talyn stared a brittle hole through him.
What did someone say to a grown child they'd never known they had?
All of a sudden, Fain had a whole new respect for Nykyrian, who'd been faced with this when his ex had dropped Thia on him out of the blue.
Uncomfortable, he cleared his throat. "Your mom said that you have a female?"
Talyn continued to stare at him.
"Does she have a name?"
A full and very slow minute went by before he answered. "Felicia."
"It's a beautiful name."
And still he glared at him. Damn. Forget Talyn's martial skills. That stare could let blood.
"How long have the two of you--"
"I don't talk about my personal life."
Fain nodded as he remembered reading that in a few different articles, over the years. It was something the media had beaten Talyn up over. The Iron Hammer didn't show his face in the Ring, or out of it. Nor did he speak of anything, other than his matches. The most the media had dragged out of him was that he liked to rock climb and camp on weekends. And that was if they could ever get an interview with him at all.
"Is there anything I can say to you that would end with us at least on friendly terms?"
Talyn shook his head. "Nothing comes to mind."
"Aren't you at least curious about me?"
Talyn snorted. "Not really."
"You've no questions whatsoever?"