“I expected him to be here, ready to confront me for returning.” Lyk wondered why his father might miss this chance to berate him for his failings. He’d never done it before.
“‘Confront’ may be the wrong choice of word,” his mother murmured.
“Mother,” he said, sliding his chair backward to allow him to stand. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m afraid now may not be the best time for a friendly chat. There are urgent matters that we need to attend to, and I’d expected Father to insist that my presence not be allowed back on Vartik. As he apparently has no protest to lodge, we’ll be going.”
Holding out his hand to Ally, who looked a little non-plussed at leaving her plate of fruit unfinished, he lifted her from her seat. Lyk turned to head for the door but froze in place before taking a step.
His father stood in the doorway. It was clear he’d heard what Lyk just said. The once proud Vartik king’s face resembled the gloom-filled sky right before a thunderclap, and Lyk readied himself for the storm that was about to hit.
CHAPTER 28
ALLY
“Father.”
Lyk’s tone was unenthusiastic. Ally squeezed his hand in support, then retook her seat at the table. If they weren’t leaving, she’d take the opportunity to tuck some of his mother’s delicious fruit in her pockets for later. Now if she could only find a surreptitious way of doing so without the queen catching wind.
The older man entered slowly, his oversized gray robes doing little to disguise the muscular body that lay beneath.Are all Vartik males physical perfection? No wonder they want to keep this place hidden. Otherwise, they’d be overrun with lusty females.
“When your brother Marek informed me that you were returning to Vartik, my first instinct was to order him to bar your entry.”
The man’s tone was cold, but his eyes radiated heat. Ally turned her gaze to Lyk, who was standing like a statue, his face expressionless. Her heart went out to him then. Confronting a parent who disapproved was extremely difficult.
So is confronting a parent you disapprove of, she realized. Not that she’d have a chance. But in that moment, Allyconsidered what she would say to her father if given the opportunity to speak to him again.
You preferred your decadent lifestyle to caring about your daughters’ futures. You signed a paper saying that if you defaulted on your payments, Evie and I would be placed in indentured servitude. Your selfishness knows no bounds.
Ally realized that she’d been selfish, too. Before she’d known better, she was like her father, living for the moment, not caring how much things costs or where the money came from. It had always been there, and it would always be there.
Until it wasn’t.
And even after they’d been forced to flee the Rings, she’d continued being selfish. She’d let her sister think they’d return to a happy life on the Rings, just so she wouldn’t have to deal with her disappointment. She’d done her best to insult Lyk and use him, first to get where she wanted to go and then to save her sister.
Even now, she cared more about stuffing grapes in her pocket than in supporting her savior.That’s not true, she told herself.I did not fight his battle for him against the cyborg, and I won’t fight his battle with his father either.
Unless he needs me.
His father stepped closer, until he was only a few feet away from his son. “Before I could suggest it, Marek told me that you would be welcomed back on Vartik and that you would help us fight our holy war against the demons who one day will seek to ravage this planet and everything we hold dear. Even then, I wanted to argue, to tell him that those who fight on the side of good don’t need a terrorist for an ally.”
Ally saw Lyk flinch imperceptibly at the word “terrorist” and her anger rose. She tried to focus on the fruit, but the more Lyk’s father spoke, the more her ire rose.
“You have no idea the damage you would have done if I’d let you have your way, not to mention the pain you brought on your family. While your brothers were out risking their lives to keep our existence a secret, to wipe away every trace of our people, you were doing your best to antagonize the very element we were attempting to hide from.”
Ally could see a vein start to pulse in Lyk’s forehead. His hands slowly balled themselves into fists. He was doing his best to keep his cool, but she wasn’t sure how much more he could take.
She wasn’t sure how much more she could take either. For once, she was glad her parents had chosen to ignore her. If her father had tried to keep her under his thumb like Lyk’s father clearly had, she would have run away ages ago.
“Painting a V in blood,” his father spit out. “I mean, how juvenile can you get? Dangerous and dumb!”
“That’s it!” Ally stood up, slamming her hands down on the table and making all eyes pivot to her. She put herself between Lyk and his father, her finger wagging in the older man’s face. “The only thing that’s dangerous and dumb is your reaction to your son’s trying to help his people.”
The former Vartik king sneered down at her. “Who is this person?”
Lyk’s mother waved her hand casually. “Zuch, meet Allandria. Your son’s mate.”
Ally’s eyes widened at the word “mate,” but before she could contradict the former queen, Zuch scoffed. “A Territhian. It figures. Not one of our sons was ever happy with good clean Vartik stock.”
“Why am I not surprised that you’re a racist as well as an idiot?”
