“Tev,” he gritted out.“I cannot even blame her.Her loyalties were to Pidixa, her family.I made her no promises and she chose the security of her blood brother’s protection.If she’d spoken out and denied Pidixa’s accusation,hewould have been punished in my stead.”
Even after everything that he’d been through…Devix was saying that he understoodwhyArvalla hadn’t said anything.If Cara had been in his shoes, she didn’t know if she could be as forgiving.
But it just showed that she’d been right about him.All along.Hewasgood.Even if he didn’t believe it himself.
“You said your brother saved you from being,” it was hard to say the word and it fell like a stone from her lips, “executed.”
“Rixavox is a war general, an even better warrior than I am, than most males.”Cara could hear the pride in his voice when he spoke of him.“The Prime Leader of Luxiria, Vaxa’an, is his close friend and Rixavox is a member of Vaxa’an’s own council.He swayed Vaxa’an’s decision.That and there was an account from an elder male during the tribunal, who lived close to Pidixa and Arvalla.He said that he had seen us together often, that we had been pleasure mates for a long time.It cast enough doubt.”
“A witness said that you two had been in a relationship,” Cara began slowly, feeling disbelief rise in her breast, “and yet, you were still exiled?”
“It is up to the female involved to clear the male of charges,” Devix said quietly.“Without her clear account, it did not matter.”
Cara blew out a breath, trying to lessen her anger that rose inside her like a black wave.It left a sour taste on her tongue.
She drew the conversation away from Arvalla when her eyes caught on his scar.She traced it lightly with her fingertip and Devix’s eyes shut for a brief moment, leaning his cheek against her touch.
“I thought you said your brother gave you this,” she said.“For some reason, I had thought it meant you two didn’t get along.”
“He did give me this scar,” Devix replied, his eyes finding her own.“But I was proud when he did.Rixavox is my younger brother.He was one rotation behind me in training, but we always sparred against one another during warrior training, not only to hone our skills, but to spend whatever time we could with one another.I love him.And he risked much when he swayed Vaxa’an, given his high rank.He could’ve been stripped of his own, just by relation to me.”
Cara’s heart softened towards his brother.“He sounds like a good male,” she said softly.
“He is,” he said.“I have not seen him for many rotations.I fear we would be strangers to each other now, if our fates ever crossed again.”
“I don’t think that.You’ll never lose that bond you had with him,” Cara said softly, hating the way his voice roughened when he spoke those words.“Have you seen him since your exile?”
“Once,” Devix said, drawing in a deep breath.“Six or seven rotations ago.On Petrika.He tracked me there.I was not welcoming,” he confessed, raising his eyes, letting her see his every vulnerability.“I was angry.Drunk on Brew, with fresh wounds from the underground fights.I was broken, so far from the proud warrior I had been.I did not want Rixavox to see me that way.”
“What happened?” she murmured, tears stinging her eyes at that pain in his voice.
“I pushed him away,” Devix said.“I was ashamed,amashamed of how I treated him.He only wanted to help me.He said he had connections, to get me off Petrika, to settle me on a better colony in the First Quadrant.I would not hear it.I had convinced myself that I was the villain Pidixa had accused me of, the villain Arvalla had accused me of with her silence.I began to question everything that had happened.”
Cara understood now why he’d reacted in anger when she’d accused him of being good.It was obvious to her that he continued to struggle with what had happened all those years ago.
“Oh, Devix…” she whispered, heart thumping in her chest.It all made sense now.
“Eventually, he left.I knew he’d be back.Seeing him…it woke me.I asked myself what I was doing.My fate at that moment would be to die on Petrika.After Rixavox left, I realized I did not want that.”
“And then Sarkon found you and gave you a different life, one away from Petrika, your freedom from that place,” Cara whispered in ending, the final piece of the puzzle.“And eventually, you found Rozun.”
His head bowed slightly, confirming her words.“I did not mind working for Sarkon.The jobs were an outlet for my anger.They kept me numb.They kept my skills honed.”He paused and then said, “Until you, Cara.Until I began to realize that Iwasbecoming the being I feared, by keeping a female imprisoned against her will, by harming her with my direct involvement.I woke up once more.I realized I needed a different path.”
“And here I am,” Cara said softly, a shuddering sigh falling from her lips.She took a moment to process everything he’d told her, but it was a lot.She stared out at the lake, but she didn’t see it.
Softly, Devix asked, “Do you feel differently for me now?”
Cara turned to look at him, knowing what he was asking.Whether she was frightened of him now, whether she was regretting her decision to be there with him, whether she regretted letting him touch her and kiss her and hold her.
“Yes, I feel differently,” she whispered, rising to her knees at his side so she could face him.Something like despair flashed across his features and she added, “I feel that you are even more honorable, even more good than I originally thought.”
His brow furrowed and he stilled.“Rebax?”
“What will it take for you to realize that you were wronged so badly that it made even you, with all your strength, doubt who you truly are?” Cara asked him, feeling her heart beat so intensely for him in her chest. “You were a victim of a vindictive bastard and a female who couldn’t stand up for you when it mattered.You didnothingwrong, Devix.Why would I feel the same way about you, knowing all this now?I feelmorefor you.I admire youmore.And I am so thankful that you told me all this so I could see you clearly for the first time.And I’m so thankful that it wasyouwho Sarkon sent, because you are honorable and just and kind, even though others have not acted that way towards you.”
“Luxiva,” he rasped.“You are…”
“Amazingly beautiful, I know,” she teased, smiling.“And I can make a mean steak too.”
