“But…but he hurt you,” she exclaimed.
“All warriors get injured during training.Half of my scars are from warrior training,” he tried to explain to her even though it was hard for Taylor to grasp.It sounded…intense.Like a Spartan culture.“My sire, however, was harder on me than the others.He did not wish to show preference during training.In order to accomplish this, he had to be more strict.”
“Wasn’t that hard for him?” Taylor asked after a brief moment, looking down into the water, wondering how in the world a father could willingly do that.
“Tev,” he said.“I knew it was hard for him.Our relationship was never the same because he would always be a war general in my mind, no longer a sire.”
Taylor’s heart ached a little in her chest and she treaded closer to him.“What happened to him?”
“He died in battle,” he said.“He was off planet, on Urvenia, fighting for our alliance.He died a warrior’s death, the way he wanted.”
“I’m sorry,” she said softly.“It couldn’t have been easy for you.”
She’d known loss as well.She knew it wasn’t easy.
“And your mother?” she asked.
Vikan’s expression slipped a little, his mouth tightening.“She died bringing me into this world.I never knew her, only stories my sire had told me.”
Taylor sucked in a breath.“Vikan…”
“My sire and I hardly ever spoke of her though,” he admitted after another moment.“Sometimes I wish we had.I wish I had asked of her more.”
Taylor had not quite expected them to have this conversation when they’d entered the water, but somehow she found herself saying, “I never knew my mother either.She left when I was just a baby.”
“She died?” he asked, frowning.
“No,” Taylor said.“I think she is still alive.Somewhere.She chose to leave me and my dad.”
“A mother who willingly leaves their offspring?” Vikan said.“That is…unfathomable.”
“Perhaps it is different on Earth,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around her body.She cupped some water in the palm of her hands and splashed her face to cool off.She also used it as a way to buy time.Taylor usually didn’t speak of her family, but somehow she felt safe to do so with Vikan.“She was an addict apparently.”
“An addict?”
“I never asked whether it was alcohol or drugs,” she admitted softly, looking into his eyes, feeling very vulnerable and not entirely liking it.“I couldn’t bear to know.My grandmother told me about her because my dad would never even say her name.”
Vikan shifted in the water.
“Sorry,” she said softly.“It’s not the most comfortable thing to talk about.Just ignore me.”
His lips downturned.“I wish to know about you,luxiva.I wish to know everything.”
“Everything, huh?” she repeated quietly.
“We have time for it still,” he said.“To learn about one another.”
“Only three days,” she reminded him.“Can you really know a person in three days?”
“You have known me a lot longer than three spans,luxiva,” he told her, referring to her dreams, which he calledvisions.“As for me, I am a quick learner.”
Taylor almost smiled, despite what they’d just been talking about it.“You’re awfully confident in your abilities.”
“I have a right to be,” he murmured, holding her gaze.
Barely suppressing a shiver, Taylor changed the subject to one she’d been thinking about a lot lately.“If you’re able to see the future like you claim, why haven’t you been seeing visions of us?”
Vikan stilled.“My gift does not work that way.It is unpredictable at best and causes a great deal of pain.”
