He blinked. Regardless of how cold his family could be, they never pushed him out. "Do they know where you are? What happened to you?"
She shook her head. "The last I heard, they believed I was dead. Kidnapped and killed."
"Do you wish to go back?"
"Would you?"
"I don't understand why any family would reject you. You seem like an amazing humanoid. I know that I--"
She pulled her hair back away from her face.
He had seen the ridges on her nose from Nevillian heritage, but when she pulled her hair back, he saw the scarring over her face and brow. It was almost like she wore skin armor over her face. It traveled up the side of her temples into her head and down the hairline, disappearing around her ears.
"I am flawed," she said.
He blinked. "You're flawed? It just looks like scarring."
"It's part of the disorder. I have Harvin's Skin. It's all over my body."
He had heard of Harvin's Skin. It was a disorder of humanoid skin. There was not a cure for it because it would never entirely go away. It was a disfunction that was imprinted on the genome. It also was the first sign of more intense internal issues.
The scientist in him kicked in. "Have you developed the internal issues?"
She shook her head. "Just the external ones for now. The last medic I saw told me that they were inevitable. Of course, he also told me it would have started showing by now."
"How do you treat it?" he asked.
"I cover it up."
"But you do know there are medical treatments for it."
"They are only symptomatic relief. It won't stop the disorder from taking its course."
"Have you been checked recently? To determine the status of it?"
"I got a clean bill of health when I joined this exchange program, so nothing was found at that time."
"What did they report on your skin?"
"That I should keep it covered to raise my chances of meeting a potential mate. Just like my family.”
Khalzin felt sick. Angry sick. How could anyone do that to her? Throw her out because of this? "This is completely unacceptable. I should throttle your family. How dare they treat you as a lesser because of this! This is when you need your family the most, to care and support and help you!"
Janae blinked. "It is what it is. I didn't expect anyone to care about it. And I certainly didn't expect to be chosen for this."
"What made you do this?"
"A warm bed and food I didn't have to fight for."
He held out his arm. "Come here."
"What?"
"Come here," he said again.
She came over to the bed and slipped into his arms. She sat next to him, and he held her close. She put her hand on his chest and laid her head on his shoulder.
He could feel tears coming down her face and getting his shirt damp.
