He just didn’t know what he’d done wrong.
Why he wasn’t good enough for her to marry when she was everything to him.
Sick to his stomach, he took his pack from the corporal, knowing he’d have to report for his patrol soon. “Under whose command?”
“Major Cabarro.”
Of course. Just as he suspected. “Myyokkenzusa.” The profanity was out of his mouth before he could stop it.
She turned an even brighter shade of pink. “Yes,styrrah.”
A tic started in his jaw. If Lil had really done this to get back at him for proposing to Ember last night, he’d murder her for it. In her sleep. So help him!
“Who authorized it?” It better not have been his brother.
Or his uncle.
She stammered a bit before she pulled it up on her own link. “M-m-major Wyldestarrin.”
No dritvíkken way…Bastien’s breath left him in a rush as his brain struggled to grasp a reality he didn’t want to face.
Ember had done this to him. Intentionally. Without a single word. Without mercy or regard? She’d transferred him over to his sister’s division when she knew how much he hated being under Lil’s thumb. His sister treated him like a socially-stunted toddler and lived to embarrass him in front of everyone. She went out of her way to set him up for ridicule. He’d rather slit his own wrist than be near Lil in uniform.
Or out of uniform, either, for that matter.
Damn, that was even colder than the way Ember had left him hanging last night after the proposal.
Why not just castrate me and be done with it? Why go to such extremes to punish me?
What the hell did I do to you?
Trying to salvage whatever was left of his shattered dignity for the second time in a handful of hours, he nodded. “Thank you, Corporal.”
As he turned to find a transport to his new base, he slung the pack over his shoulder and tried to put it out of his mind.
Bastien couldn’t. It was impossible when his entire world had crashed down on him.I didn’t do anything.
Unwilling to let it go, he pulled his link out and hailed Ember.
It rolled to her voicemail in such a way as to let him know that she’d done it herself the moment she saw it was him calling for her.
With an irritated sigh, he waited for the buzz. “Hey, Em, it’s me. I just got my orders and I’m heading to my new barracks. I know you said you needed some time to decide about the marriage, but I didn’t think that meant that you were expelling me from your life entirely. You could have given me some warning.” He paused as he realized anger and accusation had crept into his tone.
He wasn’t really angry at her. Truth was, he was hurt. Kicked in the stones and bleeding internally.
Worse? He had no one to turn to for this. His drinking buddies wouldn’t understand. They’d tell him to go nail someone else and get her out of his system. His family would think him an idiot for sulking over a pleb.
Fain Hauk wouldn’t want to hear it since he was still raw about his own wife and what had happened there.
And his best friend wasn’t talking to him. She was rolling his calls to voicemail.
Honestly, Bastien didn’t want to yell at her. He just wanted her back. It was why he’d proposed. He didn’t want to live his life without her in it.
So he gentled his tone and spoke from his heart. “I miss you, Em. Love you even more. Call me.” He cut the line before he gave in to the tears that were choking him. Gave in to the misery that was about to send him to his knees.
Clearing his throat, he took a deep breath and tried to get his bearings.
“Bastien?”
