How could she be so sure? He hadn’t condemned the torture and death of those three individuals. And he might say he wanted only to protect her, but he didn’t know about the tracker.
Sitting up fully, Nia stared in the general direction of Elec’s half-concealed spot, and asked, “How long have you known him?”
“I only met Elec last week.”
Nia turned her head, giving the other woman an unimpressed stare. Dee only smiled, then sat up too. “I’ve known Mace for over a decade. My husband was on his team when we married.” Her voice was heavy with grief when she added, “Lowe died right before our son was born.” A sad smile quivered on her lips.
“I’m sorry,” Nia said. “I shouldn’t have asked.”
“It’s okay.” Dee bumped Nia’s shoulder lightly with her own. “It was a long time ago, and I always knew it could happen. Came with being the wife of a warrior.”
Of course Nia knew Tellusian warriors died all the time. So did CORE defenders. She saw it on the newsreels constantly, treated the wounded who survived long enough to make it toElara Five. CORE ships were destroyed. So were Tellusian ones.
This war between their people was millennia in the making. And what point did it serve?
What would happen to me if Mace dies?
The question made her stomach twist in painful knots. It should have been out of worry that the truth of her lineage would be used against her if he wasn’t standing in the way, but she felt sick at the thought of Mace dying—no matter how many times she’d had homicidal thoughts about him since abducting her.
When Dee spoke again, her tone changed into a pained sort of wistfulness. “Mace was the one who told me Lowe had died in battle.”
Nia turned her head. Flat on the ground, Dee had an arm thrown over her forehead, her eyes closed. “I was eight months pregnant. If I’d had a gun right then, I would’ve shot Mace, and he probably wouldn’t have stopped me. Blamed himself for Lowe’s death. Probably still does. They were like brothers.”
Nia’s hands clenched into the grass near her hips.
A rough chuckle escaped Dee before she turned her head to meet Nia’s eyes. “Mace was the one in the delivery room with me. He was scared out of his wits, but he stayed in there for me, for Lowe. He helped establish my shop, everything. I’m not sure where we would have ended up if it weren’t for him.”
Nia’s throat constricted, trying to picture Mace in the delivery room. He would have been there to support both friends, Dee and the man he’d called brother. There would have been grief too, a child born fatherless.
The stories on both sides of this war rang with the same sadness.
“So, yeah. If Mace asks me for a favor, I’m going to do it.” She turned her head to face the overhead once more, then rubbed the tattoo on the back of her hand absently. “Many of us owe him our lives.”
Nia rolled to her feet, unable to listen to more of Mace’s attributes. She was already messed up in the head about him, she didn’t need someone else to add to it. Without looking behind her, she headed for the atrium’s common area, grateful when Dee didn’t follow.
Grey had stopped making jokes about him being on edge days ago. Mace understood why. It wasn’t funny anymore.
Usually, he had unending patience when it came to the tyros, now every little fuck up enraged him.
Each night, he slept in the barracks because he couldn’t think around Nia. Hell, even when he wasn’t around her, he couldn’t seem to think. It was becoming impossible to remember when his duty shifts in the command center started.
He knew he was a mess but couldn’t seem to fix it. No amount of training, or fights, or how much he bruised and bloodied his knuckles could get his head on straight. He knew it, everyone around him knew it, and they treated him like a plasma grenade about to go off.
It was Nia’s day off today, and ten times he’d stopped himself from searching her out. He mustn’t. Because then he’d do something stupid like kiss her again. If that happened, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop.
His only consolation was sending Dee in his place. At least she wouldn’t be alone. Elec gave him regular updates, told him about her deteriorating mood, but Mace knew if he interfered, it would make things worse.
He ran a hand over his face, but it did nothing to clear the haze from his brain. “Freya,” he barked. “Don’t turn your back on your opponent.”
The girl’s cheeks reddened, and the reaction made him think of Nia. Stars above, he couldn’t get her out of his thoughts.Fuck.
Just when he was going to shout at Freya again, the lights in the arena changed and flashed, an alarm blaring. Another proximity alert. Mace whipped his gazed to Grey across from him.
“Battle stations!” Mace yelled as he and Grey ran toward the exit at the same time.
Yellow lights pulsed through the corridor. With Grey at his side, they jogged to the nearest lift, and Mace hit the control panel. He tapped on his vambrace, ordering Elec to make sure Nia got to his quarters safely.
As soon as they stepped into the command center, the proximity alarm stopped. They strode to the holotable where Cache stood with Sheefra and Gallagher.
