Page 70 of Warrior’s Mate

Neither was what she needed.

"You had to decide with what you knew," he said.

"That doesn't make the people I might have hurt disappear."

"No."

Another silence.

"I thought you would tell me it was necessary."

"Do you want me to?"

"No."

"Then I won't."

Her breath came slowly over the channel. "Thank you."

Kaiven leaned his head against the shuttle bulkhead. "When I see you, I'm going to ask permission to hold you for an unreasonable length of time."

"How unreasonable?"

"Potentially inconvenient to emergency operations."

"Then I may have to deny the request."

"Cruel woman."

"Institutionally conditioned officer."

The old insult had become something else between them. He smiled despite the devastation passing beneath the shuttle windows.

"Maelis."

"Yes?"

"I love you."

He had not planned to say it over a damaged emergency channel with three other officers pretending not to listen. Perhaps a declaration deserved candles, a family hearth, a quiet room, or at least a world that was not burning.

The truth did not seem interested in better timing. Maelis did not answer immediately.

Kaiven's pulse climbed. Solmatu recognition could tell him she was his biological match. It could tell him nothing about whether she wanted his love.

Then she said, "Good."

He blinked. "Good?"

"I am in a medical transport with a woman about to give birth on my boots. You are in a command shuttle. Our planet is under attack. This is not the time for you to become demanding about the poetry of my response."

Serak covered his mouth with one hand. Kaiven glared at him and heard Maelis laugh again.

"I love you too," she said. "There. Better?"

Everything in him went still—not empty, not stunned, simply settled around the words.

"Yes."