“I don’t want to talk about it.” Her tone had “drop it” all over it.
“He seems like a…stern guy.”
“Drop it, Phoenix.”
Hell, no. “Can’t have been an easy kind of father.”
She huffed out a breath and turned. “You can never just let things lie, can you? Fine, no he wasn’t easy. But he loves me, in his own way, and he’s always wanted the best for me. After my mother died…it was just me and him.”
“And he wants you to have a career just like his?”
“No, a careerbetterthan his.”
Justyn tilted his head. “What about what you want? Did you want to join GSS and go into Patrol?”
“Of course.” She straightened her spine, her jaw tight. “I’m good at it.”
“That’s not the same as loving it. As living life your way.” Locked in the dark as a child, with only his brothers holding him to sanity, Justyn had vowed to live life the way he wanted.
“Some of us don’t have that luxury. Didn’t your parents have expectations and dreams for you?”
His hand curled into a fist. “Hell, no.”
She eyed him and something told him she could see his hidden secrets. “Well, mine did. And for my brother.”
“Brother?” He hadn’t known she had any siblings.
“Yes.”
Just one word but it was filled with so much pain, Justyn wanted to pull her close. “Tell me.”
She was silent, staring ahead, and disappointment rose in him. What would it take to make her trust him?
Then she spoke in a voice that was low and serrated. “He was in the GSS as well. Had a promising career. Then he joined Golden Nova.”
Shit. The terror group was the worst of the worst. They had no agenda except anarchy. “Shit, Nissa. Maybe he just got messed up, brainwashed?”
Yellow eyes turned his way. The expression in them was heartbreaking. “He’s one of their leaders.”
Damn.It clicked into place. He’d seen holo-footage of the icy, part-reptilian Golden Nova leader. “Your brother is Maxir Sander?”
A nod.
Jesus. Maxir was one bad dude. Nissa’s brother was a criminal of the worst magnitude.
Nissa looked away from the viewscreen. “I’m heading back to the cabin. I’m going to keep working on our notes for more references to theNero.”
Justyn watched her go. He wished he’d never forced her to talk. But now he had a better understanding of the heavy load of expectation Nissa shouldered every day.
Goddess,she was tired.
Nissa blinked in the low light from the lamp above the desk in her cabin. Her Sync glowed, displaying the records she’d been going through. She glanced at the clock on the bedside table. One o’clock in the morning, ship time.
She stretched her arms above her head, working out the kinks. Her cabin was more spacious than she’d anticipated and over the last three days, she’d slowly made a mess of it. It was her secret weakness—in her own space, she had a bad habit of tossing clothes and things wherever they landed. On theFreedom, she forced herself to keep her cabin clean. A captain couldn’t be a slob. In her little apartment on Raxus Station, where Patrol had their base in the Exodus quadrant, it often looked like a space storm had hit.
Snatching up the coffee she’d made from the small food printer in her cabin, she took a sip and immediately grimaced. It was stone cold.
During the last three days, she’d spent most of her time poring over the records and making notes. Most days, she and Justyn worked side by side in the empty cabin they’d commandeered as an office. In the evenings, she continued in her cabin.
