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Although I was Xenos’s superior, it was more comfortable around him because I knew him, and it made me feel like less of a visitor and more like I belonged.
After my training session one morning, a week or two after I’d arrived, a messenger came to me telling me that Xenos wanted to see me. I had time on my hands, so I went to meet him. For family, I had all the time in the world.
Xenos waited for me in one of the bland, non-descript offices that lined the administration block at the north side of the academy.
“Uncle,” he said with a smile. “Thank you for coming to meet me.”
“Of course,” I said. “Take a seat.” I gestured to one of the chairs and walked around the table to sit down in the large leather chair that faced Xenos. He looked more and more like his mother, with the same dark hair and eyes that ran in our family, and the confidence—or arrogance—that was true to our bloodline. He would make a great warrior if he applied it right.
“What can I do for you?” I asked.
“Ailey keeps bugging me to ask for leave, so I figured I’d do it and get her off my back. She wants me home more. She wants to start a family, and she needs me to be around more often, to show her I won’t leave her alone with the children.” Xenos rubbed the back of his neck. “I would like to take a week or two, as soon as I can.”
I nodded. “I think that’s something we can arrange. I’ll need you to stick it out with the recruits we’re working with for at least another two weeks, but after that, I’m sure we can spare you.”
“Anything will be great, Uncle,” Xenos said.
I turned to the wall where a large holographic screen was mounted and programmed the dates into the calendar to finalize Xenos’s request.
“A family, huh?” I grinned at him.
Xenos rubbed the back of his neck again. “It’s time for the next step. We’ve been mated for a while now.”
“You’ll make great parents,” I said. “You’re so invested in each other, and that makes for a great foundation.” I was proud of the man my nephew had become.
Xenos nodded. “I like to think that will pull us through. We’ve been strong from the start. I was worried about what it would mean, since we’re not fated, but Ailey…I can’t imagine my life without her.”
I nodded, fighting hard not to show any emotion. When Xenos talked of fated mates, I thought of Nylah immediately, but she wasn’t my fated mate, either. We’d been together, but the bond hadn’t been forged. I was jealous that Xenos had found his love despite not being fated, and I hadn’t gotten mine.
Maybe it was better that way—we were better off without each other if our future was only going to lead to heartbreak.
“What about you?” Xenos asked.
“What about me?”
He hesitated. “Permission to speak freely, Uncle?”
“Of course,” I said. “We’re family.”
“While we’re on duty, you’re my superior, first. You’re still the king’s general.”
“You can talk,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Family trumps a lot of things.”
“Thanks,” Xenos said with a grin before his smile faded again. “Ailey pointed it out to me, which is why I’m saying it now. Otherwise, I would keep my mouth shut, because what would I know? We just can’t help but notice that you’re not happy.”
I frowned. Was I that obvious?
“What gives you that idea?” I did my best to be upbeat, to go about my day, to do what needed to be done. I didn’t take my moods out on the warriors. I was very careful about that, in fact.
“I know a depressed man when I see one, Uncle. It’s not your actions or your performance that gave you away. You just seem like you’d rather be somewhere else.”
I sighed, shifting in my seat. “It’s not that simple.”
Xenos regarded me, thinking.
“I know we haven’t talked frankly. I’ve only been a mated man for a while, and we don’t know each other as well as we would in a couple of centuries. You know you can talk to me, though.”
“There isn’t much to say,” I scoffed. How could I tell him everything that had happened? What would a kid know about these things?
