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“Did either of his brothers have mates?”
“You ask the strangest questions,” Lezod grumbled. “The past has no bearing on the present or the future.”
She disagreed. The past determined personalities and traditions. It had everything to do with how people thought and reacted to present situations, and that shaped the future. Still, she wanted to finish one subject before she introduced another, so she kept the thoughts to herself.
The silence lengthened, growing tenser with each passing moment.
Finally, Lezod relented and answered her question, “Both of my brothers had mates when they died. What has that to do with anything?”
“I just wondered what happened to their mates?”
“They returned to their families. Slanar estates can only be held by those with Slanar blood. If either of those worthless females had produced offspring as was their duty to House Slanar, they would not be in their current predicament.”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what he meant, but she couldn’t help asking, “Which is?”
Once again, Grinnel supplied the detailed information. “Neither were able to find an acceptable mate the second time around. The only males who offered for them were so far beneath their station that both decided to remain with their families.”
It sounded like widows were no longer under the authority of their fathers. Still, their inability to find suitable mates seemed horribly unfair. “Why did no one of their station want them? Please tell me Altorian males are not obsessed with virgins.”
Grinnel smiled broadly, but Lezod was not amused. “Most realize it is unrealistic to expect virginity,” Lezod told her. “Offspring, on the other hand, is essential to those of our social strata. Neither of my brothers’ mates were focused on motherhood and they suffered because of it.”
“What were they focused on instead?”
“Establishing their careers.” He shuddered in distaste. “The business world is no place for females. I don’t care what the younger generation says.”
That made Cara smile. Apparently, the generation gap existed inter-galactically. “Thank you for indulging my curiosity.”
Deciding she had annoyed Lezod enough for the time being, she shifted her gaze and stared out the viewport but her mind drifted back to Merrik and Tov. According to the dossier, Tov came from one of the wealthiest families on Altor. Yet he still wasn’t acceptable to her father. The Nee family had the audacity to earn their money rather than inheriting it. Tov’s grandfather had started out with one ship and three generations later Nee Shipping manufactured thousands and Tov personally managed a fleet of sixteen. There hadn’t been as much information about Merrik as Tov, but one thing was certain. If her father couldn’t accept Tov, there was no way he would approve of Merrik.
She sighed and closed her eyes. Merrik had promised they would come for her, but what would happen when they did? There was still so much she didn’t understand, so many questions she needed answered. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and looked at Grinnel. “Are there images of a power triad in action? Am I allowed to see this power I’m supposed to possess?”
Grinnel looked at Lezod intently for a moment. Were they using their soul bond to speak mind to mind?
“The Citadel likes to control what trainees are shown until after their initial training has been completed. However, my sister’s triad made the news feeds repeatedly. Would you like to see the female you knew as Autumn in action?”
Autumn, her Earth mother, was actually her aunt. And the more Cara learned about her, the more she realized that she had never really known Autumn at all. “That would make such a difference. You can’t even imagine.”
“Computer, access public records.”
“What would you like to see, Lady Slanar?” a pleasant female voice asked.
“Play one of the news feeds featuring the liberation of Camp Umitoid,” Grinnel instructed.
“There are numerous records documenting that event. Can you be more specific?”
“I need a video clip showing the power triad involved in the rescue operation,” she clarified.
“I have three clips queued. Say play when ready.”
“Play.”
A holo-display appeared between the center-facing seats. Cara retracted her footrest and scooted to the edge of her seat. The file wasn’t just video. There was audio too. Camp Umitoid was a collection of crude buildings surrounded by dense jungle. She heard strange creatures screeching in the darkness and people talking but their conversations were either so muffled she couldn’t make out the words or they were speaking a language she didn’t know.
Who was her Earth mother about to liberate? Where was Camp Umitoid located? Two sleek Altorian fighters appeared at exactly the same time. She had seen images of them during her research, but the still images hadn’t captured the menace of the spacecraft. They must have had some sort of cloaking technology because they just flashed into view. Beams of light descended from the ships to the ground. The beams brightened as they deposited a row of armed soldiers. Each ship transported the soldiers four at a time until there were two dozen soldiers rushing toward the shacks off to the right.
The last to arrive was a group of three. A burly, dark-haired male, a leaner male with burnished gold hair, and Autumn. Her long red hair was French braided down the back of her head, leaving her face fully visible. She looked slightly younger than Cara’s memories and seemed shockingly comfortable actively participating in a military mission.
They ran toward a building set apart from where the soldiers had headed.
