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Bernadette’s disappointment was shoved aside by shock. “He was in prison?”
“You weren’t aware?” Tumsa glanced at Hal, his brow creasing.
“Youknew?” Anger flared and spread, suffusing her from head to toe as she glared at the Nobek.
He refused to meet her irate gaze. “So? He isn’t there now. What does that have to do with our current search?”
A stew of fury bubbled within her. Doljen had been incarcerated, and Hal had kept it from her. Ugly words rose to her lips and threatened to erupt. She fought for calm.
“Did it ever occur to you I might want to know where he’d been, whether you believed it was important or not? What about the contacts he made in prison? They might be able to point us in the right direction.”
“I already covered that angle.”
“Which was?” She gripped the edge of the table to stop herself from lunging at him.
“He walked out, boarded a ship, then disappeared into the war without a trace. Which means, he resumed duty with the spyship portion of the fleet. That’s top-secret work, which I’m not privy to.” Hal shoveled in a mouthful of food, though he’d taken on a greenish tinge, as if he were ready to be sick. He probably ate to keep from talking to her.
“You should have told me. I’ve been worried sick for him since he’s been impossible to track down. All the time, you knew he’d been jailed!”
Hal chewed, finally glancing at her under lowered brows. He pushed from the table, swallowed, and stood. “I should leave.”
“Yeah, you should.” Before she lost her shit all over him.
“I’m glad to see you’re doing okay, Tumsa. Take care.” With that, Hal strode out. His tread was silent. It was the sound of the door opening and closing in the greeting room that told Bernadette he’d gone.
Tumsa looked neither surprised nor upset. He stabbed a piece of steak on his fork and gazed at it glumly. “It isn’t his fault, you know, Doljen going to prison. Halmiko carries a lot of guilt, but it’s me who fucked things up.”
Bernadette gazed at her coffee and wished it were bohut or whiskey. “What happened, Tumsa? All of it. Please.”
“Before I answer that, what about your story? What’s your connection to Doljen? You owe me that before I trot out my clan’s dirty laundry.”
It was a reasonable request, much as she hated to air her own history. She ground her teeth and got on with it. “To understand me and Doljen…well, most of it occurred before we met. When I was seven, my father killed my mother, then himself. I lived in a small town, where everyone knew everyone else, so there was no escaping the stares. Other kids bullied me because of it, even years later.”
“I’m sorry. No child should have to deal with any of that.” Tumsa’s tone was gentle. He gazed at her with sympathy. He worked with kids himself, so Bernadette assumed he was sincere. “You had other family?”
“My grandmother and uncle, on my mother’s side. Good people, but poor. Life was tough, mostly because we were indigenous.” Noting his confusion, she added, “My mother’s sideof the family was of a minority race on Earth. We were looked down on. Fewer opportunities, shitty housing, shortchanged when it came to everything.”
“Understood. I’ve seen such nonsense between the humans, Kalquorians, and hybrids here on Haven. It isn’t as bad as it was before the war, but stupidity dies hard.”
“No kidding.” She managed a wry smile before going on. “It was a difficult childhood. No real friends until I turned fourteen. Then I met a boy.”
“Ah.” Tumsa smiled, warming his features. “Love at first sight?”
“Only on my side. He defended me from the assholes for no other reason than because he was a decent person. I, however, fell like a ton of bricks. We became close and began dating when I was sixteen. I lived a fairytale for a year, then he went to college and met someone else.”
Tumsa winced. Whatever his past sins, he seemed empathetic to others’ pain. “You must have been crushed.”
“He was my first and greatest hero. I believed I couldn’t be more heartbroken the day they married a few years later. I was wrong. He later became ill and died. It damned near destroyed me.”
“I’m sorry.” His hand twitched, as if he’d been about to take hers.
She drew a deep breath. “The bad stuff kept piling on. My grandmother passed away. I couldn’t get work despite my engineering degree. It was a male-dominated profession, and no one would hire a woman who should be serving a husband and taking care of babies. I plunged into a deep depression and decided I was done with the life I’d been dealt. I ran off and formed a new persona for myself.”
“A ship’s captain? I wouldn’t have thought Earth would have liked that any more than you being an engineer.”
“I became a nun. I took religious vows to live a life of piety and service and hid on a tiny, remote colony on Europa. I took my anger and sadness and became the terror of the girls who were sent to my order, preaching severe lessons to save their souls.”
Tumsa stared at her in fascination. “I wouldn’t have pinned you as a zealot.”
