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And then it got worse.
“Per mentioned your family passed, Kaia,” Mother said twenty minutes later, as they were winding up the first course. Well, he and his parents were winding up the first course. Kaia was finishing sucking the guts out of a nutrigel packet.
“Yes. Long ago,” Kaia said.
“Your parents?”
“And little brother.”
Mother frowned. “What happened, if you do not mind?”
Yes, she fucking did mind! Kaia hadn’t even deemed necessary to talk to him about her past. Why wouldn’t she goddamn mind spilling her guts to the woman who’d tried to convince him to choose someone else—anyone else—to fuck and marry just days ago?
“Cancer,” Kaia answered flatly, her lack of protest at the intrusive question only making Orion seethe even more. “He got caught out at daytime on Artega Seven. The radiation burst…”
Mother’s gaze hardened on him. “Orion didn’t tell me that.”
He hadn’t told her that because Orion didn’t fucking know. Kaia cleared her throat, blinking fast as she averted her attention to the table.
And then Mother decided she felt in a sharing mood today. “Me too. The cancer.”
Kaia stared at her. “That’s why…? But… How long?”
“A year at most.” Mother flicked her napkin to her plate, looking distinctly unbothered by her predicament. “Detected too late, for once. Not even colony resources can cheat death sometimes, I suppose.”
“Upload can,” Kaia blurted out.
“I suppose that’s true. But I can’t command this ship from Heaven. So you understand my urgency to get my son caught up with everything he’ll need to be once I’m gone.”
Kaia nodded.
“And you understand, of course, that being his future wife comes with great responsibilities of its own.”
Here we go.
“Kids…” Kaia muttered, and Orion stabbed a chopstick into his salad. How about she just start with good old fashioned dick sucking and take it from there?
“Oh, honey, that’s the least of it.” Mother barked out a laugh, teeth flashing in a sinister smile. It didn’t seem to faze Kaia in the slightest.
Orion couldn’t remember the last time conversation flowed that naturally with him and his mother. And with Kaia herself… well, the only thing flowing between them was his desire to shove a fucking cheeseburger down her throat.
This wasn’t good. Mare Halena wasn’t supposed tolikeher, and he was pretty damn sure she didn’t. Kaia was onColossalas revenge. His defiance made flesh. And now they were leaning toward each other at the table…bantering. Orion and his father exchanged looks. This was all part of Mare Halena’s little game. A way for her to rob him of the satisfaction he so deserved after all these years.
He instinctively grabbed Kaia’s hand under the table. She’d better remember why she was even there. Forhim. Only him. She barely had a chance to tense before his mother recaptured her attention with her speech about what was in store for Kaia as the commander’s wife. Orion squeezed harder, crushing her palm in his until she finally showed him she felt it. The wince was a victory.
“And comms is just part of it. You’ll be a personal assistant, an organizer, a project manager, a trusted advisor. A comforting embrace.” Mother was looking at Per Halen as she went through the lengthy list of responsibilities.
“A yes-man and apologist for my actions, that kind of thing.” Orion cut in.
“Stop waving your chopsticks around, Orion,” Mare Halena chastised, before turning back to Kaia. “That’s why I’ve arranged for you to start studies from tomorrow morning. You need intensive training, just like Orion does. It’ll be more difficult with both of you being so… new at this. But necessary. And Per has the impression that you’re strong, even if you don't look it—”
“I’m working on that,” Orion said.
“Oh, I think we can take that off your plate, Orion. You fly, I hear?” Mother asked, and Orion’s heart sank.
“Yeah, I fly.”
“Not licenced, I presume?”
