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An ugly sensation slashed through him. Jealousy, perhaps. He’d never felt it, but this sinking, longing feeling seemed like it, from what he’d heard.
“I called Nana,” she said. “It’s just me and her now.”
Thank the Nines. But that wasn’t theexactanswer he’d been looking for. “Nobody else?”
“My parents died a long time ago. Only child. Only provider. My friends from college don’t even know I came here.” She huffed a sad laugh. “Wow, is my life small.”
Taryn was overwhelmed with the urge to cradle her in his arms again. He wanted to make her world as big as she wanted it to be.
It also helped that she didn’t seem to pine for some faceless, nameless male back home.
But that meant whatever she was keeping from him was bigger.
Why couldn’t he have this? Be happy without second-guessing, for once.
“Life on Terra sounds complicated,” he said.
“It is. And hard. And ugly,” she said after a few moments. “Some days, I think the Zavorians want to destroy us.”
“They don’t.” Zavorians wanted to profit and bring “order”, not destroy. But they bled planets dry while doing it. “But you need to rid yourselves of them.”
“I thought that’s where you Quillons came in.” She licked her lips. “Why haven’t you?”
He heard the accusation in her voice. He couldn’t blame her.
Taryn had been pushing to stop the Zavorians for yanns. Now they finally could.
“The treaty needs to be signed first,” he said. “Terra isn’t our ally yet.”
“So?”
“Sowe can only go against the Zavorians in order to protect an official ally. It was a pact we forged when they left Quillon.”
Leah stopped, gaze finally meeting his again. “They invaded you too?”
Okay, so she certainly didn’t know Taryn’s secret.
“No, but they used to live here, long ago,” he said. Zavorians and Quillons were related. Distant cousins, with wildly different views on how we should evolve.
Both Quillons and Zavorians knew they were powerful. Quillons wanted to use that power to maintain balance and peace. Zavorians wanted to use that power to make everyone else cower.
Leah blinked rapidly, the hairs on her eyelids fluttering.
“You didn’t know,” Taryn muttered. “How can you not? We informed your leaders.”
“They didn’t informus.” Her face darkened, turning more angular. Still beautiful beyond belief, but more dangerous. He needed to rememberthat. “How do we know you won’t go back on your word, then? If you used to live together.”
Ah, she was suspicious, too. That was both troubling and refreshing. He was tired of beings believing everything he said. But that meant she also could have been trained to be cautious.
“Quillons don’t lie,” he said. “We’ve wanted to rid the universe of Zavorians for eons. This is our chance.”
They started walking again, the stillness almost suffocating.
“Are you going to kill them?” she asked, voice small.
Taryn licked his fangs. Why was she worried about some overlords cowering her planet?
“No. We have to kill their influence.” His brow ridges furrowed. “Why do you ask?”
