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I sat at the head of the table in my ready room and turned on the large wall screen. Gravin had provided synopses of what they’d accomplished while I was away, but I still wanted to catch up on any new information.
My phone chimed with a message from Mother.
I missed you desperately, my son. I should have found a way to tell you years ago. I convinced myself that my position was too important to risk contacting you, that I could do more for you and all of those banished to Roam if I didn’t risk my position as senator.
I was wrong.
I’m sorry.
I’m also sorry that I couldn’t find these words when we were together to tell you in person, but it’s easier to write this than to say it face to face. And I didn’t want to wait a moment longer.
I love you, and your father loves you, and we never stopped thinking about you.
It hit me like a punch to the solar plexus, knocking the wind from me. I’d never realized how much I’d needed these words. Males on Zaarn grew up knowing they might be banished, but with all the cocky surety of youth, I’d always thought it wouldn’t be me. My parents had clearly felt the same, believing until the day I walked onto the shuttle that a miracle would happen and I’d find my mate.
I wrote the reply I would not have been able to offer years ago, when the hurt was too fresh. Frek, perhaps I wouldn’t have been able to write it even weeks ago. But seeing my mother stand up to Glovar and fight for me had changed everything.
As had finding Vivv.
If you’re asking for my forgiveness, there is none to give, because you did nothing wrong. You had no way to overturn centuries of ingrained belief about the banished.
And youhavehelped those of us sent to Roam. You’ve done more for us in the last ten years than a previous century of reforms accomplished.
Don’t think I don’t know what you did for me personally, as well. Those early jobs I won when they should have gone to more experienced mercenaries? I know that was you. And I thank you. They provided the seed money that allowed me to eventually buy theDaredeviland turn it into the home it is today.
Youthful pride had kept me from seeing this for years, but I could admit it now. My mother had used her connections and power to help me, even though she’d been forbidden to do so.
I should have found a moment over the previous days to thank you, but I too find it easier to put this in writing. Thank you, Mother, for everything.
I love you.
Tell Father, too.
Even though I’d proved I had a fated mate, I remained on the list of banished and had no direct communication with him on with Zaar. Hopefully, this would be another thing we’d change, but it wouldn’t happen today.
And I was tired of waiting, too. My mother had taught me her ability to lead and command, but my father had offered me a quiet studiousness and a deeper way to look at problems. I’d put it to good use over the years, and planned to do so again.
Something had been bothering me, teasing at the edges of my thoughts about the Grug.
I pulled up the new data and got to work, determined to find something that would help all of us, but most especially Vivv. Her worry about the other Hyoo-mon females was now my worry, too.
I wouldn’t rest until I could remove this burden from her.
It was a far more selfish desire than that, though. Easing this obligation would make her look more favorably upon me, as well as give us more time together.
I will win her heart if it’s the last thing I do.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Vivian
The women laughed their way through a series of joke bra names as Mollie waved a wand over me in a tiny room in the back of ship stores. Hazel pulled out a phone and tapped at it, and the machine that took up one entire wall hummed to life.
“You can use the alien phones?” I peered over the top edge to see her screen, and shock rippled through me. “It’s in English!”
I jerked it out of her hands, my eyes dashing back and forth over the familiar text. Then I realized what I’d done and offered it back to her with a sheepish smile. “Sorry. Got a little excited to see words I could understand.”
“Oh, I get it.” She nodded, her loose blonde curls bobbing with the movement. “I’m a linguist, and I couldn’tstandnot being able to read anything.”
