AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He twirled a lock of her hair around his finger. “Do I get to ask you questions too?”
Miya shrugged. “Sure. But I asked first, so...”
“Yes?”
Okay, she was going to ask directly. “You mentioned that you were raised by your father. Did you lose your mother at a young age? Because I was raised by my mother after my father perished in a space accident when I was four.”
Therak’s hand paused playing with her curl for several seconds, then he answered. “My mother lives to this day. I haven’t seen her since she expelled my father from her harem. I was two then.”
“She threw you both out?”
He nodded. “Another of her males had accused my father of a crime he himself had committed. As children within a harem are mainly cared for by their fathers, I had to leave with mine.”
“She never came to visit? Ask to see you?”
“No.”
“Hells.”
Miya was speechless for a moment. Way to ruin the atmosphere with her choice of delicate topic, but she knew that by learning about his childhood, she would learn a lot about Therak in a short time.
“I regret nothing, Miya,” he assured her. “My father raised me well.”
“Is he still alive?”
“No. He was taken from me. But I have long avenged him.”
“I see.” He hadn’t had it easy, as strong and invincible as he seemed. Miya caressed his chest soothingly. “Is that why you became an assassin? To avenge your father?”
“No, Miya.” Therak ran his fingers through her hair, and she wondered if he was doing it to ground himself. She certainly felt better when he touched her like that. “I became an assassin after.”
“Because you… liked killing?”
His hand stilled then went to rest at the nape of her neck. “I liked bringing justice.”
“Ah.” Thank the stars! “So… you’re a vigilante of sorts?”
“I was an assassin. Now I’m simply trying to survive.”
“Okay, but… you offed only those who deserved it, right? People who had hurt others? Or whoever you were paid to assassinate?”
His gaze studied her face, as if reading her reaction to his reply. “I took space credits for the kills, to make a living. But chose only the ones that met my criteria.”
Miya smiled. It was as she had hoped. As she had sensed on some deep, subconscious level after their crash on Xera. Therak was not a bad guy.
Fine, killing criminals instead of putting them behind bars was bad, but the Milky Way was a bad place in general. The justice system imposed by the Intergalactic Council had many, many flaws, and there were countless scumbags taking advantage. In some cases, the only way to protect the victims was the… permanent kind of solution.
“This pleases you, Miya?” Asked with his eyes entirely light blue.
“Yes. Definitely yes.” She patted his chest. “But let me guess: whoever sent the mercs after you wasn’t pleased? What you did for a living must have angered some powerful people.”
“Just one. My boss.”
“Dang.” To think she had been complaining of her boss being an asshat. “Is that the person who was offering you assignments?”
“Yes.” Therak resumed playing with her hair. “Corcoraba claimed to be ridding the galaxy of unworthy individuals back when I was finishing my assassin training. I decided to join his elite group of assassins under the condition I chose which assignments to take. I did my own digging on the targets in addition to the info supplied by my boss, and everything always checked out. Until my last assignment.”
“He fed you false information?”
