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I also learned the reason the investors were so interested in funding my new mine. They heard rumors the Changelings had altered their usual attacking process.
They’d stopped raiding.
They didn’t have the capability to overrun our military, so they liked to drop down unannounced to one of our planets and kill, steal, and abduct anything not nailed down.
Our government demanded the Titans be returned immediately. They were met, as always, with silence. The Changelings never gave back anything they stole. It was part of their culture, their code of dishonor, and our leaders were much too soft with them.
With so little resistance, why stop?
So, the Changelings didn’t.
But now they were becoming more of a problem. They were attacking in force, destroying a military unit here and there, before retreating to attack again another day.
War was coming, the investors said. And when it did, the empire would need ore and other materials.
My stomach clenched, knowing the devastation battle would have on the people. Yes, it was good for business, but I much preferred peace. It was always the poor that suffered most during wartime.
My entire face yawned. I suddenly felt very tired. I glanced at the clock and found it was past midnight.
Bianca must have found Cleb awake in his room or else suffering a nightmare. She would talk with him, reassure him, and ease him back to sleep.
A raging storm of anger and more than a little fear set my teeth on edge when I thought about what happened to them in town today. A mysterious stranger had attempted to kidnap them.
How did he think he was going to get away with it?
The clock ticked and made a soft bong noise. It was now past one in the morning. Time flew when you were groggy with sleep.
I collected my shoes and socks and headed toward the stairs.
“Would you care for a nightcap, sir?” Waev said.
“No, thank you,” I said. “Get yourself to bed. There’s no need for you to be up this late.”
Waev bowed and took his leave. I never knew the man to sleep when I was awake. He lived his life entirely according to mine. He was a marvel. For years, he’d catered to my every whim, and yet I knew so little about him or his past.
When he first arrived, he admitted he had little experience as a servant but he promised me I would never find a more trustworthy and loyal Titan.
He was right.
I gave him the chance to serve, and I hadn’t regretted it once. He was more than just an employee—in truth, all the servants were—he was a close friend. And now that Bianca and Cleb had joined us, the final pieces had slipped into place, and we were now a family.
Before, I was a man obsessed with work. I built a mining empire second to none in the galaxy. But I had no one to share it with. Now, I had someone special—two people. Cleb and Bianca.
Just thinking about her brought a smile to my face. She did admirably well tonight, laughing at every passing comment that made no sense. It took time to attune to the muffling grumbling tone of the upper classes. Eventually, she would get used to it, and then she would wish she couldn’t understand what they were saying.
It was always nonsense and idiocy. The opinions of people who never saw the world from any viewpoint other than their own.
I headed upstairs and decided to take a short diversion past Cleb’s room. I wanted to check to make sure he was okay and if Bianca needed any help.
For too long, I’d ignored Cleb’s needs, ignored the fact he needed a parental figure in his life. Well, now he had two. He would always have someone to care and look out for him.
I approached Cleb’s bedroom door. It was closed. I leaned my ear against it and listened for the voices I thought I’d hear inside. Soft and gentle words of support.
But I couldn’t hear their voices. Maybe they’d finished discussing what happened today and she brushed his hair, helping him slip into dreamland.
I turned to leave them to it when I noticed a bright light shining through the gap under the door. It fanned across the carpet, fading into darkness.
The lights in the rooms were all soft balls of yellow. There shouldn’t have been such a bright light in the room.
