Zander rubbed his ear. “If you’re honoring your family with this vow out of love, then I bow to you. But if it’s out of obligation, or guilt—”
“Don’t.” He held up his hand. He didn’t want Zander’s philosophies on the matter. He had enough swirling in his head to keep him up every night for a solar cycle.
Zander raised his arm with the fist bent at a ninety degree angle, as was the traditional Zandian greeting. “I honor your honor.” He spoke the benediction in their native tongue.
Seke bowed to his hologram. “I honor your honor.” He ended the transmission before he choked up. As he walked slowly back to his chamber, a tenuous peace settled like a mantle over his shoulders. He hadn’t chosen honor over family—he’d made the only choice available to him. Saving Zander over his own children had been the result of circumstance, not his orchestration. That adjustment of focus changed things, somehow. It put to bed the largest chunk of guilt he carried.
And it had been so long since he’d lost them, his grief for his family no longer stung. With the layer of guilt removed, their death was like a box he could move within, instead of the coffin he’d chosen. What did that mean for his vow? Did it change things?
He activated the door to his own small sleeping chamber with a numeric code—the death pod was a primitive craft. The room was no more than a cot and washtub. With a groan, he sank to the cot and dropped his face into his hands. His body was weary, but his mind still ran in one hundred directions. And all of them led to Leora.
He hoped her visit with Lily had gone well.
Maybe he’d just check on her. He had access to the security feed from the palatial pod via his wrist cuff. He wouldn’t let it become a habit to spy on her, but tonight—just tonight—it might put his mind at ease to see her.
He flicked on the feed and found her chamber.
Oh holy Zandian moons. No.
His female slumped with her back against the door, as if she’d just come in. Tears streaked her beautiful face.
Had things gone badly with Lily? Did she feel guilty over their lost years?
“Seke,” she whispered. Her hands came to her throat, and he realized they held the collar he’d used on her. Where had she found it? He’d sent all the equipment to storage. The fact she’d sought it out and stolen the collar for her own keeping made ice flush through him.
Veck.
The tears were over him. The pain he’d caused her. He’d hoped she hadn’t grown as attached as he had, but he should have known. She’d given him her heart. And he’d vecking handed it back without so much as a kiss.
Without thinking, he found himself on his feet, moving out the door. He didn’t stop to give Lundric orders, didn’t pause for anything. He put his oxygen helmet on. The hatch opened and closed behind him. He boarded his ship and flicked on the switches. With the ship in cloaking mode, he took off, on the most direct course for the palatial pod.
Veck the vow. Veck everything.
Leora was his.
~.~
Leora pushed her damp hair out of her face and swiped at her tears with the back of her hand. She couldn’t cry forever. There had been worse things in her life. She’d had her three-year-old taken from her. Had lost her mate. Had survived as a slave for over forty solar cycles.
Life was easy for her now. She’d been offered freedom. She wasn’t required to work. She lived in beautiful, luxurious surroundings with servants who tended to her needs. Why, then, did it feel like she couldn’t go on?
She voice-commanded the lights off and curled up on her sleepdisk, even though she knew sleep wouldn’t come.
The door to her chamber slid open.
She jerked the covers up to her chin and blinked. A huge Zandian male stood silhouetted in the doorway. By the breadth of his shoulders and the tilt of his horns, she knew it must be her Zandian.
“Seke?”
The door shut, enclosing them in darkness.
“Forgive me, Leora.”
She flew off the sleepdisk, throwing herself in his direction, unable to see but knowing he’d catch her.
He did.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, arms banding around his neck. He returned the embrace, pulling her tightly against his warm body, one arm hooked under her bottom, the other around her back. He twisted, rocking her from side to side.