Page 61 of Hunting the Warlord's Daughter

The only one missing was Bolivarr. Hadley felt more dread as each minute crawled by. He was the assistant security officer. He should be here. But escorting duties had pulled him away, apparently. He’d left with Wren, Aral, and Kazara. When they’d walked out of the briefing room, he’d even placed his fingertips on Kazara’s back as he bent his head to hear something she told him. A comfortable, tender, intimate touch.

It’s time to buck up, Hadley.She broke into her all-business stride, heading to her quarters. Her PCD chimed. “Keyren,” she said as she always did, feeling nothing like her usual self.

“Hadley, I just finished up getting my brother and Wren settled in their stateroom. Where are you? We really need to talk. There’s so much to tell you.”

Her heart curled into a fetal position. “I’m on my way back to my quarters.”

“I’ll there as soon as I can.” He ended the call.

He was waiting outside her door when she got there.He wants to get it over with.

“Open.” She breezed into the room. With his usual fluid grace, he followed her inside. Her cloud shadow. “I’m so happy for you, Bo. Your memories have finally returned.” She set her data-vis on her side table. “And you found your family! Aral, and,” she swallowed, “and Kazara.”

“Kaz isn’t family. But almost.”

Her heart gathered the last of its strength and crawled into a dark corner to die. “Wow! Well, you found each other again. I couldn’t be happier. And that you were a good Wraith, a Keeper. See? I told you. Now you can go forward into your future, knowing you were fighting the forces of evil before you even got to theUnityand started fighting evil.” Rambling now, she was aware of his eyes on her as she stress-tidied her place. She’d left it a mess after their chaotic departure that morning. She was afraid to stop moving. If she stopped, she might—

“Hadley.” He snatched her hand, sending a ripple of warm energy up her arm. “What are you doing?”

“I… I can’t stop.”

“Stop what?”

Flustered, she shook her head. “If I stop moving, I’ll start thinking. And… I don’t want to think.”

“Is it because of me? Because I’m Bolivarr Mawndarr?”

“No! Of course not.” Yes, he was the son of a battlelord, born to one of the wealthiest and most powerful families of the former Drakken Empire. The clan’s assets were frozen, of course, and probably never would be recovered, but he was of noble blood. Upper crust. “Well, never did I dream I’d be rubbing elbows with a nobleman one day. I hail from very humble roots, as you know.” Literally. Her family farmed tubers.

Bolivarr wedged his fingertips in his front pockets and hunched his shoulders. “I love your humble roots. I love everything about you, Hadley Keyren.”

Wait. What? She froze in the middle of wiping down her galley counter. “What about Kazara?”

“What about her?”

“I thought you were together.”

He tipped his head back, squeezing his eyes closed for a moment. “I’ve known Kaz all my life. We were best friends. We were shipmates and lovers.”

The words were like one last kick to the cold dead body of her heart. She twisted the dust rag in her hands and nodded.

“It was less of an intentional choice as it was that we simply found ourselves in the relationship. Then I left to be a Wraith. She didn’t want me to go, Hadley. She disagreed with my career path. She wanted me to be a battlelord with her. We had a terrible fight about it. We broke up. But I never came back. So we never had the chance to apologize for the things we said. She never forgave herself.”

He walked over to her. Her traitorous body wanted to melt against his. “We broke the golden rule: never go off to war without making up first. If we ever go off to war, Hadley, we have to promise ourselves we won’t part without making up.”

Her heart fluttered back to life. “So we’re together again.”

“We were never apart, sunshine girl.” His handsome face gentled as he took her head in his hands. “You always had my whole heart. Now you have a whole man to go along with it.”

Hadley dragged him close, sighing against his lips as he swung her off her feet.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX

Aral enteredPrime-Admiral Zaafran’s office suite with Wren. Located in the Ring, an awe-inspiring structure in stationary orbit above the planet Sakka, home to the royal family and where Aral and Wren would soon meet the goddess-queen, it was the nerve center of the Triad military and the seat of the government. Now his and Wren’s government too.

“I quite honestly never dreamed I’d set foot in here,” Aral told Wren. “I never knew for certain he was Zee. However, I did suspect it strongly.”

Prime-Admiral Zaafran stood as they entered his office. “At long last—Xeros!” He came to attention, bringing the knuckles of his right hand to his forehead in a traditional Drakken salute. Aral couldn’t miss the respect in the prime-admiral’s voice and eyes. He answered with a fist over his chest, the old Coalition and now Triad salute.

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