Page 104 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

“I see…” I mumble awkwardly.

Silence ensues between us as we wait for Mine to return. It’s not on purpose, but what can I talk about with a ghost? The ghost of a teenage boy at that, too.

Yet as I ruminate on our previous conversation, something keeps niggling at my mind.

“What did you mean when you said Mine is not his middle name?”

Tommy raises his gaze to look at me.

“It’s not,” he answers. “I trained under him. Everyone knows his full name.”

“And that is?”

“Lucian Valerìon de Vitry,” he answers in a booming voice, his tone performative. “The lads used to make fun of his name all the time.” He smiles. “Behind his back, of course.”

“Of course,” I echo feebly.

“I mean, that’s the name of some royalty, is it not? It’s not that hard to think of some duke by the name of Lucian Valerìon de Vitry.” He laughs. “Even his mannerisms confirm that.”

“His…mannerisms?” I ask tentatively.

“He never eats with the other soldiers. He never eats from the cantina either.”

I frown.

“Then what does he eat?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. But it’s very unusual for someone of his rank not to eat with his regimen.”

“Maybe he doesn’t like the food,” I suggest. It’s hard for me to imagine that, though, since when I’m hungry, I’ll eat just about anything.

“That’s not all. He’s known for his insane standards for flying. No one but him can fly his plane, and his crew must thoroughly wash before each mission. The plane, too, must be spotless or he won’t take off. He’s gotten into a lot of conflicts with the higher-ups over it, but somehow, he was never punished for insubordination when others would have been demoted and thrown in jail. Me and the lads wondered if that’s because he has some lofty connections, you know.”

I listen attentively, though I have no frame of reference to compare his behavior with. But if Tommy thinks it is so irregular, then maybe there’s something to it?

“That’s not to say the Major isn’t a good guy. He’s probably one of the nicest people on the base. He’s just…odd,” Tommy continues.

“Are you sure he doesn’t have another middle name that you’re not aware of? He assured me his middle name was Mine.”

“If he does, I’ve never seen it on any official document,” the boy answers. “Though gotta say, miss, Mine is an odd name, is it not? I’ve never heard of such a name before. Except…”

“Except?”

“Maybe he’s sweet on you and he wanted you to call him like that…like an endearment, I s’pose.”

I blink slowly. “An endearment?”

“Yeah, like a claim that he’s yours. I call my sweetheart keeper of my heart.” His face suddenly drops. “I s’pose now I won’t be able to do that anymore.”

“I’m sorry, Tommy.” I try to comfort the young ghost, though why, I cannot tell. This is the natural order of things. Mortals die and they are reborn. It is the cycle of life. “If you cross over, you might be able to find her again in another life,” I suggest.

The odds are slim. Unless they are connected by a thread of fate, their connection will end in this lifetime. But seeing Tommy’s ghostly face light up makes me wary of mentioning that one small detail.

“You mean I could be with her again, miss?”

“If you cross over. The more you delay the process, the more you’ll mess with the order of things.”

He grimaces.“I just wanna give her one last note.”

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