Page 83 of Made For The Alien Warrior

The Healer dipped his head.

“Come. This way.” Daz gently tugged on his arm. “You must lie down.”

Tiegan dragged his hand away. “I can do well on my own.”

“That is the biggest lie in all of history.” Daz frowned intently at him and grabbed his arm again. “We cannot survive without leaning on another.”

“I only lean on those I trust.”

Daz pinned his lips together, but he did not remove his hand.

“Who are you?” Tiegan plodded beside the strong warrior.

Daz’s eyes remained straight ahead.

Tiegan yanked his hand away and growled at him. “Are you him?”

Daz stared at the ground.

“Are you my father?” Tiegan asked quietly.

Silence fell between them.

Tiegan dropped his gaze to Daz’s chest. The symbols matched those on his own skin. It was a similarity too close to be a coincidence.

Shock, fury, and despair exploded inside him. “Why did you leave?”

“I…” Daz glanced up and there were unshed tears in his eyes. “I cannot say.”

“You cannot say?” Tiegan leaned forward. “I was raised as an orphan. While the other broods had their fathers to guide them, to build zaptens with them, to walk them through the pitfalls of life, I had no one and nothing but the goodwill of the elders.”

“Tiegan…”

“Did you leave to run your own tribas? Was that it? Did you feel so burdened by a brood that you needed the freedom? The escape?”

Daz glanced down.

“Answer me!” Tiegan yelled, his throat hurting from the volume of his scream.

Footsteps pattered through the corridor.

He sensed Sim-pony before she even entered the corridor. She stood in the distance, her twists dirty and curled around her shoulders. Big brown eyes stood out in her dark skin.

Tiegan jerked his gaze away from her and stared coldly at Daz. “I do not have a father.”

A tear slipped down Daz’s cheek.

Tiegan hardened himself to it. Daz was only putting on a show. If he truly cared, he would have already revealed himself as his father. He would not have abandoned him in the first place.

“Thank you for what you have done in the sacred damas.” He turned away and leaned against the wall because shouting had taken all the energy from him. “You may leave.”

“Tiegan.”

“Leave!” Tiegan’s eyes bulged as he shouted. “I never want to see you again.”

Thirty-Two

Symphony

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