Page 62 of Champion
“Well, that’s a new use for the term,” Willa quipped.
“Why do you hate them so?” Duke Ako’s low voice seemed to echo. He moved from where he paced near cell bars to stand beside the Lady Prime. “Your mother was human.”
“Mommy issues,” Emmy whispered toward my mate, and Willa rolled her eyes.
“I hate them because of her.” Nansar barked at his father, rocking back and forth in his chair. “Ambassador Yaard told me what she did. How after I was born, she took one look at me and thought me so hideous she ran from the citadel, never to be seen again.”
“Big mommy issues,” Willa echoed in a murmur. Although her words didn’t capture as much of my attention as the strange glance shared between Duke Ako and the Alliance Prime.
The Duke seemed to crumple in on himself, shoulders slumped, and he buried his face in his hands. The Alliance Prime turned in her seat, laying a hand on the Duke’s arm. It was more than just a gesture of comfort. It was a sign of long-standing friendship between the two.
“This is not your fault, Ako.” Her voice was stern but laced with an undercurrent of emotion.
“It is.” Duke Ako drew a deep, trembling breath. “I’m sorry, my son. This is my fault.”
I didn’t know who looked more shocked, only that the Alliance Prime didn’t seem shocked at all. Her countenance was one of deep sadness.
“Of course, it’s your fault,” Nansar yelled, flailing against the bonds that tied him to the chair. “You always cared more about those fucking humans than you ever did for me.” His green eyes darted, finding my mate in the din. “Stupid, weak humans. The only thing they’re good for is slavery.”
Thankfully, with my mate cuddled in my lap, my urge to stomp into the cell and beat Nansar into compliance derailedsomewhat. My Chieftain’s low growl reached my ears as he apparently pondered the same idea. At his side, Emmy ran a soothing hand up and down his arm.
Duke Ako didn’t seem ruffled by his son’s outburst. Instead, it seemed to coalesce something within him. He moved a few steps forward, kneeling by his son’s side, a gentle hand wiping the blood from Nansar’s face with his fingertips.
“Your mother was a wonderful female,” Ako began. Nansar twisted his head, fighting against his father’s touch, but the Duke cupped his son’s face gently, holding his gaze. “I should have told you more about her. But I was so heartbroken over losing Helene that to speak of her….”
Duke Ako shuddered; his expression so forlorn that it made his next words unsurprising.
“Your mother Helene was my true mate.”
Again, the only person who didn’t appear shocked by the information was the Alliance Prime. Her face was a study in placidity, save for the ticking of a small muscle along her jawline.
“You lie!” Nansar shouted. “Rmalda was your true mate. It’s why you hate the Kerzak… because they killed her.”
“Rmalda was a good female, but she was never my true mate. We mated for political reasons,” Duke Ako explained with a regretful shake of his head.
“It is true,” the Alliance Prime added in a soft voice.
“Then why were you so vengeful against the Kerzak for killing her?”
The Duke’s head snapped up at this, eyes hard. “Because she was a good female, and Ambassador Yaard killed her for nothing more than spite… he wanted me to cease my efforts to help the humans.”
“You lie,” Nansar snarled, but the conviction in his voice wavered slightly.
“After Rmalda died, I resolved to never mate again… not until the Alliance could find a way to quell Yaard’s influence on the Kerzak,” Duke Ako continued. “But then I met your mother. Helene was one of many human females taken by the Trogvyk. She was sent her to me as a gift—a bribe, if you will, to stop my work against human slavery.”
“You would have never kept her.” Nansar seemed to recognize a crumb of deceit in his father’s story and pounced. “You would never have kept a slave.”
“Helene was never my slave.” Despite the sadness that lay heavy on his features, his lips quirked into a smile. “I took one look at her, and my horns began to itch and heat.”
The sign of an Aljani true mating.
“We were happy for a time. None more than when you came along. But when Ambassador Yaard discovered Helene wasn’t just my favored concubine… that she was my mate. He came for her.”
“What do you mean?” Nansar seemed shaken.
“He tried to have her killed several times.” Duke Ako’s pale blue gaze hardened.
“Isn’t that against Alliance law?” My Chieftain’s mate asked, watching Duke Ako’s confession with tears hovering in her eyes.
