Page 37 of Kazzon's Human Bride
She blinked back tears. “I-I did it for you,” she found herself saying. “You became so withdrawn after they fought… I worried about you. I didn’t want the family to split up right after I left Earth. And even after I switched places with Julie and thought I would get to stay, I wanted to make things better for you. But now I worry I prolonged what was always going to happen, though. Maybe if I hadn’t intervened all those times, they would’ve split up long ago and you would be much happier.”
“Don’t say that, Caylee.” Wilson shot her a warm smile. “I turned out okay, and to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have spent so much time in my room studying if I didn’t have a reason to avoid them. I might not have passed all my admissions exams and gotten into the engineering program.” He gave a visible shudder. “I might have had to work in the boring Trade Office with Mom and Dad for the rest of my life.”
His words filled her with relief and helped alleviate some of her guilt. She couldn’t deny that he had a good point.
“Speaking of the Trade Office, Dad is being relocated to a separate floor of the building. They won’t have to see one another every day.” He grinned and shook his head. “Mom showed her videos to one of their supervisors and demanded he be moved. She claimed it would be a hostile work environment if Dad remained working in her department.”
“Why are you smiling?”
Wilson chuckled. “Because it’s kind of funny. Can you picture Mom, who is always so serious, showing up at the Trade Office, demanding to see her supervisor, only to show him a video compilation of Dad crawling out of various windows?” He shrugged. “Well, I thought it was kind of funny.”
Caylee gave him a warm smile. When he put it that way, it did sound rather humorous. And if she couldn’t laugh about it, she very well might break down and start crying. She supposed it was the same for Wilson.
“You know, you’re a lot stronger than I ever gave you credit for,” she said. “I know I already said it once, but I’ll say it again—I’m so proud of you, Wilson.”
She giggled when another blush stole over him.
“Oh, I meant to ask you. Did some Tarrkuan guards show up to collect the materials you used to create the palm print for Julie? Kazzon said they would be stopping by soon and promised me you wouldn’t get in any trouble.”
“Yes, they came by and they searched the house, but they didn’t take anything.” Mischief twinkled in his eyes. “I destroyed the printer I built, as well as the scanning program, before Julie even attempted to board theZenallia. Seemed like the smart thing to do, just in case it didn’t work. I didn’t want any of us to end up in jail at the time.”
“Ah, a smart criminal,” Caylee said with a laugh.
They chatted for a few more minutes, before he checked the time and claimed he needed to finish packing. Moving day was tomorrow. He’d been given his own apartment to live in while he completed his last month of school.
After ending the call, she wiped a few tears away.
Her little brother was all grown up, and he was going to be okay.
We’re all going to be okay, she told herself.Eventually.
A weight of worry lifted from her. Suddenly, she felt lighter than she had in ages.
Chapter 27
“We’ll reachXollnax in a few days,” Kazzon announced. He stared at Caylee from across the table. It was early morning and a servant had just delivered breakfast, and he watched as his mate stirred a utensil through her food, appearing lost in thought. “Caylee, did you hear me?”
Her head shot up. “Sorry,Xerr. What did you say?”
“I said we’ll reach Xollnax in a few days He regarded her with curiosity, as well as a bit of worry. She wasn’t acting like her usual self this morning. “What were you thinking about, little human?”
“Oh, just my most recent conversation with Wilson. I talked to him again last night.” She continued playing with her food.
“What did he say?”
“Apparently it got back to the Leaders that you’d taken a human female with you when you departed New Leesburg. I suppose some of the people who saw us walking in the streets reported it and the Leaders started an investigation into what happened. Anyway, my mother ended up giving a long, rather dramatic interview to the New Leesburg Times and it made the front page. Wilson showed me the paper—it shows pictures of me and Julie side by side and describes how we pulled off the switch.”
Kazzon studied her, unsure of why she appeared so troubled. He’d known the residents of her dome-city would eventually discover what had happened—certainly, someone would notice Julie’s house sitting empty after a while and start to ask questions—but he didn’t understand why this event caused her sadness. Yes, he decided, she looked almost heartbroken, but he couldn’t fathom why this sudden news upset her.
His spirits sank. Unless she wasn’t happy with him.
He dashed the thought aside. Even if she wasn’t happy, they were mated. For life. He continued studying her, wishing he could read her mind. He knew he could outright ask her if she was content in their mating union—and if she lied, he would know—but he wasn’t that brave.
Tears sprang to her eyes and she shook her head. “Sorry,” she muttered. “I feel so stupid crying right now.” She grabbed a napkin and dabbed at her eyes.
Kazzon reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “What has saddened you, sweet human? Please tell me, and I will try to make it better.”
“The interview was atrocious. My mom gushed about how much she loved me and how much she would miss me. She was careful not to speak against the Earth-Tarrkua trade agreement, but she mentioned how awful it would be to never see me again. Even though she knows I’ll return to Earth for a visit at least once a year, she lied about that. The article was one big attention seeking pity-fest. I feel humiliated.” She wiped away more tears, and Kazzon rose from the table.
