Page 39 of Rescued

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HEROD

Our course was set. Nikathy sat beside me, regaling me with stories of his many adventures, and I swapped tales with him whenever he’d pause long enough to let me speak. This exchange was nice, almost like the days before, when Adreax and I traveled the skies together as brothers.

Somewhere out there, the Patrol was preparing to conduct a raid. We still didn’t know their target, and we had convinced ourselves that maybe it had nothing to do with us or our little band of comrades. Maybe it was a raid on some other planet or organization. Maybe we would all come through this unscathed and we would laugh about it later. That’s what we told ourselves to keep from wondering too much. After all, there was only so much we could do. We could only face the battles directly in front of us, not the ones taking place lightyears away.

In any case, we were heartened by the Patrol’s timing of this raid. If all of their focus was on their target, it would be difficult for them to dispatch anyone to our location. The skies would be clear for us when we made our move. Of course there would be a few lookouts watching over the retired ships, but they would have drawn down to a skeleton crew. We were counting on it.

We were almost a full day out of Divoron now, and Nikathy showed no signs of running out of tall tales to tell. It would take at least three more days to reach our target, and another day or so to plan our attack. After that, who knew what we would do next. If we succeeded, a whole new world of possibilities would open up for us. If we failed… well, there would be no coming back from that.

A video call interrupted Nikathy’s story, and I was a little too eager to answer. I needed to hear someone else’s voice for a moment. I answered and waited for the image to appear. A moment later, Adreax stared at me through the lens of the camera, his eyes a smoldering grey and his lips turned down in a frown of dissatisfaction.

“It’s nice to see you, too,” I said sarcastically before he had even spoken.

“We need to talk.”

I dropped the humorous act and sat back in my chair. I didn’t know the subject of this lecture, but I was familiar enough with Adreax to know that a lecture was headed my way. I went back in my mind, wondering what I might have done to deserve such a thing from him on this occasion. Actually, a few things came to mind, but I wasn’t sure which ones Adreax knew about, so it was too early to narrow the field.

“Oh?” I asked nonchalantly, turning to Nikathy and rolling my eyes as if Adreax were an overbearing parent.

“What is this I’m hearing about you and Caimbrie?”

“I’m afraid I’m going to need you to be a bit more specific, my friend.”

Now I was taunting him, throwing my indifference in his face. We were still friends. We would always be brothers. But I was the captain of my own ship now.

His tone softened, and I was unprepared for the shift. “Did you really send her off without a goodbye?”

I had been expecting a lecture about sleeping with a vulnerable woman, or perhaps lying to her about my intentions.

I didn’t need to answer.

“That’s no way to treat a woman, you know?”

“Did you call me just to give me dating advice?” I snapped. “Because I kind of have my hands busy right now and there might be a better time to have this conversation.”

I held my expression steady, trying to appear indifferent, neither guilty nor sorrowful, although I felt both in my heart.

“I called because I think you’re making a big mistake,” he answered without a hint of humor.

“Despite what you may think, Adreax, I’ve never needed your help with women before, and it’s mighty presumptuous of you to think that I do now.”

Adreax arched an eyebrow at me, but he didn’t speak. We each held our ground, the silence buzzing with static as it grew longer, and then fading back to quiet as our connection stabilized.

“Fine then. You don’t have to listen to me. But I do want to ask you one more thing. Why’d you do it?”

This question was harder to answer, and harder to ignore. I didn’t know, exactly. Or I did, but I wasn’t ready to face it just yet.

A noise behind me distracted me, and I looked over my shoulder to see Nikathy was rising from his seat and excusing himself from the cockpit. That was awfully tactful of him, I thought. But I returned my attention to the disappointed look on Adreax’s face.

“What have you heard?”

“Not much. I thought Tayla was just gossiping. But just this morning Caimbrie wandered onto the bridge. She was shy, didn’t want to impose, but she had come to ask for permission to call you. She said the two of you had unfinished business.” He didn’t have to say another word to convey his disappointment and judgement. And that was what really struck me. He was judging me. Even he had to see that I was unworthy of the woman.

“I have to say it’s unlike you to back down from a challenge, Herod. I’d have expected better of you. But maybe you’re just not up for the task of taming a woman so wild?”

I reacted instantly, snarling. His face lit up with mockery at my reaction, and I knew he’d done it on purpose. I was breathing hard, fists clenched and muscles tight as I tried to steady the emotional turmoil within me.

“I did not back down. I had to let her go, Dre. It was the only way. I wasn’t ever going to be good enough for her, and she made that clear. She wouldn’t have chosen me if she had any other options. She said so herself.”

“Herod, I’m only going to say this one time.” He paused for effect. “You are being an idiot.”

“If that’s all you have to say, I’ll be letting you go.”

Adreax nodded and cut the video feed, leaving me to face my reflection in the blank screen all alone.

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