Page 26 of Owned By Two

It occurred to me then that he wasn’t theonlyassistant my father had — what about all the other people I saw earlier? The ones carrying things? The servants?

The sickness I felt in the pit of my stomach pushed even harder at me, threatening to spill what little sustenance I had in my belly.

But looking over at Uhti, with the kind and thoughtful expression on his face, the way he returned to the water dispenser to refill my cup, and the concerned look in his eyes… it made me think that maybe, rather than being the wrong person to talk to about this stuff, a perfect stranger might be just theperfectperson for me to talk to.

After all, he’d known my father and would know things —manythings— about him that I didn’t.

He could understand exactly what was going on here.

“My father…” I began, unsure exactly what I wanted to say until the words came to my lips. “He was never successful. My mom told me that. The fact he was successful here, that he left me as a baby to pursue his dreams and become rich… and then for him to have achieved it and not tell us about it…”

I was rambling but Uhti nodded as if understanding what I was getting at. “I understand.”

I glared at him. “Do you?”

He hesitated beneath my scowl, before shaking his head. “Not… exactly. No. But I have experienced disappointment before.Greatdisappointment. And there’s nothing more painful than that in all the galaxy.”

I wondered if he really believed what he was saying. It appeared he did, so I continued:

“Me and my mom… we struggled. I mean, we had each other and so we got by, but why didn’t he try to help us? He must have known we were in trouble, that we needed help…”

Uhti raised his purple eyes to me before pulling them away again.

There was something there, I thought, something he wanted to tell me, but couldn’t bring himself to do so…

“And now I come here, the day he died, and you tell me I get everything he worked hard for, everything he gave me up for?”

I shook my head. “Well, I don’t want it. I don’t want a stitch of it!”

My anger was so liquid hot white fury in my chest and I almost choked on it.

Uhti crouched beside me. “He spoke about you a lot… toward the end. I think, somehow, he knew he was going to die.”

“Good,” I snapped, glaring at Uhti, who blinked in surprise.

I ground my teeth to maintain the frustration I felt but couldn’t maintain it and I looked away.

I might have been angry at my father but he was little more than a stranger to me.

And how could you be furious at someone you hardly even knew?

“Do you know how I like to relieve my stress?” Uhti asked.

I shook my head.

“I like to fight. I’ve been training my whole life. I never got to use my skills in the real world but I was always ready to battle and defend your father’s life at a moment’s notice. Even lay down my life for his. That’s how I deal with my stress and anger. How do you deal with yours? What helps you relieve it?”

A method to relieve my stress? I thought. I didn’t have a method.

I just balled it up into a tight wad and swallowed it, adding it to the massive mountain swelling in the pit of my gut.

“Come on,” Uhti said. “There must besomeway you relieve it? Think back. What makes you feel good when you’re angry?”

I thought of Blor and the incredible sex we’d enjoyed… but I hadn’t been angry then.

I’d been excited, nervous…anything butangry.

Then I spotted a small piece of metal — a screw that Uhti had missed when he tidied up the mess I had made with the toaster earlier.

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