"As I recall, it's my ring, is it not?"

A deep blush stained his caramel skin as she slid the ring back onto his pinkie to cover the lighter skin tone that said he never removed it from his hand.

"Why did you take it?" he groused.

"Again, it was mine."

His eyes brittle, he clenched his fist around her ring. "That you hurled in my face."

He was right. She'd wanted him to choke on it that day in the locker room. "I was a little distraught at the time." She lifted his left hand to twist the ring on his finger. "Intriguing engraving you added inside the band. Should I ask why you felt so compelled?"

Anguish swam in his eyes. "What do you want me to say, Stormy? Please, for the love of the G.o.ds, give me the words that will make you forgive me for making the worst mistake of my life."

Grief and pain choked her as she let her touch linger on his rough callouses callouses that told her just how hard and harsh a warrior's life he'd led over the years. "No words," she whispered as she brushed her fingers over the intricate Batur tattoo that ran the entire length of his arm. "What made you do this?"

"I told you I would."

"A promise a boy made to a young girl... long ago, in the heat of pa.s.sion." She shook her head. "This makes no sense to me."

He reached for her hand and slid it over his heart to hold it there. "There was only ever you for me, Galene."

"Then why did you tell me you loved Omira?"

"I never did. You accused me of it. But I had never touched her until after you broke off our pledge. Never even really noticed her in our cla.s.s while we were in school. It was a lie told that you believed."

"Then why not tell me the truth?"

Pain racked him as he grappled with a past that left a bitter lump in his throat and a burning hole inside his heart. "Because you would have cried and begged me to stay with you. And I would have killed my brother to have you as my wife. I thought that if I was gone and you hated me for it that you'd marry Merrell and have a good life. That was all I ever wanted for you."

A tear slid down her cheek. "I hate you, Fain Hauk."

"And I love you, Galene Batur. Instead of engraving 'Forever Galene's' inside your ring, I should have put 'Galene's b.i.t.c.h' there instead. That's what I really am."

A tear slid down her cheek. "You're such a b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

He lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss to her palm, just like he'd done when they were kids. "Worthless from my first breath to my last."

More tears followed as she saw the scars he bore. His body was a roadmap of the horrors he'd been through. Jayne was right. Nothing had ever been easy for Fain. "Why did you marry Omira if you loved me?"

"Given our last encounter in the locker room, I knew you were done with me. That you would never take me back. And you know my mother. Once our pledge was broken, my parents threw me out. I'd embarra.s.sed them publicly. And after Chrisen and Merrell spread their lies, no Andarion female would have me. Not that I wanted one of them. But Merrell wanted you, bad enough to kill Dancer and Keris for it. That was what he told me he would do if I didn't leave you to him. I knew if I stayed on Andaria, I'd crawl back to you and bury my brothers, regardless of the guilt that would have killed me over it. While Omira wasn't my first choice, she was kind to me... at least, in the beginning. All I really was to her was an escape from the father she hated. Once the new wore off and she realized the nightmare of having an alien husband, she couldn't stand me either."

"Yet you stayed?"

"We were married. I'd made an oath to her. Better or worse. I just didn't realize what all worse entailed. And a part of me believed I deserved every scar she carved on me for hurting you the way I did."

Galene brushed her hand through his dark and bleached braids, straightening them over his chest. "I want to claw out your eyes and stab you until you're dead at my feet."

He turned his head away.

She caught his chin and forced him to look at her. "I have always loved you, Fain Hauk. From the first moment I met you and you offered me a drink of your malt. You were the only thing in this life that I've ever wanted. Why did you never once come find me?"

He tightened his hand on hers. "Oh, Stormy, you have no idea how many times I wanted to. But by the time I was free again, so many years had gone by that I didn't dare. I figured you were married, with kids. And I knew the sight of you with someone else would destroy me. So I stayed as far away from you as I could. But you were always in my heart. Always."

She would deny it, but the ink on his arm bore out his words with a bold, tangible honesty.

And so did the tormented sincerity in his eyes.

Galene trailed her hand over his tattooed shoulder and watched as chills sprang up on his skin in the wake of her touch. Her Hauk had always been the most beautiful of all males. Even now, he was everything to her.

"Where do we go from here, Fain?"

"I don't know. The last thing I want to do is hurt you any more. Or, G.o.ds forbid, worse."

Before she could stop herself, she leaned down and placed a gentle kiss to his lips.

Fain closed his eyes as he savored the feel and taste of his precious Galene. Sucking his breath in sharply, he buried his hand in her braids and held her close. He lost himself to the taste of her, to the sweetness of her breath mixed with his. "Stay with me, Stormy. In all the darkness of my life, you are the only light I've ever known."

She broke off their kiss with a sob. "I don't know if I can. I want to forgive you. I do. But it's not that easy. You didn't just break my heart, Fain. You shattered it. I've never been able to trust any male near me after what you did. None... only Talyn."

Fain swallowed against the bitter lump that choked him. How he hated the pain he heard in her voice. Most of all, he hated himself for having caused it. "Will you give me one more chance? Please. I swear to you that I'll never abuse it. And you won't regret it."

Galene bit her lip as she heard the last words she'd ever expected him to utter. She wanted to slap him and walk away. To be as cold to him as he'd been to her that day she'd gone to tell him she was pregnant.

But what she saw was the wounded boy she'd loved more than her life. The one who used to swing her up in his arms and make her feel so warm and protected. So treasured. The one she'd thought to live the rest of her life with.

Now...

"You're the most aggravating male ever born."

"Completely unlovable."

She fought hard to suppress her smile at his adorable grin. "Yes, you are." She flicked her nails at him. "So why do I still care for you?"

"Told you. I'm irresistibly fluffy."

More charmed than she wanted to be, she rolled her eyes at him. "I think I must be the one with a head injury."

He quirked that adorable grin at her. "C'mon, Stormy. Let me court you. If I f.u.c.k up again, you can have Talyn kick my a.s.s."

"You know he will. He did break every single record you ever set in the Ring."

He visibly cringed. "The joy in your voice as you say that stings me deep."

"Good."

Fain brushed her knuckles against his fangs. "One chance? Please?"

Against her better judgment, she nodded. "But be warned, War Hauk. If you break trust with me this time, I will end you. Painfully, and with relish." She jerked her chin toward the part of his body that was bulging under the thin blanket. "And that stays in your pants until such a time as I say so. You hear me?"

He whimpered at her cruelty. "You're a vicious mia. But fine. I accept your terms."

Yet as he made that bargain, Fain had no idea just what he'd opened himself up for. Something that became crystal clear over the next few days as Galene held him to his word.

And then some.

Once he was released from the hospital, she forced him to endure the strictest Andarion courtship rituals the very ones they'd spent their youth trying to get around. Right down to having Talyn, as her closest male relative, chaperone them. She refused to be alone with him.

Even now, Fain had to ask for his son's permission to dine with her. It was so effing galling.

More so because Talyn truly enjoyed making him squirm. Irritated to the brink of murder, Fain entered the command center where Talyn was currently on duty with his adjutant. The major laughed as soon as he saw Fain approaching them.

Gavarian cleared his throat. "Commander Hauk on deck, Commander."

Fain glared at the Andarion major for announcing him with such vicious glee.

Talyn's eyes gleamed as he turned to face him. "You need something, Hauk?"

It also irritated the h.e.l.l out of him that his own son outranked him, and the two Andarion officers took a great deal of s.a.d.i.s.tic pleasure in reminding him of that fact every chance they had. "Can I have a word with you in private?"

Talyn handed his control band over to his adjutant before he followed Fain out of the room and into the hallway. Crossing his arms over his chest as the door closed behind them, he glowered at Fain.

Refusing to be intimidated, Fain growled low in his throat. His son wasn't about to have even a modic.u.m of mercy on him. "You know what I want."

"Have you accomplished anything new? Added more honors to your lineage?"

"In the last nineteen hours?" Fain sneered at him. "You're not really playing this s.h.i.t with me, are you?"

"You have to prove yourself worthy of her courtship. My mother's a Winged Batur and the prime commander of our armada, after all. An Andarion female of the highest honor and blood lineage. What do you bring to this relationship?"

"You're such an a.s.shole."

There was the slightest quirk at the corner of his lips. "Just like my father, I'm told."

Before Fain could comment, the door opened to show Gavarian. "Commander? There's another transmission."

Fain didn't miss the rage in Talyn's eyes as he brushed past him to rush back into the room. He followed and watched as Talyn tried to run a quick trace and a.n.a.lysis.

"What's going on?"

Talyn glanced around the room, then spoke in an archaic version of Andarion that was taught only to those in the highest command positions. "We suspect a spy among your crew. Someone's bleeding information about secure Sentella movements to The League."

Fain started to laugh at the ludicrous suggestion. Then thought better of it. While Tavali were supposed to be loyal to each other beyond reproach, they weren't always. They were, after all, profiteering pirates. "You sure?"

Talyn gave a curt nod. "Unfortunately, we can't catch a long enough transmission to locate the source of it. Or identify the traitor."

"You're sure it's not an Andarion with your crew?"

"Not sure of anything." Talyn sighed heavily as he took the band back from Gavarian. He snapped it onto his wrist, then glanced askance at his adjutant. "Did you detect more details this time?"

"Too well encrypted, and they never transfer long enough to catch more than the very end of it. What I got, I sent over to Morra."

Fain frowned. "Then how do you know it's intel?"

Talyn gave him a droll stare. "How else would I know that your brother left Andaria yesterday with his wife and children and a royal Phrixian escort, and is heading toward a Sentella outpost before rendezvousing here? Or that Darling Cruel and Caillen de Orczy are meeting with Nykyrian eton Anatole at the Andarion palace?"

He was right. Fain hadn't spoken a word to anyone about that. Someone had to be monitoring his transmissions with Dancer. "I'm being bugged?"

"Unless there's a Trisani on this station we need to know about."

Fain cursed. "None that I know of. And you're sure it's going to The League?"

"Not completely. But it's being transmitted toward an area they control, so we're operating under the a.s.sumption that it is."

Fain looked around the room. Aside from the three of them, there were only two others currently in the center. He was the only Tavali. "Can they understand us?"

Talyn shook his head. "Only Gavarian. They're not cleared for this. Besides, they're monitoring other transmissions and not even paying attention to us."

"You sure?"

Gavarian snorted. "Since I've been s.h.a.gging the captain's sister and mother for the last year, pretty sure they're clueless."

Neither Andarion, both of whom were captains, looked up at something that should have been ma.s.sive fighting words had they heard them.

"Satisfied?" Talyn asked.

"That they can't understand us? Yeah. Think so. That we have a spy? Not even a little. Does your mom know?"

"No. We just caught this earlier today. I was about to report to her when you showed up to annoy me."

Fain chose to ignore the barb. "Then I'll cover the con while you make your report."

Talyn inclined his head to Fain before he handed over the command wristband. "Thanks. I'll be back in a few."

As he stepped away, Fain stopped him. "By the way... you never answered my question about dinner with your mom."

An evil grin curved his lips. "I'll speak to the commander on your behalf and see what she says."

Fain clenched his teeth as Talyn headed out and left him in charge. He wasn't sure which one of them he wanted to strangle more.

Mother or son.

But as he turned back toward Gavarian, he realized something. Talyn doted on this kid. Even when they'd been in battle, he'd made sure to cover him and keep him safe. Like a mother hen with its only rooster.

Or Fain with his little brother.

"So... how long have you been Talyn's adjutant?"

Gavarian glanced up from the report he was typing. "That's cla.s.sified."