would do was upset her. She’d never handled it well whenever something was out of her control. Especially when it involved him and his well-being. Then her guilt kicked in, and Talyn hated seeing that in her eyes.
It wasn’t her fault that his father had abandoned her while she’d been pregnant. That was solely on Fain Hauk’s shoulders. He was the irresponsible bastard who’d impregnated her and walked away without looking back.
The only thing she’d done wrong was give up her life and prestige to keep Talyn. Though there were times he wished he’d never been born, he’d never regretted his mother staying with him. His life would have been infinitely worse had she given him up. While orphans with no paternal or maternal lineages were technically above his caste in their rigid society, they were completely ineligible for the military. His role would have been that of an opinionless servant, forced into the most menial of jobs.
Taking his mother’s hand, he held it to his heart.
“I love you, Talyn,” she whispered, kissing his temple.
Talyn tightened his grip on his mother’s hand, but didn’t speak. His gratitude to her was too great to be trivialized by words that couldn’t convey the depth of what he really felt.
He reached for Felicia and took her hand, too. “My two munataras. I couldn’t ask for better company.”
“Well, look at this… and here I was feeling sorry for your rotten ass. Hell, for two such gorgeous females to dote on me, I’d set myself on fire, too.”
Snorting, Talyn glanced to the door to see Erix joining them. “Sure you would. You cry over a hangnail.”
With his arms crossed over his chest, Erix moved to stand at the foot of the bed so that he could scowl at Talyn. “How you feeling, kid?”
“Like I’ve gone a few too many rounds with you.”
Erix tsked at him. “Flattery will only get you an extra hour of laps.”
“You always threaten that, but you never do it.”
“ ’Cause you’re so pretty, you remind me of my daughter.” Erix glanced over to Talyn’s mother. “Any word on when they might release him?”
“Once they ease him back on solid food for a full day without any complications, they’ll let him go home.”
He nodded. “I’ll have Ferrick reschedule a few fights.”
“Ferrick’s going to kill me.”
Erix scoffed. “Don’t worry about that old buzzard. I’ll take care of him. You focus on getting better.”
Talyn nodded. “I’ll get out of here as soon as possible.” He had no intention of staying in this bed one minute longer than was absolutely necessary. But as he listened to his mother and Erix talk, his memory began to slowly fill in details of his mission.
More than that, he remembered why Syndrome had sent him flowers.
Anatole was seriously abusing his power and Talyn had challenged him. Apparently, this was how the royal prick answered a legitimate invitation.
With treachery.
Fine, bitch. If Anatole didn’t want to face him in the Ring like a true Andarion, Talyn would go over his head and report him.
One way or another, he’d end this.
Alone in his room, Talyn sneered at the news report that covered the battle against the Tavali.
“Colonel Anatole emerged as the hero of the day. With seven kills, he single-handedly saved his unit and the lives of every Andarion who fought beside him. Andaria owes a tremendous debt to the royal family member. We’re lucky to have one such as he on our side.”
Talyn turned the news off before he threw up, just on principle. Ridiculous.
His link buzzed. Thinking it was his mother or Felicia checking in with him, he answered without reviewing the ID.
It was Command. “Major Batur, we have received your report and the prime commander has gone over it. We wanted to make sure that you are willing to stand by what you’ve written, as it seriously contradicts what Colonels Anatole and Pinara have reported.”
He scowled. “What do you mean?”
A file popped up on his link. “They claim that you are the one who has been propositioning the females in your squad, and Colonel Anatole has sworn testimony from six different females who say that you have behaved inappropriately with them. The commander is currently reviewing the rest of your file to see if a demotion is in order. So again, I ask you, do you wish to submit your report and have it as part of your record?”
Talyn couldn’t breathe as those words sank in and he realized Syndrome had thrown him to the wolves for daring to