“I really don’t mind,” Felicia said sincerely. “You’re his mother. I get it.”
“Talyn? What do you want me to do?”
Talyn pressed his lips together. “The Andarion symbol for war is two females under one roof. My mother didn’t raise no fool. Honestly, it makes no difference to me, but I don’t want either of you to feel weird or uncomfortable.”
“I really, truly don’t mind,” Felicia reiterated. “If you want to be close by in case something happens, I’d rather have you down the hall than across town. You can even sleep in here and I’ll take one of the other bedrooms, if you want.”
Galene smiled. “Now that I’m sure he’d object to.” She patted Felicia’s arm. “I’ll take the room at the end of the hall. And I’ll make dinner tonight for both of you.”
“Thank you.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
Inclining her head, she left them.
Talyn bent his arm under his head. “I’m glad you get along with my mother.”
“I adore her. She’s very sweet.”
“Don’t know if sweet’s the word I’d go with. She can be scary when stirred. But while I might doubt her sanity at times, I’ve never doubted her love for me.”
Felicia laughed. “You know she can probably hear you.”
“Yeah, but she raised me. It’s not like she doesn’t know I’m an irritable ass. Contrary to what she claims, I haven’t exactly hidden it.”
“I don’t think you’re irritable.”
“What can I say? You bring out the best in me.”
Felicia felt weepy over that. “You need to rest.”
“Fine.” He stuck his tongue out at her before he rolled over.
Laughing again, she closed the door and went to help his mother in the kitchen.
Galene was washing vegetables as Felicia entered the room. “What can I do to help?”
The commander shook her head. “Chop an onion?”
“Sure.” She grabbed a chopping block and knife. As she started, the hair on the back of her neck raised. She looked up to catch Galene staring at her. “Is something wrong?”
“If I asked you something very personal, would you be offended?”
“Depends. Is it offensive?”
“It might be. But I don’t mean it that way. It’s more nosy than anything else.”
“Then ask.”
“Why are you a companion?”
Felicia’s face heated up at the extremely personal question. Not to mention the fact that it was coming from the mother of her patron, which only made it worse. “I needed the money for school.”
“Didn’t your mother try to talk you out of it?”
“A little, but she quickly came around, once I pointed out my reasons and the benefits of it. Ultimately, she’s the one who trained me.”
“Why would she agree to such a thing?”
“Well… given my options for a husband and the terms I’d have been forced to agree to for marriage, it seemed the better choice. And I didn’t want to put either her or myself through the embarrassment of another female acting like she was doing a magnanimous favor by allowing her son to mix blood with us. Both my parents are very high-lineaged. My mother only became a companion because she met and fell in love with my father after he was already married. Granted, she was young and stupid, but it was the only way she could legally be with him. She’d have never done it otherwise.”
“Really?”
Felicia nodded. “Besides, I wasn’t planning to do it forever. Just until I got through school and passed my physician’s license.”
“What if you get pregnant?”
“Then I will have a beautiful baby to love.” She returned to chopping. “You’ve done well on your own.”
Galene snorted as she returned to prepping the meat. “I wouldn’t wish my life on anyone. Talyn deserved much better than what I was able to give him, and I hate myself for what I’ve done to him by being so selfish.”
“You shouldn’t. He seems much happier and better adjusted than my siblings who come from a married couple. A very high-ranking married couple, no less. I’ve never met a kinder or more decent male in my life. You did an incredible job with him.”
“Thank you. Now that you mention it, he is a much better individual than any of my siblings. Still, I hate how much time he spent alone when he was young… how isolated he is as an adult.”
“Friends are overrated.”
Galene arched a brow at Felicia’s comment. “What makes you say that?”
“Just that I’ve had a few stab me pretty hard over the years. I’m a little skittish now.”
“You’re too young to be so jaded.”
Felicia held the knife up. “You haven’t seen how many of these I have embedded