glanced at Ami. “I told you Mother and Father both vowed to wipe the Earth clean if I discovered the Earthlings had killed you.”
Swears erupted behind them.
Ari’k’s fingers tightened on his weapon.
“At ease,” Taelon said. “They’re friends. Allies.”
Ari’k nodded. “The Akselian rebel Janwar told Levik he had reason to believe you still lived. But your parents did not trust his information and wished to annihilate all Earthlings.”
Taelon and Ami shared a look.
“What stopped them?” Ami asked.
“I refused to abandon my post, and they didn’t wish me and the rest of the crew to come to harm,” Ari’k stated.
“So?” Taelon countered. “As long as you remained off-world, you would’ve been fine.”
For the first time, Lisa saw a tiny flicker of emotion cross the warrior’s face. Unease? “They think the ship is hidden here on Earth.”
Taelon frowned. “Why would they think that?”
Yep. That was definitely unease on the man’s face.
“Because I told them it was.”
Taelon’s frown deepened. “I ordered you to remain in space, hidden from the Earthlings. You disobeyed my orders and landed on Earth?”
“No.”
Taelon and Ami exchanged a puzzled glance.
“I don’t understand,” Ami said.
“Nor do I,” Taelon muttered.
All waited for Ari’k to explain.
“I lied,” he stated. And the faintest furrow appeared on his brow as though he couldn’t quite believe it.
Taelon and Ami gaped.
Lisa looked back and forth between them. “Why do you both look so shocked? He did it to save you, right, in case you were both still alive?”
Ami recovered first. “That’s why we’re shocked.”
Taelon nodded. “Yona always follow orders. Always. They never question them. They never disobey them. And they sure as hell never lie. All of those actions are spurred on by emotion.”
“If one doesn’t feel emotion,” Ami said, “one doesn’t form emotional attachments that might—for example—make one reluctant to admit a friend is dead and leave, compelling him to lie.”
Lisa joined Taelon and Ami in staring at Ari’k.
The silence stretched.
The Yona looked at Taelon. “I believe I may be malfunctioning.” He didn’t say something felt off or that he might be sick. He said he might be malfunctioning… as if he were indeed a robot and not a living, breathing being with feelings. “As soon as I spoke the untruth, I ended communications with the king and queen, went directly to the med bay and ran scans, but they uncovered nothing.”
Taelon didn’t seem to know what to think. “Did you admit you’d lied?”
“No. I instead continued the deception. I can find no explanation for my behavior.” Despite his stoic expression, he seemed upset by what all three considered a huge irregularity.
Well, this man’s actions had kept Taelon’s grief-stricken and rightfully infuriated parents from killing them all, so she felt bad that instead of celebrating that fact, he looked like he thought someone should punish him. “Maybe you weren’t so much lying as you were fulfilling Taelon’s orders,” she suggested.
Ari’k speared her with a piercing gaze. His dark pupils and gray irises were larger than a human’s, almost eclipsing all of the white. “Explain.”
“Taelon said he told you to stick close and wait for him to contact you, right?” Hadn’t Taelon told her something along those lines?
“Correct.”
“Well, you couldn’t very well do that if his parents’ fleet killed everyone on the planet, including Taelon, could you?”
“I could not.”
“So the way I see it, you basically had to choose between two sets of orders: Taelon’s and his parents.’ If you have no emotions to sway you and always obey orders, logic would dictate that you wouldn’t obey the second set of orders until you finished obeying the first. So you kinda had no choice but to lie. It was the only way to follow Taelon’s orders.”
What are you doing? Taelon asked her telepathically.
I’m trying to make him feel better. He seems really worried.
He’s Yona. Yona don’t worry. It’s why they make the best guards and are the best men to have at your back in battle. They don’t feel emotion.
Clearly he does. Because look how relieved he seems now.
“I accept the logic of your explanation, Earthling.” He turned to Taelon. “I was obeying your orders.”
The baby shifted in Lisa’s arms and began to suck on her fist.
Ari’k looked down at the infant and blinked. “What is that?”
She fought a laugh. “A baby.”
Taelon grinned. “She’s my daughter.”
Ari’k looked at Taelon. “You sired a child with an Earthling?”
“Yes.”
Ami grinned. “I did, too.” Then she laughed. “Well, I didn’t sire it. He did.” She jerked a hand over her shoulder at Marcus. “But I gave birth to it.”
Ari’k returned his