Cloud Riders(91)

Before she left, Aldebaran made a toast to his daughter. Cassie went to have a drink and then stopped to think about it before swapping their drinks and taking a sip of his. He gave her a quizzical look. ‘Swapped them just in case you send me home and everyone hates me again. You know that was a pretty dirty trick.’

He smiled; his eyes glowed with a crafty flicker.

‘A father will do what a father must do to be able to spend time with his little girl. You forgave me though or you wouldn’t have come back, no matter what the reason.’

‘I have no need to carry a grudge. Unlike my pops, I can forgive and forget.’ Darkness filled his eyes and she knew it was silly to spoil the day with one of her flyaway comments that were not called for. ‘Sorry, that wasn’t only rude but none of my business. If you allow me to pull my foot from my mouth I would like to retract that silly comment. I really would prefer not to bring business into our time together and spoil the lovely day we’ve just spent together. All too soon we’ll back on opposite sides and I don’t want to think about that just now either.’

She felt his mood lift instantly. ‘Thanks, Cassandra, I appreciate you apologising. It’s one of your many traits I find adorable. To tell you the truth I never want politics to deter you from visiting me. I’m stubborn and change is not easy for me nowadays. At this time I can only see it causing us both heartache. Instead I would prefer you to visit because you just enjoy your old man’s company.’ He held out his hand for her to accept this or not.

There was no way Cassie wanted to even think of him as anything more than her cool dad who had given her his time freely without an explanation as to why she had requested it. She ignored his hand, instead wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him. This time he automatically hugged her back. ‘You would have made a pretty good dad. Thank you for showing me that,’ she said, meaning it.

He growled in a playful way. ‘I could eat you up, you’re so sweet,’ he chuckled, making little chomping noises around her ear and making her laugh happily.

Walking out to the horse, Cassie was sad to be leaving. She had enjoyed getting to know her real father and hoped one day, to visit again.

He held her for a long time, silently searching her face like he was looking for something. When a tear ran down her face at the sadness she felt at having to leave him, he smiled with utter joy. ‘I knew you loved me too,’ he said, pleased. ‘Come and visit me again as soon as Kayden allows it. I’ll understand if it won’t be for a while. After all, we are enemies and you have been in the rival’s camp, which in war times is frowned upon. But I had the best time, Cassandra. Thanks for making an old man very happy,’ he said, helping her up on the horse.

With tears in her eyes, she blew him a kiss as Starburst flew off and headed for home.





Second Chance


Starburst landed them in the paddock and trotted back to the horse stables. The slow trip back to Kayden’s farmhouse had given her time to try and calm down a little. Even the magical cloud with its colourful lighting did little to ease her mind. Since leaving the comfort of her father’s home the worries of what she was coming home to washed over her to a point were she was on the edge of bursting into tears.

Was Conor better? Had Pop put a spell on her that would make Kayden distrust her again? What about Woody? Would he be there waiting or be replaced by a stranger?

Starburst trotted the last few yards to the barn. Kayden heard them and was out of the door in a flash. He lifted her off and held her while their emotions stabilised. He had missed her terribly and she had not only missed him but now missed her dad.

After Starburst had been tended to they went inside and had coffee and a chat. As Cassie sipped it, she told Kayden all that had happened since she’d last seen him, starting with the massive room where Aldebaran played his war games with his officers to the wonderful time she had with her father on Aquarius. She broke down and tears ran down her face. ‘You know, he really is my father and he loves me. Because of that I was unable to approach the subject of the war going on up there. It just didn’t seem appropriate to bring it up. I hope I haven’t let you down.’

‘You haven’t let anyone down. I wouldn’t have expected you to be negotiating at this early stage. It has taken the men years to learn the correct techniques. You could’ve really ticked him off and made it worse, so you’ve done well. And as for him keeping his side of the bargain, we’ve not been summoned by Zoren yet so your dad kept his promise. He didn’t attack while you were with him.’