The now-faded picture of his sister filled his mind. He smiled. “Yelena was a firecracker. Always smiling, always moving, always busy.”
“Do you…wonder where she is?”
“Every day.”
“How do you cope?” Madeline stared down into the tea.
Lore knew she was thinking of her son. “You remember the good times. I remember Yelena’s smile. The way she loved to dance. And I live, just in case she didn’t get the chance.”
Madeline’s lips trembled. “My son, Jack, was born with a bad heart.”
Her face was the softest Lore had ever seen it. “You worry about him.”
She nodded. “He needed a transplant. His heart was failing when he was eight and the wait-list for donor hearts was long. Top-of-the-line, artificial hearts were available for purchase, but they were very, very expensive.”
“You got it for him.”
She nodded. “He’s my child. I’d do anything for him.” She took a deep breath. “I had a job as a food server and I didn’t make a lot of money. Nor did Jack’s father. We had Jack when we were both young, and separated when he was two. We were providing for him, but we weren’t wealthy by any means.”
Lore waited, watching the interesting emotions flitter across her face.
“So, I went back to school to complete an accelerated business course. Jack’s father cared for him while I studied and worked hard. I knew jobs in space paid very well and I fought my way through getting a job at a space station corporation, fought for promotions, and finally got a job managing a space station. I was away from Jack, but I achieved the company objectives, no matter what, and my company loaned me the money to pay for Jack’s heart. I just recently finished paying off that debt.”
“You got him that heart, but you had to give up being with him.”
She bit her lip and nodded. “I had to be in space to make the money. His father loves him, and Jack lives with him. I send…sent…most of my money back so they could have a good home.”
She’d sacrificed so much for her son. “And now you worry how they’ll go on without you.”
She nodded. “I have a good trust fund set up for Jack, but…”
“He knows you love him, Madeline.”
“I was gone for so long. And now, I’m gone for good.”
Lore grabbed her slim shoulder and squeezed. “He knows, Madeline.”
“I hope so.”
“Rest now.” He took the now-empty mug from her. He didn’t mention that he’d also laced it with a sedative.
She turned her face into her pillow, her eyelids drooping. “So tired.”
“Sleep.” She looked delicate, almost vulnerable.
He shifted to set the cup down and her hand shot out, fingers curling around his arm.
“Please…don’t leave me.”
His chest tightened. “I won’t.”
With that, she finally relaxed and drifted into sleep. Lore sat there, content to watch her and the gentle rise and fall of her chest. He glanced at her bedside table and his muscles locked. The coin he’d given her sat there, beside a glass of water holding the white perra blossom he’d gifted her.
Sometimes the hardest shells hid the softest hearts. He remembered his grandmother teaching him that. She’d also taught him that the most important things were worth the wait.
***
Madeline stepped onto the sand of the training arena, the morning sunlight bright in her eyes. The large suns of Carthago looked like they were racing each other higher in the pale-blue sky.
“I don’t have time for this,” she muttered. “I have inventory to go over in the kitchen. I’m optimizing the system so Galen doesn’t keep quite so many goods in storage. He’s losing a portion of them when they go bad before they get used—”
“The healer said you had to exercise.” Lore strode beside her, bare chest crisscrossed by leather straps, his voice radiating alpha-male stubbornness.
Oh, the man could toss out a smile and dispense the charm, but it was all a show. All of it hiding the bossy, obstinate man underneath.
Madeline had to admit that after a good night’s sleep and whatever the healer had given her—not to mention the breakfast of fresh fruit and eggs that Lore had forced her to eat this morning—her stomach felt much better. She had more energy than she’d had in a long time.
She turned her attention to the training arena. It was far smaller than the main Kor Magna Arena, and solely for the House of Galen’s use. Some new recruits were sparring on the far side, with Saff and Kace.
Saff looked like some warrior queen, her dark skin gleaming and her braids falling over her shoulder. Kace was standing with his hands behind his back, watching the training with a critical eye. Like the military commander he’d been before he’d left his service to stay here with Rory.