Quicksilver Dreams(199)

                “His name was Chagin Battler.”

                Chagin. The name echoed through my mind, rolling around a few times as I tried it out in the privacy of my thoughts. Finally, I had a name to put to my father, even if I didn’t have a picture. I was the daughter of Chagin. I didn’t know what that was supposed to mean to me. I looked inward and didn’t feel any particularly good or bad thoughts.

                “Would you like to know your real name?”

                “My real name?” I frowned.

                “Your parents named you Tayla, after your father’s mother. She’s still alive, you know.”

                Tayla? I had a grandmother who was still alive? “Where is she?”

                “She works as a slave to Ral’e, the warrior king of the Brausa.” He shook his head with silent mirth, making his lips tremble.

                “Why is that funny?” I asked, almost afraid to know the answer.

                “I was paid by Ral’e to kill her son, and now she’s made to serve him that ordered the assassination—the warrior king.”

                “Why? Why did this leader want my father dead?”

                “He was a traitor.”





Chapter Twenty-One

                This was a front-row seat to a show I’d wanted to see for years. I couldn’t believe I was actually hearing about my father, if Frank was to be believed. It didn’t feel like he was lying. He had no reason to lie at this point.

                “The irony is, your father paid me to bring him to Earth to escape execution by his own people. In turn, they paid me to kill him. In essence, he paid his own executioner.”

                The upsurge of anger I felt was surprising. Thinning my lips to keep from mouthing off, I asked, “Why would they call him a traitor?”

                With a narrow-eyed stare that seemed to take him back in time, Frank took a few seconds to consider the question before he replied. “He was protesting the heavy-handedness and corrupt policies Ral’e was beginning to implement, and some of his people were starting to listen. There were whispers of revolt, talk of the peaceful movement their previous king had tried to move forward with. I must give it to him for having the courage of his convictions. He knew this would bring heavy censure, but I don’t think he believed his own leader was so corrupt that Ral’e would fabricate evidence against him.”

                “So his king made up evidence against him and got rid of him.”

                “That is correct. He was accused of infiltrating the ranks to help the Sunan people and sentenced to execution. In any case, he came to know that the warrior king was going to have him killed. He approached me and asked me to help him escape.”

                “If you knew he was being set up, how could you kill him?”

                Frank’s empty, soulless eyes looked down at me, and he tut-tutted, as though I were a foolish child. “Taylor, darling, why would I care about the Brausiian people? They’re filthy animals.”

                I felt the sting of the comment, though I still frowned at him, frightened by how he could be so ruthless. I’d never been around anyone who was so conscienceless before. “So you helped him get to Earth and then killed him?”

                “Not immediately. He was clever. There were years where I lost track of him. Your mother helped him. I don’t know how or when they met. Together, they very nearly managed to disappear. In time, they married and had you. Likely, your father thought I’d given up. I imagine he’d convinced himself to start over, begin a new life and forget his home planet.”