Undercover(50)

“I’m sorry. I just want to know.”

“Why? And don’t be sorry; it’s over and done. What good would it do to know now, Ash?” She focused on the track in front of her. “It can’t help you.”

“How do you know? I thought of you every day, you know. But I forced myself to let you go, to never look to see where you’d gone or what had happened to you. I couldn’t know. Selfish. But when we called your name up for the team, I looked and learned a bit. But so much is missing.”

“Tell him,” Brandt urged.

“Why? It will only hurt. I don’t want to hurt you, Ash.”

“Please.”

She sighed, frustrated. “What do you think I was like, Ash? I believed in you. In us. I believed in love and forever and all that good stuff. In the span of a day, it was all a lie. It sent me reeling. I fucked my way through many men in the following months. All of them incredibly unsuitable. It was dark, self-destructive and bad. My parents were distressed. And then I found my way into the military corps, and I had a regimen to guide me. Structure. I was so busy and inundated with rules and tasks every moment of my day, it stopped hurting so much, and I stopped hurting myself instead of you.” She swallowed. “My family had one Sera one day and a stranger the next. It took a while before I got back in my own head. But I was never the same as I’d been with you.”

“So of course they resent me. I resent it, too, Sera. I wish I could take it back.” Ash’s voice was quiet as he touched her shoulder.

“Don’t. Don’t, Ash. Yes, they resent you, but as I told them, you’re a better man than I gave you credit for then. It hurts, I can’t say it doesn’t. But I understand what you did. I don’t think you could be the man you are if you’d walked away from your duty then. Doesn’t mean I like the ranking system and what it does to everyone who doesn’t agree with choices made for them. But I understand your choice.” Sera blinked back her tears. Truly forgiving him made her lighter, easier in her own skin.

He leaned closer and touched her neck. “You don’t know what that means to me. You really don’t.” Ash’s voice was the merest whisper, but she heard him.

She reached up and touched his hand, and Brandt simply covered theirs with his as well.

The ride to Mirum took some time, so they all settled in and began to speak of the future. Something Brandt hadn’t done in many years, because his life had become about the present and not thinking past the end of whatever mission they were on.

“Do you two live in Borran all the time when you’re not on an assignment?” Sera asked.

Brandt twisted the end of one of her short curls around a finger. His body was turned toward her in the seat so he could see her and Ash both.

Ash had been shaken, he knew, by Sera’s admission of what her life had been like and also by her forgiveness and understanding. He’d been quiet for a while, but he’d begun to perk up as they’d started talking about their plans.

“We have the compound in Borran, and we both have large residences in Ravena. I have a house adjacent to Family grounds in Majar as well.”

Ash finally spoke. “As Brandt says, I’ve got a residence in Ravena and a small house here in Sanctu, just outside Mirum near the Family residences. I moved out of the house I shared with you. Kira and Perry sold it, I believe. I also have a few residences scattered through several ’Verses. Nowhere I’d call home, though. Funny how I never thought of it that way until you came into my life again.”

Sera shrugged. “I don’t have any residence. I had quarters in Borran, but they reassigned them when I was placed on your team. Having been in the corps as long as I’ve been, I don’t have a lot of possessions. My parents came and packed me up. I imagine the few boxes are with them or in storage.”

“Where would you like to live? When we’re not out on assignment?” Brandt asked her. He wanted to buy her things, shower her with luxuries, but he knew they’d have to take it slow or she’d be offended. Whether she liked it or not, once they married, she’d be a rich woman.

“Not here. No offense, but I really think I’d like to avoid Sanctu and Majar just now and for the immediate future. I’m not going to be welcomed, you know. Borran is fine, if you two don’t mind. Ravena is fine as well. I just want to be where you are.”

Brandt supposed that was the exact point, but until they slept in the same bed every night openly, he’d be uneasy.

The outskirts of Mirum began to spring up around them as they drove. Residences, outlying neighborhoods. Because the atmosphere was breathable, there was far more sprawl than in the ’Verses like Nondal, where people needed to be in atmospherically controlled environments.

Ash leaned forward. “Let me take over, please. I’ll take us to one of the bureaucratic divisions out here instead of dragging us into the chaos of the heart of Mirum.”

Sera pulled to the side, but Ash didn’t let her into the back, he simply scooted in, settling her in between them.





The small registry office was staffed by a very wide-eyed young woman who nearly fell from her chair when she caught sight of Ash as they entered.

Ash knew he was recognizable with the bald head and the markings. It pleased him in a sense, and it pleased him even more to know he’d be able to shed the indolent shell and let people know he was more than that.

“Mr. Walker! It’s, oh my! Welcome. What can we do for you?” The girl looked at Brandt, her gaze moving from toe to head, and Ash wanted to laugh at the fierce look on Sera’s face.

Brandt put the marital papers on the counter. “I need this witnessed and entered into Federation System records immediately.”

“Of course.” The girl took the sheaf of papers and looked through them, signing, stamping and entering different codes into the comm unit at her workspace. “Marital union  . Congratulations.” Her gaze flicked to Sera a moment. Sera stood tall and met her look until the clerk broke the stare and looked back to her papers. “Everything is in order. I need you both to enter your personal numbers and submit to blood and retina scan, and you’ll be officially joined.”

Sera entered a number on the keypad, and Brandt followed. The retina scan verified their identity, and the blood sample would go on record as well.

“Okay then.” The girl gave Sera a tight smile and a warmer one to Brandt.

“It seems so cold for such a momentous moment.” Brandt turned to Sera and kissed her. And then he kissed her some more. Sera wound her arms around Brandt’s neck, and Ash heard her soft sigh as she opened her mouth to Brandt’s demanding tongue.

An ache, sharp and deep, spread through him. He wanted her this way. He wanted to be her husband, was meant to be. If and when he got enough power to sway the Walker Family, he would abolish the rule that allowed the first and second sons to marry only with the head of the Family’s permission.

Sera stood back, pressing her fingers against her lips. “I enjoy being married already.”

Ash laughed and put his arm around her waist. Confusion slid over the clerk’s face as she tried to figure out just what was going on.

He pulled his own sheaf of papers from his pocket and put them on the counter. “Now these, please.”

She picked them up warily, her brows sliding higher and higher as she worked through each page.

“Mr. Walker, are you sure the names on this application are correct?” The clerk handed the papers to him.

He handed them back. “Yes. Ash Walker and Sera Ayers-Pela.”

Color infused the clerk’s cheeks then, and her cold gaze turned curious when she took Sera in again. Sera laughed and nodded. “I know. I can’t believe it either.” She raised one shoulder good-naturedly.

Brandt kissed her temple and squeezed her from the other side. They went through the same process. Entering personal numbers, blood, and retinal scans.

“It’s all official now. Anything else I can do?” The clerk’s voice had gone a bit high.

“No, that’ll be all for today. Enjoy your evening.” Ash took Sera’s hand, and Brandt took the other, and the three of them walked out together. Together.





Chapter 29

“All right then. I’ll give that news about ten standard minutes to spread far and wide.” Ash laughed. He did feel good. The ache had gone once the papers had been entered and Sera had looked to him, loving, trusting and happy.

“I imagine so. Let’s go to your house, Ash, and get Sera changed. I want everyone carrying weapons. I know they’re your family, but we don’t know what some of them are capable of.”

Ash knew only too well.

He drove the track around the edge of Mirum. The heart of the city was a snarl of commerce, residential space and all manner of vehicles. It could take longer to get from the outskirts of one side of the city to the next than to traverse the whole of the western regions of Sanctu.

He’d told Sera his home was adjacent to Walker lands but by adjacent, he’d meant within eight klicks. They wouldn’t know he’d arrived as he’d changed the main security protocol to recognize his call alone and report any ingress to the property only to him.

As they made their way up the winding, tree-lined drive to the house, he realized just how much he’d been avoiding the place since he and Kira had broken up. He hadn’t wanted to deal with his family if he didn’t have to. Resentment, he’d figured, at losing what had been so important.