Page 72 of Black Star

He’s awake, my lady. He needs rest to heal, but he’s alive and asking for you.

She looked at the two men, clearly miserable and hurting. What in the world was she supposed to say? She opted to keep her mouth shut and simply turned and left the room. They’d either find their way back to their ship or to Phoebe’s mess hall. If they found the latter, she hoped they’d tell the young woman everything.

But that didn’t matter. None of it was her concern at the moment. Darian was awake.

And asking for her.

Chapter Nine

He looked just like she’d remembered. Shiny black hair fell over one eye in unruly curls. She didn’t even try to resist the urge to gently brush it aside. It was as silky as she’d remembered, and her fingers trembled. Masculine black brows slashed across his forehead over his cobalt blue eyes. Dark lashes fluttered at her as he seemed to try to focus blurry eyes on her. Chiseled cheekbones and full lips gave him that exotic look she’d always loved about him.

He was her beloved. Just as she’d last seen him.

Darian lay on the exam table covered with a thin blanket. Monitors overhead gauged his vital signs and brain function. It looked as if he were completely fine.

She laid a hand on the side of his cheek and smiled at him. “Welcome back.”

“You’re a sight for sore eyes.” His voice was rough, husky, much as hers had sounded when she’d first awakened.

“How do you feel?” She continued to stroke his face, unable to help herself. He was so beautiful; the line of his jaw, the contour of his neck, the slope of his shoulders. His chest was wonderfully sculpted muscle. She had to pull herself away from him before she explored his body further. Now was not the time or the place.

“I’m tired, but I feel fine.” He smiled weakly, his eyelids drooping. “We need to talk, Nani. I know about the video, though Dr. Zabin refused to let me view it. He said I needed to be prepared before I saw it.”

She hissed in a breath of air, feeling his conflicting emotions. He, like her, didn’t know whom to trust. It seemed like the lives of everyone around them were somehow connected to that fateful day. Samair had touched more lives than simply theirs with his actions.

“I saw only part of it, but I have no wish to see any more. I was told it was a record of everything that happened that day with everyone involved and on what level.”

“It will also prove Samair doesn’t have legal claim over the Vok’nair Empire. That belongs with you and your family.”

“We could have united this entire quadrant if we’d married back then.”

“We still can.” His smile was weak, but he held eye contact with her.

They stared at each other a moment, possibilities glistening all around them. All they had to do was go home and face the monsters who had put them in this situation to begin with.

“You should let him rest now, my lady.” Mahat Zabin’s voice was quiet and unobtrusive, but he still brought so many demons with him Nani felt as if she’d been ripped from a fairy tale into a harsh reality.

“I want you and that madman off my ship. Take the admiral with you.” Nani hissed her order quietly, but judging by the doctor’s expression, her meaning was clear.

“Nani.” Damon walked slowly toward her. “No one will dispute your orders, but I urge you to think about what you’re doing. Think about the people these men have become.”

Darian gripped her hand as he carefully pulled himself to a sitting position. Nani tried to hold him back, but he brushed her away until he stood. He framed her face with his hands and forced her to look at him. “Mahat was but a young, idealistic person back then. He obviously regrets his actions, and he saved us, Nani. Not just us, but look at what he’s done for everyone here.”

She placed her hands on Darian’s wrists and held to him like he was her lifeline. “What he did was unforgivable, Darian. Not just to us, but to Nadira. How much better would her life have been if she hadn’t been given to Samair?”

“And she might never have met Mikiel, either. She’s happy now. Isn’t that what’s most important?” She’d never thought Darian would take this position. The fact that he spoke aloud and not by telepathy told her he was absolutely sure about his feelings. He wanted the others to know why he felt this way, and why he disagreed with her on this.

“I’ve been inside his mind, Nani. While he put me back in my body, he let me have access to everything he was doing. He didn’t give me permission to go poking around inside his head, so I didn’t, but his emotions were so high, I couldn’t help but get a lot of bleed over.”

Then it was clear to Nani what Darian had seen. “You felt his emotions. Not only current ones, but what he felt that day, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I don’t know the whole story, but what he did was not what he thought he’d be doing. He was forced into it the same way we were.”

“I don’t know if I’d put it that kindly, my lord,” Zabin said. Nani looked at him for the first time since he’d shown her to Darian. Tears fell freely from his eyes, and he made no attempt to dry them. “I had a choice, at first. It just wasn’t what I thought it would be.”

“I knew Mahat back then.” Damon spoke again. He looked all of his fifty-two years and then some. He looked tired. Weary beyond imagination, and for the first time, Nani saw Phoebe behind him. She was definitely young enough to be his daughter, but her eyes showed an age and wisdom of someone twice her age. Now, she put her hand into Damon’s and squeezed, offering him her silent support. “He was a few years younger than me, but was a brilliant surgeon.”

“That doesn’t matter, Damon.” Dr. Zabin waved him off. “I was given an offer I couldn’t refuse, even though it violated every ethics oath I’d sworn to uphold as a physician. I shouldn’t have been surprised when it turned out as evil as it did. It was evil to begin with, and I was evil to shrug off everything I stood for simply for the opportunity to combine biology with technology. Samair knew what he was doing when he chose me.”

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