Page 25 of I Dated a Holiday Hero
Samlet stared at her. “That’s right. You were ten or twelve.”
“Six or eight. We aged me up because of my height. The records have my actual birthdate; Leska’s, too. Can I see my file?”
Salmet looked at the bundle. “Why don’t we wait until work on Monday? You can spend the rest of the weekend with your mom.”
“She’s had quite the time of it. I think we need to go for a mani-pedi.”
Salmet sighed and looked at her own nails. “Let me know if you need company.”
“I think we will go for a mother-daughter day. As long as she isn’t busy, and as long as my changed appearance doesn’t make a difference if we are out in public.”
Salmet smiled. “She won’t have a problem.”
She walked to Krix. “Are you good to put him back where you found him?”
“Yup. Are you good to find your way home?”
“Yes. Thank you again. I feel like myself for the first time in decades.”
He smiled. “It is wonderful to see you this way. Happy and energized.” Krix leaned in and kissed her softly. She breathed softly against him until Cira shrieked and kicked.
Khytten came by and retrieved her daughter. “We wondered if you would forget to hand her back. Continue.”
Hever blinked, but Krix didn’t hesitate. He kissed her again, and she leaned against him. There was a cleared male throat, but Hever flipped them off. Worro snorted, grabbed her, and pulled her into his arms. The kiss was deep, fast, and left her aching. When he leaned back, he smiled softly. “Have a good rest day, Hever.”
She frowned. “I hope he makes you walk.”
Worro laughed, and she launched skyward and back home again. Her mother was waiting, and she asked about the mani-pedis. Veradil immediately made the appointment. Mother-daughter day was on the books.
Salmet sat at her desk in the middle of the night, and she opened the file with the image of a baby Hever on it. The black skin and scales were unmistakable. The first thing was that she was made of more than just two donors. They had carved her up and rewritten her several times over in the first year because she would continue healing. The wings weren’t born to her, but when they were installed, her skin blackened, and the researchers were punished for wrecking a perfectly innocent-looking potential assassin.
The wings had been on the split twin who had not survived their attentions. So, they cut them off and implanted them on baby Hever. Salmet refused to think of her as a subject.
She read further and further into the file and the shocking raising of the subject that would become Leska. She had taken over her care when Hever was eighteen months old and Leska was a newborn. Leska had golden scales after a few months with Hever, which caused the researchers to act out.
Hever’s life got worse. They removed the wings and were stunned when they kept moving, and Hever remained black.
Hever was six when they stress tested her to near death but wanted to keep the body to use, so they put her in a stasis pod and chained it to an explosive buoy in the harbour. They had a drone checking on her every week until the pod was suddenly gone.
Salmet turned to Veradil’s recollection. She had been on the yacht heading to Hyreno when a young being pushed the open pod toward her. The little girl inside had stared at her with wide eyes, and Veradil had taken her into her arms and gotten her clothing. Hyreno did the first medical exam and got her a wardrobe suitable for an ambassador’s daughter. All adults adored Hever because of her intelligence, which was above her age, and the children of Hyreno were content to play with her. When Veradil was assigned to Sethir, the adults were impressed, but the children were hostile due to her appearance. She managed to get through things, but since she was tall, the older children were most hostile.
Her education began in Serothoa and continued as she travelled with her legal mother. Veradil was childless and took good care of Hever.
Salmet blinked at her own reaction when Veradil brought the little girl home for a visit. She had thought that her sister was simply grabbing onto any available child, but over the years, Hever had demonstrated that she was kind, she was intelligent, and she was special.
There were more notes about a pyroactive burning all remaining samples and two of the researchers. But Salmet would deal with that tomorrow.
She got up, locked her office, and went to bed. She crawled into her husband’s arms, and he wrapped them around her. “Rough read?”
“Yeah. She gets the first dessert next weekend.”
“Ouch. That bad?”
“Worse. So much worse. Veradil chose the right daughter. Oh, and she’s twenty-six.”
“Oh, baby girl is going to be upset.”
“Why? Because she was mean to someone younger? We are all going to have to deal with how we treated her and what we thought she was.”
