Page 63 of Tempting Jupiter
His brown eyes met hers. “Mom said her Dad gave it to her. I seen more metal like this in the hills near our village. Most don’t have symbols like this. Just old scrap.”
She hadn’t known Toby came from the hills beyond the badlands. His people didn’t rely on the factory. He shouldn’t have ended up there. Feeona laid the medallion back on the table. “I’m glad you were able to keep it.”
Seneca tapped the table near the medallion. “The symbol is familiar to me.”
Feeona’s gut quaked at the sound of Seneca’s velvet voice. So casual, as if he hadn’t come close to killing her. She pulled out the chair in front of her, turned it backward, and straddled the seat. The shapes on the medallion didn’t even look like a symbol to her, just random decoration.
“It’s part of a larger design the Mothers carved into the walls of the nursery.” Sen traced the pattern on the table, his gaze locked on Toby. “Along with this one.” Slowly, deliberately, he traced another symbol.
Toby grinned. “I remember that one, too. It means strength.” He tapped on his medallion. “The one on my cord is for protection.”
Seneca traced another symbol on the table.
Toby screwed up his face with effort. “I… I saw it before, but I don’t remember it so well. She painted that one on our tent when my dad died.” He looked up without focus. As if he were remembering or trying to. The concentration on his face turned to sadness. “Yeah. It was like grief…. Suffering. That’s it. Suffering.”
Seneca laid a hand on Toby’s shoulder. “Thank you. This is something I didn’t know. I am grateful to understand the symbols now.”
The sadness in Toby’s features lightened. “No problem. Your mother never taught you?”
Seneca shook his head and let silence answer.
Toby looked from him to Feeona, as if he could feel the tension between them. He wrapped his small hand around the medallion and got to his feet. “Goodnight. I’m going back to bed.”
Bed wasn’t exactly right. He’d been one of the kids sleeping on her floor. As he disappeared down the hall, she realized he must have woken and come looking for her.
“Are the Mothers the surrogates Roma used to carry you?” She’d noticed the way Sen had talked about them and his hesitation to answer Toby. From what Jupiter had told her, they didn’t actually have biological mothers.
He leaned back in his chair. “Yes, they were a different species. They gave birth to us but didn’t treat us as their children. At least, I don’t think so. They provided care, only as much as required by our Master. They never spoke a word except to chant.”
Feeona reached out on instinct to put her hand over his on the table. He moved his hand before she could make contact. “I know what it’s like to be discarded as a child. I’m sorry you started out that way, too.”
“Jupiter told you about the Mothers?”
“Only a little.” He’d told her about Seneca’s life between childhood and the arena. It had been Jupiter’s reason for denying what simmered between the two men.
Seneca bowed his head. “Knowing these symbols makes me wonder about the Mothers. Maybe they cared for us more than I thought.”
Feeona pulled her hand back and clasped the edge of the chair back. “Might as well believe the best, since they’re not around to disappoint you.”
They sat in silence for a moment before Seneca spoke. “Toby told me about the factory. How the Angel comes to save those who believe in her.”
She shook her head, vehemently. “No!” It made her sick to think they believed she picked and chose who would survive based on belief. “Toolman, my contact at the factory, chooses the children and sneaks them out. I would take them all if I could.”
Seneca stretched to clasp her wrist and pulled it onto the table between them. “Because you were one of them?” He rubbed the rough patch where her tattoo had once been. “All the children have a tattoo just here and so did that young male back on Karona Station. He called you Angel, too.”
“Yes, I was one of them and I’ve been helping kids get out for a long time. I had my tattoo removed, but the memories never go away. It’s who I am.” Shadows from the past raised tiny bumps along her skin and she pulled her wrist free to rub her arms.
“Did this Toolman help you escape?”
She choked on a laugh. “Hardly. He sold me to Roland—a con man who needed a child for one of his cons. He couldn’t have known Roland would be good to me. I got lucky.”
His ears flicked. “Toby told me he was caught in the woods and turned over to the factory. His mother died fighting off their attackers.”
“That explains a lot about how different he is. How strong.”
Seneca stared at her as if he’d just seen her for the first time. “You were like the other children. Your parents turned you over to the factory willingly.”
“Yes.” Feeona sighed. It was a long time ago and it was the least of her aches these days. “I didn’t blame them for that. That’s just the way it was. I’d never known anything different. I’d always known I was different from my younger brothers and sisters. They all treated me differently. I’d been taught it was my job to keep the factory running so my younger siblings would have a good life.”
