Their relationship had the potential to deepen and grow—
in time. Right this minute, she couldn’t commit to more
than caring though. She wasn’t going to lie to Vicious just
to make him happy.
When the front door slammed, her gut lurched. Had he
really just left without saying goodbye? One little tiff and
he’d walked out on her like a spoiled child. Was this what
she had to look forward to in the future? She’d spent most
of her life walking on eggshells around her father. She’d
sworn she wasn’t going to live like that and now here she
was, facing the very thing she’d tried so hard to avoid.
Not just “tried”, she thought sourly. She’d risked so
much to make the money to pay for her eventual escape
from her village and her father’s home. If anyone had ever
found out just how far she’d gone, she likely would have
been hung in the village square.
She absentmindedly touched her shorter-than-average
hair. She forced away
those
unpleasant memories before
they could intrude. She’d survived that awful year. She
could survive this.
It was one argument. Surely Vicious wouldn’t hold it
against her forever?
* * * * *
Vicious stormed into the waiting room outside his
office. He held up his hand, stopping the young private
seated behind the receptionist desk from talking to him.
“Hold my calls.”
He didn’t even wait for a reply before striding into his
office and slamming the door shut behind him. He dropped
into the chair behind his desk and glared at his tablet
screen. “It’s not the same?”
Hallie’s words spun round and round in his head. He
didn’t know why they angered him so much but they did.
They’d wounded him. Her admission had slashed at his
pride and left him raw and bleeding. She didn’t see their
relationship as equal to what she might have had in her
village with a man of her planet or in the colonies she’d
have escaped to if he hadn’t caught her.
What the hell did that mean for their future? If she saw
what they shared as
less than
, how the fuck was he
supposed to make her happy? Could he ever make her
happy?
His gut twisted painfully. The thought of failing Hallie,
of keeping her with him against her will, made him ill.
Surely it wouldn’t come to that? They were getting along
well. In bed, they were very well matched. He’d thought
they were doing well outside the bedroom until their
conversation this morning. Now he felt thrown and
confused.
He wiped his face with his hands and tried to think.
Were all marriages with women from her planet this way?
There hadn’t been that many of them among Harcos men.
Her planet, Calyx, had only been swapping brides for
security via the Grabs for two years or so. Her own
village, Harper’s Well, had only been part of the program
for three quarters. The
Valiant
had only been on duty in
this area for two of them, so there weren’t that many of her
kind on his ship.
Still, he’d have heard rumblings if the women from her
planet viewed their bonds to their Harcos men as less
important or real, wouldn’t he? Maybe not, he conceded.
Harcos men were intensely private about that kind of
thing.
Who could he ask? Who would be willing to answer
those kinds of questions for him? He considered his
graduating class, the men with whom he shared the closest
connections. Aboard the
Valiant
there weren’t many.
Terror, Menace, Raze, Venom, Risk, Misery, Hazard—
and only one of them was married. But hadn’t Misery
taken a bride from the Jesco colony?
He smacked the com unit on his desk. “Private?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Pull the records from the last two Grabs on Calyx.
Find me one of our
Valiant
men married to a woman from
that planet.”
“Any man?” The private seemed hesitant to ask. “I
could narrow it down, sir. That’s going to be quite a few
if I don’t.”
He considered the young man’s question. “The wife
needs to be eighteen to twenty-five.” A woman in that age
range would have a better chance of understanding Hallie.
“See if you can find a woman from the village Harper’s
Well.”
“Yes, sir.”
Vicious ended the open communication. He tried not to
think about what a colossal jackass he’d been this
morning. Walking out on Hallie like that had been
particularly cowardly. At the time, he’d been worried
he’d say the wrong thing and hurt her. He hadn’t felt that
level of rejection in his life. Now he worried that he’d
hurt her even more by leaving without a word.
“Way to go, Vicious.” His grumbling voice echoed in
the room. “You’ve probably destroyed the trust you built.”
A long, shrill beep interrupted his private chastisement.
He hit the com-key. “Yes?”
“Sir, Sergeant Hawk took a bride from Harper’s Well
three months ago. They’re currently on the ship, sir. The
sergeant is off-duty today.”
“Pull his address.” Vicious hit the com-key again and
rose from his chair. He left his office and closed the door.
The private gave him the apartment and floor number for
the sergeant. “Call him. Let him know I’m coming.”
“Yes, sir.”
Vicious extended the courtesy of a heads-up because he
would have wanted the same if their positions were
reversed. “Direct any issues that arise to Major Leo.”
“Yes, sir.”
Vicious left the office and made his way to the staff
elevator. It would take him ten minutes just to traverse the
ship and reach the housing block for the non-
commissioned officers. He didn’t look forward to all that
time alone with his troubling thoughts. He’d behaved
badly this morning. How in the hell was he going to make
it up to Hallie?
When he reached the sergeant’s door, Vicious tapped
the bell button and stepped back to wait. The door opened
quickly. The sergeant looked breathless and hastily
dressed. Vicious instantly felt sorry for bothering the man.
Obviously he’d been enjoying some downtime with his
wife.
“My apologies, Sergeant Hawk. I can return later.”
“It’s fine, sir.” He stepped aside. “Please come in,
Colonel.”
Vicious nodded at the younger man and entered his
domicile. His gaze flicked around the smaller space. It
was clean and tidy and displayed feminine touches like
picture frames and a potted plant.
Sergeant Hawk closed the door and squeezed around
him in the small entryway. He looked nervous as he asked,
“To what do we owe the pleasure, Colonel Vicious?”
“I wondered if I might speak with your wife, sergeant.”
The man’s smile faltered. “My wife, sir?”
Vicious realized what the younger, lower-ranked man
was probably thinking. Lest he think Vicious was trolling
for a wife swap, he quickly explained, “I recently took a
bride from your wife’s village. I was hoping she would
answer some questions for me so I can better relate to my
Hal—my wife.”
“Oh.” Sergeant Hawk seemed a bit disappointed.
“Is something wrong, Sergeant?”
“No, sir.” He hesitated. “I thought you were here to
discuss my complaints against Sergeant Crow.”
Vicious frowned. “What kind of complaints?”
Sergeant Hawk glanced at the wall. “None that you
would be interested in, sir. I’ve kicked them to our C.O.”
Vicious didn’t want to involve himself in what was
probably a neighborly dispute about noise or some other
nonsense. “Let me know if you don’t feel your complaint
has been taken seriously.”
Sergeant Hawk nodded. “Of course, sir. This way.”
Vicious trailed the man into the living area. The
sergeant gestured to an empty seat and then left the room.
Vicious took the place he’d been assigned and waited.
When Sergeant Hawk returned, he held the hand of a
blonde beauty with bright-green eyes. Vicious’ gaze fell to
her slightly rounded stomach. Her tight-fitting top
displayed the small bump very well. She was pregnant
though not very far along. He smiled at the couple.
“Congratulations.”
Sergeant Hawk grinned and curved a protective hand
over his wife’s belly. “Thank you, sir. It’s twins.” Turning
to his wife, he said, “Lenny, this is Colonel Vicious.
Colonel, my wife, Lenny.”
He nodded in her direction. “Ma’am.”
“Colonel.” She smiled and took a seat on the couch.
“Hawk says you married a girl from my village.”
“Yes. Her name is Hallie.”
Lenny’s eyes went wide with shock. “Hallie? Hallie
Blacksmith?”
“Yes. You seem surprised.”
“I am,” she admitted. “Hallie was the last person I’d
ever expected to end up in the Grab. Even when we were
kids, she never wanted to get married. When we’d play
wedding, she always took the part of the sky pirate who
came to steal away the bride to save her from a life of
drudgery. I mean, when they announced Harper’s Well
was joining the Grab program, she—”
Her husband reached out to take her wrist and stopped
her. His worried gaze displayed his very obvious concern
that she’d overstepped her bounds.
Vicious offered a smile. “It’s all right. I want the truth.
Actually, I have to admit I’m rather amused by the thought
of Hallie dressed as a sky pirate.”
Lenny’s expression softened. “She always was a
dreamer. That’s how she lost—” She stopped suddenly.
“Never mind.”
Vicious frowned. “What is it?”
“I don’t know if I should—”
“You should,” Vicious interrupted, his voice firm but
gentle. She wasn’t one of his soldiers so he couldn’t pull
rank. He wasn’t the kind of officer to punish her husband
for her refusal to cooperate but she didn’t know that.
Hopefully a little fear would work in his favor this time.
Lenny touched her long strands of blonde hair. The
waves reached her waist in spots. “You noticed her
shorter hair, I’m sure.”
“I did. I assumed it was her choice to wear it that way.
She didn’t me strike as the most conventional of Calyx
women.”
Lenny laughed. “No, definitely not.” Then, with a shake
of her head, she explained, “That’s not why Hallie wears
her hair so short. Almost two years ago, Hallie broke the
law. They punished her with a public shearing.”
Vicious blinked. The shock of Lenny’s statement
stunned him speechless. His blood boiled with fury at the
very idea. “They shaved her head?”
Lenny nodded. “She got caught red-handed. There was
nothing anyone could do to protect her.” Lenny swallowed
hard. “Honestly, she’s lucky they didn’t put her in the
stocks to be publicly whipped or worse.”
Lucky? Vicious wanted to scream. Hallie would have
been very young then, still a teenager. He didn’t know
much about women but he figured that having your head
shaved in a culture where a woman’s hair was an outward
sign of her beauty and innocence had to have been
devastating.
“Why?” he asked when he finally found his voice.
“What could she possibly have done to deserve so
barbaric a punishment?”
“She drew,” Lenny answered simply. “Hal started an
underground newsletter of sorts. Illiteracy is high in our
area so she drew cartoon panels to keep people informed.
It helped a lot of people. I never knew exactly who her
partners were but they managed to pull it off for an entire
year before Hallie got caught carting ink and paper to a
barn.”
Vicious sat back in his seat. His sweet Hallie had been
a political dissident? Was that why she’d been so skittish
about telling him her sister’s story? He remembered the
way he’d accused her of working with insurgents. No
doubt she’d been afraid he’d hand her over to the police.
God, could he do anything right when it came to her?
“She wouldn’t reveal the names of her accomplices.”
Lenny glanced away and quickly wiped at her eyes. “They
held her in the jail for nine days before handing down her
punishment. She was underage so they couldn’t exactly
throw her in prison for life. They chose humiliation
instead.”
“Humiliation?”
“In our village and those surrounding it, a shaved head