War Bride (Battle Born #7)(42)

Not now. We need to get him to safety and tend his injury. He acknowledged her suggestion with a subtle nod, so she held her hand out toward Arton. “We’re here now. Would you like to see your ancestral home? Nothing will be forced on you.”

Kryton tensed. Like hells it wouldn’t. There was no way in creation Arton was going back to the harbingers. He let Skyla feel his frustration, but forced himself to remain silent.

Arton’s gaze finally locked with his. “They said you’d abandoned me. That your life had moved on and you’d forgotten.”

“How could I forget my own flesh and blood?” Tears swam before his eyes and he frantically blinked them away. “Thoughts of you have never left my mind.”

“We need to move,” Skyla stressed. “It’s not safe to linger here.”

Still Arton hesitated. He rubbed his ankle and stared off into the trees. “If one word you’ve spoken is untrue, I will insist that you return me to the academy.”

“Understood.” Kryton moved up beside Skyla and held out is hand toward his son.

After a short pause, Arton took his hand and allowed Kryton to pull him to his feet. With one unsteady step, Arton realized he couldn’t put weight on his injured foot. Kryton tried to support him with Arton’s arm across his shoulders, but even that wasn’t adequate.

“Carry him,” Skyla urged. “We need to get out of here.”

He wasn’t about to argue, but Arton held up his hand and shook his head. “I will not be carried like a child!”

Kryton chuckled. “Then how would you like to be carried? You can’t put weight on that foot until your ankle is stabilized.”

With an exasperated growl, Arton allowed Kryton to pick him up.

By the time they returned to the road, Rondar and Jafftin had departed and the guards were nowhere in sight.

“The pilot insists on staying with the hovercraft,” Tonn told them as they approached Kryton’s shuttle.

“What have you done with my bodyguards?” Arton demanded to know.

“They’re on their way back to the academy.” Tonn looked at Kryton as he added, “Rondar said to com him if you don’t want them released.”

“The guards were just following orders. It’s the people issuing those orders who are going to answer to me.”

Arton began to brood as they secured him in a seat and prepared to take off.

“Are you okay?” Skyla asked after a long silent pause.

“I don’t understand any of this.” He looked at her then away, his expression conflicted.

The misery in his gaze tore through Kryton. His son believed he’d been deserted, that his parents didn’t care for him. He hadn’t even known his mother was dead. Hatred for the harbingers boiled up within him, spilling over into focused rage. Every member of that accursed guild who ever lied to Arton would pay for their cruel deceit. He didn’t care how long it took, every single one of those bastards would pay.

Tension built as the silence lengthened. Arton fidgeted in his chair, his anxious gaze looking everywhere but at Kryton.

“Where…where are you taking me?”

Skyla reached over and took Arton’s hand, giving it a maternal squeeze. “We’re taking you to Lux Manor.” She paused for a friendly smile. “You’re going home.”

*

Four hours later, Skyla pressed against Kryton’s back and wrapped her arms around his waist. “We did it.” She tried to sound enthusiastic, but she felt emotionally drained. “Arton is sound asleep in his bed. He’s safe and he’s back where he belongs.”

Kryton slowly turned within the circle of her arms and leaned back against the balcony’s railing. She wasn’t the only one who liked to stare out at the sea when their mind was troubled. “You did it. Arton has no use for me.”

“Give him time.” She tilted her head back so she could look into his eyes. “It took twelve years for the harbingers to twist his thinking. We won’t be able to untwist it overnight, but we will untwist it.”

“He seems so lost.”

As did his father, but she kept the thought to herself. Kryton’s muddle was understandable. All of this had happened incredibly fast. “He needs love and stability. We can give him both.”

“He needs to know the truth, all of it. He’ll sense any deception.”

She nodded. “He is incredibly perceptive.” Arton hadn’t said much on the shuttle ride home, but the few things he had said were real zingers.

“Why was your image in his dreams? Was it just a harbinger thing?”

“I think he was inadvertently tuning in while I was trying to contact him. My signal wasn’t strong enough to punch through, yet it was persistent enough to reoccur.”

“That makes sense.” Kryton sighed. “As much as any of this makes sense. I didn’t think it was possible for me to hate the harbingers any more, but I do.”

She moved her hands to his chest and rocked to the balls of her feet, bringing her face closer to his. “Hate can keep you focused and give you energy. It can also consume you until there’s nothing left.”

He bent down and kissed her tenderly on the mouth. “I’m so glad you’re here. None of this would have been possible without you.”