Image by Joshua Woroniecki from Pixabay

Eire was very glad the Core Worlder hadn’t turned towards the window when the twins and the other one had come in. He’d have been seen. He witnessed the entire emotional scene between Michi Nakano’s son and his daughter, and it made him physically sick. Eire slid down the wall and rested his arms on his knees. He laid his forehead against his arms.

“Fury, how could you pick him?” Eire demanded in a whisper. “Of all the men in the universe, why’d you pick frakkin’ Kuen Nakano t’fall in love with?” Eire looked up at the stars. “It isn’t happenin’, Michi. I’m not lettin’ yer son take my daughter away from me. You almost killed her. Now he’s goin’ t’try t’marry her, make her a Nakano. He’s goin’ t’steal her from me like yer friends took Aiden from all of us. It’s not goin’ t’happen.”

Eire pushed himself up and made his way to the fence. He knew how to undo the latch whether it was noon or midnight. His fingers made short work of the complex series of switches and levers. He caught the gate at the right point to keep it from creaking and slipped out into the night.

No matter what he did he couldn’t get away from the Nakano family. He’d fallen for Michi in secondary school, much to Angeliki’s dismay. He should have listened to her when she told him that the “little porcelain doll he liked to fuck” was going to get him into trouble.

“But if I’d stayed on Gaitera I wouldn’t have my family, even if most of ‘em hate me now,” Eire muttered.

“Da, ma’s goin’ t’have my hide if she finds out I snuck out again.” Herry huddled against a rock in the darkness. “She’s been threatenin’ t’take down the trellis ‘cause she knows I’m usin’ it t’climb out at night.”

“Be quieter ‘bout it, boy. She won’t know,” Eire said.

“No, but if Fury or Kuen catches me I’m goin’ t’have t’explain it t’them. And Fury goes supernova if someone mentions you. She’s madder’n ma is,” Herry said, passing some clothing and food to his father.

“She say why?” Herry asked.

“Not t’me, but I heard her and ma talkin’ ‘bout mass murder and the Lusitania, so I think that’s part of it. I also think Fury blames you fer how sick she is right now too,” Herry said, glancing back at the house. “No one talks in front of us. It’s all just ma and Fury and those two men that came with Fury. But I’m the best sneak in the house now that Flicks isn’t able t’climb. I heard ‘em talkin’ when I was s’posed t’be at school.”

“What did you hear, Herry?” Eire asked.

“Da, she did some awful things t’Fury. And that Kuen knows what they were ‘cause she did ‘em t’him and some of her servants in front of him too. ‘Cause she’s a horrible woman,” Herry said. “And I heard Kuen say he killed someone named Lakshmi, but didn’t kill his ma ‘cause they wouldn’t have gotten out alive with Fury.”

“Michi tortured her own son? Why?” Eire asked.

“Said it was t’make him obey her ‘cause he didn’t like her and didn’t want t’be like her. Heard ma tell him that he shouldn’t look at her like she was his ma, even if she birthed him. Said he’s just like those trauma brats she takes in,” Herry said.

“Sounds like her. Alena always was too nice,” Eire muttered. “All right, boy. Get on home. If yer ma takes down the trellis, don’t worry ‘bout it. You’ve been helpin’ me a lot and I don’t want you gettin’ into more trouble. If she leaves it up, I’ll be back in a week.”

“If she leaves it up, I’ll sneak some more of yer clothes out of the attic fer you, Da.” Herry hugged him tight and ran back to the house.

It was so hard not being able to hug all his children, to hear the news of their days, to have a meal with them. But with the price on his head – and the fact that most of them would turn him over to the CAF because they blamed him for the current state of the Colonies – it just wasn’t possible. Eire ground his teeth. If Michi would have just stopped with her vendetta against him, and by extension the Colonies, he’d still be a happy family man at home with his children and living his best life.

You could have found a less destructive way of dealing with things, a quiet voice whispered in the back of his mind. He shook his shaggy silver head. That vessel had long since passed into darkspace. Now he was living with the consequences for trying to protect the Colonies and failing.

He was not going to fail his daughter again.