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Eire could only listen as another father destroyed his child’s life. Granted, the man was High Admiral Benoit, and the child was his son Gaspare. Eire didn’t particularly care for the young man. But seeing the young man bolt from the house and then seeing his own son and the Nakano man follow close on his heels was rather impressive.

As was Fiera’s tirade against the High Admiral. Eire was impressed. She hadn’t lost her knack for dressing people down. He smiled in spite of his rage against his oldest twins for choosing Core Worlders to give their hearts to. “At least she hasn’t gone too soft in the head,” he muttered.

The devices he’d slipped into the house when the construction crew left for the day let him spy on his children without them being aware of his presence. He knew his focus on Fiera and the Nakano heir was bordering on obsessive, but he was convinced the pair of Core Worlders was up to no good.

Eire barely managed to get out of sight when the High Admiral’s son came bursting in near his hiding spot. He seemed in genuine distress and Eire could almost feel sorry for him. It was Fiera who found him, and the two talked. He listened to her drop her Colony accent to make sure he understood her. Then she warned him Phelix couldn’t do the same and he’d have to listen very hard to what her twin was saying.

Why can’t they have these frakkin’ conversations inside? Eire ground his teeth in frustration. He didn’t want to be seen. He had no doubt Fiera would shoot him at this point and that was the last thing he needed.

He listened with one ear to what Phelix and Gaspare talked about and the other to the conversation going on between Kuen and Fiera. Two hours passed and Eire was beginning to get seriously uncomfortable when he heard Fiera whistle. Phelix looked down and waved.

“Gaspare, Thea’s here,” he said.

Thank the stars, Eire thought.

“Flicks, I hope you don’t hate me now,” Gaspare said.

“Of course not. My sister isn’t the only one who knows people. I can see when someone’s hurtin’ same as she does,” Phelix said. “Yer goin’ t’need more time t’decide what you want. We’ve got two years t’decide if we’re goin’ t’be a pairin’ like Kuen and Fury. If we can, great. If not, we work together as friends. I won’t push you.”

“You’re more patient than I could ever be,” Gaspare said.

“There’s a reason Fury jokes I have the patience of a rock, Gaspare,” Phelix said. “I learned a long time ago that if I stayed calm and kept my cool, she’d stay out of trouble longer. That gave me the ability t’see things differently than most. I can wait as long as I need to.”

Gaspare wiped the tears from his face. “I’m glad you’re my friend, Flicks. Maybe one day we’ll be something more than that.”

“Yer terms, yer time,” Phelix said. He stood up. “Come on. Let’s go down.” He waved and got someone’s attention, pointing down. “They’re waitin’ fer us.”

The two men left Eire alone with his thoughts. “These four are crazy,” he muttered finally. “Flicks is in love with an antero boy who doesn’t even know he’s antero. Fury is in love with the frakkin’ Nakano heir. My own kids are turnin’ t’Core husbands instead of pickin’ Colony brats and my wife’s encouragin’ it. Starfire, what is goin’ on with my family?”

He grabbed his binoculars in time to see Thea and Gaspare veer off to one of the outbuildings while Phelix and Fiera walked into the house together. He heard them start talking in that twinspeak of theirs. He hadn’t seen Kuen and assumed he was still in the house. Eire pulled back into the cave he was hiding in and pulled the earpiece out of his ear.

Did he have any right to stop Fiera from being happy, given how he’d almost killed her just to insert her in the Core? She’d done what he sent her to do. It was only near the end that she broke the DiME programming and started acting on her own.

Eire snorted. Angeliki wouldn’t have taken that well. She was as temperamental as she’d been when they played kericopac together. The woman probably tried to kill Fiera to eliminate a potential threat. Which meant Eire owed her double for his own twin trying to murder her.

But Michi Nakano’s son, the voice in his head said.

“Wait,” Eire said. “Michi has to know where he is. She can’t be very happy about it either. She’d never let him marry my girl if she had the choice. She hates the Colonies and would consider the marriage as a serious insult to her and her family.”

What if everything he said was true? He hated his mother, and this was part of his breaking free of her. It would make sense then why he’d want to marry a Colony girl. If he really did love her, it made it even more likely he’d choose her over his mother. The fact that Fiera even admitted to being in Michi Nakano’s hands for eight months and was rescued by Kuen and Gaspare was proof the young man cared for Fiera.

A slow smile spread across his face as his perspective suddenly shifted. “It looks like I win this round, Michi. I’ve got yer son and he’s goin’ t’be a part of my family. He doesn’t even use yer name anymore. He’s a Rezouac, same as my girl. Same as me. I always said I’d make you pay fer takin’ on the Colonies. Now the Colonies are swallowin’ yer only child like you tried to do to my Fury.”

Eire laughed, a mad cackle that – had anyone been outside to hear – would have sent chills down the spine. He gathered his gear and struck out for the badlands. There were other members of the resistance who’d taken up residence out there. He’d join them and start plotting to take back the Colonies from the CWA.

Fiera could have her life for now. He’d be back to check on his twins in a few months, see how they were faring. If those Core Worlders were causing problems for them he’d eliminate them. It was as simple as that.