Chapter 5 5

An annoyed sneer crosses Zayne's face and he takes one step forward, but Nymiah grabs him and my father steps between the two.

"This is the last time I'm going to keep you boys in line," my father says, his voice calm but deadly serious. "Act like men or get out of this war."

They both glance at my father and I see the fight and mischief in their eyes tone down.

Neither of them says anything.

The crunch of ground behind us draws my eyes to the edge of the landing space.

Valen stops there, looking warily at our little group.

And my heart swells. Emotions bite the backs of my eyes, making them well again. I smile, stepping forward, extending a hand out for him.

Warily, he steps forward, taking my hand, and to my surprise, his own shakes just slightly.

I feel his nervousness leaking through the door between our minds, which just makes my heart squeeze with love.

"Valen, I know you met some of them in the chaos on Isroth, but I want you to officially meet my family," I say, my tone soft. Together, we walk back to the half circle they've all formed. They all look at Valen with varying degrees of wariness, the same way Valen is looking at them, just for different reasons.

"This is Nymiah," I say, nodding to her, because she's standing at the end of the circle.

"The other Nero," Valen says, stepping forward and shaking her hand. Nymiah nods, looking at Valen with nervousness, but she's trying very hard to hide it. "I look forward to talking to you. Thinking I was the only other Nero left me with a lot of unanswered questions about myself. Maybe you'll have some answers for me."

The expression on her face reveals that she obviously did not expect this from such a notorious person. Her eyes widen a bit, but she gives a quick, somewhat enthusiastic nod.

"And Zayne," I say, moving along.

In my mind, I feel Valen grow stiff at the name of my former boyfriend. But he doesn't show it outwardly. Valen steps forward, extending his hand.

Zayne looks darkly at Valen, and I see equal measures of fear and distrust and disbelief in his eyes. But as he shakes Valen's hand, his eyes slide over to me.

"More yelling," he says, his expression dead serious.

I huff one little laugh and shake my head. Valen looks at me, raising an eyebrow, but he doesn't say anything.

We move on, though.

"Valen, I want you to meet my dad," I say, and suddenly emotion cracks my voice, and the word dad comes out a little broken and reverent.

Valen starts extending a hand to shake, but Torin steps forward, and stretching to his full height, because Valen is so tall, he pulls the love of my life into a strong embrace.

The look of surprise is evident on Valen's face as his eyes slide over to me. But I see a wash of emotions play through his eyes. Surprise. But also, happiness. Maybe appreciation. And I wonder, who in his entire life has ever hugged Valen, besides me?

He still looks a bit uncomfortable, but Valen hugs my father back.

"Thank you for taking care of her," my dad says against Valen's strong shoulder. "Thank you for loving my daughter as fiercely as she deserves."

It isn't as if my father has ever heard Valen say he loves me. But he has seen the effect of Valen turning against everything he knew, everything everyone in the galaxy thinks they knew about him. All for me.

Those actions speak louder than words.

"Thank you for raising such an inspiring woman," Valen says, and I can tell he's still uncomfortable being so open and genuine. But he's been doing a lot of that lately.

They release each other, and my father gives a small smile as he looks up into Valen's face. Valen smiles back.

"And you remember Edan," I say, my eyes sliding to my other soul mate.

Edan takes Valen's hand when he extends it. "Nice to see you again, Lover Boy," he says. Edan looks my way with a mischievous expression and a knowing raise of his eyebrows.

"And you, as well," Valen says, his tone even and flat.

I roll my eyes at Edan.

"So, am I the only one who's going to ask the question we're all dying to know the answer to?"

It's Nymiah who cuts through the awkward moment, but possibly makes it worse.

"Why the void are both your arms glowing with Neron?"