Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
The different flavors brought back many memories for both of them and it became part of their nightly “dinner game” as Penny named it, to tell the story they most associated with the food they had created. Which was how she learned what had really happened to his mother and why V’rex hated the Kindred.
It was after he shared a sweet and savory dish called goslin stew that his mother used to make for him that the truth came out.
“It’s delicious,” Penny told him truthfully, after trying the dish. “So tell me the story.”
V’rex had sighed.
“My mother used to make it for me,” he told her. “It’s a traditional dish from her part of Rageron, the Beast Kindred home world. But she could only make it when my father wasn’t expected home for dinner because he hated it.”
“Hated it?” Penny had taken another bite and frowned at him. “Why would he hate it? It’s so tangy and fresh tasting!” It reminded her a little of Tom Yum soup from her favorite Thai restaurant.
V’rex’s face grew dark, as it always did when he spoke of his father.
“He hated it because she loved it. Because it reminded her of the home he stole her from.”
“He…kidnapped her?” Penny remembered Kat and Commander Sylvan saying as much when they had first warned her against the big Hybrid but she couldn’t help wondering if it was really true.
V’rex nodded.
“Kidnapped her, raped and defiled her,” he said shortly. “He got her pregnant with me, which was why her kin wouldn’t take her back.”
“They wouldn’t? How awful!” Penny exclaimed. “Why not?”
“A female Beast Kindred is extremely rare,” V’rex explained. “So rare they have a special place in the Kindred religion—the worship of the Goddess. So when one of them is defiled in some way, it’s almost as though the Goddess herself has been defiled. The Beast Kindred—at least the ones from my mother’s home tribe—don’t like to think about that. So when they finally found her and saw that my father had made her pregnant, they just left her there and went back to Rageron without her.” His face twisted. “That’s why I hate the fuckers and I fuck with their ships every chance I get!”
“That’s terrible!” Penny’s heart went out to the big Hybrid. Now she understood why he had become a pirate who preyed on his own kind. Though he claimed his Kindred heritage over his Kru’ell One half, he still felt no kinship with the people he felt had abandoned him and his mother, before he was even born.
“She lived a terrible life,” V’rex said, still speaking of his mother, with a faraway look in his pale gold eyes. “My father would be kind for a while—for months on end sometimes. But then he would erupt into fits of rage over tiny, minor things and beat her mercilessly. It was like once his temper was triggered, he couldn’t control himself. That was how he—”
He stopped abruptly, drawing aimless patterns in his bowl of stew.
“He what?” Penny urged softly. She didn’t want to cause the big Hybrid pain, but she got the very strong sense that he needed to talk about this—that he needed to get it off his chest.
“He beat her to death,” V’rex said at last, still looking at his stew. “I was only seven cycles at the time but I saw it all. I even tried to stop him, but I was too small.” He shook his head. “Too fucking small to save her.”
“Oh, V’rex…” Penny didn’t know what to say. Her heart was aching for him. She wanted to go to him and put her arms around his neck, to comfort him any way she could but the big Hybrid was wound so tightly she didn’t know if he would welcome her comfort or not.
“He dropped me off at the edge of the city the next day,” he went on in a toneless, emotionless voice. “He told me I and my mother had ‘served our purpose’ and he had no need of me anymore. Then he left me there, crying for her, wanting to die myself. I almost did,” he added, still looking at his stew, rather than Penny as he talked. “Several times. Until I was taken in by a gang of kids around my age who taught me how to pick pockets and beg. After that, I was okay but I never really stopped missing her…”
Penny couldn’t stand it anymore. Her heart was breaking for the big Hybrid and this awful tale from his childhood made her want to cry.
Getting out of her chair, she came around the table and put her arms around his neck.
V’rex looked up from his stew, clearly surprised.
“Hey, little girl—why are you crying?” He cupped her cheek and brushed a thumb gently over her cheek, wiping away a tear.