Born of Night (The League #1)(37)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

“Sure.” He helped Jana carry the rest of his fruit out of the room.

Once they were gone, Orinthe turned her attention to Kiara with a probing stare that told her she wouldn’t be able to hide anything from the elderwoman. “Are you Nykyrian’s woman?”

Kiara shook her head. “No. We’re just friends.”

Orinthe narrowed her gaze. “I’ve never seen him so relaxed with anyone else—he actually allowed you to stand at his back, and he seldom considers anyone his friend. It’s a term he’s never taken for granted and it’s something he doesn’t offer lightly.” She wiped a damp cloth over the surface of the table, removing the crumbs Jana had left behind in his eagerness to eat his fill. “What’s your name, child?”

“Kiara.”

Her smile widened. “A name as beautiful as the one who bears it.”

“Thank you.”

Orinthe folded the cloth and set it on the table before them.

Kiara watched the kind elderwoman, a thousand questions swirling in her mind about Nykyrian. “How do you know Nykyrian?”

Orinthe bit her bottom lip, then stood and closed the door to the stairs where Nykyrian had taken Jana. She returned to her chair, motioning for Kiara to lean closer to her. “He can hear from long distances, you know?”

“Yes, I do.”

Orinthe leaned in so that she could speak in the lowest possible whisper. “I was the psychologist Commander Quiakides hired after Nykyrian’s adoption to . . .” She paused as if seeking the right words. “Nykyrian had a lot of trouble adjusting.”

“How do you mean?”

Tears misted in her eyes as she swallowed audibly. “I’ve been a child therapist and psychologist for almost sixty years, and I’ve seen some of the worst cases you can imagine. Things that would make you ill to even hear about. Yet none of them haunt me the way his case does. The things that were done to him . . .” She blinked back tears. “He’s a good man. I don’t know how someone like him emerged out of the horrors of his past, but he did.”

She glanced at the stairway. “If you are his friend, you have no idea how lucky that makes you. Nykyrian has trouble bonding to people.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Because of the way he was abandoned and treated, he doesn’t trust people at all. He doesn’t even open up much to me. He’s afraid to let anyone know him for fear of their rejecting him as his parents did. Because of that inner fear, he rejects others before they have a chance to hurt him.”

Kiara scooted closer. “I’ve noticed that he never talks about his childhood.”

“I don’t blame him.” Orinthe toyed with the cloth on the table as if she needed the distraction to speak. “He was thrown into a human orphanage where he was only allowed garbage for nourishment. The workers there feared giving him meat. They thought the taste of it might drive his Andarion blood into a feeding frenzy and so they . . .”

Orinthe winced as if the horror of it was too much to bear even now. “He drank out of toilets. And then when he was taken into the commander’s home . . . they weren’t any better to him. Sometimes I think it was even worse because the commander and his children were trying to kill the last human part of him.” She sighed heavily. “The commander even put a training collar on him. Do you know what those are?”

“I’ve seen them, but I don’t really know how they work.”

“They can lock down the entire nervous system so that a person can’t move—or more to the point, defend themselves. You can feel, but you can’t move. They also have a shocking device. They’re the worst kind of torture. But the commander demanded it, and so . . .”

Orinthe wiped a trembling hand over her face. “The commander never listened. I can still remember arguing with him when he sent Nykyrian to school. I knew it was too soon and . . .” She shook her head. “That poor boy used to sleep on the floor, underneath his own bed in their home.”

“Why?”

“For protection. The commander’s sons used to sneak up on him in the middle of the night to beat him. So he learned to stay up for days and still does. He only sleeps when he absolutely cannot go another moment without it.”

Kiara finally understood. She remembered what he’d said to her when they met. “Because when he sleeps, he’s vulnerable.”

Orinthe nodded. “I’ll be honest, I told the commander to put him down for his own good. Given the horror of his childhood, I didn’t think there was any hope for him at all. But that was what the commander wanted. A killing machine incapable of human feelings.”

Kiara was horrified that the woman before her had actually called for Nykyrian to be killed. “Why would you want him put down?”

“You have no idea what he was like back then. He was so fierce as a child. He would attack without stopping until someone overpowered him. And then one day as I was observing him in a park while he did his homework, a small child came up and hit him for no reason. I was terrified and tried to get to them. I was sure he’d kill the child before I could reach them. But instead, Nykyrian looked up and stared at the child, and did nothing. As soon as I reached him, the child ran off and when I asked Nykyrian why he didn’t attack, he looked at me blankly and said the child wasn’t old enough to know better. Then he went back to his reading as if nothing had happened. It was then I knew that somehow, against all odds and against everything my books had told me about psychology, he understood right and wrong. I realized then that when he attacked it was to protect himself. He doesn’t attack out of anger or maliciousness.”

“He attacks out of necessity.”

“Exactly.”

And he understood who would be a threat later and who wouldn’t. Like Syn had said. It was why Pitala and the bullies in the alley had been spared.

But Kiara was still trying to reconcile what she’d seen in the video with the man she knew. “What about the commander’s wife? Did she—”

“I always felt sorry for her. I could tell she wanted to help where Nykyrian was concerned, but every time she tried, her sons and husband would mock her for it. In the end, she wasn’t much better off than Nykyrian was, and so she tried to stay out of things as much as she could. But she wasn’t the worst to hurt him . . .”

CHAPTER 19

Kiara opened her mouth to ask Orinthe more, but Nykyrian returned.

He stood beside Orinthe’s chair. “Jana’s taking a nap.”

“Good,” she said with a tender smile. “I’ll let him sleep until dinner.”

Nykyrian inclined his head to her. “I’ll transfer funds to your account for him.”

Orinthe sputtered at his words. “You’ll do no such thing. Heaven knows you already give me more than enough as it is. Even if it is for the children, you’re too generous.”

For a moment, Kiara thought he actually blushed. “Thank you for taking Jana in. If he gives you any trouble, call me and I’ll talk to him.”

“I have a feeling he won’t be a problem.”

Nykyrian held his hand out to Kiara. She didn’t hesitate to take it.

A frown covered Orinthe’s face. “You’re not leaving now?”

He nodded before replacing his shades. “If you need anything, call me or Syn and we’ll take care of it.”

Orinthe sighed in a way that made Kiara think Nykyrian’s words embarrassed her. She looked up at Nykyrian and her friendly, warm smile returned. “You take care of yourself and this pretty lady. The two of you make a handsome couple.”

Kiara smiled at the gentle woman. “Thank you.”

By Nykyrian’s face, Kiara could tell the compliment made him uncomfortable. “I’ll check on the two of you in a couple of weeks.”

Orinthe nodded and showed them to the door.

Nykyrian led the way back down the street. Kiara knew by his rigid spine that something was bothering him.

“What’s wrong?”

A tic worked in his jaw. “I wish Orinthe hadn’t told you what she did about me.”

Was there anything that ever got past this man’s hearing? “I wish you’d told me yourself.”

Nykyrian hesitated and looked down at her. Kiara wished he didn’t have his shades on so she could read his emotions.

After a moment, he shifted. “Why do you want to know about my childhood? I prefer not to think about those days. They’re gone and forgotten.”

Kiara shook her head in denial. “It’s not forgotten, Nykyrian. Horrors like that don’t just fade. Take it from someone who knows. No matter how hard we fight, no matter how hard we try, they sneak up on us and drag us back with a clarity that is as vibrant as it was when they first happened. I like to pretend my past isn’t there, too, but it doesn’t change the fact that I still can’t stand to be alone in the dark.”

Nykyrian paused as her words touched him. The fact that she understood . . . It made him feel close to her. But it didn’t change the pain he carried with him. “I would never leave you in the dark.”

“And I feel the same toward you.”

The smile she gave him weakened his knees and made him feel the stirring of something he didn’t even want to contemplate. Unwilling to think about that, he took her to the large shopping complex at the end of the street.

Kiara gaped at the dizzying variety of colors and merchandise that blended with shoppers from all cultures. The store they entered had huge glass counters filled with accessories and trims—any and everything a person could possibly want. Clothing styles were hung over abstract mannequins, showing how they might look on various life-forms.

As she browsed, she realized the clothes here were obscenely priced. Even her extravagant father would faint over these. She stepped back from the rack. “Is there another place to buy clothes?”

“Don’t you like them?”

She widened her eyes as she leaned into him to whisper. “Did you see the price?”

Nykyrian snorted. “I’m more than capable of supplying you with several wardrobes from here.”

“But—”

“But nothing, mu Tara. Start shopping.”

Kiara bit her lip in agitation, unwilling to give in so easily. No one needed clothing that cost this much. “This really isn’t—”

“Kiara,” he growled low in his throat. “Buy clothes or go nak*d. Personally, nak*d works for me.”

How could she be both annoyed and amused by him? “Fine. When you’re homeless and bankrupt, remember I tried to stop you.”

A smile curved his lips.

Stunned, she stood there unable to move as she saw the one thing she’d never thought to see from him. A real, full-blown smile. The man was absolutely gorgeous.

“My God, you have dimples.”

His smile vanished instantly. “I know.”

“No, no, no, no, no!” she said, reaching up to touch his cheek. “Don’t you dare hide those. They’re beautiful.”

He dodged her touch. “They look stupid.”

She let out an aggravated breath. “They are sexy as all get-out. Trust me. Dimples like those will definitely get you laid.”

That almost succeeded in making him smile again . . . At least until they were interrupted.

“Kiara Zamir!”

Kiara turned around to face an excited salesclerk. The young woman stared at her with huge, animated brown eyes.

“Oh my God, I love you!” she gushed. “I saw Silent Prayer last year and thought it was the best thing ever produced. You are the best.”

Kiara grinned, warmed by the compliment. “Thank you.”

“My name’s Terra and whatever you need, just let me know. Oh my God. I can’t wait to tell my mother, she’ll never believe this!” And Nykyrian had been right. Unlike on Gouran, Terra didn’t judge or react to him. No wonder he was willing to pay so much. Here he was normal.

Kiara glanced at Nykyrian to see how he was taking the clerk’s continuing adoration. He watched them quietly, his features patient and his stance unobtrusive. Oh, thank goodness he wasn’t chafing like other people, including her father, did. He seemed completely content to stand in the background and let her have time with her fan.

That meant a lot to her.

She allowed the clerk to take her by the arm and show her a variety of pieces. For all the generosity of her father, Kiara realized she’d never seen such extravagant materials. Each piece was light and airy with the most delicate, silky texture.

Terra explained many of the fabrics were from non-human worlds, brought to the store only by an exorbitant price. She glanced over her shoulder, unsure how much Nykyrian was willing to spend on her clothes.

“I like that one,” he said, indicating the dress Terra held.

Kiara cringed. It was absolutely stunning, but . . . “I don’t know . . . it’s the GNP of a small planet.”