Page 14 of 3 Secrets to Love (Romance Tales from the Quadrants #2)

Xacalla

“Let’s go to Rennir and have some fun.”

I shook my head, not wanting to explain to my sister that the last time I was there, I kissed Phalon and enjoyed it, leaving me craving more.

Brely knew me and the apparent prince had traveled across the quadrants together in search of the abducted Kalpierene triplets, but I hadn’t told her how close he and I had gotten on Gaunb.

It didn’t matter what had happened between us though, as he’d refused the throne and refused to even message me back to let me know he was okay.

I didn’t know whether to be worried or pissed at him.

“What about Derinj, then? Or Tanva?”

Brely stood in front of me and lifted my chin with her finger so I had to look at her.

“I’m tired of you moping around.

Yes, you lost your job and your apartment that went with it, sending you back to living with Mom and Dad, but it’s only until you get another position.

That will happen soon enough.

And, besides, I want to travel before these twins are born.

Once they come out of me, I’m going to be one busy mama.”

I understood my sister wanting to get away.

She’d been artificially inseminated after months of trying to find a donor who matched all her qualifications.

She didn’t race anymore but had saved up enough to buy a house for her future family and continued to work as a trainer for the Omisu team which my younger brother, Manox, still raced for.

Her life was about to change even more.

Mine already had, and not in any way I’d wanted it to.

Going on a vacation wouldn’t help me to forget that I was homeless, jobless, and heartbroken.

I’d never experienced the affection I had for Phalon with anyone else.

No, we hadn’t had sex, but I thought what we did have had meant something to him.

He’d been so patient and kind.

Instead, everything I thought I had wanted disappeared from my grasp the moment I walked out of my debriefing on Gaunb.

I’d gone back to Eurebly long enough to pack my belongings and had them sent to my parents’ place where I slunk back to with nowhere else to go, and believing Phalon wanted nothing to do with me because I didn’t open my legs for him like all his adoring fans had in the past.

“Xacalla, seriously.

I don’t like seeing you like this.”

She sat beside me on the bench seat at our dining table and put her arm around me.

“Please let me take you somewhere to have fun.”

With a sigh, I leaned on her shoulder. I didn’t know if I would have fun, but I could at least accompany my sister.

“How about Saog? It’s the same climate as Rennir with nice beaches and clubs, too, but it also has wilderness trails and is much quieter.”

“Sure.”

Brely stroked my hair.

“We can go there. Go pack, because we need to be at the spaceport in half an hour.”

As I rushed to the room Brely and I once shared as children, I remembered my last adventure through space. One where I hadn’t had time to pack or plan anything. The trip to Saog was about forgetting all that. At least, it was supposed to be.

***

“So-o-o.”

Brely hiked alongside me, keeping up despite the extra bodies she carried in her belly.

“What was it like seeing Phalon again? You spent so much time with him on your grand adventure, but you haven’t said a thing about him since you moved back home.”

“It was okay.”

I shrugged, not wanting to go into the details of our trip or the feelings that came with it.

“Hasn’t changed much.”

“A-and, did you sleep with him?”

She nudged my side before rushing ahead and turning around to face me.

I stopped, not wanting to crash into her. The last thing I needed was to knock her over and be the cause of something happening to her or her babies.

“No, I did not sleep with him. We slept in very close quarters at the same time, but we did not have sex.”

She didn’t need to know about everything in between that we did do.

“Besides, haven’t you told me numerous times to never hook up with a space racer? And didn’t you claim I was spending too much time with him?”

With her hands on her hips, she stared into my eyes.

“That’s exactly why I’m asking. Because I think something did happen between you two, and I want to know if I need to hunt him down and kick his ass.”

I snorted, imagining my pregnant sister trying to mess him up when Phalon was so much taller than her. And probably a great deal stronger.

“We didn’t have sex.”

That was the truth, but I knew I couldn’t keep everything from her forever. She had ways of finding out.

“Sure, we kissed, and I grew fond of him, but he’s disappeared, and now no one can find him.”

The Council of the Quadrants had even issued a finder’s fee for him and begged for any information as to his whereabouts. No one knew whether he was alive or if he’d been executed by those who had been trying to prevent his ascent to power all along.

“So that’s why you’re extra dour. You actually formed an attraction toward someone.”

I started walking up the hill again, passing Brely on the side.

“I don’t want to talk about him.”

“What?”

I heard her catching up from behind me.

“I always thought he was nice and cute. Of all of Zander’s former teammates, he was the cutest.”

My cheeks warmed as I struggled not to think about sitting on Phalon’s knee in the storage shack on Yatak and sleeping tucked into his side on Gaunb.

“Are you coming or not? I want to make it to the top before it gets too late.”

I’d read about the amazing view in all directions at the top of the cliff, whether it be the beach to the east and west, the ocean to the north, or the city to the south.

But if we didn’t get up there soon, we would be heading back down in the dark.

Not something that I wanted to risk with my pregnant sister.

“I’m coming.”

She caught up from behind and tugged on my shirt as she passed.

“Sorry for wanting to chat with my own sister and help her cheer up.”

I sighed and continued along the path.

First, she wanted me to forget about everything that happened, leave it all behind.

Then she wanted to know every last detail of what happened.

I just wanted to hike.

It took us another hour, with one stop to catch our breath and stretch our legs, before we reached the top.

The view was truly spectacular.

The water in the ocean sparkled under the sunlight, and we even saw the silhouettes of some large creatures swimming just below the surface.

Looking along the beaches, we spotted those less busy than the others and made a note to visit one of them the next day.

We also spied some shops in the city that we wanted to visit during our time on Saog.

We sat on one of the benches at the top of the peak to eat our hotel-packed meal.

As soon as we finished, we headed back down the trail.

Seeing the sun set over the water would have been a beautiful sight, but hiking down a mountain in the dark seemed too risky.

The trek to the bottom seemed to go faster, though we slowed down at the steepest part where stairs and a railing on one side had been installed.

I let my sister use the rail and bounced beside her down the hard dirt-packed steps with wooden ledges.

I didn’t see the ledge halfway down the staircase that had rotted away.

Without anything to stop my step, my foot kept going until it reached the loose dirt on the side of the mountain.

My forward momentum steered me off the stairs and down the hillside.

With a stream of loose soil and gravity carrying me downward, I had no chance to stop myself.

I kept sliding with my hands flapping and terror clenching at my gut.

Then I came to an abrupt halt with a loud crunch and pain radiating up my leg.

I fell to the ground and grasped my ankle, tears streaming down my cheeks before I even felt them.

Bile pooled in the back of my throat before I dared a glance at the damage.

“Xacalla,”

my sister called, though she sounded far away.

“Are you okay?”

“No.”

I couldn’t tell if I spoke loud enough for her to hear me, the pain worse than when I’d been hit by plazer fire.

“But stay there.”

Wiping away the tears, I tried to glance back to see how far I was from the trail. I didn’t need my sister to hurt herself by trying to help me.

As she waved her hands in the air, I spotted Brely and waved back but had no idea how I was going to make it up to her and the rest of the way down the mountain.

Not with the way my ankle throbbed without any movement whatsoever.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing, hoping I could find some way to ignore the agony.

When I opened them again, I caught movement to my left.

Twigs crunched as something came toward me.

Brely was still up on the trail, thank goodness, but I worried what else was out there.

And then I saw him.

Phalon.

He rushed toward me and scooped me into his arms before I had the chance to brace for the movement.

“You’re hurt.”

He pulled me tight to his chest and stared at me with knit brows and concern in the soft wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

“You’re here.”

I gasped, the pain subsided for a moment while I processed that he really was holding me.

“Phalon, is that really you?”

my sister called.

“Hi, Brely.”

He nodded and started up the incline with me in his arms.

“It’s good to see you again.”

“Where have you been?”

“Your sister is my concern right now,”

he answered her, his tone making sure she didn’t ask anything else.

Without any medical supplies along the trails, Phalon carried me all the way to the first aid hut at the bottom.

“Are you sure you want to go in there?”

I asked right before he stepped inside.

“You’re hurt,”

he said again, as if I didn’t already feel the burning pain radiating through my foot and up to my knee.

“I’m going to make sure you get the attention you need.”

“There’s a finder’s fee out on you, Phalon.”

My sister darted in front of him.

“If you go in there, someone’s going to take notice.”

He sighed.

“I’m sure someone already has, but Xacalla is my first concern.”

Brely chuckled from behind as Phalon stepped into the hut.

“You’ve both got it bad. I’ll go sit over here and drink my water while you get her ankle fixed. Thanks, by the way, for finding us.”

He nodded right before the cloth closed behind us.

None of the medical staff made a big deal about Phalon.

Either they didn’t know to look out for him or were more concerned about my swollen ankle.

I received several hyposprays that seemed to reduce the swelling and made me groggy as those attending to me manipulated my ankle then wrapped it.

I didn’t remember leaving the hut, but when I came to, I was lying on the bed back in the hotel room with a cold compress over my ankle.

Brely was watching something on the wall comm from the bed beside me.

And Phalon was gone. Again.