Read Was Once a Hero for Free Online Page B

world.   “Inevitable,” she shrugged.   “Three people can keep a secret if two of
them are dead.   I’m surprised it didn’t
come out earlier.”
    “There
were too many eyes,” he agreed, standing and stretching.   “You never would tell me how you ended up a
prisoner on a Dua-Denlenn pirate vessel.   Shoddy treatment for the man who rescued you.”
    She
cocked her head.   “You had no idea I was
aboard.    You were after a bounty as
always.”
    “And
for my troubles, you nearly brained me, ran off my guards and shot up my hold
full of valuable prisoners.   Next thing I
know, my landing force is running, I’m looking at a pile of dead Dua-Denlenns
and the barrel of my own pistol.”
    Shasti
leaned back in her chair looking pleased with herself.   “It showed you why you needed to hire
me.   As for the rest, my solution took
care of the need for paroles.”
    “Yep,”
Fenaday agreed.   “Less paperwork,
clearly.   I suppose you had your
reasons.”
    Something
flickered in her eyes, quickly suppressed.   “I was working as a bodyguard,” she finally said, “when the Dua-Denlenn
struck my employer’s compound.   Someone
hated her to have commissioned such an expensive raid.   The cook drugged my food and they took me
alive.   My patron and her children died
badly.   I had to watch.”
    “My
only regret about the Dua-Denlenn,” she continued, “is that I didn’t have time
to kill them slowly.   Torture is part of
the Dua-Denlenn culture, almost an art form.   I’d have made each one of them into a masterpiece.   But with you there, I had to settle for just
dead.”
    He
looked at her sidewise.   It was the most
she’d ever said on the subject.   “I don’t
disagree,” he replied, “but it put us in the trap we’re in.”   He drew a deep breath and came to a sudden
decision.   “Or at least, it’s the trap
I’m in.   I’m too well known to run and
where would I go?   I put most of my
family into bankruptcy when I sold off the Shamrock.   I have some money in a small emergency
fund.   It’s not enough to lift ship, but
it’s enough for you to run.”
    Shasti
stared at him.   “You’d do that, for
me?   They’ll jail you on that basis
alone.”
    He
shrugged.   “There are worse things.”
    She stared
at him, then shook her head.   “No, I’ll
stick with you.”
    “Shasti,
I’m going to die on Enshar.   There’s no
chance.   It’s a fool’s errand.   They’re sending my ship because they have to
send something and no one cares if we die.”
    To
his surprise, she gave a small smile.   It
was the first he could recall.   “If we
don’t survive,” she said.   “I’ll never
have a chance to meet this wife of yours.   A woman who could so obsess a man might teach me a thing or two.”
    He
laughed ruefully.   “If that happens, I
may end up with some explaining to do.”
    “Is
that why you stopped?” she asked, catching him off guard.   Her expression closed up again; the glimpse
into the depths suddenly shuttered.
    Now
he was in uncharted space.   “I don’t
know,” he sighed.   “I thought our affair
meant I was giving up.   After all the
things I did to start my search, I can’t do that.   A lot of people were hurt when I sold the
company.   My cousin’s father shot
himself...   Then there’s all I’ve done
since.   Maybe some of the people I’ve
dealt with had it coming, but that doesn’t seem to square somehow.   If I give up, then I did it all for nothing
and I’m not sure I can live with that.
    “There’s
something else,” he hesitated, then plowed ahead.   “I wasn’t sure if you were with me because
you felt you needed to be...”
    She
shook her head; her long, glossy, black hair shimmered.
    A
knot released in his chest.   He hadn’t
realized it until then, but it was important to him that it had been more than
business.   Vanity, he supposed.   “I’m not free to give more.   I felt bad about