Voidhawk - Lost Soul Read Online Free Page B

tightly while she let loose the emotions that had been building in her. Emotions that, he suspected, had built over six long years spent denying everything except the needs of the Empire.
    When she could draw a breath with little more than a shudder she whispered into his sodden shirt, “I’ve been a terrible mother.”
    “You’ve been here. Busy, yes, but you were here,” he consoled. “Beats what I grew up with.”
    “My mother was here too,” she confessed. “She’s still here somewhere. Exiled with my father.”
    Dexter sucked in a sharp breath. “Do you think they did this?”
    “What? No,” she said, still clinging to him. “I just meant my mother was always around, but she seldom had time for me. She never played with me or listened to me. She would talk to me at times, telling me how things were and what was expected of me, but that was it. I fear I’ve turned out just like her!”
    “Can’t say that your mother seems the type to send her daughter off to practice swinging swords around in the air with a smile on her face.”
    Jenna was silent for a moment, then she shook her head. “She thought my interests were scandalous, at best.”
    “Well there you go. Maybe you weren’t so bad after all.” Dexter grimaced, his words sounded over and done with. He spoke carefully, trying to end on a hopeful note. “You aren’t a bad mom.”
    She sniffed and pulled away from him. “I’m jealous,” she admitted. “You spent so much more time with Jia.”
    Dexter sighed. “There’s not a day that’s passed I haven’t pined away for life on the ‘Hawk. Running the Elven Navy’s not much better for family life than being Empress is.”
    Jenna glanced up at him, a twinkle in her eye he’d not seen in a long time. “And you’ve got an idea what it’s like to be the Empress?”
    “Well, on top of having people kneeling and groveling all day long there’s the problem of tripping on some of those dresses. Horrible things, don’t let a person move in them! Not to mention they take too long to get out of when court’s gone on too long and I’m fit to bursting with all that fancy Elven wine I’ve drank.”
    Jenna snorted, then buried her head back in Dexter’s chest. “Thank you, Dex. I don’t know how you can make me smile, but you can.”
    “Comes with being Captain and all. If you’d like I’ll show you some of the other perks later.”
    “Other perks?”
    “Private bedroom, for starters.”
    Jenna looked at him again, then softened in his grip when she saw the tenderness in his eyes. She kissed him hard, not out of passion but out of necessity. Dexter clung to her in return, finding that it helped him as much as it did her.
    “How are we going to find her?” Jenna whispered once they’d separated.
    “That’s where the guy upstairs comes in.”
    Jenna’s eyebrows scrunched together. “When did you take up religion?”
    Dexter grinned, having lured his wife into his trap. “I meant the man wearing the dress.”
    She let out her breath with a soft chuckle. “You really think Xander can help?”
    Dexter shrugged. “Been many a time I didn’t know what would get us out of a jam. With the proper motivation he’s always come through for me.”
    “You’re going to punch him again, aren’t you?”
    “I was thinking of tearing the scarves off of his naughty little apprentice and using them to tie her to a ballista bolt, then seeing how that might affect the weapon’s aim.”
    Jenna’s eyes widened. She let out another laugh before shaking her head. “You wouldn’t do that.”
    Dexter’s grin didn’t fade but his eyes shifted just enough to match his lower tone, “If I knew that pissing into the wind with my mouth wide open stood a chance of getting her back, I’d do it.”
    Jenna studied him then nodded. His promise stood as an example of the lengths he’d go to and it sent chills down her back yet warmed her heart. She remembered the times he’d risked his own life trying