Rescued by the Alien Warrior Hope Hart (literature books to read TXT) 📖

of nowhere, and I attacked him. I knew I was going to die, but my father would have wanted me to die an honorable death with a sword in my hand.”

My heart pounds like a drum. “What happened?”

He laughs. “Calix knocked my sword away, cuffed me around the head, and pushed me toward one of his men. They put me in the qatai’s tashiv. I could hear the sounds of the battle, the noise of swords clanging, of warriors dying. But my clearest memory is the taste of the meat the servants fed me. I hadn’t eaten for three days.”

I glance at his face, and he gives me a half smile, but his eyes are wounded. His tribe threw him away. His father died for his tribe king, and the bastard wouldn’t even protect a seven-year-old kid.

Tagiz sighs, stroking my hair. “Rakiz had been allowed to watch some of the battle. When he returned to find me in his father’s tashiv, he glowered at me and told me his father was going to string me up as an example to any other tribes that thought to attack.”

“Uh-oh.”

He laughs. “I believed him. So I decided if I was going to die, I was going to take the future tribe king down with me.”

I smile. “Of course you did.”

“Calix arrived to find us tangled and rolling around on the floor, each with a knife at the other’s throat. He pulled us both up by our shirts and gave us a tongue lashing I can still remember to this day. Then he offered me a choice. He would provide me with three days of rations and a sword and would allow me to leave the tribe. Or I could stay and be raised as his son.”

“I’m confused by this. You’ve said he was obsessed with…”

“Bloodlines? Yes. But he and his mate had been attempting to have a child of their own for four revolutions. His mate had been chosen by his father due to the exceptional warriors in her line, and my father was beginning to realize she was barren.”

My teeth are clenched as I sit up. Sure, Calix may have saved Tagiz from certain death, but the more I learn about him, the less I like. Besides, I’d bet the last hair band I have hidden beneath my furs that Calix wouldn’t have adopted Tagiz if he’d had kids of his own.

“You know, it’s not just women who are responsible for getting pregnant. Your father might be sterile.”

He frowns at that. “Sterile,” he says in English, and I realize there’s no translation in Braxian.

Typical.

I explain the concept, giggling at the incredulous expression on his face.

“Are you sure?”

I angle my head and give him a look. “I’m sure.”

“Hmm.” He thinks about this for a long moment. “My father is unaware of this.”

“I’m happy to explain the concept to him,” I say sweetly, and he laughs, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me back down to him.

“So,” I say. “Calix offered you a choice.”

“Yes. He said he had been impressed with the bravery I showed when I attempted to attack him. He knew males older than me who were unable to lift the sword I had swung at him. He explained his family had a long tradition of serving the king. If he raised me as his son, I would be expected to train harder than I had ever imagined and protect the future tribe king with my life.”

I smile at the thought of Rakiz and Tagiz sneering at each other as Calix made that proclamation.

“I bet you liked the sound of that.”

He laughs. “I wasn’t going to turn down the best offer I’d ever heard. An offer that included joining one of the biggest and most powerful Braxian tribes on Agron. Rakiz protested, but Calix told him he would be happy to inform his father about how Rakiz had attempted to kill one of his ‘prisoners’ before he could be interrogated.”

“So you were raised as Calix’s son.”

He nods, and I stroke my finger over one of his pecs as I consider everything he’s told me.

Tagiz may think he owes Calix everything, but I see the guy for who he is. A master manipulator who only cares about himself and who he believes Tagiz should be.

He took a scared orphan and raised him to believe he only had one option in life. He raised him with the belief he was in debt to Calix because he saved him from being slaughtered on the battlefield.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Do you think any of the other warriors in this camp would have killed you that day?”

He’s silent for a long moment. “No. Honor is everything in this tribe, and there is no honor in killing a child.”

“But you didn’t know that at the time.”

“No. In my tribe, we fought for everything.”

“So you automatically felt beholden to Calix for saving your life.”

He tenses. “He did save my life. He didn’t need to take me as his own, Zoey.”

“I know. But do you think Rakiz’s dad truly would’ve let you leave his tribe with nothing but some food and a sword?”

“No. But I didn’t know that then.”

“Exactly.”

“What are you saying?”

I choose my words carefully. As much as I’m beginning to loathe Calix, he’s still Tagiz’s father.

“I’m saying maybe you feel like you need to live up to the idea of what Calix wants you to be simply because you feel like you owe him for taking you in as a child. But any decent person would’ve done the exact same thing.”

He considers this. “You raise good points, but it changes nothing. I am my father’s only son. The son he chose. Without him and my mother, I would have been another camp orphan, perhaps given to parents who would not have overseen my training. Parents who would not have ensured I would be a strong warrior.”

I nod as I pretend to let it go. But I’m not letting anything go. I don’t doubt Calix loves his