No More Heroes: In the Wake of the Templars Book Three Read Online Free PDF

flashed across her face. “Why are you watching me?”
    “Trying to figure you out.”
    “Got a question?”
    “What are you doing with us?”
    “The Veracity , you mean?”
    Haoun nodded and took another bite of his sandwich.
    “At first, I was just using you to get to Thallian,” Raena admitted. “But then Mykah did such a stellar job breaking the news about him to the galaxy and I didn’t have anywhere else to go . . . I was kind of just along for the ride, after that. I thought you’d put me out at Capital City and I’d be wandering again, but then Mellix needed my help . . .” Her voice trailed off. “What are you doing with us?”
    “Running away.” That wasn’t the whole truth. “My mate asked me to leave.” Mykah knew this, and by extension, Coni probably did, too. “Serese kept our home, our kids, and I went to Kai.”
    “Why did you come with Mykah when we left?”
    “It seemed like a grand adventure, becoming a pirate. I had no idea what ugly stuff we would get involved in.”
    She gazed at him, waiting for him to finish that thought.
    “This has been the best time of my life,” he confessed. “For the first time, I feel like I’m actually doing something important. Something that will change the galaxy for the better.”
    Raena grinned at him.
    Haoun reached out his hand. She wove her fingers between his.
    “The funny thing is,” she said, “I feel the same. I am so lucky to have found all of you.”
    She snuggled against him. The smell of her skin was electric, straight to his brain. She looked soft, fragile, but beneath her thin skin, her muscles were surprisingly strong. He’d never known anyone like her.
    Things might be complicated once they all got back on the Veracity . Haoun hoped he hadn’t broken anything that he would regret later, but for now, he was glad of her company.
    “What do you want to do today?” she asked.
    “I need to pick up some souvenirs for my kids,” Haoun said.
    “How many kids do you have?”
    “Two boys and a girl.”
    “What are they like?”
    “The boys are just boys. They like sports. We play a ball game on my homeworld that they’re really good at. Jexxie, the youngest, is really smart. She will rule the world some day.”
    “Is it hard to be away from them?”
    “It would be harder to be there.”
    Raena didn’t argue. “What do you want to buy for them?”
    “I thought I’d start on the toy street, see what they have to offer.”
    “I’ll come with you, if you’ll help me find a swimsuit afterward. I haven’t been swimming since I left Kai.”
    “Me, either,” Haoun realized.
    She looked down at the remains of her sandwich. “This defeated me,” she admitted.
    “Never eat anything bigger than your head,” Haoun advised. “It’s one of the first things we teach our young.”
    Raena laughed. “I will keep that in mind.”
    Haoun heaved himself to his feet and reached a hand down to her. As they walked, he asked, “Did you ever want kids?”
    Raena shook her head. “Can’t have them, at least not the natural way. Thallian had me sterilized.”
    “What?” Haoun jerked to a halt, stunned by the casual way she said it.
    Raena linked her hands around his arm. “No one knows this, unless they’ve run a medical scan on me. On the Arbiter , before I ran, Thallian had my ovaries removed. He was a clone, you know, and all his family were clones. I’m not sure if he was planning ahead to after the War, when we’d retire to his planet and clone ourselves some offspring, or if he was simply trying to control me. It doesn’t matter now.”
    “Weren’t you angry about it?”
    “The galaxy was different back then.” She was people-watching now, her head tracking from side to side. She didn’t appear emotionally invested in something that seemed so enormous to Haoun. He tried to remember that it had happened to her a long time ago. Still, it was difficult to believe she had accepted being mutilated by the madman like