Free Star Carrier (Lost Colonies Trilogy Book 3) by B. V. Larson

concerned. “May I have a private word before you go, son?” he asked.
    That last caught me by surprise and stopped me in my tracks. He rarely referred to me directly as his son. He’d never been completely happy with my career choices. Among the rich and powerful of Earth, military officers had long been considered of low rank.
    “I’ll wait in the car for you,” Chloe said, hurrying out into the afternoon sunshine.
    I watched her go wistfully, and I saw that she was escorted into the back of our finest vehicle. My parents rode in it personally when they attended state affairs.
    “What’s the problem, father?” I asked.
    He beckoned for me to lean close. I glanced around, not seeing an agent within easy earshot, but I crouched beside his hover-chair and leaned close.
    “I know where you’ve been,” he said in a low voice. “I know who you’ve spoken to.”
    Not knowing how to respond, I said nothing.
    He nodded. “Yes, I see in your eyes you understand your peril. Listen to me, William of Sparhawk. You’re my only offspring, and I don’t want to create a new one at my age.”
    He reached out a hand and squeezed mine. “I don’t want to forget a son. Not again.”
    My mouth fell open, then I closed it again.
    “That won’t happen, sir,” I said.
    “Good. See that it doesn’t. Be careful about Lady Astra as well. She’s a politician now, remember?”
    I left him in his chair without responding. I didn’t know what to say. Could he be right? Could Chloe be renewing our love affair for political reasons? The thought was disheartening to say the least.
    But far more disturbing than that were his hints concerning the past. Had he once conceived an heir and lost him? Had such an individual been erased from public memory?
    My parents were both about a century old while I was only thirty. It was unusual for people to wait so long to have a child, but it wasn’t unknown. Curiously enough, I’d never considered that there might have been another…
    To think that I might have had a sibling… Had there been such a person? A person wholly unknown to me who’d been expunged years ago, probably before I was born? It was difficult to get my mind wrapped around the concept.
    Many things did fit, the more I considered the possibility. My father had been so stern, so driven to see that I followed in his footsteps with lockstep motions. Had all that been due to his regrets concerning a past failure?
    Climbing into the back of the air car, I was pleased to see Chloe’s shining eyes. She seemed not to notice my distraction and proceeded to speak animatedly about an itinerary of shops, cafes and shows she wanted to visit with me. I acquiesced to them all, barely hearing any of it.
    Our top House agent, Jillian herself, piloted the air car. This made me smile briefly. She wasn’t about to let anything happen to me again tonight.
    While Chloe showed me flashing images from her computer scroll and discussed each possible entertainment in detail, I found my eyes wandering out the window.
    I saw the city laid out beneath us, like a carpet of glowing, moving lights.
    My mind was churning. I’d learned so much over the last twenty-four hours about my world and how it really operated.
    Deciding to seize the moment and enjoy it for what it was I turned back to Chloe, who was staring at me.
    “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, William,” she said.
    “I’m just glad to be home.”
    She beamed then. “You see? I managed to change your moping attitude!”
    We laughed together, and we kissed. It was good to have Chloe back no matter what the future might hold for us.
    “What about your resignation from public service?” I asked her in a quiet moment. We’d both been avoiding the topic.
    “I… it would make it easier to spend more time with you,” she said.
    “Now, that I believe. Have you made a decision?”
    She licked her lips and avoided my eyes. “No, nothing final yet.”
    “Okay then,” I said, not wanting