Born of Betrayal by Sherrilyn Kenyon

less. Call me provincial, but I wanted better than that.”
    Fain twisted the ring on his pinkie around with his thumb. Fate had seriously fucked him over.
    No, fate had fucked all of them over.
    â€œI’m so sorry, Galene.”
    â€œI’m not the one you need to apologize to.” Her gaze went to Talyn.
    His features were absolute stone.
    Fain wanted to embrace him. It was a physical ache inside him to touch a son he’d never thought to have, but it was painfully obvious that Talyn wanted him to die on the spot. “I’m sorry, Talyn.”
    â€œThere are some things sorry doesn’t fix, old man. This is definitely one of them.”
    â€œI know. Believe me, I know.” His heart shattering, Fain blinked against the tears that choked him as he thought about everything they’d all been deprived of. The years that the three of them should have been a family.
    I have a son.…
    A child he’d never been able to hold and soothe. A son he’d never taught to fight or protect himself. One he knew absolutely nothing about. Bitter, aching regret choked him hard.
    Talyn met his mother’s gaze. “I’ll give you two the room.”
    As he started past her, Galene touched his arm. “Are you okay, baby?”
    â€œI’m fine, Matarra.”
    Galene winced. That wasn’t true and she knew it. But it was the best she’d get out of him. Talyn never showed anyone his emotions. His childhood had been too brutal for that.
    Without another word, her son headed for his room.
    Her heart hammering, she watched as Fain scanned the other photos of Talyn over the years. Their son had been a beautiful child. Overachiever to the extreme.
    But then, Talyn had been forced to be three times better at everything he did to be seen as half as good as others.
    Fain met her gaze again. “I don’t know what upsets me more. The number of times I made money off Talyn’s wins, or the times I lost money betting someone would gut him in the Ring.”
    â€œDon’t even talk to me about that, Fain. Or I will kill you where you stand. You’ve no idea how much I hated him fighting for a prestige that should have been his at birth. How many times I’ve paced a waiting room floor, praying he’d live through the injuries he’d sustained because he had no future without battling for it. And even then, he was never given his due, because he never had a fully Vested lineage backing him.” She clenched her teeth and glared at him. “Damn you for that.”
    Fain choked on the pain inside his heart. As a boy, he’d thought to trade his own life and future to save Dancer’s. Instead, that “noble” action had cost his son his.
    Galene’s and Talyn’s futures were not supposed to have been part of the bargain he’d made with Chrisen and Merrell Anatole to keep Dancer and Keris safe. Nothing had turned out the way it should have.
    And never had he hated himself more.
    â€œI can imagine what you’ve been through.”
    â€œNo, Fain. You can’t. Not really. You were always so popular. Everyone loved and adored you. Worshiped the ground the mighty War Hauk tread upon … Our son has never known that. Most decent, self-respecting Andarions won’t socialize with him. At all. Even as an officer, he wasn’t allowed to shower in the same barracks area as any Vested soldier. The only female who will have anything to do with him is a paid companion he has set up in his condo, across town. I had to send him to school with Hyshians because our race wouldn’t allow him to attend an Andarion school with a broken lineage. Every door he reached for was brutally slammed, not in his face, but on his little hands.”
    He winced in response, and well he should.
    â€œThe Hyshian and human children weren’t allowed to play with him because he was Andarion. And the Andarion children weren’t allowed to talk to him