Chapter Twenty-Six
Xexis
Xnasis pulled the Kannatch aside as the ship landed but before they were unloaded into the hangar.
His staff were all eager to return to work, but Xnasis did not seem to mirror their enthusiasm.
If there was something Xexis felt he was rather good at, it was sensing the emotions of his loved ones.
His older brother was a complicated puzzle.
A lock with many notches and keyholes but only certain combinations worked.
“Brother, I have a question about your hunt that I need you to answer honestly. I can not go into those chambers ignorant.” Xnasis walked them into the newly emptied command deck. The pilot had already disembarked to check on the outside of the ship.
Xexis sighed, “It was an entire mistake and miscommunication.”
Xnasis shook his head. “I feared you would say that. Please, go on, explain.”
Xexis sat down in one of the pilot seats while Xnasis took up the other.
It took him a moment to gather his thoughts before he exhaled.
“I planned a hunt around her special interests. I broke apart a ship for her to run through, opportunities for her to fix it or use it as a weapon. And we waited till they were in an isolated quadrant. I believed she did so because she’d already known, or had some indication.
So, I set the stage and waited. She boarded and initiated the hunt.
I killed two of her crewmates I believed were used as bait for me, to show my prowess… I was wrong.”
“And so, Aphrodite did not know it was a mating hunt until when?” Xnasis folded his hands over his lap.
“Until she woke aboard my ship. I had not considered the humans would board the ship to investigate it for life.” Xexis nodded his head, unable to look at his brother.
“Aphrodite explained that her crewmates believed the ship was sending an emergency signal and there might be survivors inside, but there was nothing inside that ship but me…nothing alive other than a few pests I didn’t have time to rid the ship of.
I did remove some of the bodies and my pack cremated them as a mercy”
“Xexis, I am confused.” Xnasis’ words ripped his brother’s gaze up from his lap. “Where did you find the ship? Did you kill an entire ship’s worth of humans for a hunt?”
“Stars, no!” Xexis exclaimed, slightly put off that his brother would even assume him that cruel.
“Then where did the bodies come from?” Xnasis narrowed his eyes on his younger brother.
“We found that ship as it was. I know you don’t like that as the answer, but we put out a call that we were looking to purchase a broken ship and the Loa Councilman informed me there was a floating ship in one of his quadrants.
He had intended to just burn and rid the stars of the ship, but I gladly took it off his hands.
I found it full of bodies. I put in a report when I was setting up the hunt.
” Xexis sat back in the seat, studying his brother pensively.
Had he not read anything? He detailed everything that happened, including the original hunt, the deaths, the ship, everything.
It was in his hunt report that he turned in like he did with the others.
Usually, it was of no consequence to Xnasis, because Xexis took care of everything, but mating hunts he was specifically supposed to double check.
His brother hadn’t bothered to even read his report. It stung deep in his chest. Xexis read his brother’s mating hunt report, helped his brother set up the hunting grounds for his beloved mate, and volunteered to guard it. Does the respect only go one way?
“I looked at it.” Xnasis didn’t even look at his brother. Instead his attention was on the pilot standing between them and the rest of the ship. “I had just hoped the report was wrong.”
“We are ready to disembark.” The pilot bowed their head to the brothers.
Xexis left, trying not to hate the sting in his chest. If his brother was not overly critical of Xexis…
he was ignorant of him. Xexis didn’t like the cruel, dark disembodied voice that filled the cavity of his mind at the feeling brewing in his chest. Luckily, the moment he returned to Aphrodite’s side, she smiled at him with that brilliant curl of her pretty lips that cleared his mind of anything but her. For the moment, at least.