Thoreaux shrugged. "What did you expect to happen? It was his wife. Of course, he loves her. If he hadn't shown emotion, I'd worry he might be a psychopath."
Servia shook her head. "No, this is different. I want to know how much you knew about her, Thoreaux?"
He raised both his eyebrows. "Do you think you can question me like that?"
"I didn't realize you were above me in a question hierarchy," she shot back. "It's a damn fair question. How much did you know about her before you saw that?"
Thoreaux did his best to hold his anger in. He didn't like being questioned like this, as if he had been trying to hide something from these people. Maybe it went back to his parents' crimes, or maybe it was simply him being human. "I already told you what I knew, Servia. He asked to see her when he first got to Pluto. I showed him what our satellites had been able to gather. That's it. We never talked about it again."
Servia's gaze fell on the AllMother, and to Thoreaux, it looked as harsh as it had when directed at him. "You knew this?"
The AllMother met Servia's glare. "I knew everything about him, child. It was my job to know."
"Everything else about him is okay. I don't have a problem with it. The way he reacted when he saw his wife? What he did to the elevator to keep us from stopping him while he killed someone? I have a problem with those two things because they mean he's unstable. It means he might do something rash when it comes to her. Damn it, he already has."
The AllMother cocked her head to the side, her eyes narrowed, and stared at Servia for a long moment.
"What?" Servia asked.
"I'm trying to understand how you think this universe works, child," she replied with her head still tilted to the side. "I'm baffled. You have no problem with anything else about the man, but his love for his wife is a sticking point with you. Do you think anything else would be the same about him if he didn't love his wife? Or do you think that maybe a key part of him might be necessary to create the whole? Do you think you're any different? That the pieces which make up your life, if removed, wouldn't change who you are?" She paused and straightened. "I didn't pick him despite his love for his wife; I picked him because of it."
Thoreaux remembered back to Pluto when he'd held doubts about the man. It had been Servia who’d challenged him to make his doubts known to the AllMother, but he hadn't done it in this way. Servia might be wrong, but Thoreaux saw bravery in her too.
Servia didn't hold back her chastising statement. "Even if you're right, Mother, we should have been told about the attachment he has to someone who is still part of the Commonwealth. We all needed to be aware of what that might mean."
Faitrin raised her hand from the table. "Want to expand on that, Servia?"
Lips pursed, she nodded. "Right now, what's he thinking about? Surely, his wife has to weigh heavily on his mind because I think we can all guess what that message was: a threat. Do what we want, or we'll kill her. What is Pro going to do then? If it's his life and our movement versus his wife's life? Do you think he's going to side with us? Do you think he'll give himself up? Do any of us have any idea?"
Faitrin tapped her finger lightly on the table. "My vote is he sticks with us."
"Same," Thoreaux agreed.
The AllMother chuckled softly. "I'm not sure why any of this matters. If we're voting, Servia, clearly I'm on the side that says he will not betray us. However, you act as if we have a choice in the matter. As if we're somehow going to find another leader while we sit on a dreadnought that is scheduled for imminent destruction." She shook her head with a wry smile. "My children, for better or worse, our fates are tied to him."
The room fell silent then, and Thoreaux looked at Servia. The AllMother was right. None of it mattered now because the only person with the attributes necessary to keep them alive was Prometheus. They either trusted him or died.
Servia still had her arms crossed. "I want to talk to him about it. As soon as possible."
Faitrin laughed. "He doesn't seem too keen on talking about his wife."
"Well, he'll need to be," she countered.
Thoreaux raised his hands. "Okay. I'm going to go back to the medbay and check on the bitch down there. We've got about another standard hour and a half before he wants to meet with us." He shrugged and glanced at Servia. "I'd wait until after the meeting before you talk to him. You know how he is with his thinking."
He didn't wait for a response. He left the room and headed for a place he shouldn't be going alone.
Chapter Six
“Love—true love—allows us to rise higher than apes on the food chain.”
—The AllMother
Hel had watched the former Titan leave the room and listened as he told the droid doc what to do: fix her, then put her in the brig. That was what the Titan planned to do with her in the short time he had left to live. It also meant Hel had a short time left to live because Kane was exactly where the Ascendant wanted him. They were unable to hide or run, so the Fleet would destroy this ship and everyone on it.
That was something Hel couldn't allow to happen, not as long as she was aboard.
She didn't want to fight Kane again, not in a fair match-up. The man was barely human, and regardless of her talents, she wasn't equipped to deal with him. He had left very few Titans alive, so the medbay was empty since
