The Dark Lord's Vessel

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

What cannot be talked about

Cannot be put to rest.

And if it is not,

The wounds will fester

From generation to generation.

,

—Bruno Bettelheim

.

MIKHAIL

There is nothing more vulgar than a sunrise when you haven't slept for days. Especially when you are flying patrol over a lifeless desert where there is nothing to think about but the ghosts of old mistakes. I don't know what's worse; the fact the chief no longer trusts me? Or the memory of all the times I failed these people? Starting with the day Ninsianna's father showed up at my crashed spaceship to fetch his runaway daughter and I refused to send her packing?

What if? What if?

If I hadn't gotten involved, Ninsianna would be home safe in her own bed. She wouldn't have become a target. She wouldn't have gotten kid