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“We’re only unofficial because the species states won’t recognize us.”
“—and very loyal.”
“They fight for themselves and their families and a cause they believe in.” Leon lifted his chin. “They’re the most loyal group of soldiers you’ll ever find.”
Mal’ik tilted his head and crossed his arms over his broad chest, his metal limb clicking and clinking as it moved. “They’re loyal to you too.”
A lump formed in Leon’s throat, and he paused to swallow around it. Loyal. To him. What did that even mean, really? “They trust me to lead them to victory. To finish what you started twenty-five years ago.”
“They do trust you.” Mal’ik nodded.
“And they seem to love you.” Leon didn’t know how that had escaped. He clenched his teeth shut. The lack of sleep, the stress of the assault on the capital, the tension of the incoming invasion, everything he’d been working for since he was a child too young to be working for anything finally coming together, and then Sebastian… Leon was losing his grip.
Mal’ik narrowed his eyes in a way that looked too shrewd on a scarred soldier’s face. “Some of them do, yes. Some of them have known me for a long time.”
“Like that young man you were talking to?” Leon raised an eyebrow. The young man he had pulled into a hug like Farlon used to do to him.
“Do you know that young man’s name?” Mal’ik’s voice sharpened, and Leon was almost taken aback. He had perhaps taken for granted the calm steadiness Mal’ik had displayed so far.
Leon didn’t reply. He did not.
Mal’ik’s upper lip curled up. “Do you know any of their names?”
“They don’t want me to know their names,” Leon snapped. “They want me to send them to the right place at the right time to accomplish what we’ve all been fighting for.”
Mal’ik actually scoffed at that. A short, sharp, derisive, and dismissive sound that shocked Leon and stabbed into somewhere vulnerable just behind his ribcage. Leon bared his teeth and curled his fingers into fists against the wood of his desk.
“Maybe they don’t love me. But they trust me because they know I will do whatever it takes to make their sacrifices worth it.” Leon straightened and lifted his chin to give Mal’ik a look as dismissive as the one Mal’ik had given him. “I won’t change my allegiance as soon as my feelings get in the way.”
Leon had expected the barb to hit—surely Mal’ik felt some guilt over betraying his country?—but instead, Mal’ik just snorted with that same air of derision and dismissiveness. “No, I don’t think anyone is worried about your feelings ever posing a problem.”
Leon locked his jaw and seethed inwardly as Mal’ik turned on his heel and left, not even bothering to close the door behind him. The man had no goddamn idea what he was talking about. All Captain Mal’ik had ever done was what he was told to do, showing kindness to everyone he came across because he would never have to make decisions for them. Decisions about them.
It must be so easy never having any responsibility, never needing to make the hard choices, never having it all come down to you.
Leon had just been about to work himself into a true mental lather, still standing ramrod straight at his desk, when a familiar tread echoed down the hallway. His stomach twisted in anticipation.
After a moment, an unfamiliar body, holding a man Leon couldn’t ever help but recognize, walked in.
“I see you and our dear Captain Mal’ik are getting along well,” Sebastian quipped in greeting, tossing a meaningful look over his shoulder to where Mal’ik’s stomping footsteps were only just fading away.
“Oh, is he dear to you, too, then?” Leon’s voice snapped, and his lip curled before he could get ahold of himself. He wished he could blame that on the lack of sleep too, but Sebastian had always shaken his grip.
Sebastian blinked at that, eyebrows going up and lips pulling down into a little frown. He was in a handsome enough man, a little more brutish and masculine than Leon was used to him looking, but he still had that same sashay in his hips as he closed the door behind him and walked a little closer to the desk. “Not particularly.”
“You were the one to bring him.” Leon pressed his lips together before adding, with the unpleasant realization that maybe he should be more grateful about it, “And I hear he saved you.”
“You know why I brought him.” Sebastian put one hand on his hip and waved the other one casually. “And I didn’t need saving, though it was a nice thought. I also brought Oliver Turner. Do you think he’s dear to me?”
“Is he?”
“Of course not!” Sebastian looked completely affronted, and the exaggerated expression of utter insult made Leon’s lips twitch and his shoulders loosen.
“I take it the mission was a success?”
“As usual.” Sebastian smiled crookedly and leaned his hip on Leon’s desk, making Leon swallow awkwardly. It was only when Sebastian was around that he wished he had a chair after all, anything to keep him from getting so close. “It worked like a charm.”
“What did?” Leon refocused on Sebastian’s face and tried to also refocus on the conversation instead of the fact that Sebastian was less than an arm’s length away and Leon could reach over, grab the collar of his shirt and haul him across the desk to him.
