Salvaged Destiny by Lynn Rae Read Free Book Online

believe you would prefer arresting farmers for spilling manure to
being here with our ocean and beautiful women. There are some upper-level
females on board right now. I’m sure you could find someone to settle down
with, produce a few cousins for my girls to pal around with.” Yet again, his
brother was promoting the idea of marital bliss and fatherhood as a good goal
for Lazlo. Mart had never understood Lazlo’s inability to stay in one place and
with one person. Lazlo didn’t understand it himself. He wanted it but it just
never seemed to happen.
    “But I know, I know, you aren’t in any sort of situation to
be thinking about it. All of your transfers and training and strange work
hours. And after what happened with that woman, I can’t blame you. I’m sorry,
bad topic.” Mart knew about Serra and sympathized. He understood how
humiliating the whole situation had been for Lazlo. With the advantage of
nearly a year apart, Lazlo finally understood what a damaging person Serra had
been. Everyone had warned him, but while he’d been ensnared in her
manipulations, he’d been oblivious, concerned only with helping her and not
protecting himself.
    But his brother shook his head, then he laughed. “So maybe you’ve
found some rustic beauty to cozy up with? I hope you have. You need something
to occupy your time out there in the fields with all of those harvesters and grain
bins. What is Sayre’s biggest crop? You told me last time. Is it palm nut oil? Or
taro root? Neither one even sounds appetizing. In any case, I hope that your
job is going well too, much as I don’t understand that one either. People still
can’t believe my little brother is in the security service, and an officer no
less. You’re definitely unique for a Casta. Are things better with that new
commander of yours? Your last message indicated he might be out to get you. We
have ways of dealing with that, you know.”
    Lazlo’s brother picked up the recorder and panned around the
deck of the Regenta —red wood, bright white trim, shiny titanium fittings
and beyond it all, the waters and islands of Freton in all their appealing
beauty. Lazlo felt a sudden stab of homesickness.
    “We’d love to see you. Come home for a few days, relax, eat
and drink well, have some fun. See our new ship, take a short cruise. Spend
some time with your nieces. Bring along a farmer girl if you have one.”
    And with that, his brother ended the message, leaving Lazlo
to contemplate his life. Here he was, in a small apartment carved out of a
cliff, alone. Working many hours in a stressful job, surrounded by equipment he
would need in the morning as he ventured off on a perilous assignment guaranteed
to fail. Even his hired expert had low expectations. Del had ended her list of
requirements with a dour warning that they would certainly need something they
hadn’t packed.
    She was a strange one. What would she think of the Regenta ?
Or of the self-indulgent lifestyle of Freton? She’d probably be shocked and
then try to hike away into the hills.
    Lazlo thought about the next message from Serra and felt
guilty for not wanting to listen to it. But he should—otherwise it would bother
him all night and he wouldn’t sleep. He clicked it open and watched his former
lover’s haggard face appear. The background wasn’t the beautiful landscape of
Freton, but rather the plain white wall of the clinic where she was being
treated—not for the first time—for addiction disorder. Serra looked
undernourished and shifty, her usual appearance ever since she’d been
incarcerated for theft and then committed to the clinic this latest time.
    “Lazlo, how are you?” Serra managed to look interested for a
second, but then her focus shifted back to its usual place—right back to
herself. “I’m not doing well here. They aren’t giving me the correct medication
and no one has been by to order any changes for me. I don’t know where anyone
has been and my mother told me to