Defender of the Empire 2: Facades Read Online Free Page A

known to be sneaky that way. Ace saw me as soon as I entered the doorway, I’m sure, but it was only now that he turned to me and smiled. Lassie saw where he was looking and glared at me.
                  I ignored them and went to my corner of the room, getting my back away from the open door. I glanced at Ace as I went about collecting my dress uniform. “Hello Ace. What are you doing here?” I asked. “Is Carden around, too?”
                  Ace crossed his arms and considered me. I could tell that Lassie didn’t like the fact that Ace was no longer paying her any attention. “Hello Ry. No, Carden isn’t here. Someone had to stay and keep the boys in line.”
                  “Wait. You two know each other?” Lassie asked, glancing between us, apparently only now catching on that I had called him by name.
                  I couldn’t help giving her a pitying look. “Of course. Ace is one of the leaders of the Street Wolves from Colony Lenti. I used to be part of his gang,” I explained.
                  Ace grunted. “What is with this ‘used to’, Ry? You’re not dead.” He fixed me with his hard blue eyes and I found that I couldn’t look away. Carden might be the obvious scary one, because you know from a glance that he could easily kill you if he set his mind to it. But it was Ace who had the charisma to get close to you, to know you. He was the one who could hurt you the most. He was also the one who considered every member of the gang his family. This is not to say that Carden didn’t feel the same—neither were happy when someone tried to walk away. But it was Ace who had the ability to cross the lines to reach you.
                  Like now.
                  Lassie’s eyes widened as she realized that I hadn’t been lying to her. “But if you’re a colonist, how could you possibly have gotten here?” she actually asked. Ace gave her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. If looks could maim and kill, my roommate would be toast. At least he wasn’t pinning me with that look anymore.
                  “It was easy,” he replied silkily. “Citizens are so sure of themselves and their ‘superior’ technology, it is amazing that they don’t walk into a wall.” He turned back to me. “Why did you leave, Rylynn? We gave you a purpose, a place to be safe.”
                  I closed my eyes. It was the only way to escape the guilt of seeing the hurt in his expression. We used to be enemies. He was the bane of my existence until I faced him, and Carden. We became allies… friends, I guess you could say. I was always wary of them, but I could trust that as long as I was useful, they would keep me safe. The truth was—I did have a place in their family. Being surrounded by those who formed the backbone of the under city, I had to keep my grief over my aunt to myself. I had to be strong, and grow stronger. It was the only way to keep them from taking advantage of me. For that necessity I was grateful to them. I was able to survive. As to why I had left… I don’t know. Maybe I had wanted to do something other than just survive. Maybe I was tired of walking the tightrope between living and death, and falling either way had seemed more and more appealing. Dark, right? Thank God that Captain Wingstar had given me a reason to live. But what had driven me to meet up with Valencia and end up crossing paths with the captain, I’ll never know.
                  Which left me with my current dilemma. How do I explain something that I don’t understand myself to a man like Ace? He doesn’t make it a habit to accept excuses. He considers anything that is not what he wants to hear an excuse. But I can’t tell him what he wants to hear. I can’t really tell him anything because I don’t really know the why. I just know that I did leave.
    As I pondered this, I noticed something. Random