my lady.â
Her jaw dropped as if she couldnât believe it. She quickly snapped her lips together. âIt doesnât matter. Itâs against the law to allow a lack-Vest to buy a ring. For anyone,â she repeated harshly.
Feeling slapped and humiliated, Talyn watched as she quickly sidled over to another counter to help a giddy male and female who were there to pick out pledge rings.
Something heâd never be able to legally do. That reality hit him like a kick in the crotch.
As he walked away, anger scalded every molecule of his being. Heâd always hated showing his ID. Since they were color-coded, all anyone had to do was see that his was black and they instantly knew his caste. Now that same damn card kept him from buying Felicia a simple gift.
This is bullshit!
âMajor?â
Talyn hesitated at the sound of an older maleâs call as he moved to cut off Talynâs path to the register. He just glared at the older male.
âI overheard you with Vyra, and Iâm very sorry about the law.â
Really donât want to fucking relive this . He was humiliated enough.
âExcuse me.â Talyn started around the male.
He cut his path off again and gave him a fatherly smile. âIâm a big fan of yours, Major. And since we canât allow you to buy a ring, I wanted to show this to you. If you want it, Iâll discount the price by half.â
Still pissed, Talyn looked down to see a pretty hugging heart necklace that matched the ring heâd wanted to buy.
âI can even waive the courier fee for its delivery. If your lady lives here in Eris, I could get it to her tonight.â
Pressing his lips together, Talyn picked the necklace up to see it better.
âIt has the same legend of bringing good luck. A lot of pilots send these to their mothers and wives, instead of the rings.â
Talyn wanted to throw it on the ground and stomp it. But the laws werenât this maleâs fault. And there was no need in depriving Felicia of something sheâd like because his own feelings had been hurt.
If it made her smile, it would be worth it.
He returned the box to the clerk. âThank you. Iâll take it. Her condo is in Brooksyn, North Eris.â
âVery good. Iâll see it to her in less than two hours.â
Talyn nodded before he went to pay for it. But still the burn was in his blood. A simmering heat that only increased once he returned to his barracks and saw that someone had placed a collar and leash on his locker with a black card attached to it. Ha, ha. Real fucking funny . Youâd think by now the prank would have grown as old for them as it was for him. Even so, he knew better than to feed into their juvenile shit.
Grinding his teeth, he picked it up without comment and stored his purchases.
He grabbed a towel and started for the showers.
âItâs not mongrel time, Batur. Thereâs Vested in the latrine.â
Biting back a nasty retort, Talyn returned to his bunk to wait while he listened to the others talking about their future plans.
With nothing else to do, he pulled out his link and started running stats on his next Ring opponent.
âYou okay, Pinara?â one of the captains asked.
Talyn glanced over at the major who was a year older than him. The male was a cousin to the female pilot, Syndrome, who flew in Talynâs squad.
Fidgeting, Pinara kept shining his brass, and looking around as if waiting for something bad to happen. âFine.â
Yeah, he was lying his ass off. But like everyone else here, Talyn knew what that word meant. Something had gone down with the higher-ups and the major wasnât at liberty to talk about it.
Pinara looked over and caught Talynâs gaze. âWhat you staring at, mongrel?â
Without a word, Talyn returned his attention to his link. As he was logging on, five provosts came in and surrounded Pinara.
âMajor, you are to be remanded into
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