“I’m not mad at you, but I am mad. I’m trying to deal with it, horribly if you think this is your fault.” He sat across from me and pushed a napkin wrapped around a fork and knife to me. “Please eat. I know you’re hungry.”

I took the fork in my hand. “Okay, but if I’m eating, you need to tell me why you’re mad. It’s making me uncomfortable. I can’t eat when I’m nervous.”

He smiled at me, but it wasn’t a real smile. It didn’t light up his face because the anger was still there, but he was trying to put me at ease. He waited as I picked up the fork, nodding when I hesitated. “Please.”

“You first.”

His smile slowly faded, and I wanted it back. Even if it had been tinged with anger, it was still lovely.

“After our call on Earth, Declan left a message saying again that you were fine and he was leaving for Sel’Ani with you the next day. I could get there fast, but not the next day. I was on the other side of the galaxy. So it was silly for me to go to Earth, no matter how hard it was to stay away. To not be doing something to get you home.” He paused and leaned back in his chair.

I tried to think of it from his point of view. I hated when I couldn’t fix something. It seemed like he and I had some things in common.

“Please eat.”

“I will. Keep going.”

“Another message came the next day saying that there were some delays, a couple weeks at most. He had to take a roundabout way to get you back. Jason was causing trouble, but everything was fine. Not to worry. So I waited, but more than a couple weeks passed, and I was getting nervous, but then we got word that your mom and some friends were nearby, in the Naustlic System. I hadn’t heard back from Declan, so instead of trying to track you down on Earth when there was no guarantee you were still there, I went with Rysden to get them. I thought you were okay with Declan and that your mother would know where you were. I didn’t understand why he’d split you up, but I trusted him to make the right call.”

My mom. I had to know. “Did you—”

“Your mom and friends are safe with your father.”

I hunched over with relief. My mother was okay. Safe. That was huge.