“So he allowed her to raise you?”
“I lived with her, yes.” This time, Gideon did meet my gaze fully. He looked dry-eyed and sober enough, but the tension I’d seen earlier was still obvious in the way he sat almost too straight in his chair, in the carefully controlled timbre of his voice. “He had many concerns which claimed his attention, you understand. I was tutored by his science officer, Sal Galen — who is now is second-in-command — and Lir Shalan also spent an hour or so with me each day, so he could ask me about my lessons and assure himself I was making adequate progress. As for my mother….”
“Did he ever see her, other than the times he came to check on you?”
“Occasionally. It was a treat to be invited to his quarters, because he had one of those observation windows there. I look
