So Ondry takes Liam away from the humans. He’s seen Liam grow, seen him laugh, seen him share. When other humans threaten Liam, when Colonel Thackeray crushes LIam back into the cold, hurt shard of a person, Ondry is angry.
Liam isn’t hostile he’s trying to be friendly. When he first takes an interest in Liam, it’s more a curiosity - and a recognition of Liam’s own curiosity in return. Ondry is a talented trader who the grandmothers have taken great interest in. They are larger than humans, more literal, more clinical, and governed by a council of old, powerful women who have already brought life to the next generation before they remove themselves to become grandmothers of their people. The Rownt view trading as a weapon, a skill, and a form of communication. The front line only made things worse, and it was only because of Liam’s native intelligence that he was able to get a posting to the Rownt homeworld where he turned every bit of energy into learning their complex language and intricate trading culture. Fortunately, he was able to get out - but only through selling his body again, this time to the army. His submissive side was carefully shaped with an eye to pain and obedience, and it broke Liam. Instead, he was used, hurt, broken rather than trained, and turned into a whore. Liam grew up in the slums and let himself believe that a charming man with a winning smile loved him enough to lift him up.
When a new officer threatens not only the peaceful relations between humans and Rownt, but Liam’s life, as well, Ondry steps forward to make the unthinkable trade. He’s also becoming a better trader - and for the Rownt, being a good trader means wealth, rank, and respect - and, in the five years the two of them spend trading together, Liam is also seeing Ondry as a friend. With Ondry’s help, Liam is learning more words and butcher’s the Rownt language less and less. One day, Liam meets Ondry, a Rownt trader who is willing to teach Liam more than training manuals can. The anxiety attacks, the nightmares, the memories, none of it is gone … but it’s quieter, here, on the Rownt homeworld where he works as a trader, selling human goods for alien foods and the all important ores and metals the army needs for its ongoing conflicts. Between civil wars with other human planets, dangerous aliens, and a past he would rather forget, Liam needs a quiet place to recover. Liam traded a talent for languages to get himself away from the front lines. Audiobook Buy Links: Amazon/Audible | iBooks
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