Chill (Klance Warmth series Book 2 of +4)

28: Ice Cold Truth

"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner," Lance said. He took a deep breath  and turned around so his father's memory could look at him. A mouse on  his shoulder squeaked as he did so. "I didn't... want to face you," he  admitted.

When Lance opened his eye, he saw what he knew he would:  fear, sadness, and sympathy were evident in his father's expression.  Alfor lifted his ghostly hands and cupped his son's face, running his  thumbs over Lance's cheek bones. When the tingling sensation of the  former king's thumb brushed over the bandaged eye, Lance looked down.

"I wish you didn't have to see this," Lance said softly, reaching up to remove the bandage from his wounded eye.

When  he lifted his head again, he had to bite his tongue to fight the desire  to look away, to hide, to cover his empty eye socket. But this was his  father. Alfor loved him unconditionally. He wasn't Lakshmi, but he was  still Lance's father and right now that was what Lance needed more than  anything.

"What happened, son?" his father asked.

"I..." Lance  flinched involuntarily when Alfor reached up to brush holographic  fingers over the damage. "I let my guard down," he said. "I didn't  notice an impostor until it was too late and, um, almost got Allura  killed. I almost got her killed." His breathing began picking up and he  shook his head. "If I had been any slower that bomb would have killed  her, all because I didn't notice that- That thing!"

"What do you mean?" Alfor asked gently.

"We-  Pidge, the green paladin, managed to capture a Galra hoverbot and  reprogram it to work for us, er, him." He shook his head quickly. "Her,"  he corrected himself. "Her. She made it work for her, even gave it a  name and everything. Calls it Rover," he added with a chuckle, dropping  his gaze to his feet. "It follows her around everywhere."

His  laughter faded away and his gave a shaky sigh. "I saw a hoverbot that  was identical to Rover fly into the crystal chamber where Allura and I  were," Lance said slowly. "I should have noticed that Pidge wasn't with  Rover to begin with, but I didn't. I am trained to notice those things and I missed it when it mattered most. The hoverbot was a decoy with a bomb planted in its system. It blew up the power crystal and..."

"And that's how this happened?" his father asked gently, pressing his fingers to the corner of the prince's damaged eye.

Lance  shook his head slightly. "No," he said. "I... The explosion knocked me  unconscious and destroyed the power crystal so the Castle lost power to  everything, including our defenses and the healing pods." Lance tilted  his head into his father's tingling touch. "Hunk, the yellow paladin,  and Coran went to retrieve a crystal from a Balmera and the others-"

"Others?"

"Shiro  the black paladin, Keith the red paladin, and Allura," Lance clarified.  "They went to investigate a possible Galra attack on an Arusian  village."

"What about you and Pidge?" Alfor asked.

"I was unconscious, so they left me and Pidge behind."

"They left you alone?" Alfor gasped.

"No.  Like I said, Pidge stayed. She did leave for a short time," Lance held  up his hand to stop his father from speaking, "but she did the right  thing. The attack on the village was a distraction. Sendak, the  commander of the Galra battleship that Voltron defeated, took over the  Castle while Allura and the others were gone and captured me. Pidge  escaped detection and helped everyone get back in, but not before..."

"This,"  Alfor said. He sighed and Lance could almost swear he felt his father's  breath on his cheek. "I'm so sorry I couldn't be there when you needed  me."