“So a team of four breaks into your . . . house?” At his nod, I continued, “Breaks into your house, defeats whatever security you had protecting the ring, and makes off with it. You lock your accounts, and they try to access them. Presumably they know that not everything is locked down and are systematically trying to find something to steal. Which means they have to be close enough to access it.”
I looked at him in dawning comprehension. “You think they’re still in Valovian space, possibly on Valovia itself.” I followed that train of thought. “And you can’t involve the Valovian authorities because you are trying to keep it quiet. Why?”
Torran’s jaw hardened. “I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“I am bound by an oath.”
“Of course. That would make this entirely too easy,” I growled. “Instead, let’s let the humans go on a wild-goose chase without enough information to find anything. That’s way better.”
My sarcasm was not lost on him. He glared at me. “It was not my decision.”
Now that was interesting. As far as I knew, there were not too many people on Valovia who could override General Torran Fletcher. “Are you the head of your household?”
Torran’s eyes gleamed and he inclined his head.
“So it wasn’t someone in your family. The government?”
He said nothing.
“Kee will find out, oath or no,” I warned him.
“I hope so,” he whispered so quietly that I wondered if I’d imagined it.
Chapter Ten
By the time I made it down to the rec room, Kee had Havil and Eli rearranging the furniture. The number of seats in front of the vid screen had doubled, and the individual seats we usually used had been replaced by couches and loveseats from the other parts of the room.
When I quirked an eyebrow at her, Kee gave me an innocent smile. I didn’t believe it for a second.
I felt Torran arrive, his presence heavy at my back. He hadn’t mentioned joining us when I’d left him on the bridge—after I’d quietly ensured all of the terminals were sufficiently locked down. I shifted out of the doorway and he stepped up beside me.
He watched Kee directing the others for a moment before softly asking, “Does she always get her way?”
I chuckled. “Pretty much.” Kee drew people like bees to honey, and Eli and I were not immune. It wasn’t just her cheerful optimism and delicate build—it ran deeper, some indefinable quirk that was all her. If Kee ever put her mind to it, she could manipulate nearly anyone, but the thought never occurred to her. And 99.8 percent of the time, she was incredibly easy to get along with.
Varro continued to find himself in the uncomfortable .2 percent.
When everything was arranged to her satisfaction, Kee flopped into the middle seat of a couch. She patted the seat to her right and Havil joined her. Eli moved to take the seat on her left but before he could get there, Varro slid into it.
When Kee side-eyed him, he gave her a challenging look. She retaliated with a smile full of teeth, then turned her back on him to talk to Havil. Varro’s jaw clenched.
I almost contacted Kee over the comm to tell her to stop antagonizing him, but I stopped myself at the last minute. She had the right to be upset. If he still hadn’t apologized in a few days, I would have to intervene for everyone’s sake, but for now, I’d let her handle it.
I claimed a spot on the loveseat in the back so I could keep an eye on everyone. It should not have surprised me when Torran sat down on my right—it was the best tactical position, after all—but it did.
Something in my expression must’ve given me away, because he quietly asked, “Would you prefer for me to sit elsewhere?”
I shook my head. The loveseat was small, but a half dozen centimeters still separated us. I needed to take my own advice and act like a damned adult. He didn’t need to find another seat just because I was inconveniently attracted to him.
Eli, Chira, and Anja took the last sofa and once everyone was in place, Kee turned on the screen and dimmed the lights. I slouched down in my seat then sat up with a dissatisfied noise. I needed a place to put my feet. My normal chair reclined with a built-in footrest.
A footstool was just out of reach on my left. I stretched for it without getting up, and I nearly had it when it suddenly slid back a few centimeters. It surprised me enough that I almost fell onto the floor, but a hand on my right arm steadied me.
A glance back revealed Torran wore a solemn expression of concern, but his eyes were full of laughter.
I sat back with a huff. “You move it, then,” I whispered. I lifted my legs and waited. And waited. And waited. I was just about to give up and get the damn thing myself when it silently slipped under my legs. I lowered them gingerly, aware he could move it away as easily as he’d moved it into place.
The footstool stayed put, and I slouched back down into my preferred viewing position. I was hyperaware of Torran for a few minutes until Crash Crush sucked me in. I already knew what happened in the first episode, but I still sighed in satisfaction when the male lead rescued the female lead from discovery with a smooth move that resulted in them pressed up against a wall together.
Kee cheered, but Varro scoffed. “No Valoff would react that way.”
The two sides in the show were based on some ancient human war, not the Valovian war—that conflict was still far too raw. There were starting to be more human-Valoff couples, including a handful of minor celebrities, but it wasn’t yet common, especially in the sectors farther away from Bastion and Valovia.
Kee rounded on Varro, her eyes flashing. “What is your problem?”
“I don’t have a problem.”
She huffed. “The stick up your ass suggests otherwise.”
Apparently that insult translated well enough because Varro’s eyes narrowed.
Before he could say anything, Kee returned her attention to the vid screen. “You’re not worth the time,” she said dismissively. “If you don’t like the show, you’re welcome to leave.”
Varro opened his mouth, then clicked it shut. His shoulders were a taut line. I glanced at Torran, to see what he thought of the exchange, but his gaze was focused on Varro and his expression was distant.
Maybe I wouldn’t have to intervene after all.
The second episode was just as good, and before we knew it, Kee had us watching a third. Even Varro’s tense posture relaxed as the show drew him in. It was sweet and funny and romantic, and the actors were excellent. This was one of Kee’s better picks.
I climbed to my feet before she could start a fourth episode. “It’s late, and I happen to know you all have an early morning of cleaning scheduled tomorrow.” I checked the time and corrected myself. “Today.”
Eli opened a group comm with Kee and me. “Are we going to take watch shifts?”
“No. I’ll have Starlight monitor for movement and alert me if anyone leaves the crew wing. Get some sleep while you can because I think we’re going to be spending some time on Valovia and we’ll need to be more careful then.”
They nodded and dropped the comm.
I pulled Havil aside as the room started to clear. “Are you okay?”
He inclined his head. “I am fully recovered.”