I gingerly slid into the closer chair. When Torran remained standing, I waved at the seat opposite me. “It’s fine.”
He sat, and we dug in. The delicious flavor of the curry warmed my mouth and soothed the ragged edges of my soul. I could tell that he hadn’t had quite the right spice blend, but he’d gotten surprisingly close. I focused on my food and let the silence stretch. It felt tense and awkward, but breaking it meant that I’d have to reveal exactly how much he’d hurt me.
I had nearly finished my bowl when Torran said, “I can get you and your team out tonight. You’ll have to leave your ship, for now, but I’ll return it as soon as I am able.”
I blinked at him. “Is this some kind of test? I take the offer, and the empress shoots me out of the sky and kicks off another war?”
Torran’s mouth flattened into a grim line. “No. You would be snuck out. Empress Nepru would not know you were gone until you were already in Bastion.”
“And what of your nephew?”
His gaze slid down and away. “My team and I will continue to search.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” I demanded.
“It doesn’t concern you.”
“If the empress is willing to sacrifice Cien, then what will she do to you once she realizes you’ve let her backup plan slip through your fingers?”
“It doesn’t concern you,” he repeated. “I vowed safe passage. I will keep the promise. If your ship cannot be recovered, I will replace it.”
The thought of losing Starlight was enough to steal my breath for a moment, but I returned to the question at hand. “What will happen to you?” I demanded, enunciating each word.
Torran sighed and rubbed his face. “I don’t know. Perhaps nothing.”
“And if it’s not nothing?”
“Then I’ll be tried for treason.”
I blew out a slow breath. I might be furious and hurt, but despite all my talk of volcanoes, I didn’t want Torran dead, if for no other reason than his nephew was going to need all the support he could get once he returned home. “Why the change of heart?”
He shook his head. “It’s not a change. I told you yesterday that no one was going to die. The preparations were underway, but tonight was the soonest I could get you out. I had hoped . . .”
When he didn’t finish the thought, I prompted, “Had hoped what?”
“I had hoped that Cien would be found before you needed to leave,” he said.
I stared at him for a long moment, weighing his sincerity. It could’ve easily been emotional manipulation, but it didn’t feel like it. I tapped the table while I thought. “Tell me how you plan to get us out,” I said at last.
“I have an acquaintance who makes regular supply runs to Bastion. She is strong enough to shield you from detection, and her ship is outfitted with appropriate hiding places if the authorities start searching.”
“She’s a smuggler.”
Torran nodded. “One of the best.”
I watched him carefully. “If we don’t go tonight, could she get us out later?”
“Her normal supply run is next week, and that was my original alternative plan. But the longer you wait, the more danger you’ll face.” He met my eyes, his expression calm and clear. “You should go tonight.”
“Did you really make the empress vow to let us go if we find your nephew?”
Torran sighed. “She made the vow, but Chira and I are the only witnesses.”
I filled in the blanks for what he refused to say. “So if you were to sadly perish during the rescue, no one would know about the promise.” I scoffed. “That’s one way to treat personal honor.”
Torran’s eyes darkened, but he didn’t comment one way or the other.
“Did your sister really want to marry into that family?”
“My sister and I are . . . not close. I cannot speak to her decision process.”
I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, then dropped my eyes to the table as I thought. Torran had been keeping secrets from the beginning, but I believed that his offer to get us out was genuine. So should we stay or go?
The pragmatic half of my brain wanted to leave immediately, as soon as I could gather my team and get us to safety. But a child’s life was at stake, and none of this was Cien’s fault. If we left, would Torran be able to find his nephew before something terrible happened to him?
I couldn’t be responsible for a child’s death, even indirectly. Torran loved his nephew, but he had still urged me to leave tonight. That, more than anything, made me believe that he sincerely desired to fulfill his vow of safe passage.
But belief wasn’t enough. We had to come to a real understanding, and the only way to do that was to have a conversation guaranteed to be painful. I raised my eyes so I could watch his expression.
“Twice you’ve lied to me by omitting important information that I needed to know,” I said, my tone unyielding. “That’s two times too many. If you’d just told me the truth, then we could’ve worked together on a solution, but instead, you let me think that you’d stabbed me in the back. Why?”
Torran’s spine straightened. “Some of us do care about keeping our promises, and I warned you that I was bound by many oaths. I had hoped that you would be safely off-planet before it became an issue, but I underestimated your team’s skill and determination once again.”
“How many more times is this going to be a problem? How many more secrets are you keeping?” I stabbed a finger at him, temper rising. “I may be only human, but I care about promises, too. And yours are putting my team in danger.”
Torran stared at me for a long time, his expression intent. He seemingly came to a decision, because he stood and circled the table. When he knelt next to me, I frowned down at him. “What are you do—”
The rest of the question was lost as he silently raised his left arm, flipped open a knife with his other hand, and sliced the blade across his exposed wrist. He met my eyes. “Cho wubr chil tavoz,” he said, voice calm, as if deep red blood wasn’t pouring down his arm.
“What the fuck?” I demanded. Torran didn’t move. I grabbed the cloth napkin from beside my bowl and wrapped it tightly around his wrist, pressing on the wound to stanch the bleeding. “Havil!” I shouted before I remembered that I had a comm. I activated it and didn’t bother to speak subvocally. “Someone get Havil to the dining area now. It’s an emergency.”
“On it,” Eli responded.
A few moments later, both teams ran into the room. The Valoffs slid to a stop with shocked looks while my team shared my confusion. “What happened?” Lexi asked.
“Torran cut himself. Havil, don’t just stand there. He needs medical attention.”
Havil shook his head. “I cannot intervene.”
I pinned him with a furious stare. “What do you mean? You’re a medic and Torran needs help. Help him!” Under my fingers, the white napkin was slowly turning red.
Havil’s expression went through a flurry of changes before he carefully asked, “Are you specifically directing me to stop the bleeding on your behalf?”