Havil ducked his head and focused on his plate, but he couldn’t hide the smile that pulled at his lips.
And now I knew—Eli was flirting with them both, at the very least, and neither of them seemed to mind. I hoped that he wasn’t stepping on Anja’s toes, but I hadn’t sensed any tension, so I figured the four of them could sort it out.
I finished my breakfast and headed outside to find Luna and Torran. Chira gave me a soft light that cast a golden glow around me and barely illuminated the path. It was very pretty but not very useful.
I found the gorgeous Valoff before I found my wayward pet. Torran smiled as I approached. “Did you eat?”
“Yes, thank you.” I tilted my head as I considered him. “What’s the deal with you trying to feed me all the time?”
“It is honorable to provide for those under one’s care.”
My eyes narrowed. “Did you leave trays for the rest of my crew?”
“No, although I did provide them with food.” His eyes sparkled. “I do it for you because I enjoy taking care of you.”
My cheeks heated, and I cleared my throat, thrown by the simple honesty in the words. “Well, thank you. I appreciate it.” I glanced around at the greenery that was barely visible. The light made it feel like Torran and I were enclosed in our own little bubble, and I began to see the appeal. “Where’s Luna?”
Torran turned and pointed just off to our left.
I held the light up, and it caused the burbu’s normally violet eyes to reflect a bright, glowing blue from deep in the leaves of a short tree. “Did Torran feed you, hmm, or are you out here hunting for a tasty snack?”
Luna chirruped at me and leapt for my shoulder. I turned to absorb her momentum and scratched her under the chin. She sent me a wave of affection. “I missed you, too, darling,” I murmured.
Torran watched us with an unreadable expression.
“Is everything ready for tonight?” I asked. “No new updates?”
“Nothing has changed since this morning. Nilo has been monitoring the bug they planted, but he hasn’t heard anything.”
“And he’s sure that we can get in?”
“Yes.” Torran stepped closer. “What is bothering you? Do you regret this morning?”
“What? No. This morning was fantastic, but I always worry about operations, especially one with this many unknowns. And our bounties don’t usually have a chance of leading to an interstellar war.” I laughed without humor. “Or a public execution.”
“You will not die,” Torran said, his voice firm. “I will not allow it.”
I nodded and turned for the house. “In that case, let’s go over the plan again.”
We spent the rest of the day planning, preparing, and practicing. After dinner, my team and I packed all our stuff onto a levcart and left it in the hallway. If we found Cien, we wouldn’t have a lot of time to make our escape, so we needed to be ready to leave as soon as we returned.
Once the packing was finished, we all took a couple of hours for ourselves because we wouldn’t leave until the darkest part of the night.
I returned to my suite with Luna. If Torran wasn’t set on keeping the damn life debt, I would’ve invited him to join me so we could both blow off some steam. Instead, I watched a vid in Valovan that I didn’t understand and thought about all the ways the job could go wrong.
Luna snuggled herself into my lap, and I absently petted her while plotting how to keep my people safe in the event everything went massively sideways. It was something I did before every big job, but it seemed especially important this time.
The hours crept past both faster and slower than I wanted. I filled Luna’s water bowl and set out a heaping bowl of dry food. When she cocked her head at me, I said, “You have to stay here, my fluffy little friend. If I don’t come back, make a hellacious noise until someone comes and finds you, okay?”
She chirped at me, then leapt up onto the bed and curled into a ball, her nose tucked under her tail. If the worst happened, she would be fine for a few days until someone found her.
I gathered my gear and slipped from the room. Eli and Kee were in the hall. They had their mission faces on and I knew my expression matched theirs. When Lexi and Anja joined us, we headed for the workshop-garage, where we’d change into our armor and take a transport to the monitoring station.
“Everyone has their comm?” Kee asked.
One by one, we nodded. Our comm implants could be used in an emergency without requiring a separate device, but the range was extremely limited. By linking to a stand-alone comm, we could communicate over longer distances, even if we couldn’t tap into the Valovian networks.
We slipped into the workshop and found the Valoffs already inside. Torran had donned his armor, leaving the helmet open, but the others were in various states of dress. We joined them, shimmying into the black, close-fitting armor.
Once we were armored, we attached our weapons. Our guns wouldn’t connect to the attachment points built in to the Valovian armor, but my plas blade snapped right into place along my right thigh.
Our rifles were designed to be carried via a cross-body sling, but our pistols required holsters, so my team wrapped the same utility belts we’d used during training around our waists and called it good. We didn’t look very Valovian, but our movements would also give us away, so it wasn’t a big loss of surprise.
“Ready?” Torran asked once I had checked on each of my team members.
I wasn’t, but delaying wouldn’t make me any readier. “Yes.”
“Will you allow me to speak to you telepathically?”
I shivered at the memory of what he’d used his telepathy for earlier, then put it out of my mind. I didn’t have time for distractions, no matter how pleasant. Torran had asked every time we’d practiced, too, so I gave him the same answer. “Yes. Don’t read my thoughts.”
He smiled softly. “Your thoughts are your own.” I felt the lightest brush of his mind against mine. “Stay close to me tonight,” he said telepathically. “The life debt demands that I keep you safe. If you fight me, you’ll end up distracting us both.”
“I will try,” I murmured.
He stared at me for a long moment, then dipped his head in acknowledgment.
After a final check, we all loaded into an unmarked transport. We had discussed leaving from a different location just in case the empress was more involved than she seemed, but speed had been deemed more important than stealth.
This transport was smaller than the one we’d used coming from the spaceport, with overhead handles rather than seats. I still wasn’t used to seeing all of the Valoffs in their armor, and I shivered as painful memories tried to rise.
I focused on my team instead. They were easier to tell apart. Kee was the shortest and she was fussing with a slate, cursing and coaxing at turns under her breath. Anja and Lexi were about the same build, but Anja was just a little taller. And Eli towered over us all.