“Don’t think I won’t write you up for insubordination just because we’re on an alien planet.” Cordelia crossed her arms over her chest.
Nyx grew sheepish, casting her glance around the room as though she was searching for something.
“She is formidable,” Rentir said, puzzled by the flush that spread over Cordelia’s face. “You should be proud to be led by a soldier such as her.”
Nyx clasped her hands together under her chin and blinked so rapidly that he became alarmed for her well-being. “Gee, really? How formidable is she, Romeo? Tell me more!”
Cordelia punched Nyx’s arm with enough force to make the other woman wheeze and stagger away.
“Limp wristed where?” Cordelia crowed, shaking her hand out.
Nyx pouted and flashed her middle finger in an expression that he understood as an insult.
An unfamiliar face was revealed as the throng of females shifted. Cordelia stiffened, pulling away from Pandora’s inspection of her.
“Seren?” she breathed.
The female was a little taller than Cordelia, with a similar athletic frame and orange-red hair that fell in snarls to her mid-back. Her pale skin was covered in tiny points of darker coloring.
“Hi,” she said in a small, rasping voice.
Cordelia pounced on her, wrapping her arms around the female until she wheezed out a pained breath. She pulled back, holding onto Seren’s shoulders as she studied her. The new female was wearing the same scant outfit as Sophia, suggesting she had not been at the base long.
“How did you get here? Did Lidan…”
A hand landed heavily on Rentir’s shoulder. He turned to see Xeth standing behind him, his familiar gaunt expression glowering.
“We need to talk,” Xeth growled.
Rentir’s gaze lingered on Cordelia as she patted down the new female for injury. He was reluctant to leave her. She needed treatment for her injuries, a clean set of clothes, a sho?—
“Rentir!” Xeth barked.
The new female, Seren, jumped at the sound of his voice. Cordelia turned to frown at them.
“Excuse us,” Rentir said, smiling tightly as he took Xeth’s arm in a biting grip. He dragged the male out of the room, shoving him away once they were in the hall.
Xeth caught himself, straightening his jacket and glaring. His tail switched violently behind him, hisscyraon the verge of sharpening.
“What’s wrong with you?” Rentir hissed.
Xeth’s red eyes drifted toward the sound of female laughter, scowl deepening. “The same thing that’s wrong with you.”
Haerune was pacing the length of the infirmary when they arrived. Thalen was in the medpod, nude beneath the glass. Ven sat beside him in a plastic chair.
“How is he?” Rentir asked.
Haerune glanced up at him, his tendrils writhing with anxiety. “He will live.”
“And you should thank the damned stars for that,” Ven growled, rising to his feet. “Why didn’t I know that my brother was missing?”
“Ven…” Haerune began, but the words seemed to catch in his throat when the full force of Ven’s anger turned on him.
“We did not want you to worry,” Rentir said.
Ven bowed up to him, thick tail thrashing hard enough to send his chair skidding across the floor. “You had no right. None!”
Rentir said nothing, feeling a familiar stillness come over him—the same that had allowed him to endure the worst of his former master’s tempers without revealing any hint of his true feelings. Anger bubbled inside him, but he understood the male’s ire, so he restrained the urge to put him in his place.
