Regi stared at her in horror. “My order is legal. The tribunal would uphold it, meaning you are endangering your career.”
“It is my career to endanger, and I will be going with you to find Dante and Ter.”
Regi was still staring at her in shocked silence when Vk lumbered past him on the ramp. “Which of the ships is the one we will be boarding?” she asked Minait.
Unfortunately, Vk knew her rights. If she believed an order was against the letter or the spirit of Coalition law, she could disobey him and wait for a tribunal to declare which of them lacked judgment. Technically, he couldn't stop her from coming, but he also did not want to facilitate her court-martial.
“You can do nothing to help,” he said. “You should report to the captain.”
“If the Kowri officer on their ship is fascinated with outsiders, the presence of an outsider is likely to incite curiosity and cooperation,” she said. “And we cannot delay until Bekdi has managed to remove both Ter and Dante from the area. So we will not delay to argue.”
One of his parents must have gestured toward the Kowri ships squatting in a wide circle around them because Vk moved with confidence to the right.
“Delays assist our enemies,” Rel said before he got on his hover and followed her.
Minait hurried after him, leaving Regi with his reasonable parent, and even Pertin appeared unconcerned with Vk’s treason. Regi had lost the fight, but that would only make him more aggressive when he got his claws into Bekdi. Hopefully Dante could keep Ter quiet long enough for them to stage this rescue or Regi would forgo metaphorical claws in favor of physical ones.
As much as the universe and all the gods were conspiring to annoy him, he was willing to embrace his di-male side and share his excess of aggression with the next sapient creature to vex him.
Chapter Eighteen
Dante raced through the trees, passing Regi as he leaped over a fallen tree. Back home, his ranch was north of Angelina National Forest, so he’d grown up climbing over fallen trees and trying to avoid running headlong into them. He broke into the open and saw Bekdi standing with a half dozen Kowri and one cranky engineer gesticulating with undue enthusiasm. Bekdi’s ship had their main doors open and facing the forest so sacred animals could come and go, and that gave Dante a good view of the gathered group.
Seeing Ter safe and somewhat sound, Dante slowed. As he trotted across the open space between the forest and the Gavd ship that Bekdi commanded, Ter’s voice rose above the other voices.
“Your decision-making skills resemble the process of two invertebrate worms trying to swallow each other!”
Dante winced. The man did know how to throw an insult. Although Dante wasn’t sure what that meant, it was vivid. Dante hurried toward them, his hands held low in an attempt to calm everyone. “Exalted Bekdi,” Dante said in his most respectful voice.
Bekdi’s ears twitched backward, but he faked a polite smile. “Dante a’Texas,” he said.
Dante ignored the fact Bekdi had denied him any connection to Divashi or the title of exalted. Dante had grown up with a father who could wield politeness like a knife he drove into others’ backs, so he didn’t give Bekdi the satisfaction of reacting.
“Bekdi a’Gavd,” he said, drawling the words a bit. Texans were always most dangerous when they were being nice to their enemies. “What’s going on with Engineer Ter?”
“I am taking him into custody.” Bekdi looked at Ter and lifted his lip.
“It seems to me he’s a grown man.”
Bekdi snorted. “But not raised well enough to have a competent grasp on even the simplest manners.”
“You son of a mother who will deny your existence out of shame for having birthed you. How dare you speak on the subject of my parenting,” Ter spat, his elbows jutting out at angry angles.
Dante moved to his side, and one of the Gavd guards snarled and stepped forward. This whole situation felt like it was one whiskey short of a full brawl. Luckily Dante didn’t have to handle the asshole because Peaches in all her cranky glory reared up on his shoulder, shook her quills and chittered in a way anyone could recognize as a threat. The guard fell back several steps, and even Ter stepped away, although the other Gavd guard blocked his retreat.
“Engineer Ter has been labeled a child. I will not abandon a child to a situation where he is not learning proper manners,” Bekdi said, and that was the most horrific thing Dante had ever heard. The people who had done him the most damage in his life had all been people who claimed they were acting in Dante’s best interest, so hearing those words come out of Bekdi was terrifying.
Ter surged forward. “I am no child. If you think otherwise, I suspect you keep your brains in your feet and you have walked on them too often.”
Bekdi sneered at him, and Dante moved between the two. “I can oversee his lessons as well as you,” Dante insisted. Of course, Bekdi wouldn’t accept the offer, but Dante’s goal was to sloweveryone down until Regi arrived. If Gimi and Nawr came with him, they were going to verbally slap Bekdi around for going around the temple process.
Then chaos broke out. “Regi a’Divashi approaches,” someone yelled.
Two Gavd followers rushed Ter. One got an elbow to the face, but even that didn’t stop him from restraining Ter. They then pushed Ter toward the open hatch on their ship. The cavernous opening threatened to swallow them.
Dante surged forward and grabbed Ter’s elbow. He feared hurting Ter, but he was more frightened of leaving him alone with Bekdi and his crew. Dante pulled Ter and the guard off-balance, and they stumbled toward Dante.
The guard was a huge da-male, and Dante’s eyes grew large as he imagined being crushed under him, but then Bekdi grabbed Ter with one hand and the falling guard with the other, yanking them both toward the ship.
