“I would be too,” Helmen said.
She rolled her eyes. “That wasn’t helpful, Helmen! Besides, I’ve been thinking about it since I got here. I know what I could do that wouldn’t cause any casualties.”
“No casualties,” Gis said. “That would be best.”
Ignoring Gis, Amina confirmed a few more things with Helmen. Because they needed to get her back to the room, she kept it brief.
“There’s no more time left. I’ve got to get back to Myrum,” Amina explained.
“I look forward to seeing you again,” Helmen said. “After this, I’m taking you home and never letting you leave again. I’m sure Myrum will help.”
Amina thought about the fear she’d experienced. “I might agree.”
Chapter 27
Myrum
It was a special kind of torture to pretend to be affectionate with someone when all you wanted to do was grab them by the throat and squeeze until their head popped off their body.
“Try this,” Lorse said, holding a bowl up to Myrum’s lips.
Myrum took the smallest sip possible. It tasted like lukewarm water with herbs. “It has a very delicate flavor.”
“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Lorse said, then drank the rest of the bowl himself. “Hisha is the best chef in the entire quadrant. I made sure to hire only the most skilled. I had to promise I’d take her back with me when I was reassigned, but I might have to make her stay here. My cousin is going to broker the sale of this planet, and he requested she stay. I made sure her contract was transferable. It’ll be a shame to lose her, but leaving here is worth it.”
It was good that Lorse was oblivious to Myrum’s moods, otherwise he would’ve realized Myrum was constantly fighting off the instinct to snap at the spoiled, spiteful Ossiso.
Were all the clears like this? No wonder there was a civil war; they were absolutely intolerable!
The next course came sweeping into the room, and the bowls of soup were cleared away. This new course looked like small vegetable medallions stacked into miniature small pyramids. As his plate was placed in front of him, he noticed he was having a hard time focusing.
Blinking, he looked up at the staff rushing from the room with the dirty dishes. Why did it seem like time was skipping? One moment the staff was in the center of the room, and the next they were out the door.
Myrum took a sip of water, hoping it would clear his head. He shouldn’t be this affected by one sleepless night. Of course, there’d been the fun planetside with Amina, but none of that should’ve caused him this much fatigue.
“Where did your creature go?”
It took Myrum a moment to understand what Lorse was saying. Looking behind him, he noticed Amina wasn’t sitting at the small table.
“I don’t know,” he mumbled. Was this part of the plan? Was she supposed to leave before he excused himself to go to the elimination unit?
Wait, what was the signal? Was Gis asking if he wanted tea? No, that wasn’t it.
What was it?
He tried to make his mind work, but it felt like his brain was an engine bogged down with the wrong type of fuel.
“Myrum?”
He looked at Lorse. “Yes?”
“Are you feeling well?” Lorse asked with a frown. “You don’t seem to be paying attention to me.”
“Uh, not entirely," Myrum said. His tongue felt thick and awkward in his mouth. It suddenly occurred to him that he’d experienced something similar when he’d imbibed Neemon wine. He hadn’t known it was toxic to Talins. He’d gotten lucky and hadn’t consumed much. A healer flushed his system, and he was fine the next day.
There wasn’t anything here that should affect him like this. That left only one conclusion: he’d been given something deliberately.
Lorse was talking rapidly about how Myrum would see the best medical personnel once they were back on the Ossiso homeworld. Myrum worked on getting one word out when Lorse paused.
