Xandros glanced at me, then back at Dravok. "You want me to babysit your human."
"I want her safe," Dravok stated simply.
The bond flared, protective, firm, utterly unapologetic.
Xandros exhaled slowly, clearly amused now. "You don't lack confidence, Arkhevari."
"And you don't lack territory," Dravok replied.
Ashley let out a quiet huff beside me, shaking her head. "You two are exhausting."
"Truly," I muttered.
Xandros considered the request for a beat longer, then nodded. "Fine. She stays here. Under Imperial protection."
Dravok inclined his head. "Acceptable."
I crossed my arms. "You know I can hear you both, right?"
"Yes," Dravok said at the same time as Xandros said, "Vra."
Ashley and I exchanged a look—the universalmenlook—and shook our heads in unison. As Dravok turned to leave, Xandros called after him. "If you find something that contradicts Imperial reports?—"
"I will," Dravok said, already halfway to the door.
"Hold on just a second." I jumped up. "Dravok, wait!" He wasn't going to get away this cleanly.
He turned by the door, and I felt his impatience bloom. But I also felt something calming…
"Oh no you don't," I moved up my mental barriers. He was not going to subdue me like that. Not ever again. If I had learned one thing, it was how to seal my mind off from him. He looked irritated. I smiled smugly. Then I shot a slew of emotions at him, fury, indignation, frustration—every last feeling he had caused me in the last few days. He staggered for a moment, looking utterly perplexed.
"Two can play that game, buster." I hissed.
He laughed. "Alright. I get it."
I stepped closer, "Do you really?"
"What's happening here?" Ashley asked, confused.
"Just a little mental battle." I threw over my shoulder.
Dravok took my arm and pulled me out into the hallway. "Excuse us for a minute," I managed before the doors closed behind us and we were alone. Well, alone with several guards, but that was better than Ashley and Xandros.
The door sealed with a soft hiss. Silence dropped like a blade. For a heartbeat, neither of us moved. Then I turned on him.
"Don't," I snapped, jabbing a finger at his chest. "Don't youdaredo that again."
His brow furrowed. "Do what?—"
"You know exactly what," I cut him off. "That." I tapped my temple. "Sliding into my head like you own the place. Smoothing things over, dulling what I'm feeling so I behave the way you want."
"I wasn't?—"
"You were," I accused sharply. "And I amdonepretending it's anything other than what it is." The words came faster now, hotter, as years of restraint around other people cracked under a pressure I didn't even know I'd been carrying. "You don't get to decide for me. Not where I go, not what I do, not what I feel. You don't get to kidnap me, drag me across the galaxy,walk into my mindlike it's yours, and then act like we're partners in this."
His jaw tightened, but he didn't interrupt. Neither did he try to enter my brain. Good. Because I wasn't finished.
"If this—" I gestured between us, sharp and furious. "—if this is going to work at all, you start using yourwords. Not your powers. Not your… whatever the hell that is." I exhaled hard. "You talk to me. You ask. Yourespectthat I have a choice."
