Mine.
I shoved it back viciously.
Ella either didn’t notice the tension or deliberately ignored it.
“And the grumpy mountain over there is Xandros.” Xandros grunted from the wall where Ashley stood beside him. "And his… wife. Ashley. Now these guys," she encompassed Zapharos, Dravok, and me, "are Arkhevari, while Xandros is a Pandraxian."
Ella paused and looked at Naeris. "Have you heard of the Arkhevari or Pandraxians?"
Ella must have caught Naeris off guard, the way she did with most people, just utterly disarming in her own charm, because Naeris shook her head.
Interesting.
Xandros looked almost affronted, and I suppressed a small sound of satisfaction. Normally, there wasn't a soul in the universe who didn't know who the Pandraxians were. They were one of the most powerful species in the GTU—Galactic Treaty Union—if notthemost powerful one. My smugness increased when Naeris admitted, "I've heard of the Arkhevari, not the Pandraxians."
Ashley snorted loudly enough to echo through the chamber, elbowing Xandros with a wide grin. The Superior Commander took the small blow in strides.
Naeris looked between all of us slowly. After a moment, she straightened up, pushed off the wall, and uncrossed her arms. “Naeris.”
I had already known that, but still, the simple act of her offering her name willingly felt strangely important.
Ella smiled warmly. “See? We’re making progress already.”
“We are absolutely not making progress,” Naeris informed her flatly.
I failed to suppress my smile that time. Naeris didn't let her guard down for one second. I watched her carefully. There was not a trace of fear beneath the sarcasm. Mostly, it was fueled by anger.
The bond pulsed restlessly between us again, the impossible pull tightening every time she looked at me.
She felt it too.
I could see her trying not to.
Ella must have sensed the shift because her voice softened.
“We don't know anything about where you came from,” Ella admitted carefully.
Naeris didn’t move. Her eyes flicked from Ella to me and back again, wary and calculating beneath the sterile white lights of the holding chamber.
Zapharos inclined his head slightly. “Which is why we’re asking.”
Silence stretched. Naeris returned to leaning against the wall of her cell, re-crossing her arms slowly.
Ella kept talking, apparently deciding this counted as progress. “So…” she ventured carefully. “Who are those orange beings who were with you?”
The shift in Naeris was immediate. Her posture tightened almost imperceptibly. Hatred flickered across her face so quickly most would have missed it. I didn’t. Neither did Xandros. Nor, apparently, did Ella.
“They’re not your allies?” Ella pressed gently.
Naeris barked out a short, humorless laugh. “My allies?” Something cold entered her expression. “No.”
The single word carried enough venom to sharpen the entire room.
Ella exchanged a quick glance with Ashley before continuing cautiously, “Then where did you come from?”
I stayed silent. Instinct warned me not to interfere. I was afraid if I did, Naeris would refuse to answer altogether, and I didn't want to jeopardize the small chance that she might give us some information. Every time I spoke, the bond tightened violently between us, and I could practically feel her fighting the pull. If I pushed too hard now, she would retreat behind those walls completely.
Ella, however, kept talking in that disarming soft way of hers. “We’re trying to understand, because your people seem very advanced, and so do…ourpeople.” Her gaze moved apologetically between Zapharos and Xandros. “And it’s just so… mind-boggling that neither of you has ever interacted with the other…” She grimaced slightly. “I’m not saying the universe is small and everybody knows everybody, obviously, because it’s huge, but?—”
