Thyaar nodded.
She shook her head, her little laugh trailing off. “I thought you were his bodyguard? So where do you sleep?”
He sighed and ran a hand through his damp hair.
“Okay, so the Emperor’s bodyguard… we don’t tend to protect the emperor himself.”
She looked at him blankly. “Huh? Why not?”
Thyaar shook his head as a chuckle escaped him. Amelia had never met the emperor, so how would she know?
“Emperor Daaynal is a warrior-emperor. He can protect himself far better than any of us can.”
“Oh… okay.” Disbelief washed over her face. “But what happened if he was attacked? If those pirates got aboard?”
He barked a laugh.
“Did you see the big empty racking in the cargo bay when we boarded?”
She nodded, frowning.
“Daaynal travels with four personal drakeen. Big combat robots,” he explained. “Any pirate stupid enough to attack the Emperor’s ship with him on it , would be torn apart.”
“Huh.” She looked in the room again. “So, seriously… a ship this big and it only has one bed?"
"It's the Emperor's personal yacht," Thyaar shrugged. "He's not in the habit of sharing."
She shook her head. “Aliens are weird.”
"Take the bed," he said.
"No."
"Amelia—"
"I'm not sleeping in an alien Emperor's bed."
"It's a bed. It's warm and a lot more comfortable than the deck plating." He folded his arms. "Take it."
"Where are you going to sleep?"
"The bridge."
"On what? That chair isn't big enough for you to sleep in. Nothing on this ship is big enough for you except that." She pointed at the bed.
She wasn't wrong. The Vett'an was built for Latharian scale, but it was a yacht, not a warship. The bridge chairs reclined, but they weren't designed for sleeping, and anywhere else was just hard deck plating.
"I've slept in worse places," he said.
"So have I." Her chin came up. "I'll take the floor."
"You will not."
"Watch me."
"I am not sleeping in a bed while you sleep on the deck."
"Why not?"
