"Not yet," the guy said. "After we are out to sea."
Petrov's bushy brows dipped. "It has been too long. She shouldn't be out of it for so many hours. Do it now. Dimitri and Mattie will finish organizing our things while I sit with her and explain."
The guy's eyes became unfocused, and Sullha had a feeling that he was conferring with the others.
After a moment, his eyes cleared and he nodded. "Sit next to her. We will remove most of the thrall but leave a directive to stay calm."
"That's good," Doctor Petrov said.
Sullha didn't know the story between Petrov and the woman, but there was something there, something she wasn't familiar with but craved.
"I have to go," Yaaf said next to her, startling her.
He couldn't just leave them there.
"Go? Go where? Why?"
"There's something I need to check that has to do with why we needed to execute the plan ahead of time. Four of us will stay here to guard you. The other four have to deal with the other matter."
"No." It came out before she could stop it. "I mean, someone else can go, and you can stay."
She did not want him to leave and walk into something so dangerous that he couldn't tell her about it. She needed him beside her, protecting her.
The realization of how much she'd grown to depend on him was scary. Sometime during their clandestine meetings, she had come to rely on him, lean on his strength, trust in his ability to protect her and Tomek.
"Sullha." His expression softened. "I won't really be gone, you know."
"What are you talking about? You're about to walk out that door."
"My body is going to walk out of here, but I am not just this one body. The four who stay are connected to me. When you look at them, you're looking at me. When they keep you safe, it is mekeeping you safe, so in a way, I'll always be near you, and I will know how you are doing through their eyes and ears."
She had thought that the other seven were what made him unbearable because she could never be alone with him, never have him all to herself because the others were always there, always inside him, seeing what he saw, but now the same set of facts had been turned on its head. Now she was glad that part of him would remain with her, defending her and Tomek and the others.
Instead of being unsettled by that realization, she felt reassured.
33
LOSHAM
"My lord." Hakum's voice came through the intercom pitched higher than usual, which was never a good sign. "I have the sector officer of the enclosure on the line. He wishes to speak with you urgently. He claims that people have gone missing." Hakum lowered his voice to a conspiratorial register. "Once again, no one knows how it happened."
Losham set down his pen. "Put him through, Hakum."
"Right away, sir, but with your permission, my lord, I beg to point out that there is a pattern here. First it was Lord Navuh, and now women and children vanish without a trace."
Losham rolled his eyes. "Lord Navuh is in the harem, Hakum. He was not abducted by aliens."
"He might be a clone," Hakum whispered. "The aliens could have taken the real Lord Navuh and replaced him with a clone. Perhaps the three sons who went to visit him discovered that he wasn't the real Lord Navuh, and that was why he killed them."
Losham closed his eyes. He'd been too lenient with his father's former secretary, so the guy felt safe voicing his insane theories.
"The lord's sons betrayed his trust, and they paid for their transgression with their lives. I predicted it would happen because the lord doesn't tolerate disobedience or disrespect, and they had done both. He had to do what he did so no one else would ever dare to perpetrate such betrayal again. To maintain control, you can't let things like that slide."
"Yes, sir. I understand."
Losham wondered if he did. The guy was quite limited.
"Patch the commander through and never mention that nonsense about alien abductions again, or I will have you reassigned to cleaning the latrines where the most you may theorize about is the disappearance of toilet paper."
