“Don’t touch me.” I shrug off his hand.
“It’s my paraxio you’ve been using,” Dante says with a grin. “And my mate who’s helping you out.”
“Darax gave me the paraxio. I did not want the nevving stuff,” I growl. “And your mate is helping mine.”
Dante looks at me.
“Mate?”
I grit my teeth. Dante is not the warlord I wish to have this conversation with, but I doubt very much Dalox will speak to me. He takes betrayal very seriously.
“I think I rut for her,” I say under my breath.
“You rut for her?” Dante bellows.
“Keep it down, nevver.” I grab him by his throat, and the Sarkarnii female warriors step forward, forcing me to let him go. “I don’t want everyone to know.”
Dante rubs at his scales. “I heard of a male who had two females once,” he says. “And a female who had three males.” He shrugs. “Anything is possible, even a second rut.” He looks me up and down with a practiced eye, as if he knows anything.
“Dylia…” I say, staring over at the females. “She meant…she was…”
“But she is not here,” Dante says quietly. “And you are.” His eyes also move to the human females. “Did you ever ask yourself what she would have wanted for you?”
My tail twitches. I want to rage. I don’t want any of these Sarkarnii close to Lydia. If they could all be on the other side of Vorostor, it would still be too close.
“I have not.”
Dante’s hand is back on my shoulder, briefly. “Perhaps you should.”
I do not react this time.
“I need a ship,” I growl.
“All in good time, my friend,” Dante says. “Once Dalox no longer wishes to remove your head, perhaps we can talk.”
“The Ulep…”
“Are no longer in this galaxy, if you were planning anything,” Dante says.
“But they still exist,” I rasp. “And they should not exist.”
“Did you ever stop to ask yourself something else?” Dante stares off into the distance.
“Like what?”
“Like when it might be time to come in from the cold and see what it’s like being part of something.”
“I will never be part ofthis,” I snarl. “Not while I am treated the way I am treated.”
“I suspect the attempts to kill us and the treasonous behavior in trying to sell us out to an enemy go some way towards an explanation,” Dante says. “But that’s not to say you won’t be welcomed back. Not with your tech skills.”
“Just as long as you don’t ask me to pilot anything.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything.” Dante lifts his lip to reveal a fang. “Although if you want a ship, you’ll need a crew or you’ll crash into the nearest moon.”
“Nevver,” I growl at him.
“Deus!” Dalox barks from the other side of the room.
