Page 65 of Cloverleaf Station

Elenus pointed a finger at him. “Let me get this straight. You want to break into a government facility, on a hostile planet, to save a political dissident and kidnap her children at the same time, then try to make it off planet with them all in one piece while involving Lizzie in your hopefully death-defying acts of lawbreaking? Is that it?”

Sure, it sounded bad when he put it like that. Apparently, the dumbfounded silence part was over.

“That’s the basics,” Kieron said and was treated to Elenus closing his eyes and rubbing his fingers along the side of his head like Kieron was giving him the universe’s biggest headache. Which, to be fair, he probably was.

“And you don’t see the many massive problems inherent in this plan?”

“I see them,” Kieron said. “I just don’t know what to do about them.”

Elenus threw up his hands. “You could leave Trakta like you planned and come back to us on Gania, for starters! That would do it!”

“That was my first choice,” Kieron confessed, “but only before I talked to Pol. Xilinn made her decision and is suffering the consequences of it. I don’t approve of what the government is doing to her, but I also acknowledge that she’s an adult. Pol, though … he’s stubborn.” Kieron grimaced as he thought about Pol’s declaration back at the house. “When he says he’ll run away, he absolutely means it.”

“Tell his other mother what he means to do, and she won’t let him.”

“She won’t be able to stop him.” Or care to stop him, probably. She would treat the kid’s declaration as an empty threat. Not to mention, the thought of going back on his word to Pol left Kieron feeling ill. “He’ll run, he’ll get lost in that forest, and he’ll die.”

“He might not.”

Kieron shook his head. “I’m not willing to bet his life on a ‘might.’” He wasn’t going to let Zak’s son risk himself like that.

Elenus stared at Kieron for a long moment, then began to laugh. “You—I thought I knew how far you were willing to go,” he said around his helpless chuckles. “I thought I—but I should have seen this coming; you spent years looking for an arm, for fuck’s sake. You risked your life for Catie before you even knew her. Why wouldn’t you do just as much for an actual living, breathing child?”

“Catie is a living child,” Kieron said. “So is Lizzie.” The color of the console rippled, Lizzie offering him a sign of her affection.

“Look at that.” Elenus sounded a little wistful. “You’ve already got her under your spell.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Lizzie. It’s clear she adores you—don’t you, darling?”

“Yes, Elenus.” Lizzie’s voice was a little shy, but she sounded firm. “I love Kee.”

“Kee, what the hell. Pet names. Gods save me from pet names; it’s so cute it makes me want to vomit.”

Kieron frowned. “Don’t do that.”

“It’s a turn of—oh, never mind.” Elenus sat back in his chair and stared up for a moment. “All right. You want to rescue Xilinn, grab Pol, and make it off planet without hurting Lizzie, is that the extent of it?”

Kieron shook his head. “I want to get her daughter too. Szusza.”

Elenus shook his head. “That’s probably not going to happen. She’s at boarding school, right?”

“Yes, but—”

“Nope. You won’t have that kind of access or the time to make it. You’re going to have to take the boy and run.”

Kieron felt frustration rise up in him. “How can I face her, knowing I left her daughter behind?” he demanded.

“The daughter who gets along with the rest of the family, and has siblings she enjoys, and is in a school that she likes, and who hasn’t, as far as you know, complained about her mother’s situation at all?” Elenus shot back. “That daughter? This is one of those brutal compromises you sometimes have to make in the face of bad situations, Kieron. You know that. There are legal avenues open to us if we let her stay, but if you kidnap her, all bets are off.”

“But won’t I already be kidnapping Pol?” he asked, vaguely alarmed at the direction this conversation was going. It was his own idea, he knew that, but hearing Elenus say it made it seem so much more real.

“No,” Elenus said, shaking his head. “Because Pol is going to run away.”

“Elenus—”

“And then you’re going to pick him up and take him to Lizzie.”