Page 280 of Commander’s Mate

I did not take it.

“What?”

“Meya Maktu.”

Every muscle in my body tightened.

“What did you find?”

“One probable match from the mine records.”

“Alive?”

“Unknown.”

The word had become poisonous because I knew what it did to him.

Tivid continued.

“The record indicates transfer from Breskaa twenty-six days before our raid.”

“To where?”

“Julconi.”

I looked at him.

The prison world.

The next mission.

“Confidence?”

“Medium-high.”

“Does Zared know?”

“Not yet.”

“Why are you telling me first?”

“Because he is in medical and because you manage the family-link protocols.”

Technically true. Not the whole truth.

“You don’t want to tell him.”

“I would prefer the person beside him understands what the information means.”

I almost laughed.

“You are outsourcing emotional labor to me.”

The translator hesitated.

Tivid frowned.

“Possibly.”