Heavy’s voice is a growl. “No.”
The word hangs in the air.
I watch Ines’s face. Watch her connect the pieces and want to take this thread further.
“This interview was supposed to be about human brides on Timbur.” My voice cuts across the table, sharper than I intended. “Not about my family’s tragedies.”
Ines meets my eyes.
She doesn’t back down, but for a long moment, we just look at each other.
Then she nods. “Of course,” Ines says smoothly, and pivots without missing a beat. “Jana, tell me about adapting human recipes for Xylan palates. I imagine there were some interesting challenges.”
She gives me exactly what I asked for. Backs off the cold case questions and returns to the puff piece like the sharp turn in conversation never happened. But I saw her face in that moment before she pivoted. This female is not giving up. She’s just changing tactics.
