Page 53 of Retrograde

“He’s got to be worried about me too,” I hedged.

“No, of course, whatever makes you feel better,” he accepted.

Joris made me feel better so… Yeah.

I smiled when he came in loaded to the gills saying that Raquel had asked him to bring this up and I was supposed to tellhim what I liked so he could report it to her. Apparently, she was upset that the kitchenette in my suite hadn’t been stocked.

I realized they were both curious, so I cleared my throat as I reached for a bag of light popcorn. “Benson was right that I didn’t want people in my space like that. I can give her a list of what I’d liked stocked, but—someone was going to say how I wasted the food or ate the food and I just…”

“You need this to be your—what’s the superhero place?” Joris wondered. “The ice fortress of hermiting or whatever.”

“Yeah, that,” I chuckled and had a few handfuls before looking at the bag. “This awesome. I didn’t know this was a thing.”

“Avocado lime Skinny Pop, got it,” he said as he typed in his phone. “The brand is very popular in Thovudin, but that flavor is a limited run. I’ll tell Raquel to stock up. I’m a huge fan of the garlic butter.”

“I like garlic and butter,” I muttered, glancing all around, glad when they chuckled.

Joris checked that I really wanted to watch the news and then agreed it was better than trying to hide my head in the sand.

“Call Toni,” I said after watching not ten minutes. “We need to get some statements going. Also, maybe—we need to start having an ‘inside source’ that comes from us.”

“Yeah, that’s standard and hysterical that people never consider that,” Joris muttered.

Toni came in at the same time as Lydia with the main food, and I asked Lydia to stay, wanting her input… And more.

“You want me to be this inside source,” Lydia figured out fast, nodding when I did. “As long as you explain it to Benson.”

Deal.

I focused on Toni. “First thing, someone is going to leak the texts.” I held up my hand to hold her off when everyone seemed horrified. “I’m not saying Fraser or Benson. They would never.”

“Phone company,” she sighed, nodding when I did. “So you want it clear that you gave the order that the texts your security saw—of course they saw them—were not to be leaked or shared. That you’re happy Vex has finally handled the situation and you do not want to escalate things. You left it to your uncle and you’re very happy he protected you.”

“Perfect,” I agreed. “Also, something personal since I’mso coldstill. Lydia leaking that I said something about wanting Khirriln wine and miss having access to it like when I studied there.”

“We have an embargo with them,” she hedged.

I met her gaze. “Yes, because of the elders. One’s family owns a huge vineyard. Another a massive dairy farm that makes a lot of the fancy cheese in Thovudin. And lastly, a company that makes luxury cotton items. Want to guess the main three exports for Khirriln?”

“Holy shit,” Lydia whispered but then apologized. “I never—people really aren’t wrong that there are conspiracies, but they seem to always get wrong which are conspiracies.”

“They do,” I confirmed.

Toni went to handle that and Treena joined us, not hiding how worried she was about me.

“Good, I could use a bum day and calories,” Maple announced as she entered next. She took one look at me and frowned. “Why are you wearing a hoodie as a dress? There has to be something more comfortable for you to wear.”

Onyx cleared his throat. “I asked her to wear mine, Princess.”

Maple huffed and headed for my bedroom.

“Fuck,” I grumbled and held up my hand. I started lowering fingers to count down and I had the timing perfect.

“Why do you have no clothes?” Maple exclaimed from probably my closet. “There’s two nightgowns in the hamper and—where are all of your clothes, Sagan?”

I reached over and stuffed a donut in my mouth and pointed to it like I couldn’t talk when she came storming back out. The others found me amusing, but it was clear that Maple saw through it and grabbed the donut.

And took a bite while waving me to answer her.