Page 6 of Pocket Wife

Good. So he knows my name.

“Is this legal?”

Corvek smiles. “That question has already been answered.”

“I did not ask you.”

The representative’s face hardens by a fraction.

Rethan remains still for several seconds. When he answers, his voice carries without the collar device. “I have been sent to verify the legality of Helix’s claim.”

“Verify,” I repeat. “Not confirm?”

A pause.

“Correct.”

The word moves through the crowd like the first crack in a locked door.

I hold on to it. “Then nothing happens until that verification is complete.”

Corvek’s tone cools. “Development schedules are not controlled by local sentiment.”

“No,” I say. “But people are not crops to be cleared before digging season.”

Irritation touches his face, the first crack in his composure. “Resistance will reduce compensation eligibility.”

There it is. The soft voice. The clean coat. The threat underneath.

I turn from him to the crowd. I see fear in every direction, but also anger, grief, and the first fragile edge of refusal. My valley is frightened. It is not broken.

“Go home tonight,” I say. “Stay together. Do not sign anything. Do not agree to anything at your door. At sunrise, we meet at the cooperative hall with every deed, grant, family record, and settlement paper we can find.”

A muscle jumps in Corvek’s jaw. “That would be unwise.”

I look back at him. “Then you should have given us better options.”

The crowd begins to move, not scattering now, but forming knots of neighbors around neighbors. Parents gather children. Plans start in urgent whispers.

I stay where I am until the first families climb the meadow road toward home.

Only then do I look again at Rethan Veyr.

He stands beside the shadow of the Helix ship, quiet and unreadable, his attention still on me.

I don’t know whether he’s a witness, a weapon, or the only chance we have.

By sunrise, I intend to find out.

CHAPTER 4

RETHAN

“State your claim plainly.”

I place the hearing recorder at the middle of the cooperative hall table and watch the room react to the small device as if I’ve set down a weapon.

Perhaps, in this room, I have.