Page 84 of Reaper Said Mine

I point one claw at her. “You have work.”

“I was ordered to stay.”

“Now you are ordered to work while staying.”

“Very clear, lord. Leadership like poetry.”

Skahar chuckles, and the sound drags across the room like bone over stone. I should be angry. I am angry. I am also aware, with irritating clarity, that every person in this room is less afraid of me than outsiders assume, and much more loyal because of it.

Ursa would notice that.

The thought appears without permission.

She would notice the dried blood on Vakka’s chin and the way Skahar pretends weakness to make others underestimate him. She would notice the missing kitchen worker and ask why nobody had connected that disappearance to the altered access logs. She would notice how quickly my temper gathered around the broker’s message and refuse to let me call it strategy if it was fear.

My claws curl against the table.

Vakka sees that too. “You want the human brought under closer guard.”

“Yes.”

“Will she accept that?”

“No.”

Skahar’s smile becomes unbearable. “You have learned something.”

“She will argue,” I say.

“She may also be correct.”

“She is in danger.”

“She was in danger before she met you. She came here anyway.”

“That does not make her safe.”

“No,” Skahar says. “It makes her Ursa.”

Her name in his mouth should not warm me. It does. This is becoming a problem with teeth, and not the kind I can solve by biting first.

The command annex door opens before I can respond, and Krell steps inside with a compad clutched in both hands. The young warrior looks from me to Skahar to Vakka, recognizes the air in the room, and clearly regrets every choice that led him here.

“Speak,” I say.

Krell lowers his head. “Ambassador Theryki requests a private meeting before the afternoon negotiating session. She says it concerns mutual security interests.”

Vakka mutters, “Of course it does.”

“General Gobold has also requested additional patrol visibility near Alliance quarters,” Krell continues. “His aide says Coalition personnel have been observed lingering near their secure wing.”

“His aide means Gobold wants more guards so he can claim he is being threatened,” Skahar says.

Krell swallows. “Ambassador Wilcox sent a note asking whether IHC-Now correspondent Ursa Ramone will be allowed continued access to command-level areas.”

My growl rises before I shape it into words.

Krell goes rigid.