Page 159 of Alien Burn

“No. I thought she could send it.”

“I should have made sure you knew.” He kept his hand still beside her cup. “We still needed the device to establish what she'd tried to send, and when.”

She looked at the record for a while, then asked the question he had expected.

“Could she have told someone before that?”

“She could have. We haven't found another transmission that showed that, but that isn't proof she never spoke about you. We can contact the office that protected you through a restricted channel, if you want their help.”

“I want to see what goes to them.”

“You will.”

He brought the limited notice up on his pad first, as he had promised, and set it between them. She read to the bottom, went back to the access record, and asked him to explain the restriction he had placed on it.

He answered each question. When he opened a blank request to the protection office, she put her hand on his wrist.

“I want a copy of that notice before we send anything.”

“Of course.”

He made the copy and closed the request. She could tell him when she wanted to finish it.

She set the cup down and pressed both hands over her face. When she lowered them, she looked tired rather than emptied out.

“I hit her.”

“I know.”

“Twice.”

“Her wrist confirms it.”

“That shouldn't make me feel better.”

“Does it?”

A tiny smile. “A little.”

He sat beside her on the bed.

“You put the proof in his hands.”

“The guard stopped her.”

“You got the device into his hands. You told him what was happening.”

She looked at him. “I remembered what you said. That she didn't get to decide whether people believed me.”

He could have told her how close he'd come to losing the ability to speak when he heard her voice on that recording. Instead he took her hand.

“I'm very glad you remembered.”

The diplomatic protest arrived before Dhomhes finished breakfast.

Senator Loric Vandrel described his daughter's detention as an outrage against a traumatized guest. He demanded her immediate release into Galactic Alliance custody. By the time Dhomhes boarded the courier for the light side, two other governments had endorsed the demand.

Sereya read the public statement beside him before he left.