Page 72 of Alien Burn

She drank her tea.

“Well.” Roemary turned toward her. “I need you to find the official who was explaining the housing arrangements. I promised I'd introduce her to someone.”

“She's beside the entrance,” Sereya said. “In green.”

“I know what she's wearing.”

“Then you should be able to find her.”

The words were perfectly ordinary. Her heartbeat behaved as though she had shouted them.

Dhomhes reached for his cup without intervening.

Roemary glanced toward the entrance. When she turned back, she had become gracious again.

“Of course. Enjoy your tea.”

She walked away.

Sereya watched her go until she reached the official. A hand on an elbow, a sympathetic tilt of the head. Anyone watching would have thought the afternoon was going very well.

“Do I owe you an apology?” Dhomhes asked.

She looked back at him. “For what?”

“Making things difficult.”

“You didn't.”

He raised a brow.

“She was going to be difficult anyway,” Sereya admitted.

“Ah.”

“And I wanted to stay here.”

His eyes warmed. “I'm glad you did.”

A comm sounded beneath his sleeve.

He looked at it, and the change in him was immediate. His shoulders settled, his head lifted, and the male who had been teasing her about tea was suddenly listening to something she couldn't hear.

“Excuse me.”

“Of course.”

He stepped aside. Across the gallery, a guard touched his own comm. Another moved to the doors. Conversation continued around Sereya, but the server nearest the entrance stopped with a tray balanced at her waist.

Sereya put her cup down.

By the time Dhomhes returned, she was already looking for Roemary.

“What's happened?”

“The four of them were attacked at Terra North. I don't have a confirmed report on them yet.”

The floor seemed to tilt. She held the sill behind her.