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A commanding voice sliced through the standoff. “Stand down, torvar.”
Sebastian deflated at the sight of Leon Hess striding over with an annoyed glint in his intense eyes. He scowled and waved a hand at Tucker, who had stopped posturing at the sight of their leader too. “Tell that to this idiot.”
Hess’s unreadable but always and forever disapproving eyes stayed still on Sebastian, and he spared barely a glance at Tucker. “Let him in.”
“And what about them, sir?” Jason gestured to the two people behind Sebastian.
Hess’s eyes flickered to them and widened as though he’d just noticed them. Sebastian had no idea how he could have managed to miss the appallingly dressed Oliver Turner in his banquet regalia and the half-cyborg Captain Mal’ik.
“They come too,” Sebastian sneered victoriously, then side-stepped Tucker and finally made it onto the safe side of the barricade. He hadn’t relished walking around on the outside in a klah’eel traitor’s body with two strangers following him around. He’d gone to the old headquarters first, only to find that leadership had moved to the taken capitol building, resulting in hours more exposure than he’d anticipated.
There was a pause, presumably as Hess decided whether that was okay or not, and then the sounds of footsteps as Sebastian got his way. He walked to a mostly rubble-clear area and then turned to face his leader and his guests.
“What is this, torvar?” Hess demanded as he came to meet him, keeping a wary eye on Turner and Captain Mal’ik.
Sebastian’s frustration flamed up at Hess’s tone and address after everything he’d just done.
“This is me bringing the Resistance two of the greatest tools it didn’t know it was going to get.” Not to mention returning triumphantly from enacting a harrowing bit of terrorism and misdirection, but that had been his job, so he wasn’t going to demand recognition for it. Not that it wouldn’t have been nice.
Hess just raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue, and Sebastian put his hands on his hips with a sigh and relented.
“Captain Mal’ik is here to help us defend against the Klah’Eel’s counterattack.”
Hess pulled his shoulders back and down and regarded the hulking klah’eel soldier. Hess wasn’t a particularly tall man, and he definitely wasn’t compared to Mal’ik, but he still managed to give the illusion that he didn’t look up at him. “Our intelligence said you were probably going to be leading that counterattack.”
“I was.” Mal’ik lifted his chin. “I changed my mind.”
Hess turned his piercing stare on Oliver Turner next. “And you were supposed to go running with your tail between your legs.”
Sebastian saw how Mal’ik’s spine went up like a dog’s ridge and wondered if he should have somehow warned Hess of their peculiar relationship, but Turner beat them both to it with an unbothered scoff. “And I’m sure there will be times when I wish I had. But trust me, you’ll be very glad I didn’t.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“You will, Hess.” Sebastian stepped forward, and that got Hess’s dark eyes back on him. They flicked up and down his body, and Hess’s upper lip curled.
“Is Tesh still in there?”
“No.” Sebastian shook his head.
Governor Tesh had been a two-timing bastard. He’d thought he was smart enough to play both the Klah’Eel empire and the Resistance and come out unscathed and with a boatload of profit. The Resistance had found his disloyalty to be very useful for a time. That time had ended.
“Good.” Hess nodded sharply and turned away from him. “Then get out of that disgusting body. I’ll take our guests from here.”
Sebastian watched Hess walk away, shepherding Turner and Mal’ik before him, and only his pride kept his impotent frustration from showing on his face.
He gritted his teeth. He knew almost as much about the Resistance and their plans and their intelligence as Hess—if not more! It was he that did all the espionage, all the infiltration, all the things that would have been impossible if not for his being a torvar.
He risked his life for this cause, for his leaders, for Hess, and yet the man still just walked away like—
Sebastian spun on his heel and stalked toward the other side of the capitol building. It was fine. This was nothing new. Hess would come around eventually; he would have to. It would be illogical for him not to with everything Sebastian did for him. And if Hess was anything, he was logical.
The Resistance had only just taken the capitol building a couple of days ago, while Sebastian had been blowing up communications towers and dignitaries at a Klah’Eel summit to give them the opening, so he strode around like he knew where he was going and was instead hopelessly lost.
They would have had to set up a makeshift medical wing somewhere, but this huge building was a maze. His barely banked frustration started to mount again after the tenth suspicious glance was thrown his way as he walked around in a klah’eel body when he finally caught sight of a dirty blond head he recognized.
Sebastian’s heart lifted. “Colin, thank god, this place is a labyrinth.”
The briefest flash of confusion crossed Colin’s bruised face before recognition replaced it, and he grinned and opened his arms for a hug. “Sebastian, you finally made it! Always late to the party.”
