Page 144 of Alien Burn

Underneath it was one word.

Naliese.

“Is something wrong?” the guard asked.

“Yes.” Her own answer surprised her. It came before she could prepare an excuse. “Please tell Dhomhes she's threatening me.”

He touched his comm immediately, reporting the threat and asking for the duty officer. Sereya waited while the officer ordered Roemary kept in the receiving area and the message preserved.

Sereya breathed once, carefully. Someone had believed her.

“I won't go into a room alone with her,” she said. “But I need to hear what she means to do.”

The officer heard her through the open channel. He allowed her to identify the personal record Roemary claimed to hold. She would stay at the doorway while the guard collected it; there would be no private visit.

“I'll take you to the receiving side,” the guard said. “You stay outside the room. I stay between you. Then you come straight back.”

He brought her through the guarded junction separating the guest wing from the receiving rooms. Roemary's escort was waiting beyond the visitor room's locked rear service door. He checked the room himself, then kept Sereya at the corridor side of its open front doorway, with the route back to the junction clear.

Roemary was waiting beside the visitor room's table. She wore dark clothing under a loose wrap, with none of the ornaments she normally chose for dinner. When she saw the guard, her mouth tightened.

“I asked for a private conversation.”

“This is the conversation you can have,” Sereya said.

Sereya stayed on the corridor side of the threshold, the guard beside her.

Roemary glanced at the guard again, then turned a small display toward Sereya. A page of text appeared. Her old family name stood at the top. Beneath it were the Galactic Alliance program name, a recent image of her, and the name of the planet on which she now stood.

At the bottom was an unsent message addressed to the Korvath syndicate.

There had been no word that the relay had stopped Roemary's calls. Sereya stared at the waiting message, unable to look away from her own face beside that name.

Sereya's breath caught.

“Closer,” Roemary said softly. “Unless you want him to read it too.”

“Put the device down. This conversation is over.” The guard stepped between them. “Sereya, back into the corridor.”

Roemary held it toward Sereya instead. Her thumb rested against the edge of the message.

Sereya stepped back, keeping one hand against the doorframe. Roemary raised her voice to follow her.

“Adryel. Bring her to the east loading bay. The freight apron beyond the stacks. You can tell her you want a walk, or that you need to speak to her without her mate listening. You managed it on the transport.”

“She's already been attacked.”

“Which makes her less likely to argue with a frightened friend. Bring her, then leave. You don't have to be there for what comes after.”

The guard moved around the table to take the device. Roemary backed away, keeping its width between them and the display raised toward Sereya.

“Your father. Your mother. Both brothers,” she whispered. “The Korvaths missed one. You told me that yourself. Don't make me correct their mistake.”

“Detain her,” the duty officer ordered through his comm. The guard caught the far end of the table and shoved it against the wall, closing off Roemary's path to the rear door. The near end swung toward the open doorway.

“No,” Sereya said.

Roemary blinked.