Exit Strategy (Tales Of The Citadel #58)(7)

“Do you enjoy it?”

“I really do. I don’t get to use my talent much, but I get to use my mind and my people skills. I was once a newscaster on Resicor before I was outed as a talent. I had a skill with words that let me inform people, and it was taken from me, locked up with all the rest. The Citadel gave it back.”

“So, the Citadel is what you consider to be family.”

“It is. Just like my tattoos say. Honoured daughter of the Citadel Balen.” She tapped a nail to her forehead.

He blinked. “You can read that?”

“I had to use two mirrors, but yes. I can read Remuyan dialects if I have to. The formal designs used for the tattoos are a little tricky, but I managed.”

Ahlgos looked impressed. “It isn’t a common language.”

“Things might regress a little if I tell you why I learned it.”

“Giving your earlier description, you were going to hunt me down?”

“Yeah. Something like that.” Plans to kill him had taken up weeks of her recovery. Eventually, she had put them aside as not worth the risk of losing her new life.

“I am very glad that it did not come to that.”

“Yeah, well, I had no idea that you were just over the ravine.” She got up and got herself another cup of tea. “So, what do I have to do again?”

“Stay close to my sister and be polite to the bride and her family. That’s it.” He nodded.

“And pretend to be madly in love with you.”

“Only when we are together. When you are with others, you can express your irritation with me.”

“Thank goodness. I was worried. I thought I would explode before this was all over. So, what are our courtship stories?”

He blinked. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“You might want to. For example, how long have I been chasing you?”

His brows snapped together. “I don’t know.”

“We have nine hours to figure it out. So, I am going to get my file, and we need to pinpoint all of the moments that our paths could have crossed but didn’t.”

As she got up to head to her quarters for her tablet, he mentioned, “You are really good at this kind of thing.”

She smiled. “You always have to have a plan with several exit options. Since our exits are restricted, we need to go in with a definite plan and stick to it.”

“What if circumstances change?”

She walked away and called out, “I will meet you at the shuttle and we will reassess our options.”

Yna got her tablet and shifted her clothing into the semi-formal arrangement. She twirled twice while walking down the hall and returned to her partner for this perilous mission. Lives were at stake, even if it wasn’t in the way that she had become used to.

Weddings were always serious business, and this one was life and death.





Chapter Four


Ahlgos was looking very serious and formal in his Remuyan clothing. She had the Masuo take on complimentary colours to match him, and he smiled slightly at the careful touch.

Like many species, once the Remuyan had decided on a mate, they matched them when it was possible. First meetings with family definitely counted as an event worth matching for.

“Thank you again for this.” Ahlgos extended his hand to her with the back of his wrist up as they waited for the quarantine sweep to clear them for disembarkation.

“I am sure that I will think of a way to make you pay.” She settled her hand on the back of his wrist as the lights flicked the completion of the quarantine cycle and the rear hatch of the shuttle lowered a ramp to the tarmac of their registered landing space.

They walked slowly out of the shuttle, and she was able to feel the weight of local gravity on her limbs. It was a little less than Resicor, but a bit more than Balen.

Yna blinked. “They are all here.”

He murmured. “Keep smiling. I wasn’t expecting them either.”

She gripped his wrist tightly as they walked slowly toward his family. His parents were wearing the semi-formal wrap clothing that Yna was wearing.

When they were ten feet apart, Ahlgos paused and bowed. “Mother, Father, this is my fiancée, Specialist Yna of Citadel Balen.”

Ahlgos’s mother looked Yna in the face and read her insignia.

Yna removed her hand from the Guardsman’s, and she bowed to her elder. Hands immediately gripped her shoulders, and she was jerked upright.

“Welcome, daughter. Our home is your home.”

“Thank you. It is nice to finally meet you.” She smiled and remembered to put warmth of feeling into her eyes.

“We have heard almost nothing of you. Please, come with me and tell me everything about you.”

Ahlgos’s mother linked her arm with Yna’s and hauled her away from the bemused family.

“Um... madam, shouldn’t I meet the others?”

The older woman waved that off. “I already know them and sitting through formal introductions bore me. I am Miett, by the way.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Check. Are they following?”

Yna glanced back and confirmed, “Yes, they look amused and confused.”

“Excellent. You have to keep them on their toes.”

Yna didn’t have a chance to respond as she was hauled to customs, and Miett glared at the officers until they rushed Yna through.