her to say. “You have my word I won't.”
She shook her head. “Doesn't matter, you can do what you think is right. I'll say it anyway.”
He didn't think she understood how unlikely it was that he'd do anything that would get her out of his life, but he simply inclined his head.
“It's just something I saw on Lancaster's face when you boarded the Sig today.” She worried her bottom lip. “He looked as if he wanted to take out a SAL and shoot you.”
Iver's first instinct was to deny it, but she wasn't in the habit of gossiping. He barely got a word out of her, usually, let alone on something personal about his closest member of staff. If she said she had seen something, she had seen something.
“You said you told him to stay behind to deal with an issue. Could this be linked to it?”
He shoved his hands into the pockets of his wet pants and fisted them. “Did you hear the news about what happened on Veltos?”
“Those military officers on the Veltos Trail uncovering some illegal Caruson activity?” She nodded.
“Turns out the Caruson had inside help, from one of the Trail guides. He's from Faldine, which isn't surprising as Veltos is closer to Faldine than any other VSC planet. When he was taken in for questioning, he admitted there was a resurgence of rebel activity here.”
“Credible evidence?” She raised her eyebrows.
Iver nodded in sympathy, because there were always rumors that the rebels were reorganizing. “Credible enough they sent me a report about it.”
She tilted her head. “And you asked Lancaster to look into it?”
He thought about it. Shook his head. “Not exactly. I asked him to find a person of interest mentioned in the report and question him.”
They both considered that for a few minutes.
Iver shifted. “You think Lancaster is involved.” It was a stupid thing to say. She wouldn't have told him what she'd seen on Lancaster's face otherwise.
She looked at him with something close to sympathy in her eyes. She reached out as if to touch his arm, then thought better of it and dropped her hand to her side.
“Lancaster, more than anyone, would know you were going to Touka today, and the route we'd take.” She shrugged, matter-of-fact. “He also looked ready to kill you himself when he thought you weren't looking, and even though he should be here right now, getting us out, he's nowhere to be found.”
There wasn't much more to say about it.
It was just a hard, jagged pill to swallow.
She held out her hand for her pack, which he'd taken from her and hitched over one shoulder as they'd walked up the stream.
He gave her a bland look, and slid his arm through the other strap.
With a barely concealed eye roll, she turned away from him and started walking along the river bank, in an upstream direction toward Touka.
He took one last look in the direction of the downed Sig and the horizon beyond it, still empty of any runners, any sign that help was coming.
Then he turned on his heel and followed Hana.
Sitting beside Iver Sugotti was like flying a Sig at full speed over the worst Faldine magnetic fields.
Hana felt slightly out of control.
She didn't know whether to shift closer or away, unsure how they'd come to be sitting so close beside the fire she'd got going when they'd finally stopped walking.
One of them should probably be on watch, but they'd set a perimeter warning, a standard, off-the-shelf one she'd bought for camping in the Spikes, not the more sensitive, more reliable ones she'd had access to in the military. The low-tech solution should be fine, though. The only thing to really worry about out here other than people trying to kill them was an usinian, and they were so big the alarm would pick one up without a problem.
She scooped up a bite of creamy dyr from the bowl she was holding, which had a sprinkle of sanita in it for crunchy, spicy contrast, and was really glad she'd packed everything she needed to hike the Spikes before she'd picked Iver up. Her pack would make their walk to Touka much more bearable.
Behind them sat the narrow tunnel tent Iver had set up while she'd gotten the fire going.
Despite its low-slung profile, it seemed to loom.
There would be no room inside it to do anything but curl up against each other.
She tried to shrug the tension at the thought out of her shoulders.
“What's wrong?”
She turned her head