and Quill pointed to the other chairs. “Sit down, all of you.”
There was a knock on the door and Luka stuck his head into the room. “Teo? May I speak with you?”
“Later, Luka,” Teo said.
“It is urgent,” Luka said.
“Go, Teo,” Quill said.
Teo heaved himself to his feet and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Quill studied me silently for a moment. “Has Melu told you what she did?”
“Yes,” I said.
“I told you not to trust her,” Quill said.
“She must have had a good reason,” I said. “We need to use the ship’s tracking chip to go after her. She cannot fly a Draax ship and the chances that she has crashed are high, my king. She could be injured or -”
“She removed the ship’s tracking,” Melu said. “And she can fly a vroha.”
“How do you know that?” I said.
“Uzel told me she has been practicing with the flight simulator,” Melu said. “She pretended to play with the pink haired human’s child to gain access to the simulator.”
I rubbed at my forehead. “It is very different using a simulator and flying an actual ship.”
“Not that different,” Krey said.
I glanced at him and he shrugged. “It is not. Sorry, Galan. She just needed to get it out of our atmosphere and then she could have programmed the ship to fly to Earth.”
“Krono,” Melu said. “I knew we should not have trusted her. I knew the minute she had the chance, that she would try and escape.”
“She must have had a reason,” I repeated.
“What I want to know,” Krey said, “is how she knew there was a temporary peace treaty until this evening between Emira and Cillade. Very few Draax knew and the humans certainly did not.”
Melu glared at me. “Did you tell her, Galan?”
“No,” I said.
I could almost feel my skin darkening. I hadn’t told Ellis, but she had overheard my conversation with Quill last night, I knew she did. After our walk in the garden, Quill had invited me back to his personal quarters. I’d spent the rest of the evening with him and Sabrina and their young ones. When I’d returned to my apartment, Ellis was gone. I’d wanted to go to her, but I made the decision to give her space. At the time, I believed she was questioning what Quill had said about me not trusting her and I planned on reassuring her tonight that she had nothing to worry about.
“Then how in Krono’s name did she find out,” Melu said.
“I spoke with Galan about the peace treaty last night in his apartment,” Quill said. “The thief was in his bedroom and no doubt, heard us speak of it.”
My tail thumped against the chair and I looked away from Quill as Krey said, “My king, Galan would not sleep with the thief. He knows to do so would be foolish and unwise.”
Quill sighed. “Neither you nor Galan have ever been able to lie for shit, Krey.”
I winched. Quill rarely used Earth’s curse words unless he was really angry.
“Galan is not -”
“Krey, stop,” I said before lifting my gaze to Quill. “Yes, she was in my room, my king.”
“Krono, have you gone mad?” Melu said. “What were you thinking, Galan? You should never have -”
Teo opened the door and stepped back into the room. “My king, we have another issue.”
“What is it?”
“There is another human missing.”
“For Krono’s sake,” Quill said. “Who?”
“Her name is Inara.”
Melu’s face went a pale green and his entire body shuddered. “What did you say?”
“Inara is missing. We believe the thief took her.”
“She kidnapped Inara?” Melu’s throat worked as his face went from the pale green to the dark green of the beluca tree. He turned to me. “I will kill the little thief if she hurts Inara.”
Krey rested his hand on Melu’s arm. “Melu, calm down. Ellis may be a thief, but she would not hurt Inara. They are friends.”
“I will kill her,” Melu repeated, his gaze never leaving mine. “Do you hear me, Galan?”
“I hear you,” I said. “But go anywhere near Ellis and the last thing you see will be my sword as it cuts off your head.”
Melu bared his teeth at me. “You think you can beat me, you puny froden? I will slice off your limbs and bathe in your -”
“Enough!” Quill said. “Melu, hold your tongue.”
Melu shut his mouth with a snap, his body tense like overstrung wire, and his jaw twitching as he ground his teeth together.
“Inara and Ellis are friends,” I said. “If Inara is with her,