Chapter Eight
Stacy’s makeshift officeon the station had been decently furnished, thanks to Rihep being in charge of requisitions for Alpha and Earth.Her desk and chair weren’t as nice as the furniture in the Government Hall, where she worked planetside.Still, they showed no signs of having been used prior to the Dramok setting up her workspace until the quarantine was lifted.She missed the homier aspects of her usual digs but refused to change the utilitarian aspect of her temporary solution.Earth II was where she belonged as governor.
She was trying to get work done when Kuran stomped in.His expression was thunderous, and she knew the verdict before he said, “It was an assassination attempt on you.He was to get Blythe Nelson too, if feasible, given the number of anti-Earthtique stories she reports.But you were the primary target.”
“How hard was he to get to talk?”Stacy kept her tone even, her gaze steady on the agitated Nobek.
“The usual,” he evaded.
“Kuran.”
“I didn’t torture him.I just scared the hell out of him.”He spat it out like it was a shameful admission.
For him, it was.It went beyond being her bodyguard.They were promised as future clanmates, but Kuran already considered Stacy his Matara.To not commit physical harm to someone who’d tried to kill her, to not outright murder her would-be assailant, was to him a shameful travesty as her sworn protector.
“Thank you.It would have complicated things for me on Earth.”That was putting it lightly.“What did you get him to tell you?”
Kuran paced in front of her desk.“He said he was approached by a person who threatened his family members on New Bethlehem.They’d be targeted if he didn’t take the opportunity during the interview to kill you.”
“Sounds like he felt he had no choice.Can you verify his story?”
“He had a good description of the guy who cornered him in a bar on Earth a few days ago.If they have surveillance footage, I’ll be able to identify the bastard.No doubt it’ll be someone connected to the Earthtiques, whether from Earth, New Bethlehem, or Mercy.Ifthis asshole wasn’t doing it on his own.”
“My election seems to have ruffled a few feathers, especially since I won by such a great margin.The stakes are getting higher.”She sighed.“The problem with extremists is when they can no longer ignore they’re the minority, they get desperate rather than taking it as a lesson.”
“You can’t return to Earth tomorrow.We need more time.”
“Kuran, I have to return to the planet, especially in the wake of the attack.Hiding gives them a victory almost as good as them succeeding in killing me.”She stood and went to the glowering Nobek, who hadn’t stopped pacing the entire time.
“It isn’t safe, no matter how many guards I put on you,” he insisted, trying to swerve around her.
She wasn’t having it.She cupped his strong jaw in her palms, drawing him to a stop.“It’s always been this way.You’ve saved me before.”
“The chances I can do so go down with each attempt.Eventually—”
“Kuran, you know I have to go to Earth.I have to do what I was elected to do, or the bastards win.We can’t allow it.”
