He raised his eyebrows slightly. “Starting with whatever he’s up to right now. I noticed he was talking with General Ba’kif again, so that’s probably the best place to start. Perhaps I’ll take an hour or two to look into that before I begin your rematching procedure.”

Thalias tried to hide her reaction. But it was no use. His offhanded threat to rematch her back to her old family had done the trick. He would give her the next hour to consider what life without the Mitth would be like, and then he would start the procedure.

Abruptly, she pulled out her own questis and peered at it. “All right,” she said. “You win.”

Again, Thurfian hid his smile of triumph. Really, sometimes it was just too easy. “Excellent,” he said, gesturing her back to the chair. “Though as I think further, I wonder if it would be better to head back first for our talk with General Ba’kif. You can begin your report along the way.”

“You’re right, we’re leaving,” Thalias agreed. “But not to fleet HQ.” She held up her questis. “You’re to take me instead to the Mitth homestead.”

Thurfian’s sense of triumph vanished. “What?” he asked carefully.

“You said it yourself,” she said. “I don’t have a stable position with the family. So I’ve made arrangements to remedy that.”

“How?” he asked, his blood suddenly running cold. If she denounced his interest in Thrawn to the wrong people…

No, that couldn’t be it. She couldn’t possibly know enough about the labyrinthian web woven around the upper ranks of the family. “If you think there’s anyone higher than me you can appeal to—”

“I’m not going to appeal,” she said. “I’m going to take the Trials.”

He stared at her. “The Trials?”

“Merit adoptives can ask at any time to take the Trials,” Thalias said. “If they succeed, they become Trial-born.”

“Kindly do not lecture me on my own family’s policies,” Thurfian said stiffly. “And that’s only if they succeed. If they don’t, they lose even merit adoptive status.”

“I’m aware of that,” Thalias said. There was a slight tremor in her voice, but her jaw was firmly set. “But you were going to throw me out of the family anyway.” She lifted the questis again. “I’ve petitioned the Office of the Patriarch, and the petition’s been accepted.”

“Fine,” Thurfian said between clenched teeth. Curse this woman, anyway. “I’ll give you the instructions on how to get to the homestead—”

“The Patriarch’s Office has requested that you accompany me.”

Thurfian hissed out a curse. The final spiral to his plans. She’d outmaneuvered him completely.

She…or Thrawn.