“So a team of four breaks into your . . . house?” At his nod, I continued, “Breaks into your house, defeats whatever security you had protecting the ring, and makes off with it. You lock your accounts, and they try to access them. Presumably they know that not everything is locked down and are systematically trying to find something to steal. Which means they have to be close enough to access it.”

I looked at him in dawning comprehension. “You think they’re still in Valovian space, possibly on Valovia itself.” I followed that train of thought. “And you can’t involve the Valovian authorities because you are trying to keep it quiet. Why?”

Torran’s jaw hardened. “I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“I am bound by an oath.”

“Of course. That would make this entirely too easy,” I growled. “Instead, let’s let the humans go on a wild-goose chase without enough information to find anything. That’s way better.”

My sarcasm was not lost on him. He glared at me. “It was not my decision.”

Now that was interesting. As far as I knew, there were not too many people on Valovia who could override General Torran Fletcher. “Are you the head of your household?”

Torran’s eyes gleamed and he inclined his head.

“So it wasn’t someone in your family. The government?”

He said nothing.

“Kee will find out, oath or no,” I warned him.

“I hope so,” he whispered so quietly that I wondered if I’d imagined it.

Chapter Ten

By the time I made it down to the rec room, Kee had Havil and Eli rearranging the furniture. The number of seats in front of the vid screen had doubled, and the individual seats we usually used had been replaced by couches and loveseats from the other parts of the room.

When I quirked an eyebrow at her, Kee gave me an innocent smile. I didn’t believe it for a second.

I felt Torran arrive, his presence heavy at my back. He hadn’t mentioned joining us when I’d left him on the bridge—after I’d quietly ensured all of the terminals were sufficiently locked down. I shifted out of the doorway and he stepped up beside me.

He watched Kee directing the others for a moment before softly asking, “Does she always get her way?”

I chuckled. “Pretty much.” Kee drew people like bees to honey, and Eli and I were not immune. It wasn’t just her cheerful optimism and delicate build—it ran deeper, some indefinable quirk that was all her. If Kee ever put her mind to it, she could manipulate nearly anyone, but the thought never occurred to her. And 99.8 percent of the time, she was incredibly easy to get along with.

Varro continued to find himself in the uncomfortable .2 percent.