“Stop,” Bel said. Her voice was muffled behind her hand. “Stop, shut up, for the love of everything, shut up. There is no sick grandmother!”

Kiem stopped. “What?”

“I’ve been lying to you!” Bel said. Her voice was lower and faster now, almost a whisper. “I don’t know where the hell my grandmother is, she was with the Black Shells last time I spoke to her. She’s probably fine. Stop—stop sympathizing!”

That put a wrench even in Kiem’s current panic. “Black Shells? Is that a monastery?”

“She’s a raider!” Bel said. “Do I have to spell this out for you? The Black Shells is a conglom! Like the one I came from!”

“I don’t—you—conglom?”

“Raider outfit!”

“Right,” Kiem said and bit down on I knew that. His limited knowledge of Sefalan affairs wasn’t the issue here. He tried not to feel like he was talking to someone else, someone who wasn’t Bel at all. “Why did you need to lie to—”

No. He found he didn’t care. Bel was still the same person she’d been for all the time he’d known her, and she hadn’t let him down in anything yet. She would have her reasons. “You know what, if you don’t want me to know, I don’t need to. But please, can it wait for just a few hours? I’ll rebook you on the next shuttle out.”

Bel was now staring at him. “You’re an idiot. Don’t you want to know why I’m going?”

“Did I do something?” Kiem said desperately. “Can I make up for it?”

“No!” Bel leaned in closer. She was still whispering, apparently not trusting the privacy capsule. “Did you hear the part where I said my grandmother split off with the Black Shells? Do you know that kind of trade usually runs in families? I was born on a Red Alpha ship! I was one of our system breakers for ten years! It was my job to break into shuttle communications networks so they couldn’t use them when our ship attacked!”

This called for thought. Thought that Kiem couldn’t really spare. “I’ve seen your resume,” he said. That hadn’t been on it.

“I faked nearly everything I gave you!” Bel said, in a whisper so vicious, it was almost a hiss. “You’re not this slow on the uptake!”

“Oh, right, obviously,” Kiem said. Every minute he couldn’t get Bel to come back was a minute Jainan was still under arrest. “So…? I thought you might have some friends that weren’t totally aboveboard. You don’t still do that stuff, do you? I know you.”

Bel looked utterly taken aback for the first time since Kiem had known her.

“So? I lied to get this job. I lied to that outfit you use to recommend people—

charities are easy to fool. I used to be a raider, do you need this spelled out for you? I used you to get away and go straight!”