Her shoulders straightened as she puffed her chest at the words. “I have,” she agreed.

“Some would say that was worth a great deal.” He angled his head to take in Niko. “Turo, bring me the knife our captain Larsen has concealed up her sleeve.”

Niko shook the weapon out and handed it to the narrow-eyed lieutenant without comment. Turo took it and handed it to Last, who turned it over in his long-fingered, grayish-skinned hands, his expression contemplative.

“As I was saying,” he began anew, “some would think it worth a great deal.”

Lolola paid him an uncertain smile.

“Others would say that an agent who acts without direction is not worth much at all,” he continued. “I hadn’t thought to take dear Niko until she was just about to see herself financially clear. To, mmm, heighten things. And yet you acted.”

“When I found out where the ship would be, it seemed too good a chance to miss,” Lolola said.

“Indeed.” He beckoned to her. “Come closer, so I may read the meaning in your eyes and see whether you are sincere.”

Her steps were hesitant. As she neared, his hand flashed out, farther than Atlanta would have thought he could reach. Scarlet sprayed outward. The woman went to her knees, clutching at her throat. There was a smell of copper and piss in the air and total silence as they watched her die.

Last handed the knife to Turo and returned the gimlet of his attention to its original target. “And your fingers, Nicolette, have they grown wiser? Do they still try to make away with things not your own?”

“Ah, that. I hoped you had forgotten. It has been decades, after all.”

“Has it?” he mused. He leaned back in his seat. The light played across the red fabric, trying futilely to ignite it to splendor. “Perhaps it seems to you to have been that long. After all, you’ve been out there in the universe. Having adventures. Rising to power—briefly, so briefly!—but power nonetheless, former admiral Larsen! We hear these things, you know, even in the backwaters like this. Tell me, my dear…”

He was addressing not Niko now but a corner of the room. Atlanta, kneeling beside Niko, felt the captain tense as though anticipating a blow harder than Turo’s.

“Tell me, Pet,” Tubal Last said, voice full of amusement, “has it seemed that long since our dear Nicolette tried to rescue you?”

Someone stepped out of the shadows.

17

Beside Atlanta, Niko recoiled.

Atlanta gaped at one of the most beautiful humanoids she’d ever seen. “Who is that?” she whispered to Dabry. “What is she?”

“That,” Dabry murmured, sounding resigned, “is Petalia. They’re a Florian. I know they look female, but believe me, they’d be the first to correct you.”

“I thought the Florians were extinct!”

“Then probably,” Dabry said, “you understand why Tubal values that one so highly.”