Page 114 of Tempting Cargo

A vein bulged in her forehead. “I can kill you, too.”

Our beloved old steward showed no fear, just met Mother’s frantic gaze with calm acceptance and a defiant tilt to his jaw.

To my surprise, Father bared his teeth. “Get a grip, Marsyi. I won’t let you kill our son. Or Kimivha.”

I locked eyes with him and inclined my head. Getting a backbone at the last minute was better late than never.

“If it is true, who knows how many kri’ith carry shaa genes?” Father rested a hand on his tusks. “It could be you, Marsyi. It could be me. It could be both of us.”

Thank you, Father, for bringing things back on topic.

“Mother.” I gestured back to the holodisplay. “This is a personalised exposé on shaa’ith genetics. Tokki’s broadcast sows seeds of chaos. How widespread the shaa’ith are. But when Shohari mai Tasra tells everyone locally that her very own brother is shaa’ith, and therefore at least two ofusare?” I let the words hang for just a second. “Your reputation is about to be in tatters. You don’t have a choice.”

All the hatred she’d kept from me over the years simmered in her eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”

I pushed down anything I could have felt. “You’ll find I have learned much from you about being ruthless, Mother.”

Muzati had stayed uncharacteristically quiet throughout this exchange, but she sauntered forwards. “I’ve programmed theDorimisato broadcast it on all public channels in an hour. The only way shewon’tbroadcast is if we’re in deep space by then, because there are no public channels to pick it up.”

Mother was incandescent. “I will destroy the ship before I let you do that.”

My engineer caught the twist wrench that fell out of her writhing headspines, her grin splitting all the way to her ear ridges. “You’re going to smoke a perfectly good ship? Whatwillthe neighbours say? Theonlytrading shipyourfamily has?”

I risked a glance to Madame dai Yakri, who barely concealed her dark look at Muzati.

“I’ll send an engineer to remove it,” Mother said.

Muzati laughed. “You won’t even find it.”

“It’s my ship. I commissioned it.”

“Yes, you did. With Orith-standard equipment from two decades ago. I modernised it. And modified it.” Smugness danced across Muzati’s features. “Even if you disintegrate it with phasers, that broadcast will happen.”

“Impossible.”

“Do you want to take the chance, Mother?” My voice was cold. “Do you want to take the chance that we don’t have a contingency plan? Say, a friend on the nearest Orkri pod who has instructions to broadcast it if they don’t hear from us, from orbit, within an hour?”

She spluttered, her face turning an impossible magenta.

Savage satisfaction purred in my gut, and I grinned viciously at Muzati, who gave a ludicrous thumb-upwards gesture she must have learned from Garrison.

“We’re leaving now.” My eyes fell on Airida, and I ran to him. “I’ve got you, little brother. Come away with us.”

Though he looked lost and confused, he pulled himself up and shrugged off the hands holding him.

I locked my gaze with Kimivha, wanting to thank him but not able to put him in trouble or danger with my mother. He gave me a quick flash of teeth and clasped my arm. “Be well, Mistress Shohari, Master Airida.”

“And you.”

The guards lowered their weapons at my father’s command, and I inclined my head to Garrison and the shaa’ith, who covered us as we walked backwards, their weapons ready.

Our boots rang out on the stone, the only sound other than birdsong and people breathing until Madame dai Yakri’s shrillvoice cut through it. “You have shaa genes, Marsyi? By all the spines. You’ll be the talk of the recreation club, I dare say. I scarce cannot wait to—”

I shoved my face close to hers. “You won’t breathe a word, Madame dai Yakri.”

Her glare could only be described as petulant. “You told me I could have the information.”

“I did. I didn’t say you could share it.”