Page 92 of The Inheritance

“It feels different. More like that dog the assessor brought with her than a breach creature.”

“That was our dog,” Leo said.

Was being the operative term.

The cat stretched a little, trying to get more pets.

“You can’t abandon it here,” Samantha said. “This cat isn’t part of whatever this is. It will die on its own.”

“Where would we keep it?” Leo asked.

“In the HQ,” Samantha countered. “We have an R&D department. We can claim it’s for research.”

“No! The DDC would lose its shit.”

“The DDC doesn’t have to know. We can sneak it out tonight.”

“Sam!”

“’You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed,’” Samantha quoted.

“That’s great. When we are hauled before a congressional committee and the guild is in danger of being disbanded, you can tell them we did it because The Little Prince said so.”

The cat pressed its head against Elias’ arm and made a low rumbling noise.

“It’s purring!”

“It’s growling!”

“Keep it!”

“Kill it.”

The cat looked at him with big green eyes.

“You know, your kind usually doesn’t like me,” Elias told it.

The beast purred louder.

“Guildmaster?” Sam prompted.

“We’re keeping it,” Elias said.

“Yessss!” Samantha jumped three feet into the air.

Leo spun away waving his arms. “Why doesn’t anyone listen to me?”

“I can’t leave it here without food or water,” Elias said. “The wound is closed, but it will need time to recover.”

“This will end in disaster. Mark my words…”

“Leonard,” Elias said.

Leo stopped.

“What I say now stays between the three of us. Adaline mentioned spider herders. I didn’t get a chance to find out more, because getting our story straight before the DDC showed up took priority, but I’m certain she encountered sophonts in this breach.”

In nine years of gate diving, he’d only seen sophonts twice and even now he wasn’t sure exactly what he’d witnessed.