Days after I formally accepted Carzon's job offer, progress remained too slow for my comfort. Offices in the city had to be purchased through the Primen's official accounts, which required the input of several dozen scholars, merchants, and other Xiban who knew numbers and figures better than weapons and ships. The clever slavers had taken all proof of their existence with them in death, and without it, few could be convinced of a lingering threat.

I was shocked by the inaction, but the Primen had anticipated it. Carzon siphoned a modest budget of credits from his personal accounts. It didn't give my fears recognition, but it gave me resources to get started.

A small group of warriors, many of whom I'd trained myself, had already begun training for rapid-response missions. The crew of the Swadak led increased patrols of the transport lanes. My family's school began work on a new curriculum, focusing the civilian officers on evacuation and ground rescue.

The changes wouldn't be enough to repel a full-on attack, but until Carzon's spies could find concrete evidence of a conspiracy, it was the best I could do.

One night during a meeting, he picked up on my frustrations and made an offer I didn't expect. That evening, as our meeting ended, my thoughts turned to Ella. The meeting ran later than I expected, costing me a chance to have dinner with her. A fact I was lamenting silently when Carzon made his proposal.

"The Swadak might have more success with a more cunning commander. Someone I can trust. If the position interests you, I will call them back immediately."

Command of a ship. The most advanced, best-equipped ship in Xiban's fleet. More than that, a position in the Primen's inner circle. Those of my blood had worked generations for the chance to rise so high. Centuries rising through the ranks, scraping to hold our position even as others rose and fell around us.

Our family would rise to ranks higher than almost any on our world, second only to the Primen and his family. In the mine field that was Xiba, status that high was difficult to get but also difficult to lose. The very act of achieving it could carry a family for generations. One day, Ella’s and my sons and daughters, or their sons and daughters, wouldn't serve the Primen. They would be the Primen.

It was all at my fingers . . . if I could stand to leave my mate behind.

Carzon seemed to sense my reluctance. "Your mate is no better, then?"

"Sometimes, it’s as if nothing is wrong, and others, there's no strength in her. A healer is with her now."

Ella's mood had improved on my return, but her energy hadn’t. Headaches left her in the dark, with the cloth covering her eyes to shut out every scrap of light. Every day, I returned to find her curled up in the silks or on the cushions by the warmer. At my insistence, she put the lessons at the auction house on hold to conserve what little strength she had.

She didn't get any worse, but it frustrated me that she wasn't getting any better.

Carzon clapped me on the shoulder. "Put your mind at ease, my friend. I need a decision soon, but not now."

My mind was anything but at ease as I made my way home. Our planet needed protection. My family needed to advance. I needed to be with my mate. By the time I walked into our quarters that night, I had decided to tell Ella about the command offer and tell her that I would turn it down.

The smell of sweet herbs and sugared fruit wafted to my nose as I walked through the door. Notes of honey and spice followed close behind. Ella sat on the right side of the main table, clutching her traditional evening bowl of janlt. A slice of spiced cake topped with stewed fruit lay on the table in front of her.

She looked up at me and smiled. For a second, she looked like her old self, except for the dark marks beneath her eyes. "I'd almost given up on seeing you tonight."

I strode over to her, bending down and claiming her lips. They tasted of yantir and honey. "I made a vow, remember? I'll always return to you."

"Carzon seems pretty determined to take you away from me." She wrapped her fingers around my hands.

"If he's fool enough to try, he will fail miserably."

A wide grin spread across her lips. Her eyes sparkled as she spoke.

"I know. I've got a trump card." Ella patted the place beside her at the head of the table. "Sit down with me for a while, and then I'll get Ingendia to bring your dinner."

I caressed her cheek for a moment before walking to my chair. "I don't know what that is, but you sound excited about it."

"Very excited, Kai'jan." Ella reached for the steaming pot and poured its dark green contents into my bowl. "The healer came today."

She slid the janlt toward me, but I didn't reach for it. "What did he say?"

The strange smile came to her lips again. She climbed to her feet and moved to the far side of the table. "He sat here for a while. Ingendia made a platter of those spiced meatballs I loved so much. I stared at them while the healer asked about my symptoms. When they started, how bad they were, that sort of thing."

I furrowed my brow. "Yes . . .?"

Ella walked over to me, her hips swaying beneath her linen dress. She pressed a finger to my lips. "Just listen. It'll make sense, I promise."

I nodded, darting my tongue out to caress her finger.

She giggled and continued. "Anyway, I remember the meatballs smelled so good. I can never remember the name of them, but Ingendia knows I love them. She didn't know if the doctor was going to give me good news or bad, so I think that's why she made them."

Ella moved back to the spot where the healer had been. She sat down, folding her hands on the table in front of her. "The healer was an old man. Older than your grandfather even. With these massive hands the size of my head. He leaned forward just like this and folded his hands. He said he would do some scans, but he already knew what was wrong. Well, not wrong but . . . different."

I raised an eyebrow at the mention of my grandfather. He had been dead many years. Ages before Ella even came to Xiban.

She stood again and walked to her chair, at my right hand. "And I sat here while he told me, wishing I had waited for your father to come home. Because the healer said he had seen my symptoms before—in other human women who’d mated with Xiban men."

The details started to click into place. Human bodies weren't like ours. They were more fragile, less used to stress and strain. The strain of creating a life would weigh heavily on a human body.

Ella slid into my lap, wrapping her arms around the back of my neck. "I can't make byantin, but you can. Now, when our baby grows up and asks my favorite memory of my time here, you can show them this."

My heart pounded. My thoughts raced through a hundred different versions of my future. I wasn't on the Swadak in any of them. I wrapped my arms around Ella. My Ella, with our child in her stomach. Maybe I could have left her . . . for a little while. But I could never have left them.

I brought my hand to her face, caressing her plump cheeks with my fingers. "Will you . . .?"

The words died on my lips. How could I ask my mate if she would survive this? But Ella took my hand in hers again, pressing a kiss to my palm.

"The birth won't be easy," she said. "But the healer said human women have healthy children here all the time."

"So, ‘trump card’ means 'I win'?"

Ella's laughter washed over me. The last bit of fear in my heart melted away. I pulled Ella close, delighting in the feel of my mate’s soft body against mine. What I felt for her was beyond winning and losing. Beyond status and accomplishment.

Falling in love with a human woman was my greatest victory and my greatest defeat.