“No,” I said at once. “She is mine.”

Phoebe’s skin warmed to the touch as she heard my response. Her cheeks turned rosy, and her lashes fluttered as she looked down in delighted embarrassment. It thrilled me to see her physical reaction to words that tasted so right on my tongue, even under the circumstances.

“Oh, sorry,” Faro apologized. “No harm meant.”

“No harm done,” I replied easily.

“Have a seat.” He motioned to the seat opposite him. All of the tables were equipped with four chairs, which meant three were available, but he did not address Phoebe. She appeared a little affronted, but I understood his behavior. Underground, laaka were generally not addressed unless they were fulfilling an agreed-upon duty. Faro was far from comfortable around females anyway. I had never known him to develop a long-term relationship with anyone, and the only females I ever saw in his presence were laaka who he hired on the rare lonely night.

I slid into the seat he proffered, but not before leading Phoebe to the chair on its right. Once we were all sitting, I leaned across the table and focused solely on Faro.

“Is Feq still a guard at P’otes-tat Ulti?” I asked in a low, almost inaudible tone.

“Yes,” Faro said. “Why do you ask?”

“I need to get a message to my brother. I expect you have heard Venan was arrested for Kharid’s murder.”

Faro sucked in a sharp breath, and then let it out in a whistle. “I did,” he told me. “I did not think Venan did it, though. He was always too loyal.”

“He did not murder Kharid, but he did kill him, and now he has asked that his trial is moved up because he wishes to enter a plea of guilty and serve whatever sentence is put down upon him. I cannot let that happen,” I explained. I did not want to go into too much detail because, no matter how quietly I talked, there were always open ears in the lair. “Has Feq been home recently?”

“He is due to return the day after tomorrow,” Faro said. “Are you going to be around? I heard you were transferred out of Ka-lik’et.”

“I was,” I confirmed. I glanced at Phoebe, willing her silently not to say anything about where we had been placed or why. She remained quiet. I looked back to Faro. “Temporarily, that is, but I am afraid I will not be able to wait two days for Feq to return. Would you be able to give him a message for me?”

Taking a large drink from his cup, Faro nodded. A bit of liquid spilled from the lip down his chin, but he did not seem to notice, or else he did not care. “Anything you need. Could only imagine if it were Feq in that position. He is my son, though, and you have always had a rather contentious relationship with your brother, so I suppose there is a difference.”

I ignored the analysis and said, “I need you to tell him to rescind his request. He cannot. We are compiling evidence in his favor. He does not deserve to be locked up or for the rest of his life or put to death for what transpired.”

“Evidence?” Faro squinted at me through intoxicated eyes. “What kind of evidence? The Council has been to the Palace six times over since the Elder died. Any evidence will be gone by now.”

“It is a different kind of evidence,” I said, “to prove Venan acted accordingly to the situation.”

“Well, I will be glad to pass that along to Feq, but do you not think you are wasting your time? Venan will probably want to suffer the worst for what happened, even if it was not his fault.”

“It does not matter what he wants. He will ruin himself over something he did not do,” I said fiercely.

Faro snorted. “You need not try to convince me, boy. Just wanted to make sure you had good reason to take the risk of coming back here in the first place. Felt right glad when you decided to get your nose clean and stay out of these criminal affairs.”

“You may have been the only one,” I remarked wryly.

“Terrik?” He snorted again and took another deep swig before saying, “Terrik is nothing more than a bully. There is a reason he has to work so hard to keep his control over his minions. A good leader is respected.”

Phoebe nodded vigorously in agreement, and I grinned at her. She may have feared Terrik, but she was proving herself to be braver than I expected. What was more, she did not need to speak to demonstrate she had a backbone. It was visible in her posture, the tilt of her chin, and the revulsion she had shown on her face when Terrik had addressed her. I could not have been more proud of her if I tried.

“Thank you for doing this favor, Faro,” I said gratefully. “I would have had to resort to some more dangerous measures, had you not been here.”

He waved a hand. “You know where I live,” he said. “Come by anytime, especially if you do not want to bring your human around that poor excuse.” He waved his hand again, but this time in Terrik’s direction.

“Thank you,” I said again. I meant it. I had always liked Faro, and while many of the Ka-lik’et citizens thought him nothing more than a waste of space and an embarrassment of an A’li-uud, I had actually always thought him to be too moral to be spending as much time as he did in the lair.

I got to my feet, and I offered a hand to Phoebe. She took it and slid from her own chair, and I watched the silks pool around her feet. In the blue light, she almost looked a little bit like an A’li-uud as her pale skin absorbed the watery hue, and her fair hair was washed out to a colorless white. She still looked amazing, but I realized I preferred her above ground where she was definitively human.

We made our way across the room again, and I was glad to see Terrik had vacated his seat. Just as we were about to reach the exit, however, he appeared, and behind him were three henchmen.

“Leaving so soon?” he asked. He was smiling, his leer pulling his lips back over his teeth and where his teeth should have been. “I think we still have some talking to do.”