Page 158 of Sky’s Edge

Since I would, or wouldn’t, as the case would be, I just went about doing the only thing I could do.

Being me.

“Thank you for that,” I said, and looked up to Tanyn. “And on that note, I stopped in to see Zyra and Manny before I came here. He’s prowling around the medi-unit like a caged cat. She reports he’s driving her crazy.”

“I’d find something for him to do, but he’ll never leave her,” Tanyn replied.

“I learned this when I asked if he wanted to take a walk on the grounds with me, he refused, Zyr told him to go, they got in a fight, which was when I left.”

I was relieved to see a small smile form on his face.

“She’s definitely coming back to herself,” he murmured.

“Yes,” I confirmed.

He turned to his friends. “You two can go. Get some coffee. I’ll be with you when you go back to Gehenn.” He said the last to Uly.

They jutted their chins and took off.

When the door closed behind them, Tanyn shifted me to his front so we were both holding on to each other.

“How are you doing?” I asked.

“Better, after sleep.”

“Good,” I mumbled.

“I headed down earlier to check on Zyr and Manny. They were both still asleep.”

“Well, as I reported, they’re up now.”

“Can I ask you to keep an eye on them?”

“Of course.”

“We think we have a leak,” he announced.

“I’m…sorry?” I dragged that out, such was my surprise.

“We’re still in theorizing mode, and I’ll be bloody fucking happy when we know some facts. But we think Tatra knew I’d received bids to renovate the citadel. This was what prompted the attack. My indication it mattered to me, and I was doing something about the state of it. So she moved to destroy it.”

“Well, considering her desperate desire to behave like an absolute piece of shit when it comes to you, that tracks.”

His eyes lit with humor, but his lips simply murmured, “Yes. But although those bids were not strictly confidential, they weren’t announced to the media either. We’re tracing who told who what to see if we can get a lock on someone sharing that information with Tatra, or a sympathizer.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” I replied. “I assume you’re heading up to Gehenn to be in on the interrogations.”

He nodded.

“Okay, then before you get on with important things, I want you to know what I’ve been up to this morning.”

“What you’ve been up to?”

“Yes. I’ve made some decisions and carried them through.”

He looked shocked.

This expression was explained when he asked, “How long have you been up?”