Page 118 of Seer Prophet

“A formal request?” Balidor knew he didn’t succeed in stripping his words, even his facial expression, of incredulity. “A formal request for what, precisely,laoban?To remove your wife from office?”

When Revik’s irises sparked brighter, Balidor held up his hands, trying to use hisaleimito calm the other male down, even as the taller seer’s expression grew murderous.

“Are youlisteningto yourself, Nenz?” Balidor said. “You are advocating a mutiny, led by the Bridge’s own husband. What possible grounds do you have, for––”

“I am not trying to remove her from office!” Revik snapped. “It’s not a fuckingmutiny,Balidor. Jesus. Are you listening to me?”

“Every seer in this fleet can probably hear you, brother,” Balidor muttered.

“Most of them don’t even speak English! Or are you broadcasting this shit through the construct in case I try to kill you?”

Balidor felt his jaw harden more.

Taking a breath, he forced his voice more subdued.

“My point is, every seer in the fleet will see this as a mutiny, Nenz. I highly doubt you’ll get most of them to go along with you, no matter how you spin it––”

“Bullshit! They don’t even need toknowabout it!”

Balidor clicked under his breath.

“And what about Alyson, herself?” he asked drily. “Does she need to know about it? Do you imagine you could openly defy her orders, Nenz, without others noticing? Or do you really think she’ll agree to this? That she’ll just go along quietly with––”

“My wife will just have to get over it, too.”

Balidor stared at him in disbelief.

“Meaning what?” he burst out. “What the hell does thatmean,brother?”

When the other male only exuded another cloud of anger, Balidor wove a thread of warning into his words.

“You cannot put me in this position, Nenz,” he said. “You cannot.”

Forcing himself to take a breath, the Adhipan leader fought to retain his calm.

The panic coming off the other man’s light continued to affect his. He heard his accent own strengthen in his words, mirroring the Germanic tones that invaded Revik’s English. Fighting to get his equilibrium back, if only so he could think clearly about what the Sword wanted from him, Balidor shook his head, clicking louder.

“Nenzi. We can talk about solutions. We can.” Balidor took another breath, raising his hand in a peace gesture. “But you mustcalmyourself, my brother. You are not seeing this clearly right now, and youmustsee it clearly before we address the particulars in any way. You should go for a walk. You should do at least two circuits around the ship’s track. Then we can talk about this again, when you––”

“She’s not fucking safe!” Revik snapped, glaring at him. “Am I the only one who sees this? If so, maybe I’m the only one seeing this ‘clearly’ at all!”

He leaned closer to the Adhipan leader.

“Thesingle fucking timeI’ve left her alone, Balidor. Today is the first time I’ve left her alone for more thanten fucking minutessince all of this shit happened… at least when she wasn’t with you or Tarsi.One time,and she gets contacted by that fucker’s people? Are you really going to sit there and tell me that’s a goddamned coincidence? That I’m overreacting?”

“Do you know for certain that it’s not?” Balidor asked, his voice subdued. “A coincidence, Nenz.”

“I damned well fucking do know!” Revik growled. “Sheshowedme, ‘Dori! That fuckerwaitedfor me to leave her alone! He told her he did!”

Balidor felt his chest constrict.

He didn’t avert his gaze from the other’s face.

Clearly, Dehgoies had gotten the unabridged version of Terian and Alyson’s interaction.

“Where is she now?” Balidor asked, cautious.

“She’s in the tank.”

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