He shut his eyes and prepared to meet his fate.

My heart was in my throat.

What was Yaltah going to do?

Trust his instincts?

Or trust the other species?

Our lives hung in the balance.

25

YALTAH

I distrusted him the moment I called his stench.

Suddenly, the deathly mask hanging in the darkness didn’t seem so surprising.

If death was going to have the appearance of anyone, none fit the bill better than the Sny’at.

Just being in his presence put me on edge.

I couldn’t help but glance over at him every few minutes, appraising him, judging him, looking for any sign he might be attempting some kind of betrayal.

His species was known for it, and known for nothing else.

Every chance they had to leverage their position, to take advantage, they used without scruple or mercy.

The Krev had trusted them multiple times over the years and had always come out worse for it.

Cayah’s species deserved their reputation.

I was not about to make the same mistake again and would have avoided him at all costs… if it wasn’t for the fact he had a ship with a reflector drive onboard, and that made all the difference.

Assuming he was telling the truth, of course.

But surely even he couldn’t be stupid enough to lie about such things?

After all, there would be no other way of escaping in a ship otherwise.

And if, once we got to his ship, I discovered there was no Reflector, I would use the fighting skills he had recruited me for against him, and tear him apart limb from limb.

Each time I looked over at him, I saw him beside his mate, crouched beside her as she slept on the sofa, gently dabbing at her face with a cold flannel.

It could all be an act, I knew.

The depravity of the Sny’at knew no depths.

They would do anything to survive.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

It was the sound of the Goblars hammering at the room’s potential entrances, or perhaps they hammered to create a new one, chiseling a tunnel.