He cups my face and kisses the tip of my nose, oblivious to the fact that we're showing PDA in front of everyone. I kinda love that. "There was a situation with Crulden. It's under control now, but it delayed us slightly."
"Then please, sit for dinner," Lord va'Rin says, gesturing at our spots at the table.
I glance around at the others. Jade gives me an encouraging look, as if to tell me that everything is fine. Alice just shovels more food into her mouth, and I suppose if we're all pregnant and they're safe, I'm safe, too. Except everyone has a bone to pick with my beloved husband, and I'm not about to let anyone attack him. "If we're not prisoners, what's to stop us from getting on the Darkened Eye and leaving this place?"
"Absolutely nothing." Lord va'Rin gestures at the spread on the table. "But you'd miss a lovely dinner and deprive my wife of conversation."
Fair again. I regard Milly, and other than Helen, she might be the most delicate person at the table. She's freckled and red-haired and a tiny little thing. She's also got a big, pregnant belly—kid number three, she told me proudly—and as her husband passes her a tidbit, she gives him an adoring look. My stomach growls. "Okay, fine, we'll eat."
Straik guides me over to the table, pulling my chair out for me, and then seats himself at my side. He doesn't make a plate of food for himself, choosing to steal the occasional tidbit off of mine. "So what is the plan, uncle?"
Lord va'Rin lifts a tidbit of food with his elegant utensils, and studies it before popping it into his mouth. "We have ourselves a conundrum. I would like to put an end to this slaving ring. However, I cannot bring in law enforcement due to the fact that there are so many illegally created clones. Over half of the refugees have bad genetic markers."
Over half? I look over at Straik, but he doesn't sound surprised at this.
"Mathiras told me," Straik agrees, plucking a bit of veg from my plate. "Entirely possible they were all created via host-cloning."
"Host-cloning?" Jade asks.
Did I not mention this earlier? I fiddle with a flower-shaped crumbly sweet on my plate as Straik goes into Sakkar's theories. "I believe his assumption to be correct," my husband continues. "I purchased Sakkar from a lab where they were rumored to practice such things. They were shut down by the authorities, but if they found a protector, it's entirely possible that they just set up somewhere else and went back to work."
"We need to find this lab," Lord va'Rin agrees. "Find it and shut it down quietly. Can I count on all of you?"
"What about the crew of the Jabberwock?" Adiron asks. "Don't they get a piece of the action?"
Who? I look over at Straik, but it's Mathiras that answers. He shakes his head at his brother. "Let Zoey and her crew chase down Shaalyn, or Bethiah if she took over. The fewer people that know about our hunt, the better. We can bring them in later if necessary."
Kaspar cracks his knuckles. "So what's in this for us? You want us to risk our necks—and those of our mates and our unborn children. I need a big keffing incentive for that."
Alice jabs him with her eating stick. "How about stopping slavers? How's that for incentive?"
"Need more." Kaspar makes a “gimme” motion with one hand, and Alice rolls her eyes. He just grins. "Man's got to eat and provide for his baby."
Lord va'Rin nods. "Your mates can stay here with us until you locate the—"
"Nope," Jade says immediately.
I shake my head. "I'm staying with Straik."
My husband reaches for my hand under the table and squeezes it, and I know he's glad.
"Well, I'm sure as shit not staying behind," Alice adds. "Someone's got to keep Captain Reckless here out of danger."
"I'm going too," Helen chirps. "I'm the best kind of bait, remember?"
"No one's going to use you as bait," Mathiras growls. "Absolutely not."
She ignores him and tosses her hair. "You don't get a say in the matter."
His jaw clenches and he glares at her, looking as if he's biting back words.
Lord va'Rin watches us all talk over one another. He takes another sip of his wine and finally speaks. "You want incentive? I have an old water processing station orbiting Ekhos II. I was going to sell it off to scrappers since water transport prices have outstripped demand. But if you'd like it, it's yours."
"An entire station?" Adiron asks, his eyes wide. "Big enough for families?"
"Big enough for a dozen families," va'Rin agrees.
Jade and Adiron exchange a look.
I tighten my hand on Straik's. I don't know that we need a station, but it's more important to me that if his mother is involved, we take her out. "Whatever you want to do, I'm game," I tell him softly. "I've got your back, a thousand percent."