Raz’s brows lifted. “Past tense? Do you leave us on the next shuttle, then?”
Ten
Do you let whoever framed you win?” Glyssa put in. She was stuck here,
Jace didn’t look at her. “This conversation isn’t productive.”
“It’s a matter of pride, isn’t it?” Raz asked softly, sympathetically, and Glyssa was struck that he used his voice, his manner, to get the results he wanted all the time. She couldn’t truly gauge how sincere he might be.
“The accusation of theft smears a man,” Jace said. “I leave now and the problems continue on the site, and you’ll know it isn’t me.”
“Yes, theft smears,” Del snapped. “You leave now and rumors will follow you wherever you go.”
Raz put a hand on his HeartMate’s shoulder. “Neither of us have ever been incriminated of wrongdoing. We don’t know what Jace might be feeling.”
“You’re an actor, you can imagine,” Jace said. “I’ll consider my options until the next airship.”
Glyssa wet her lips, said softly, “You also must consider your BirdFam, your companion who has only known this area.”
“Later,” Jace said, pivoted on his heel and walked out of the tent.
As he stalked away, she contacted him mentally,
Acid coated her throat. She’d never been a victim of injustice and she’d taken her own status and her place in the world for granted. And now everything had come tumbling down.
She didn’t know a lot about Jace’s background, but
Now Jace was charged with being a dishonorable man.
And her bumbling had made things worse.
The Elecampanes were staring at her. She wanted to press them for assurance that they believed her, believed in Jace like she did, and knew she couldn’t.
Their faces were inscrutable. She couldn’t tell whether they thought she and Jace were conspiring against them or not.
Maybe they even believed that Laev T’Hawthorn had hired her to undermine the project. Or that Camellia D’Hawthorn, whose share of the ship’s treasures would be large, wanted Glyssa to spy for her, let Camellia know when the excavation reached the Captain’s Quarters.
Glyssa had been so naive, so sure that just being a Licorice would proclaim her honesty, that telling them she was HeartMates with Jace would show them that he was honorable, too.
She wasn’t in Druida City anymore with the backing of her Family and friends.
Her lips thinned and she lifted her chin. This is what she wanted, this chance to be somewhere new, do something different, even if it dented her pride and sense of self.
She’d grow. Hurt made a person grow.
But she didn’t have to like these particular circumstances.
She dipped a curtsey, ready to leave without saying anything else, since her throat had dried and she wouldn’t force words. Her mind spun with all the threads of conniving that might blanket the camp.
She knew she was innocent. She knew Jace was innocent. But now his name was smeared and the Elecampanes would do nothing to wipe that away—and the camp would probably follow their example. Whoever had set up Jace had achieved his purpose.
Meanwhile the Elecampanes would outwardly show they were pleased with her, though they’d privately made it clear she was under suspicion.
Terrible outcome of all
After one furious jab of anger at her, Jace had closed down their link to a width smaller than a fox’s whisker.
Less than two days here, and she’d made a mess of everything. A bigger mistake than any other in her life. So much for her self-image of calm, collected efficiency. That was in a shambles, too.
After a few breaths, she cleared her throat with croaking sounds. “I need my breakfast and to supervise Lepid’s. I’ll see you later.” Considering her schedule, she said, “I am due to meet with your daughter, Maxima, and go over Captain Hoku’s journals, the map he made of the ship.” Glyssa gave them a cool look. “I would prefer to work in my pavilion instead of here or the workshop.”
Raz inclined his head. “Workshop doesn’t sound safe to me.”
“Parents!” a girl’s voice called before the Elecampane’s sole child, teenaged Maxima, strolled into the tent, carrying a long-barreled blazer. Her chubby cat rode on her thin shoulder.
Glyssa blinked. Maxima had struck her as a serious student who wouldn’t be out of place as a public librarian—that the girl carried a weapon and seemed competent with it, surprised her.
“We took a walk to where the wounded hawkcel was found,” Maxima said, moving with her father’s grace as she put the gun away in a locked and spellshielded cabinet set in the far corner of the room. “There was little to be seen, nothing that might have caused harm to the bird.”
“It’s been a full day since the attack,” Del said. “Things happen quickly in the wild.”
Maxima said, “I heard that someone knocked out the guards and broke into the ship last night, stole a box. That evidence was found that Jace Bayrum did it and that Glyssa the librarian”—the girl’s gaze flicked to Glyssa —“got an immediate crush on him and came here to intervene for him.”
Glyssa’s face flamed. She’d never been the target of salacious gossip before, either. So much for her professional standing in the camp, no doubt tarnished forever as a love-starved woman. “That is untrue,” she stated coolly. She wasn’t about to tell the girl of a sexual fling, or talk to her about HeartMates.
“I think all of it is untrue,” Maxima said. “I don’t think Jace did it.”
The older Elecampanes shared a glance that Glyssa couldn’t read, perhaps speaking to each other telepathically. Probably had been doing so all the time she’d been in their pavilion.
“What we intend to do about the matter is our business,” Del said, but in a mild tone belying the reprimand.
Maxima’s cat leapt from her shoulder, sniffed.
“Because he sneaks you food,” Maxima said.
“We will be proceeding with the excavation as we decided last night, theft or no theft,” Raz said.
Maxima glanced at Glyssa. “We’ll be studying the journals?”
“Yes. Scan a couple of your copies and choose the one you believe will be the most useful.” Glyssa didn’t wear a timer on her wrist to check. “I haven’t had my breakfast, and I have requested that we work in my pavilion, starting at NineBells.”
Maxima’s eyes lit. “Oh, in a top-of-the-pyramid new pavilion! Most excellent.” Her brows wiggled. “I hear you have a little no-time filled with good food and drink.”
“I do, but I’ll be eating in the mess tent.” She’d have to nerve herself to do that, face everyone gossiping
