She melted into him, the heat of his body warming her skin. Their closeness made her bold. Maybe she would tell him about the pregnancy tonight. “Did you ever want to become a parent yourself?” she asked.
The comms unit in Paal’s collar blinked. “Update required from palatial pod. Go to a secure channel.”
Paal stiffened. “It’s the prince.” He stood, lightly setting Leti on her feet. “I’m sorry, I have to go. You’ll stay to tell me who wins the bet?”
Disappointment blew through her but she forced herself to nod and smile. “Of course.”
He grasped her nape and tipped her head back, brushing his lips lightly over hers. “Thank you for the dance.”
Her heart proceeded to dance and glide around the room, spinning beneath his violet gaze.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
So what if she lost her heart? Her old plan of never caring had ceased to exist the moment she found out she was carrying their baby. It was time to make up new rules.
Paal jogged to the flight deck and switched on a private communication line. “Palatial pod to carrier. This is Paal.”
“Message received, Paal. This is Zander. Have you received any communication from the other troop?”
“No, my lord.”
“Shanli was a diversion. There are no Finnian ships here. We are changing course for Zandia. We lost communication with the other troops. If you receive any transmission from them, I require immediate notification.”
“Yes, my lord. Of course.”
“Anything to report from the pod?”
“Twenty-two Zandian refugees have joined us. No other news to report.”
“Good. You have your orders.”
“Yes, my lord.” Paal ended the transmission and sagged against the control panel. All the lightness of his evening with Leti drained away.
He attempted to connect with Master Seke, but like Zander, received no answer.
Veck.
Vecking bad news.
He hated to break it to Mina that her father had gone missing. To any of them. He definitely didn’t want to return to the Great Hall with the news. Especially not when everyone had worked so hard to lift each other’s spirits.
What had Leti said? You had to find flow. But flowing around the loss of this battle would be pretty vecking hard.
It would mean the end of their species. The next generation would consist solely of Eslyn’s three Zandian young and Lamira and Bayla’s two halflings. Hardly enough to repopulate. And if they lost their bid for their planet, there wouldn’t be a place to repopulate, anyway.
No, they had to win this war. One way or another.
He just wished he didn’t feel so vecking helpless stuck on the palatial pod while the rest of his species fought.
Leti watched Paal’s mother slip away with her suitor after three dances. She’d seated herself beside Bayla to watch and she stood after they left. “I think I’ll head to sleep,” she murmured to Bayla.
“I’m exhausted too. I’ll walk with you.” Her new friend also rose and they left the Great Hall together, walking down the corridor in the direction of Bayla’s chamber and the lift. They stopped outside Bayla and the doctor’s chamber.
“You haven’t told him yet, have you?” Bayla asked.
Leti shook her head. “No.” She didn’t want to go into all the reasons why she hesitated. “There’s just a lot going on.”
“Yes, but considering the uncertainty now, wouldn’t it be better to secure your future? You’re sure to get Paal to mate you when he finds out you’re carrying his young.”