“Ready?” he asked her, straightening up.
She nodded, and they headed off into the trees together.
Ba’sh was glad the garden staff had cut the path wide enough for two people to run next to each other. It had been done to accommodate his guards, but it was actually quite nice to run with a companion, even if she was awfully quiet.
“I hate running,” he confided quietly, hoping to get her to talk to him a little.
“What?” she asked, glancing over at him in surprise.
“I do,” he said. “But it’s free, I can do it anywhere, and people want to know their leader is strong and healthy.”
“I love it,” she told him.
“Why?” he asked her.
But she shrugged and kept moving.
It was a bitter reminder of how badly he had messed things up with her.
“I have a question for you,” she said, breaking the silence a few minutes later.
“Ask me anything,” he said, and immediately felt stupid about it.
“Mrs. Slaite mentioned that there have been threats,” she said. “Can you tell me anything about that? Are the children in danger?”
God love Madge Slaite. She was trying to keep Yasmine around and using the children as leverage.
He would have thought it a little underhanded if he weren’t trying to do the same thing himself. Though he wasn’t ready to lie to her.
“Yes,” he admitted. “There have been threats, but none of it is serious.”
“How is a threat not serious?” she asked.
“Threats come with the job. This particular group is spouting a typical mix of political opposition, xenophobia, and wingnut conspiracy theories,” he said wearily. “I’ve been dealing with this sort of thing my whole career. I have no idea why Madge is so hung up on this one.”
“Why do you think this group latched onto you?” Yasmine asked.
“There are a million reasons they could have noticed me,” he said. “But outside of the usual political hack jobs, the long and short of it is always that my powers make people uncomfortable.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “That must be really hard,”
“Well, everyone’s got their struggles,” he said with a half-smile. “I’m a wealthy man heading up a wealthy planet. It probably doesn’t make a lot of sense for me to feel sorry for myself.”
She laughed, and he rejoiced that she was relaxing a little with him.
“The latest conspiracy theory on the underground forums is that I actually feed on people’s thoughts,” he laughed. “I guess it doesn’t help when journalists like Brytt Tommen publish fear-mongering headlines like Someone Has to Do Something About Ba’shir Kreed, but I guess that’s what gets clicks.”
“Isn’t Brytt Tommen assigned to the palace?” Yasmine asked, sounding horrified. “Why did you offer him that kind of clearance if he writes those things?”
“I didn’t want to be surrounded with people who agree with me,” Ba’sh said. “Maybe I leaned too hard in the other direction with Tommen.”
She nodded, looking thoughtful.
“Anyway, Yasmine, in answer to your original question, yes there are threats,” he said. “But there have always been threats and there will always be threats. I accepted that when I decided to run. But we have excellent security - both bio and tech. You and the kids are protected. I’m not asking you to carry a blaster.”
“Really?” she asked, her eyes finally meeting his.
“Really,” he told her. “Now do you mind dropping the pace a little so an old man like me can keep up?”