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I frowned at her. “Remart has said nothing to you. He’s still got to be in a bacta tank. Another couple of hours and your toy will be fine. You can speak to him then.”

She shook her head, her hair brushing over her shoulders and breasts like liquid shadow. “He’s beyond speaking.”

“What?”

Her cruel smile reappeared. “He’s dead.”

I shook my head. “Not possible. I didn’t hit him that hard.”

She laughed. “Such concern over someone you clearly hated. No, you did not kill him.” Tavira paused for a moment and stepped in closer to me, leaning forward with a hand pressed to the table on either side of my hips. Her words came as whispers, her breath on my left cheek coming warm and gentle, in sharp contrast to what she said. “I had him shot. He was insubordinate. He disobeyed an order and struck a superior officer. He had to die, and you knew he would the moment you goaded him into that fight, didn’t you?”

I pulled my head back, leaving a centimeter of space between our noses. “If I’d wanted him dead, I’d have done the job myself.”

“That may have been what you were thinking, Jenos, but I know better. Your heart knows better.” She moved her head forward until her nose barely bumped mine. She smelled of flowers, musky flowers with a hint of a nebula orchid’s sweetness underneath it all. “You wanted him dead, and you wanted me to kill him, to punish me for selecting him after you rejected me.”

“Wrong.”

She straightened up, raised her right hand and traced her index finger along my jaw, starting at my right ear. “You blonds always cause so much trouble. Everyone assumes you are stupid, but that’s because they cannot fathom the complexity of your thoughts. Perhaps even you cannot.”

As her finger came around, she caught my goatee between it and her thumb, giving it a tug that was decidedly ungentle. “You knew I chose him because I knew he was a rival of yours. His hatred of you was quite pathological, as was your hatred of him. At heart though, you were very much alike. The confrontation was expected, and I knew you would be the victor.”

I stared deep into her eyes. “Then why didn’t you prevent it?”

“I wanted to see how you would get rid of him.” Her smile broadened. “If you were a coward, you would have given him impossible assignments, assignments that would have gotten him killed. I did not expect that of you.”

I felt a thrill run through me as she spoke. “What did you expect?”

“I expected you to let him trap himself, as he did.” Tavira leaned forward again and licked my left cheek teasingly. “I didn’t expect you to make me kill him. I thought you would present his body to me as proof you were his superior. Trapping me the way you did, you sought to prove you were my superior as well.”

I kept my voice even. “You may choose to believe that, if you wish.”

She laughed and backed away a step, then tucked her black hair back behind her left ear. “And you may choose to believe that is not what you intended.” She licked her lips and I felt the heat of her lust radiating from her. “So, you forced me to destroy my diversion, leaving me with the need for a replacement. I think I will have you become my new diversion.”

I held my hands up. “I won’t be diverting anyone for days.”

“And you will want to use those days to figure out how to escape me, won’t you?” She shook her head. “I know your tragic tale of a lover lost and your revenge plotted. I know what you desire. I am not a stupid woman. I could compel your attendance by my side by simply threatening to have the Survivors wiped out. I could threaten your servant here, and you would do what I want, but that is not enough.

“So, this is what I tell you, Jenos Idanian. You know you want me, and you know I want you. I know you want to destroy the Tinta line and reclaim the lover denied to you. I will even allow you to do that, putting the Invidious and all my resources at your disposal. All you have to do is to agree to come to me of your own free will. You will enjoy my company—and I assure you that you will very much enjoy it. You will come here, to the Invidious, and I will