Cobra Slave-eARC Read Online Free PDF Page A

the really fun part? The only way Santores is going to get to Qasama now will be to ask the Tlossies for directions.”
    “That irony hadn’t escaped me,” Corwin said. “Though I doubt the commodore is in the mood to appreciate it.”
    “I just hope the Tlossies don’t give in to any such requests,” Thena said, a shiver running through her. “After what the Qasamans have been through, they don’t deserve to be invaded again. Even if it’s from their own people.”
    “Especially if it’s from their own people,” Corwin said. “And with that, this line of conversation is officially at an end. New house rule: when the discussion starts making Thena uncomfortable, it gets changed.”
    “I like that rule,” Jin said, giving Jody a final surreptitious look. Sure enough, with the promise that the topic was about to change, some of the tension had left her daughter’s face.
    But only some of it. What was she hiding, Jin wondered, that she didn’t want the others to know?
    “Sounds good to me,” Lorne seconded. “Dad, I notice you’re hogging all the extra glaze sauce at that end of the table. How about sending the bowl back this way?”
    #
    Jody had made her decision right after dinner, as she and Lorne were gathering the dishes and taking them to the kitchen.
    But she knew better than to say anything about it then. Nor did she say anything as they all dug into the cake Thena had prepared for dessert. Not until they were all gathered by the front door, saying their good-byes, did she drop the bombshell.
    “If you don’t mind, Dad,” she said, “could you and Mom just take Lorne back? I’d like to stay and talk to Uncle Corwin for a few minutes. I can get a cab home.”
    She braced herself, waiting for the inevitable flood of questions and concerns. But to her surprise, her parents just looked at each other and then back at her. “Sure,” Paul said.
    “And no cab needed—we’ll take her home,” Corwin added.
    “Great,” Paul said before Jody could protest. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Jody?”
    “Sure,” Jody said, a pang of guilt digging at her. She hadn’t meant to scramble everyone’s schedules this way. Briefly, she thought about backing out and trying to reset this private conversation for a different other time. But it was too late for that now. “I wouldn’t miss the annual Broom houseplant repotting festival for anything.”
    “Great,” Jin said. “See you then.”
    They left, the murmur of conversation following them down the twinkle-lit walkway toward the gate and the brighter street beyond it.
    Jody gazed at their backs as they walked away from her, three shadowy silhouettes in the night. Her mother, who’d had a deadly brain tumor removed by Qasaman surgeons. Her father, who’d had a burned and useless leg regrown by those same doctors. Her brother, whose life had been inextricably intertwined with those of the Qasaman warriors he’d fought alongside in battle after battle.
    Her family owed the Qasamans. She owed the Qasamans.
    “Shall we go back inside?”
    Jody shook away her thoughts. Corwin was standing beside her, but Thena had disappeared, probably to the kitchen to deal with the cleanup. “Sure,” she said, taking a step back and letting her great uncle close the door in front of her. “I’m just—I thought they’d put up more of a fight.”
    Corwin chuckled as he took her arm and steered her back into the living room. “If you think we’re that easy to fool, you’re sadly mistaken. We all saw the look that settled across your face during the Qasaman part of the conversation. We were just waiting for you to make up your mind about what you were going to do next.”
    “Sorry,” Jody apologized. “But I have to talk to someone. And—”
    “There’s no need to apologize,” he chided her gently as he settled her onto the couch and sat down beside her. “We’re family. That means we’re here for each other. So. What’s the problem?”
    Jody took a deep