Colt ran to keep up with Amneris. He was failing miserably. No doubt she was using her power to boost her natural abilities. When he turned the next corner, she was long gone. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. All he wanted to do was talk to her, find out what she was planning. And to make sure she wasn’t thinking of something idiotic. And possibly to scold her for being reckless. Who was he kidding? Reckless was her calling card.

Colt sighed again. It was no use trying to figure out where she went. She’d show up again eventually. Instead, he made his way to the dining room on the floor below. He was craving something to calm his mind. A nice hot tea sounded like the perfect thing.

The dining room was empty except for one before. Amneris. She was sitting at the far end of the table, head rested on her hand as a finger circled the steaming cup before her. This was the last place Colt would’ve considered looking.

He pulled himself together enough to fill a cup of his own with whatever was in the sole remaining steaming kettle. It smelt like honey. He grabbed a plate of icing-covered shortbreads, putting the plate down in front of Amneris and sitting beside her.

She was yet to notice him.

“Tali? Tali?” He clicked his fingers in front of her face. “Lyriumia calling Amneris.”

She jolted upright. “Huh?” Her eyes landed on Colt and she smiled. “Oh, hello.”

“Lost in thought again?” he asked, pushing the plate closer to her with a finger.

“Something like that.” Amneris took one of the biscuits, humming happily as she bit into it. “Trying to figure out what to do with these.

She gestured toward a cluster of stone, crystal and plant. The ten items. They hadn’t been hidden, then.

Colt picked up one of the stones, flipping it between his fingers. “I am going to assume you think it is pointless to hide them, and that’s why you have not done that?”

“Yep!” She took the stone from him. “If we can take them from Crita, it’s pretty safe to assume they can take them from Lapide.”

That was the other thing. “Since when can you zap to the Castle?”

Amneris took a long drink from her cup before answering. It took long enough he questioned if she added something to said drink.

“I’m not supposed to. The wards around Crita’s Castle are as strong as the ones here. All but impossible to get through.”

“All but?”

She shrugged off her leather jacket. Silver lines marked her arms and, from what he could tell, seemed to be covering her entire front.

“It’s as painful as it looks,” Amneris said.

He brushed a finger over one of the silver lines on her arm. “Tali, what in the worlds were you thinking? To use that much power—”

“I don’t need the speech.”

“Of course.” Colt glanced down at the items between them. “Perhaps you should give them to someone for safe keeping. Someone you trust to not let them out of their sight?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Like you?”

“Me? Not Leo?”

Amneris laughed. “After last time?”

He kicked her playfully under the table. “When have I ever had a bad idea?”

She kicked him back. “When you found your way to where I keep my diaries and read some.”

“You are still mad about that?”

She pouted.

“It was ages ago, Tali. We were teenagers.”

The pout only deepened.

He leaned over the table and pinched her cheek. “You’re cute when you do that.”

“Fuck off,” she laughed, slapping his hand away.

Colt smiled. “Would you like me to find your General?”

“Nah. He’ll show up sooner or later to scold me.”

“I doubt he knows you left.”

Amneris choked on her drink. “Seriously? A nod. She slumped back. “Well, that’s a load off my mind. He’s fucking scary when he’s mad.”

Colt grasped her wrist as she reached for another biscuit. “Promise me something. Promise me you will not do anything stupid.”

“Now, when you say ‘stupid’—”

“Amneris.”

She sighed, almost as though she were defeated, before taking his hand and. “I promise not to do anything too stupid and to be a sensible person.”

He kissed the back of her hand. “That’s my Tali.”