“I was twenty,” Breed said, sitting back in his chair and smiling in remembrance. “She was a year younger than me but she’d been on board the old Lancaster for almost two years already, doing whatever was needed.”

“Why do I find the idea of the phrase ‘whatever was needed’ somewhat daunting?” Alex asked, nursing his brandy.

They’d just enjoyed a rather good dinner, and he and Breed had gone to wait for Dillon who had been called to an urgent wave. The windows in the drawing room of the summer estate house were open, letting in cool Persephone air that was delicately perfumed with the scent of nightshade and twilight roses.

Breed managed to look innocent, running his hand through his short, black hair. “I gather she hasn’t told you about the things she got up to?”

“She doesn’t tell me what she’s doing now, let alone before.” Alex shook his head somewhat ruefully. “If truth be told, we haven’t really spent enough time together to be comfortable. A few days in twenty odd years … well, it isn’t sufficient.”

“Yes, it is strange to think that I’ve had more time with her since she was a child than you have.”

Alex sipped his brandy. “Actually, I am curious as to why you were on that ship in the first place. You don’t seem the type.”

“Type?”

“You’re well-bred, possibly even Core.” As soon as he’d said it, Alex wondered if he hadn’t overstepped some boundary or other.

Luckily Breed laughed. “Core, yes. Well-bred … that’s another matter. The former is probably why Frey and I became friends in the first place, or at least why we gravitated towards one another. But I hope we’ve stayed friends because we like each other.”

“Oh, I think that’s the case.” Alex grinned. “So what was she –“

Any further conversation was disrupted by Dillon throwing the door open and storming into the room.

“ Cao ni zuzong shi ba dai! ” he swore, dropping into one of the other armchairs with all the grace of a leaden weight.

“Problems?” Breed asked quietly. He knew his lover, and that