Dragon and Liberator

And stopped short. Five paces ahead was the opening that led into Harper's room.

Only the grille was no longer fastened the way it was supposed to be. It was instead hanging at an angle, held in place by a single corner bolt.

Cautiously, Taneem moved forward. Had he been putting more items into the duct and been caught? But he was still in the room—the scent whispering past her snout and tongue showed that much. She reached the duct and eased an eye around the corner.

Harper was there, all right. He was lying on his side in his bed, the blanket pulled up to his shoulders, his right arm half tucked beneath his pillow.

His bare right arm . . .

It was insane, Taneem knew. Completely insane. Even if Harper managed to sleep through it, he would spot her as soon as he opened his eyes.

But if she waited here, she was dead.

She had nothing at all to lose.

Keeping her eyes on Harper, she eased around the edge of the hanging grille and dropped into the room. There was no reaction. Padding over to the bed, she gingerly touched his forearm and slid up onto his skin.

It was like the first sip of cold water from a mountain-fed stream after hours of wandering through the forest with nothing but warm and stagnant tree stump water to drink. Taneem closed her eyes, feeling the tension and fear and hopelessness draining out of her as peace and strength flowed in to take its place.

Yes, this would work. An hour on Harper's skin and she could go back for another six hours in the ducts. Surely before those hours were up Neverlin and Frost would tire of asking their questions and send Alison off to her own room to sleep.

She would just have to make sure she was gone before Harper woke up. Easy enough to do. Readjusting herself on the man's skin, she settled down to wait.

Ten minutes later, she was fast asleep.

She awoke with a start, her heart thudding with the awful feeling that something was wrong.

It was dark, for one thing. Darker than it had been when she'd come into Harper's room.

And then, to her relief, she understood. While she'd been asleep Harper had merely pulled the blankets all the way up over his shoulders. Carefully, stealthily, she shifted around on his skin, trying t0 find a place where she could see the clock by the side of the bed.

"Good morning," Harper said softly.

Taneem froze. Had he been talking to her? Or was there someone else in the room?

She flicked her tongue out a bit. Aside from her and Harper, the room was empty.

"Come on; I know you're awake," Harper went on in the same quiet voice. "Cat got your tongue?" With a sweep of his arm, he flung back the blankets.

And to her horror, Taneem found herself looking up at his fully awake face.

She reacted instantly, hurling herself backward off his skin and landing in a crouch on the deck past the end of the bed. She glanced up at the grille, preparing to leap into the opening and escape.

Only the grille was no longer hanging by a single bolt. It was back in its proper place, secured at all four corners.

"You must really have been tired," Harper commented. He'd made no move to follow her, but was still lying in bed propped up on one elbow. "You didn't even wake up when I put the grille back."

With an effort, Taneem found her voice. "What do you want?" she asked. She had hoped to sound as strong and commanding as Draycos, but the words came out sounding merely weak and scared.

"I want to help you," Harper said. "Why do you think I left the back door open for you in the first place?"

Taneem flicked another glance at the grille. "Was it a back door? Or was it a trap?"

"You've been here for over five hours," Harper pointed out. "If I wanted to turn you over to Neverlin, I could have done so long before now."

It all seemed reasonable, Taneem had to admit. But there was still something odd about it. "Why do you care what happens to me at all?"

"Lots of reasons," Harper said. "You ever hear the expression 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'?"

"No."

"Basically, it means that if Neverlin is fighting against both of us, we have some common ground to join forces against him," Harper explained.

"And against Alison, too?" Taneem asked.

"You still trust Alison?" Harper countered.

"She didn't betray me to Neverlin," Taneem said. "I don't know who she is anymore, but I know she's still my friend."

"Good enough," Harper said, nodding. "And by that same logic, I'm your friend, too."

Taneem flicked her tongue out, wishing again that she knew how to read human emotions from the changes in their scents. "But you lied to Neverlin," she said. "How do I know you're not lying now?"

"I don't know how to answer that, Taneem," Harper said, his voice low and earnest. "I can't prove anything I'm telling you. All you have is the fact I didn't turn you over to Neverlin and Frost."

"That's not very much," Taneem said. "You could just be protecting me so that you can take me back to Braxton Universis with you and learn how to turn my abilities into a weapon. Just like General Davi wants to do."