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Gized closed the door. “It isn’t right, what she did to you,” she said.

“Colonel, I won’t hear you speak against the heptarch,” Jedao said coldly. Technically, Gized could be charged with treason. Most people wouldn’t waste their time with such charges, considering them to be frivolous, but Jedao knew personally that Khiaz was mercurial and might insist. “I could have said no.”

“Bullshit,” Gized said. But she didn’t raise her voice.

“I am a Shuos. She is my heptarch. I belong to her. If that’s how she wants to use me, then that’s how I’ll be used.” He was aware of how Kel he sounded. Nevertheless, it was true. Khiaz had just asserted her ownership. All those years ago, when he had gotten himself seconded to the Kel, Jedao had thought he had escaped the heptarch’s eye. He should have known that a fellow Shuos would have a long-term plan.