The Shattered Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 7)

Chapter 15.1

Sabrina re-appeared in her study a few minutes later to find a security team sweeping the room. "Oh!"

"Your highness!" one of the team exclaimed, straightening. His two companions continued to point their weapons in her direction, but with less conviction.

Kendara entered the room at a run. "Stand down. Your highness, are you all right?"

"Yes, of course. I just went up to Khediva for a minute."

Kendara relaxed. "Please do not do so without informing me, your highness. Your apartment sensors triggered an alarm when you teleported out."

"Oh." Sabrina rubbed at her forehead. "Sorry. I didn't realize. Can we not program in an exception for Khediva?"

"That depends. Is her teleport signature different from every other Wayship?"

"Probably not," Sabrina said. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

Kendara nodded crisply and shepherded the security team out of the room. Sabrina sat down at her desk, quickly encoding a message to Lthos to release Marie's records to Khediva, and then went into her bedroom. She had to retrieve Tristan from under the bed—apparently the security team's sweeping devices made a noise he found irritating.

"Sorry, sweetie," she told him, scratching under his chin. "That was pretty stupid, hm? But I think I can sleep now."

He gave her a skeptical "rrkk" and jumped from her arms onto the bed, curling up in the most inconvenient spot possible. Sabrina gently scooted him over and pulled the covers over herself, longing for sleep that finally came.

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She was gently shaken awake by Ranja, the sun streaming in through the windows. "What time is it?"

"Late. I let you sleep as long as I could," Ranja replied. "Your breakfast is ready, and then you have a briefing in Giandrah."

"Oh!" Sabrina sat up abruptly.

"And your brother has invited himself to breakfast," Ranja added. "He'll be here shortly."

Sabrina smiled. "Good."

Scotty was nearly halfway through his meal by the time she joined him. "Nice of you to wait for me," she teased.

He got to his feet and gave her a hug. "Good morning, sis. Or do I have to call you 'your highness' now?"

"Only in public. Good morning, Captain Devon, and congratulations!"

"Thanks. You don't seem surprised though."

"Should I be? You're overdue for promotion. I'm glad it finally came to someone's notice."

"You didn't have anything to do with it, did you?"

Sabrina grinned at him as she sat down. "I've pushed my luck with Treva enough without interfering in her personnel matters!"

"Been pushing your luck a lot, have you?" he asked. "I heard about what happened last night."

"Oh. Well, that was my fault. I should have known I couldn't just blip up to Khediva without setting off an alarm of some kind."

Scotty sputtered into his cocoa. "What, you had two security alerts last night? That must be some kind of record, even for you!"

Sabrina looked confused, then sighed. "Oh. Well, yes. It was an eventful night!"

"Tell me about it. Here I come home from a long, tough assignment, expecting to fall into my wife's arms, and she gives me a quick kiss and goes off to her job."