Gus rubbed her forehead, trying not to panic.

Of all times for Ryan to stage an impromptu visit. His first ever. Just when she’d offered safe harbor to Caius and Anandra.

A coincidence? If only Gus believed in those.

The forty three didn’t get involved. It was a directive they’d all agreed to follow.

Even Gus.

If they found out she’d broken that agreement, there would be consequences. Big, terrifying consequences. Gus might have to become a hermit in truth if that happened.

“I don’t have to tell them,” Gus whispered.

Hope bloomed in her chest.

The forty three and Ryan were well used to her hermit-like tendencies. They wouldn’t find it strange if she suggested an alternative meeting point.

Caius and Ryan’s paths need never cross.

Gus signed out, letting the container wall revert to its natural metal state as she headed downstairs to grab Anandra’s meal and drink. Neither were as warm as they should have been, but she figured someone as hungry as Anandra was wouldn’t mind.

Gus let herself back into the garden where she’d left the boy and Caius. Distracted as she was, she almost didn’t notice the trees’ distress. Whispers brushed along the periphery of her senses. A warning came seconds before a storm of ki attacked from the forest.

Gus barely had time to dodge.

She sidestepped, dropping the plate in favor of hurling the mug of masala chai.

It sailed through the air, unerringly finding its victim as if guided by a higher power. In this case, the instincts that had been beaten into Gus as a child. Not to mention the will of the trees around them. None of whom appreciated the assault on their water bearer.

There was a soft grunt as the mug found its victim.

Gus crossed the short distance in seconds, fishing Anandra out of the bushes and dumping him on the ground in front of her. “Is this how you repay kindness?”

Ungrateful little shit.

A perfectly good cup of chai wasted. Gus would have been better off leaving him to the mercy of the humans.

Anandra scooted backward on his butt, leaving deep grooves in the garden bed and accidentally damaging a few of her ferns in the process.

Breathe, just breathe, Pityrodia Augustensis. This is a child. You can’t poison him.

No matter how much she wanted to.

“You’re one of them,” Anandra gasped.

The fear he was giving off was very real and enough to make Gus pause. Having been terrified a time or two in her life, she recognized that cloying, heavy feeling enough to know when someone was faking it.

Anandra wasn’t.

“One of who?” Gus asked.

In the short time since she’d left him in here, something had changed for Anandra. Enough for him to now consider Gus an enemy.

“Them. The humans,” Anandra hissed, curling protectively in on himself almost immediately after. As if afraid Gus might hit him.

“This is ridiculous,” Gus muttered, feeling a headache coming on. “Who is them? And why do you think I’m one of them?”

Earlier, Gus had cut Anandra off when he tried to explain what was going on in hopes of remaining uninvolved, but Ryan’s impending arrival and the child’s own actions had changed things. She needed to get to the bottom of this. And fast. It was the only way she was going to be able to reclaim her hard earned peace and quiet.

The boy must have sensed something reassuring in Gus’s manner. Maybe the fact that she hadn’t follow up his attack with further violence on her part.

His expression was cautious as he pointed to something at Gus’s feet.

She looked down, a frown creasing her brow. “Atropa Belladonna.”

Deadly nightshade. This one had just come into bloom. The plant was known for its distinctive dull green leaves, violet flowers and sweet, shiny black berries that grew along its branches.

Careful though, eating those berries wouldn’t leave you feeling too good after.

“That’s what set you off?” Gus asked.

Granted, belladonna was highly toxic, but she doubted he knew that. The plant was native to old Earth. Specifically, central and southern Eurasia. It wasn’t something a Tuann would have typically come across.

“Our captors had that plant tattooed on their forearm,” Anandra volunteered.

“All of them?” Gus asked, her voice pitched slightly higher than usual.

His cautious gaze on hers, Anandra nodded.

“Wait here,” Gus ordered.

She rushed out of the garden, not bothering to lock the door behind her. Caution was forgotten as she made a beeline straight to where she’d left the humans’ bodies.

“Please, please, please. Don’t let it be what I think it is,” Gus chanted, grabbing the first arm she found and lifting it.

Except her worst fear proved true. There, on the human’s forearm, was a tattoo. Atropa Belladonna. Just like Anandra said.

Gus lowered herself to a seated position, her mind reeling and her face blank with shock.

Someone had stolen her name and was using it to do some very bad things.

Belladonna wasn’t just any organization. It was her organization.

“No wonder Ryan decided on a visit. Someone is setting me up,” Gus whispered through numb lips.

The would be leader of the forty three wasn’t coming to Titan to check on Gus. He was coming to kill her.

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