Or my information was bad, which was far worse for me.
“Very well,” I said, “we may discuss it. What is your offer?”
“We marry. Your friends live. You’ll be inducted into House Rockhurst. You will prove your loyalty to the House by sharing everything you know about von Hasenberg shielding technology, as well as any other advanced technology. You will then continue to spy on House von Hasenberg as a sign of your ongoing allegiance to our marriage.”
I kept my expression placid when I would’ve liked to tell him where he could shove his proposal. “Will the marriage require consummation?” I asked.
His eyes darkened and his gaze raked down my body. “Yes. I expect you to provide me with several heirs.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is that a part of the agreement? What if I am barren?”
“Are you?”
“I do not have any children, so all available evidence points to yes.” That and very good birth control. “How many times will you require sexual intercourse per month?”
“Per month?” he scoffed. “We’ll fuck as often as I desire.”
I pursed my mouth. “I do not think so. Once per month until I am pregnant, then zero until the baby is born. One year after birth or miscarriage we will resume at once per month until the agreed-upon number of heirs has been produced.”
He laughed in my face. I tilted my chin up slightly and hit him with Mother’s stare. He went red. He said, “You seem to have the mistaken idea that you have any leverage. You will accept my terms. You should be grateful I’m willing to give you your friends’ lives.”
“And you seem to forget that you need me to willingly sign my life away before I become your wife. My life does not come cheap. If you are not prepared to pay the price, perhaps we should cease negotiations now.”
“I could purge your friends right now,” he snarled.
“Could you, though?” I asked thoughtfully. He still had made no mention of Lin or Veronica, or named any of my friends other than Loch. “I want proof of life. And while we are discussing things we could do, I sent my House a detailed plan of where I was headed and what my suspicions were, both about the planet and the alcubium FTL drive.”
I smiled at him. “If I do not contact them in four days’ time, with my personal encryption codes, they will assume I have perished at Rockhurst hands. Father will launch an attack on House Rockhurst. I do not believe your House is ready for war, so it is in House von Hasenberg’s best interest for me to do nothing.”
He recovered quickly, but not quickly enough. His flinch led me to believe I was on the right track with the importance these planets had to their new drives. “I could get the codes from you,” he tossed out idly, as if torturing me was of no more importance than the day’s weather.
I let arctic ice frost my expression. “No, you could not,” I promised softly. I let the words hang in silence for a few seconds, then continued, “If all you bring are threats and demands with no willingness to compromise, you can leave. We will not find a mutually acceptable solution today. Come back tomorrow and we will try again.”
He exploded out of his chair. “I will not be ordered around on my own ship!” He got in my face. “We will marry in the next three days or your friends will fucking die. Then I will personally hunt down your siblings one by one.”
White-hot rage burned through my veins at the threat to my friends and family but I kept my expression serene. “Your crude language is unbecoming. Until tomorrow, Richard,” I said. I turned my chair away from the table, effectively giving him my back. I wanted him off-balance, but I had to be careful that I didn’t push him into rash action. Of course, if he completely lost his head then it would be an opportunity for me.
“I will enjoy destroying that ice shell you wear like a shield,” Richard said.
I still had trouble believing that this cold, cruel man was the same person I’d played with as a child. He had invited me to play with the older kids at Consortium events, even though I was two years younger. He had been my hero.
In fact, it was because of that early friendship that our parents had started discussing marriage in the first place. It was supposed to ease the tension between our Houses.
Friends were liabilities to a member of a High House. They could be used against you, as Richard was so aptly demonstrating. As we grew out of childhood, perhaps someone in House Rockhurst thought Richard and I were getting too close or maybe I was deemed a bad influence, but whatever the reason, Richard disappeared from Consortium events for nearly four years.
He returned when I was in my early teens, but he’d changed. He was colder and he seemed to have no time for me. The flame I’d carried for him faded and winked out completely during that season. As the years wore on and stories of the Santa Celestia’s exploits came in, my feelings morphed into distaste and finally disgust.
Our marriage talks were not called off, even though I pleaded with Father. Left with no other choice, I had fled what I knew would be a horrible match. Unfortunately, my actions did not improve relations between our Houses.
I glanced over my shoulder and met Richard’s eyes. “What happened to you, Richard?” I asked gently.
His face shuttered completely. Oh yes, there was definitely something there worth exploring. Today wouldn’t be the day, though, because he swept out of the room without a word.
Without a clock it was impossible to know the time and trying to figure it out would slowly drive me insane. I stood and stretched. I still felt like I’d been used as a human punching bag. And, from Richard’s words, I had.
I moved the chairs against the wall. The table was on the right side of the cell, leaving a clear path from the door to the cot. That gave me just enough space to lie on the floor if I wanted to do push-ups. Which I did not.
But I did want to go through a slow movement-based meditation routine. It would waste time while also gently working my muscles. I’d asked a lot of my body over the last few days, especially with the lack of sleep. Thanks to my forced nap, sleep was no longer a problem, but another day of rest would do me good.
And it might lull my guards into a false sense of security. Lord knew I needed every advantage I could get if I wanted to escape.
I eased into the first form and let my mind drift. I could always plot later. For now I needed to focus on my body and just be.
I felt calmer after completing the routine. The residual muscle stiffness from being knocked out for sixteen hours had faded. I remained stuck in an untenable position aboard an enemy’s ship, but I was ready to tackle the challenge of finding a way out.
I propped my pillow against the wall to cushion my back and sat crosswise on the narrow cot. Looking at my bare feet, I realized I hadn’t seen my boots since I’d woken. Unless they were hiding in the bathroom, Richard had confiscated them.
Those were my favorite boots, dammit.
If he thought missing footwear was going to keep me from breaking out, he was sadly mistaken. With that in mind, I focused on recalling everything I knew about the Santa Celestia. It was not a lot.
The huge ship was newly built and freshly christened when Richard took command six years ago. And while House von Hasenberg had acquired a full set of blueprints and schematics, we’d never managed to get anyone on board long enough to verify their accuracy. I had a basic understanding of the ship’s layout but unfortunately didn’t know of any weaknesses in the holding cells.