“Kiva.”
“I didn’t tell her, if that’s what you were asking. Why would I tell her? I had three million marks riding on you snatching him.”
“Someone in your crew told them.”
“Or, and here’s just a theory, when you tried to extort the Count of Claremont in front of his adult children and you didn’t immediately get what you wanted, maybe they figured an asshole like you would try to force his hand with something like kidnapping, so they made preparations, particularly the one of them who was a fucking soldier and is now a goddamned cop, Ghreni.”
There was silence on the other end of the call for a moment. Then, “I’d like to know how you heard about that.”
“Because Marce Claremont fucking told us,” Kiva said. “He told my chief purser about it when he was booking passage, and then my purser told me, because his job is to tell me things that will affect my ship’s bottom line. Are you really such a smug asshole that you didn’t think the Claremont kids wouldn’t talk about that? If there wasn’t a fucking war going on and the rule of law wasn’t basically suspended while the duke thrashes about for a few more days before the end, your ass would already be in jail for extortion, with the duke letting you be the fall guy. For fuck’s sake, Ghreni. You tried to extort an imperial official in front of a fucking cop. You have to be spectacularly dense to try to pull a stunt like that.”
There was another silence, and Kiva merrily counted off the seconds before Ghreni spoke again. She got to six.
“Have you heard from Marce or Vrenna Claremont?”
Kiva snorted. “Why the fuck would I hear from them? I’m not the one they were dealing with. It’s doubtful they have the first clue who I am. If they were going to contact anyone, it would be my chief purser. And before you ask, they haven’t contacted him since you pulled your stupid stunt. If I were going to guess, I’d suspect they’re probably trying to book passage on another ship leaving End.”
“Which ones are leaving in the same time frame as yours?”
“Do I look like a fucking traffic controller to you, Ghreni? I don’t know, and I don’t really care.”
“I’d like you to delay your departure.”
“Why would I do that? Even if I wanted to, which I don’t, our spot at Imperial Station is already scheduled to be taken over by another ship. We’ve got nowhere to stay.”
“Your ship could stay within system.”
“Or we could leave when we’re supposed to, because we’ve got a fucking schedule and you don’t make it.”
“I would owe you a favor,” Ghreni said.
Kiva laughed out loud at this. Then, “Say that again, Ghreni. I want to see if I’ll laugh as much a second time.”
“We used to be friends.”
“We used to fuck each other. It’s not the same thing. Which you of all people know.”
More silence. Then, “I’d like to talk about the three million marks.”
“I’m sure you would.”
“I don’t have Claremont. I’m not sure why you should have my three million marks.”
“I should have them because the deal was I let you know if he booked passage. He did. The rest was up to you. It’s not my fault you hire incompetents.”
“Kiva, if I find out that you were behind him escaping, you won’t like it.”
“Well, I have two responses to that. One, fuck you, you shitty little example of a human. Two, if I were behind it, what the fuck could you do to me? I’m leaving End, you asshole. I’ll be back home within the year and I’ll be taking a job at corporate. I’ve done my time on a ship. You, meanwhile, will still be here, a pimple on the ass end of space. So threaten all you want, you amoral fuck. It doesn’t mean anything.”
Ghreni sighed. “Kiva. Despite everything I still like you a little bit.”
“I’m touched, Ghreni. Really, I am.”
“This is why I’m telling you now that you have no idea what’s coming, and why in the end it wouldn’t be a bad thing to stay on my good side.”
“I’m perfectly happy to stay on your good side, Ghreni. What I’m not perfectly happy to do is give you back three fucking million marks because you didn’t think through the terms of the deal. Or to pretend to be intimidated by you huffing and puffing at me about how you’ll make me regret crossing you. Grow the fuck up, Ghreni.”
“I’d like you to tell me if the Claremonts contact you. And by ‘you,’ I mean any member of your crew.”
“I’ll be happy to do that for another half million marks.”
“Kiva.”
“‘Kiva’ what, Ghreni? We’re doing business here. You want information. You were willing to pay for that information before. I’m letting you have more information. At a substantial discount from before.”
“You know I’ll still have people at Imperial Station looking for him to board your ship.”
“Of course. I would too, in your shoes. But I don’t think you’re going to find him. If he has any brains at all he’ll find someone else to get him off this fucking rock. Which I will note is fine with me. I already have his half million marks for passage, nonrefundable. Which I will note was the amount that finally pushed this whole fucking shitbag of a trip into the black. Well, that and your three million marks.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
“Where are you now? On the station or on the planet?”
“I’m on the planet having meetings with our people here before we head out. Tell your fucking duke we’ll expect our money back with interest. That is, if he manages to keep his head for the next week, which I’m officially doubting and which would not bother me at all.”
“Would you like to have dinner?”
“What?” Kiva said.
“Would you like to have dinner before you go?”
“You know of a restaurant that’s open during a civil war?”
“We could have it at my place.”
Kiva laughed. “You’re actually literally still trying to fuck me.”
“I’m not going to lie. I wouldn’t mind. We did it pretty well, before everything.”
“Yes, we did,” Kiva admitted. “The actual fucking was good, Ghreni. It’s the metaphorical fucking I’m not in the mood to forgive. Now or ever.”
“Fair enough. Let me know if the Claremonts contact you.”
“You know the fee.”
“Fine.”
“Good doing business with you, Ghreni.”
Ghreni snorted and broke the connection.
“You know that he would have tried to kill you if you went to dinner with him,” Vrenna Claremont said. She and Marce were sitting with Kiva in a conference room at the House of Lagos’s local offices.
“I would have broken his goddamned spine,” Kiva said. Vrenna smiled at this.
“I’d like to go back to the part where you told Ghreni Nohamapetan that I booked passage from you,” Marce said.
“What about it?”
“You told him?”
“You already know I did.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed the three million marks he offered for the information.”
“Yeah, but then he grabbed me and held me hostage and planned to torture and maybe kill me.”
Kiva shrugged. “We told your sister immediately after they grabbed you, because I had people watching you. And then we gave her all the information she needed to find you and get you. Hell, we even gave her your rucksack with the adorable little stuffed pig in it as proof we weren’t fucking around.”
“I still could have been hurt. Or I could have died.”
“You weren’t and didn’t.”
“But—”
Kiva held up a hand. “Can I just wrap up this whole line of conversation by saying I really don’t give a shit whether you’re upset? If you were actually hurt, or dead, then I’d say sorry. But you’re not, so suck it up. The way I see it, if Ghreni wanted you bad enough to give me three million fucking marks for you, then sooner or later he would have just tried to grab you anyway, whether or not I told him anything. Since that was the case, I decided to get paid. This trip was in the red, now it’s not. And we did give your sister information to save your ass. Stop whining about it, for fuck’s sake.”
“I … I literally don’t know what to say to that,” Marce said.