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