When Judit stepped into the bay, Noal left the shuttle, his face haggard. Judit marched forward and hugged him close as he held his arms open for her.
“I’m so happy you’re safe,” she said. He muttered the same into her shoulder. She looked past him, searching for Annika. Her happy smile froze when she saw Annika leading two people out of the shuttle under guard, one of which she recognized as the stationmaster, Elidia Munn.
Annika smiled, a slippage of the masks their families made them wear, a look Judit had only seen in private. She looked as tired as Noal, and she’d dyed her hair a hideous green. There had to be quite a story there. Judit was about to ask if the man with them was the one who’d rescued them from the kidnappers’ ship, but Noal laid a hand on her arm.
“These aren’t exactly friends,” he said.
Judit clicked her teeth. “Evie, we’ve got company who’ll be needing secure quarters.”
The man looked stunned, but Elidia stepped forward. “You have no right to take me prisoner!”
“Funny,” Annika said, “since that’s what you tried to do with us.”
Elidia opened her mouth again, but Judit spoke over her. “You’ll be safe on the Damat, and when I have a moment to deal with you, you’ll be returned where you belong.”
Elidia still frowned, but she went with Evie, the man with her still looking around as if he couldn’t believe what had happened.
Judit stared awkwardly at Annika, wondering what she should say. Even Noal looked uncomfortable when Judit expected him to make some quip about the kidnappers’ accommodations.
“Are you all right?” Judit asked. She wanted to hear from both of them, but her eyes kept straying to Annika.
“A little shaken up but unharmed,” Annika said.
“We’re fine,” Noal said, “and if you two aren’t going to kiss, we need to talk, Judit.” He glanced at Annika. “Alone.”
Annika’s brow creased in pain, and Judit wondered what Noal was going to say before Annika blurted, “I think he wants to tell you about my guardian training.”
Judit looked to Noal, and after mashing his lips together, he nodded. She had a sudden flash of her own training: years of combat maneuvering, studying ship’s tactics, and learning how to lead a crew and captain a ship. She tried to picture Annika—all glitter and gowns—in her place and failed.
“A guardian?” Judit asked, smiling. It had to be a joke.
“You know my house,” Annika said softly. “Built on secrets.”
Judit nodded, still not able to get a clear picture, but after another glance at Noal, she knew there was a story here that she wasn’t understanding. “Let’s go to my office.”
“I should clean up first.” Annika took off her cap, bringing the green hair into starker relief.
“Okay.” Judit didn’t want to add that Annika couldn’t get back to normal fast enough.
Something in her expression must have shown. Annika smiled, showing a bit of her old self. “You don’t like the new look?”
Judit coughed to cover a laugh. “Well…”
“Come on.” Noal marched past them. “You can use my quarters to shower.”
Judit waited in her office when she wanted to follow them and ask a thousand questions. They arrived together, but Noal’s subdued attitude said something off had happened between them. Judit ordered food and made sure the same went to their guests before she sat. “Well, let’s hear it.”
Noal leaned against the wall, as far from Annika as he could get.
Judit’s belly did a little turn. “What happened?”
“In Nocturna, we don’t trust anyone,” Annika said. “Not even our guardians, and it seems we were right.”
“Feric betrayed you,” Judit said. “Annika, I’m so sorry.” She’d never liked him, but he had to mean something to Annika.
She nodded. “Whether he was someone else’s creature from the beginning, or if they found some way to get to him, I don’t know. But my grandmother trained me in combat in case something like this ever happened. I was a little surprised Noal doesn’t know how to fight.”
“I have Judit,” he said.
“But I lost you.” Judit turned to him. “I failed you, Noal. I’m sorry.” She waved his protest away and tried to think. Annika being a secret guardian made sense, though Judit wasn’t ready to think about the dead bodies she’d seen on the kidnappers’ ship. But now she had to tell Noal she was the real chosen one, and he was already upset by Annika’s guardian training. She supposed that was one good thing about her being the chosen one: It would give Noal something else to think about.
“There are plenty of secrets to go around,” Judit said.
Noal frowned. “Is there a reason you don’t have a Meridian fleet with you?”
“I…wasn’t supposed to go looking for you at all.”
When they both stared, she took a deep breath, wondering if she should hold something back, but the way she saw it, the only people they had to depend on now were one another.
“Grandmother always suspected that Nocturna would double-cross us. She prepared a secret fleet to destroy Nocturna when that betrayal happened.”
His mouth dropped open, his arms coming uncrossed. “And they thought the kidnapping was the double cross?”
She nodded. “They wanted me to lead the fleet, to annihilate Nocturna.”
He blinked several times. “And they were just going to leave their chosen one to rot while you did it? Did Grandmother forget the prophecy, or is she ignoring it?”
Judit flinched. “She said…I’m the chosen one, Noal. They would have found a way to strike at Nocturna no matter what, and I was supposed to bring about peace.”
“By destroying Nocturna.” Annika didn’t seem nearly as shocked. Growing up Nocturna, she was probably used to such secrets.
Noal sank into one of the chairs, a stunned look on his face. “I can’t…”
Judit crossed around her desk and knelt beside him. Though secrets and lies surrounded them now, she’d never felt as if she’d lost everything, not as long as the possibility of getting Noal and Annika back remained. What would Noal do when they returned home? What future awaited him? “I’m sorry, Noal.”
“If you’re the chosen one,” Annika said softly. “Then that makes you the heir.” She lifted an eyebrow, a question in her gaze.
Judit swallowed a wave of desire that fought through the guilt, the confusion. If they were the heirs, they were the ones who should marry.
* * *
Annika’s mind buzzed with the knowledge that none of them were who the others thought they were. If Judit was truly the mythical chosen one, what did that make Noal? She felt sorry for him, but he could pick himself up, think of a different role for himself. For now, he seemed content to stare at nothing. Annika licked her lips and tried to think of anything but her and Judit and a marriage bed.
“Do you think Nocturna was behind the kidnapping?” Annika asked.
“My crew says no,” Judit said. “Not according to the data. For all I know, Meridian organized the kidnapping so that they could attack Nocturna while everyone else was searching for you.”
Annika nodded. “Or it could be Nocturna trying to get the rest of the galaxy to attack Meridian.”
Judit smiled softly. “What a world we live in.”
“What happened to the fleet?”
“No word.” Judit sighed. “Which I suppose is good news. If they’d attacked, we would have heard.”
“Nocturna will be planning something,” Annika said, certain of it.
“Chatter has both houses blaming each other. Soon, everyone will have their ships out.”
“Who cares?” Noal said bitterly. “Let them annihilate each other.”
“And throw the whole galaxy into war?” Judit asked.
He grimaced. “If one of them can wipe the other out quickly enough, the other houses won’t care. They’ll be too busy squabbling over the pieces.”
Judit leaned against her desk. “We can’t take that chance. We can’t let the whole galaxy burn.”
Noal mumbled something dismissive.
“If we can end this conflict, we have to.” Judit stared at him, her face appalled. She was what Meridian was supposed to be, but in reality, their houses were much the same. “We can’t just ignore a bloody battle.”
“Spoken like a true chosen one,” Noal said. “Why don’t the two of you get married and settle it all.” He stood, frown deepening, and stormed out of the office.
Annika watched him go, feeling bad for him even if she didn’t like how he dealt with secrets. And she agreed with him about Meridian and Nocturna. If the galaxy wanted to destroy itself, maybe they should let it. “Should we follow him?”
“No, let him stew. It’s how he deals with stress.”
Annika nodded, and as she and Judit stared at each other, her heart thudded hard in her chest. Noal had already suggested they marry. She’d already thought it, and she’d bet Judit had, too. Would it solve anything now?
Annika let her eyes travel along Judit’s body. Marriage was only a ceremony. Without Noal in the way, Judit’s Meridian proprieties wouldn’t hold her back any longer, and they both needed to hold someone at the moment, needed something solid and real.
She took a step, and Judit matched her. Heat rushed through Annika’s body. She took another step that was almost a leap, and Judit caught her. They wrapped their arms around each other, knocking together and sliding aside and over and under, searching for any contact as their lips met. For a woman so hard in combat and training and life, Judit’s lips were amazingly soft.
The passion lurking behind Judit’s stoic exterior blazed to the core as she moaned against Annika’s mouth. She licked Annika’s lips and then paused as if she wouldn’t seek entrance without being invited. Annika opened her mouth and drew Judit’s tongue in, and Judit pressed them so close together, it left Annika breathless. To the dark with it; she didn’t want to breathe if it meant having Judit farther away from her.
Were it any other lover, Annika would have been tearing at their clothes, but she wanted this fragment in time to last, wanted to savor each second of their first time together. She sensed that Judit wouldn’t make any moves unless she did, so she took her time, kissing and caressing, though her hands itched to tear the buttons from Judit’s uniform.
She kissed down Judit’s neck, feeling fingers in her hair, gliding along her body, exploring her. She slid her hands over Judit’s breasts, hearing a sharp intake of breath for her efforts. Enough lingering. She kissed Judit again, deeply, madly, as she undid the first button. As it slipped loose, Annika kissed the inch of flesh that came to light.
Judit forced her head up, and Annika thought she was going to stop them, but she pulled herself onto the desk, then hauled Annika up to straddle her. Judit broke off their next kiss and pulled Annika forward roughly, burying her face in Annika’s neck. Annika leaned away and ran her hands along the seam in front of her jumpsuit, opening the fabric with a firm touch. She reached back to pull off the sleeves, trying to shuck the garment quickly.
With Annika’s arms trapped behind her, Judit brought her forward again, kissing her breasts, moving her teeth along the sheer fabric of Annika’s bra. With a moan, Annika freed her arms and fumbled backward for the catch.
Something buzzed against her skin, and she cried out. She tried to jump away, her thoughts jolted from passion to small explosives.
“It’s all right,” Judit said, catching her. “It’s my comm.” She cleared her throat and said, “Say again, Bea.”
Annika let out a breath. The Meridians loved their implants. She waited, expecting Judit to dismiss whoever was calling, but Judit’s eyes widened.
“I’m on my way,” Judit said.
Annika scooted off the desk, putting her clothes back on as an irritated flush crept up her neck. “What happened?”
“Apparently, the houses who run the Xerxes have gotten the word out about our little firefight. More joined in their outrage and decided that the larger houses need to be taught some manners.” She straightened her platinum hair back into its tidy queue, avoiding eye contact, and Annika bet she had her own flush, though it didn’t show. “One of the small houses attacked a Meridian mining post.”
Annika sighed. The same thing was probably happening on the Nocturna side. “Well, I suppose we should sort that out, being the ones who started it.”
Judit paused and gave her a shy smile. “I suppose we should.”
Annika grinned hugely, and neither one of them had to say that she hoped they’d finish everything else they’d started today, too. They’d have to be on the lookout for an opportunity.
* * *
On the bridge, Judit took a fuller report from Beatrice. A lesser house and a group of unaligned ships had captured a small Meridian mining colony, but that wasn’t all. Other houses reported similar incidents, sending everyone scrambling for ships and guns. Judit snuck a look at Annika. A marriage contract wasn’t going to help that at all, even if it would be very nice. In her office, thoughts of them together had seemed perfect now that Noal was…out of the picture.
By the dark, that was a guilty thought.
She sat in her chair and cursed her lack of patience at the Xerxes. As if Meridian and Nocturna didn’t have enough problems, now all these other houses and grievances were coming out because she’d thrown Meridian’s weight around. She’d been so certain everyone would roll over. That’s what always happened when her house got involved. Her grandmother would have been able to get what she wanted with minimum fuss.
The bridge door hissed open, and Noal wandered inside. His expression was neutral, as if he’d somewhat recovered his composure. She smiled. He couldn’t sit around and mope while there was a crisis, not when he was so much better at talking to people than she was. She just had to find a way to bring out his sunnier disposition.
If he still had one.
She crossed to him, Annika by her side. “Can you talk to some of the lesser houses, Noal? Settle things down a bit? Now that I’ve ruffled a few feathers?”
“You weren’t the only one,” he said with a quick glance at Annika. Before she could bristle, he hurried on. “I don’t know where to start. I can try calling Grandmother, but you know she’s already got pacification teams in the air. And since I’m not the chosen one”—he swallowed hard—“I don’t know if she’ll listen to me.”
A thin sheen of anger settled over his face, and she forced herself not to try to erase it, to let him work it out. Impatience had gotten them into this mess. When he glanced at her, his face softened, and she knew her guilt must be shining through. “It’s not your fault, Jude. Well, not entirely.”
She snorted a laugh. “Thanks, I guess.”
“From the vibes we got on the Xerxes, this sort of thing has been coming for a long time. The big houses have been too wrapped up in their own shit to notice.” He snapped his fingers. “We need to talk to Elidia and Spartan.”
“The man you brought on board?”
He nodded. “Elidia is from a smaller house. Spartan is…nobody, I think. Who better to give us perspective?”
“But everyone knows the unaligned don’t like the houses,” Annika said. “What more could he tell us?”
He shrugged, but Judit saw something in his face she’d only glimpsed in the past. He was intrigued by Spartan, maybe romantically, maybe not. A gleeful little thought said that would distract him from her and Annika, making her a little appalled at herself while still being relieved.
She cleared her throat. “Maybe he’ll have some insight into how long the unaligned have been plotting with the lesser houses.”
“Here’s a tip,” Noal said sarcastically. “Maybe we don’t call them lesser houses to their faces.”
Their grandmother wouldn’t have bothered, but Noal was the one who’d had the lessons in politics. It was clear their grandmother thought the chosen one only needed to be able to maneuver a ship in a firefight.
And they didn’t have any better ideas at the moment. Judit had Elidia and Spartan brought to her office. Noal laid the situation out for them, downplaying the trouble the lesser houses were making and upselling the damage and the deaths that might happen if the violence wasn’t stopped. Since Beatrice had told them of the earlier attacks, more reports had come in. Several Nocturna expansions had been attacked by what looked like unaffiliated pirates, but house chatter suspected a conspiracy of smaller houses. And the large houses weren’t the only one suffering. Several smaller houses had ceased communicating outside their own holdings, and Roberts couldn’t say if they were battening down the hatches, or if they’d quietly disappeared.
When everyone heard this, Spartan kept wiping his lips as if the whole thing left a bad taste in his mouth. “Look,” he said when Noal paused. “I’m a regular guy. I’m not part of any house. I worked for some smalltime criminals on the Xerxes, and when push came to shove, I helped you.” He gestured to Noal and Annika. “I don’t want money. I don’t want thanks. I just want off somewhere where I can buy passage back home.”
“Let both of us go,” Elidia said. “You’re only making things worse by keeping us here. I can give him a ride home.”
“I don’t want anyone’s help.” Spartan’s voice choked as if he was struggling to keep his tone neutral. “I can find my own way.”
“You have to know this has been a long time coming,” Elidia said to Judit, echoing Noal’s earlier thoughts. “Power never lasts forever. If the big houses spent more time learning their history, they would know that.” Her glance shifted to Annika and Noal. “Did you ever think the galaxy might not want your houses to join? If you were at each other’s throats, you left the rest of us alone, but one giant house? If the other big houses didn’t see the madness in that, they’re crazy. It’s all everyone else has been talking about.”
Judit didn’t bother to correct her about who could now marry and the fact that neither house seemed willing to go through with it. But now they had the rest of the galaxy to add to the list of people who’d try to prevent the wedding by kidnapping the bride and groom.
“So the smaller houses were already planning this uprising before we got involved?” Annika asked. “And the Xerxes set them off?”
Elidia shrugged, but there was something off about the way she sat—on the edge of her seat with a back so straight Judit could have used her as a coat rack—that said she wasn’t confident. She had none of the smug look she’d displayed when she’d figured out who Judit was really after on the Xerxes. She didn’t know what was behind the uprising, but she didn’t want to admit it.
Annika rubbed her temples. “The takeover of the mining platform, these other disturbances, they’re all happening too fast. Our actions on the station couldn’t have spread this quickly. There’s been no time to organize. Someone was waiting for the right moment.”
Elidia stayed silent, but Spartan put his head in his hands. “I’ve got nothing to do with any of this!”
“With the galaxy in turmoil,” Annika said to him, “I’d think you’d be happy to be somewhere safe, not to mention with people who are wealthy. Or have you abandoned your hopes of getting rich?”
He gave her an ugly look. “I’d rather be alive.”
“Have you had any word from the Xerxes?” Elidia asked.
Judit sent a quick message to Beatrice. “We’re getting that Houses Atrius and Flavio are answering for the station and the surrounding sector.”
Elidia shifted in her seat. “No word from Munn?”
“Why worry if the other two are your allies?” Judit asked.
The way Elidia’s eyes shifted around the room said that any alliance had probably dissolved as soon as the Damat left the system. Maybe the other two houses had had their eyes on the station for a long time, and Judit had given them the excuse they needed to kick their third partner out. If they weren’t careful, Munn could find themselves disappearing, too, and they weren’t the smallest of the houses.
“I say someone is pushing buttons,” Annika said. “Everyone wouldn’t spontaneously rally like this, and these attacks, these takeovers, speak of careful planning.” She looked to Elidia. “And since you don’t seem to know, either your house had a council without you, or someone entirely unrelated is pulling the strings.” She raised an eyebrow. “There was a Flavio aboard the ship that kidnapped Noal and me.”
Elidia’s shocked expression could have been faked, but Judit hoped it was real. “I…Munn didn’t have anything to do with that!”
Judit rubbed her chin. “So whoever’s rallying the smaller houses either got Flavio to cooperate with them, or Flavio is doing it themselves.” She shook her head. “Could they have contacted all the smaller houses and gotten them to attack at a moment’s notice?”
Noal shook his head. “No, it sounds more as if someone knew when a crisis was going to occur. They arranged a kidnapping and were ready to light a match to the chaos that came afterward, no matter what that chaos might be.”
“And we’ve played into their hands,” Judit said.
Elidia’s face screwed up in doubt. “And who is this mysterious mastermind? Flavio doesn’t have that kind of clout.” She lifted her hands. “And I’m not just saying that because Munn is larger than they are.”
“I know one place to start looking,” Judit said. “The ship where we found Annika and Noal.”
Annika nodded. “We didn’t have time to go through the computers before.”
Judit turned to Elidia and Spartan, happy to have a course. “I’ll need you both to stay in your quarters until I send for you again.”
“Afraid we’re going to take control of your ship?” Elidia asked, a sneer in her voice.
“Not really,” Annika said.
Judit gave her a look. Even though her confidence was supremely sexy, it wasn’t helping. Then the image of the bodies on the kidnappers’ ship came to mind again, and she had to swallow. Somehow, the Annika she’d known for five years had killed an entire crew. Granted, they had kidnapped her and Noal, but something about the easy way she acted now said those deaths didn’t weigh on her conscience. They certainly would have weighed on Judit’s. Even though she’d been trained to kill in Noal’s defense, she’d never had to, didn’t even know if she could.
“Evie will take you to your rooms,” she said, interrupting their debate. Evie waited outside, and at a gesture from Judit, she moved in. Noal and Annika followed close behind Judit as she headed for the bridge. Annika nearly had to jog to keep up with her, but Judit didn’t slow.
“Is something wrong?” Annika asked.
Judit snorted a laugh. “Besides the kidnapping and the galaxy turmoil thing?”
Annika chuckled. “Yeah, besides that.”
How could she say what she was really thinking? If being a trained killer was simply part of who Annika was, what could she say about that? Since Annika had never shown any sign of that before being abducted, how many other parts were there?
“There’s a lot to think about,” Judit said quietly, aware of Noal behind them.
“Like how quickly we can be alone in your office again.” She winked, and Judit had to swallow as desire arced through her. In her office, there hadn’t been time to think, and that had been as delicious as the actions themselves. She told herself to push the other thoughts down, deal with them later.
* * *
Annika noticed Noal turn away as the kidnappers’ ship appeared on Judit’s screen, the slanted perspective making it seem as if that ship was coming closer and not the other way around. Annika supposed it was natural for him to shy away from bad memories. Ama would have encouraged her to do the same, to pretend the deaths affected her, but now that she’d had a small taste of telling the truth, she found she liked it.
Well, she liked telling part of the truth. She’d killed people who were going to sell her or kill her, and she didn’t see why she should feel remorse.
Judit touched her arm. “Are you all right?”
So, Judit thought she should be pained by her memories, too. That stung a little, as if both Judit and Noal were saying something was wrong with her. “I’m fine.”
Judit nodded slowly as if she didn’t believe that. Annika couldn’t blame her for being confused. Judit might have a false opinion of who Annika was, but Annika had helped build it. There had to be layers to Judit that Annika had yet to uncover, too. She hoped there was, something to even the field between them.
They went from the bridge to the Damat’s shuttle bay, and then the ride to the kidnappers’ ship was an easy one. Annika, Judit, tactical officer Evie, and Beatrice, who seemed to serve as both pilot and systems specialist on the Damat, all squeezed into the shuttle together.
Once on board the kidnappers’ ship, Annika didn’t pause at the bodies, but she didn’t hurry past them, either, conscious of Judit’s gaze. She wondered if she should pretend a little to put Judit at ease. She’d heard that happened even in the most honest relationships. She had to wonder what would make Judit happier: a cheerful lie or a bald-faced truth? Maybe she’d be happiest not even having to consider such a question.
On the bridge, Beatrice dug into the computer, copying what files she could and scanning others. Annika watched over her shoulder. Like all houses, Flavio used codes, but maybe someone on the Damat could decipher it. At one transmission record, Annika put a hand on Beatrice’s shoulder. She knew that code.
“Feric was here.” He’d left orders that she wasn’t to be awakened. He knew what she could do. Behind her, she could feel Judit watching, probably wondering the same thing she was. If Feric was giving orders, he was more than someone’s tool. And that had to mean Nocturna had been involved in the kidnapping.
Didn’t it? Feric had been raised to guard her. He was older than her, taken early from his parents, and raised to serve Nocturna above all else. Maybe mind control really was the key, then. The same techniques Nocturna had invented to control Noal. Maybe she should confess all she knew. Noal already suspected she was more than a guardian. Annika knew her lessons hadn’t been the same as Judit’s, and she didn’t know if Noal would put it down to the differences in their houses or if he suspected something greater. Maybe he wasn’t comfortable lying to himself. Ama would never have allowed such a thing inside her own house.
But if she told Noal Nocturna’s real plans, he would hate her; they all would. Judit would. She had to keep that secret for all their sakes. Besides, she suspected the worm was involved, but she didn’t know.
Annika leaned over Beatrice’s chair. “Can you find out where Feric went?”
Beatrice shrugged. “I can send the scans to Roberts, see if he can make anything out from telemetry and galaxy-wide chatter.”
“Copy everything to the Damat,” Judit said, “and let’s get out of here.”
Annika waited while Beatrice worked, her stomach in knots. Part of her had hoped Feric was dead, used and then discarded, but now she had to track him across the galaxy if she wanted to find out what he knew. She should have keenly felt the sting of betrayal, but she kept remembering the giant who’d been a constant in her life, silent and protective. When they were alone together, he’d had this kind little smile. Her first kind smile. He’d never been disappointed in her. He’d never protected her from Ama, but she’d never expected him to. When she’d been a child, he’d held her.
He had to have been tricked. Manipulated. Controlled.
“It’ll be all right,” Judit said.
Annika took a deep breath, wondering how much of her discomfort had shown. But that didn’t matter. This was something she could share with Judit wholeheartedly, making both of them feel better.
“It’s Feric. I…” But what was the word for this mishmash of feelings? “When we find him, what will we do with him?” The real Feric, the one she’d grown up with, would never reveal a secret. What would she see now when she looked in his eyes? The blank look he’d had while abducting her? If he’d been working under Nocturna’s orders instead of mind control, he had to obey. Annika might now be working against her family’s plans. But someone had already disrupted their plans when they’d awoken her early. Whose script was she following?
Judit hugged her from the side, and Annika leaned into the touch.
They hurried back to the shuttle, everyone silent until they were aboard the Damat. In Judit’s office, they told Noal what they’d found. He cautioned them to wait until the crew had a chance to sift through the data before they shared it with Elidia and Spartan.
When it came time to speculate, Annika was at a loss. “All I can think of are ifs and maybes. Plans within plots within conspiracies. It’s making my head ache.”
“Now you know how I’ve felt since waking up in that ship,” Noal said. “I mean, was this our houses? I don’t know how…” He shrugged and stared at the floor. “I feel as if I don’t know anything anymore, as if no one ever told me anything.”
Yes, he would be feeling that most of all. His house had told him nothing, but a stray Ama thought said he should have been asking questions.
Judit clapped him on the shoulder. “Nothing’s as promised. Nothing’s as expected, but we still have allies. We still have one another. We can fight.”
Meridian thinking. Why bother to expect the unexpected when they could bash their way through every problem? “If we catch up to Feric, and he’s working under orders from my house, or if some other house has found a way to sway him, he won’t tell us anything. It won’t matter what we do to him. Resisting torture was part of his training.”
They both stared at her.
“What?” she asked.
“I thought we could…make an appeal,” Noal said haltingly.
Judit nodded. “You could talk some sense into him, or if he’s being manipulated or threatened, we could offer to help.”
“You were thinking torture?” Noal asked.
And even though they were the naive ones, Annika fought a little flush. “Well, I mean…Meridians are always quick to use their guns!”
“We might be bullheaded, but we talk first!” Noal said. “We don’t sneak around and stab people in the back. We don’t lie!”
“Oh please—”
“Enough!” Judit barked. “We can’t turn on one another now. Are we all agreed that we follow Feric once we find out where he’s gone? If we find him or not, maybe we can find what he was looking for or discover if he was meeting anyone.”
They nodded and settled into an uncomfortable silence. Luckily, they didn’t have long to wait. Roberts had analyzed the data from the kidnapper’s ship and discerned the transmission gate Feric had headed toward. From that gate’s data, he determined several likely destinations—most of them on the edges of colonized space—and sent his conclusions to Judit’s private computer.
Annika stared at the data and tried to make sense of it. It was a lot of nothing, several planets that were barely habitable, a deep-space listening post that was several years out of date, and one mining station under the control of a small house that Nocturna rarely had dealings with. Annika supposed they could be part of some conspiracy. There was also an unaligned habitable world, and that could be promising, too.
The last destination caught her attention: the Eye, the hierophant temple, the base of operations for the hierophants who traveled to the center of the galaxy in order to see the future in the time distortions of black holes. The givers of prophecy. Neutral, they normally stayed out of house business beyond officiating various ceremonies, but if Feric had been seeking information…
And information was something she sorely needed, too. “There,” she said. Unlike the destinations on the fringes of the galaxy, this one was close to the heart. It felt right.
“The Eye?” Judit asked.
“Even if he hadn’t been going there, we could sort through the prophecies for information.”
They both looked skeptical, but the hierophants had many prophecies they never released, those they could make no sense of, those that could too easily be misinterpreted. Some who traveled to the center of the galaxy were simply unable to translate what they saw and rambled nonsense that was recorded and archived.
“The hierophants could be keeping a prophecy they couldn’t make sense of, but we might know what it means. If someone saw something about us or about Feric…”
“Seems like a shot in the dark,” Noal said.
“Better than going to all these different worlds asking questions and giving our families more opportunities to track us down.” Annika’s temper spiked, but he didn’t back down from her gaze.
Judit sighed loudly. “Noal, any other ideas?”
His nostrils flared as he turned away, and Annika smiled in satisfaction. When Judit gave her a flat look, she shrugged and put the smile away.
“Even if we don’t find anything,” Annika said, “Nocturna has spies in the temple that are loyal to our house alone. They can tell us if Feric was there.”
Noal rolled his eyes. Annika fought down an outburst after Judit gave her a conciliatory look. They seemed so different from each other in that moment: Noal turned to sarcasm, and Judit took everything in stride. Maybe that was the difference between being raised a guardian and a chosen one. Of course, Meridian had known from the beginning who the real chosen one was. In the end, they would have needed someone adaptable, someone with Meridian sensibilities who could still take orders. Noal was raised a brat because they didn’t need him to be anything else until the time was right, and then they didn’t need him to be anything at all. It made sense to her, but she didn’t think Noal or Judit would appreciate it if she pointed it out. They probably thought their own house couldn’t be so conniving.
And she supposed she should give Noal a bit of a break. She tried to focus on the times he’d made her smile, the times she’d thought of him as a friend, but there was only so much pouting she could take.
When Judit went to the bridge to give the command to go to the Eye, Annika caught Noal’s arm. She didn’t want to fight with him, despite her lack of empathy. “I’m sorry, Noal, for what it’s worth. You would have made a good spouse.”
He sighed and ducked his head, but when he raised it, he had a slight smile. “You know, even though I always knew the marriage was coming, I never gave it much thought. I probably would have been terrible. And an even worse ruler.”
She smiled and denied it, but the truth was, he wouldn’t have been any kind of ruler at all, not if her house had its way. With any luck, he’d never find that out.