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!”
House of Fate Page 9
