Aurora Blazing

by Jessie Mihalik

  “I’ll make some inquiries when I get home. I’ll jump a com drone to you and let you know what I find. Be careful.”

  The hatch between the landing bay and the rest of the ship opened, revealing Ferdinand, Alex, and Aoife. All three moved easily. Ferdinand showed no hint of the leg injury he’d sported. But he still looked strange with his shorn hair.

  Alex and Aoife nodded at us and headed straight for the ship. When Ferdinand reached us, I tilted my head for a cheek kiss and he obliged. Ferdinand was the most reserved of all of my siblings—he hadn’t had anyone to protect him from our parents.

  “Thank you, Bianca,” he said, his voice computer generated. “Remind me to yell at you later for being so stupid.” His gaze flicked to Ian, ice cold and sharp enough to cut. “I will speak to you, too, Director Bishop.”

  “Leave Ian alone. He was trying to protect me, and you know it’s an impossible task. Don’t make me hug you, brother. I’ll do it. You know I always get my way when I hug you—it’s my superpower.” My voice had picked up a wobble that I couldn’t quite hide.

  Some of the ice melted from Ferdinand’s eyes and his expression softened. He opened his arms and I didn’t wait for a second invitation. I locked my arms around him while he awkwardly patted my back.

  “I was so worried,” I confessed to his chest. “Then when we found you in that pit.” I shook my head. “I should’ve killed Riccardo when I had the chance.”

  A shocked silence fell. Ferdinand held me out at arm’s length. “Bianca,” he said slowly, “please don’t tell me you spoke to Riccardo Silva in person.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. I stepped back and gave them my most innocent expression, all wide eyes and sweet smile. I must’ve overdone it because Benedict and Ferdinand shared a look and groaned in unison.

  “She totally did,” Benedict said. Ferdinand nodded in agreement. Benedict gave Ian a sympathetic look. “Good luck, buddy.”

  Ferdinand frowned but didn’t comment.

  Benedict pulled me into another hug. “Stay out of trouble. Send me a message when you get home so I won’t worry. We have com drones running twice a day until we can get the gate up.”

  “I will. Be careful. Don’t do anything stupid until we get this war stopped. I expect you to return in one piece.”

  He nodded and let me go. “Safe travels.”

  I prayed this wouldn’t be the last time I saw my brother.

  Chapter 29

  We jumped to Trancendence’s emergency location safely, without even a rogue asteroid to spice things up. Aoife put us on a course toward the nearby gate and away from the jump point. It was unlikely Benedict would need to immediately follow us, but better safe than sorry.

  “Where do you want to go?” she asked Ian.

  “APD Zero,” I said. “I want to return Ferdinand to Earth in Aurora. The delay will be minimal, and the impact will be worth it.”

  Ian inclined his head in agreement. “Your father is going to be furious that I’ve been out of contact for nearly a week. I left Deputy Director Stevens in charge while I was gone. I am confident she’s kept the ship afloat, but we’ll see if she’s been as successful in fending off Albrecht. I may be the universe’s newest wanted man.”

  “You’re too good at your job,” I said. “Father won’t let you go so easily. He’ll rightly blame me.”

  “We have six hours until we jump,” Aoife said. “I’m going to get some shut-eye since we have to be up early.” She glanced at Ian. “How are we bunking?”

  “Ferdinand and Alex in the crew bunk. You’ll have to bed down in the exercise room.”

  She nodded and she and Alex left the flight deck.

  “And where will Bianca sleep?” Ferdinand asked. The computer-generated voice might not have much emotional inflection, but Ferdinand’s expression had no such trouble. He radiated hostility.

  “I will sleep with Ian,” I said. I met Ferdinand’s glare head-on. I’d dealt with difficult men all my life, but I had an advantage here—Ferdinand wanted to see me happy. “You can support my decision or you can yell, but the outcome will remain the same,” I said quietly, my voice edged in steel.

  He looked away first. “I can’t believe you have people convinced you’re the timid one,” he groused. “Everyone is wary of me, but they should be watching out for you.”

  That hadn’t always been true, as evidenced by Gregory, but since his death, I’d done my damnedest to relearn how to stand up for myself. I smiled at Ferdinand, glad that he’d noticed. “A hidden dagger is far more effective.”

  “Father isn’t going to like it.”

  “Father can bite me,” I said. But I knew it was true. “I’m working on it. If I bring him you and the identity of your attackers as a fait accompli, he’ll be more reasonable. I’m hoping Catarina made progress while I’ve been gone. Do you have any idea who might want you dead badly enough to hire the Syndicate? And I’m betting whoever it was also told them to take the hit out on me. So someone who knows I deal in information.”

  Ferdinand shook his head. “I don’t have any big deals going. Nothing that someone might want to disrupt.”

  “Who benefits from your death? Any ex-lovers or other surprises in your will? What about Evelyn? Does her family know?”

  Ferdinand’s expression turned wary and his eyes flickered to Ian before returning to me. “What do you know about Evelyn?”

  “I know about you and Evelyn,” Ian said. “I’m the director of security; give me some credit.”

  I said, “You were supposed to meet her the night you were taken. I met with her the next day. She said you were together.”

  He blew out a breath. “We are. We’re keeping it quiet because we know neither of our families would approve.”

  “She said House Rockhurst didn’t order the attack, but if someone in the House was upset about your relationship they might think taking you out served two purposes.”

  “Maybe,” he allowed. “But it wasn’t Evelyn.”

  “I agree.”

  “Otherwise, all of my assets go to family. Hannah would be the one to gain the most by becoming heir, but we’ve talked. She doesn’t want it because it would give her bastard husband more power. The rest of my personal assets are split among all of you.”

  “After you disappeared, Hannah told me she planned to abdicate.” That put me next in line if anything happened to Ferdinand. “Please don’t die,” I told him seriously.

  “I’m not planning on it.” He gave Ian a hard stare. “You heard nothing about Hannah.”

  Ian nodded easily.

  Ferdinand told us what he remembered of the capture and the captivity, but they’d kept him drugged and blindfolded, so it was precious little. He did tell us that they’d killed all of his bodyguards and jettisoned their bodies.

  Poor Edward. The young man with the quick smile and easy laugh who’d been my bodyguard these last few months didn’t deserve to die. And now his family would never have closure. I made a mental note to set up a fund for his sisters.

  When Ferdinand started hinting he’d like some time alone, Ian and I retired to the captain’s quarters. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t a random hit. Someone had put thought, effort, and money into it. They had targeted me and Ferdinand but not Hannah, Benedict, or Catarina.

  What was I missing?

  I mulled it over as I got ready for bed. I used the cosmetics kit to return my hair to its usual light brown with blond and red highlights. I felt more like myself with my hair back to normal.

  Ian reclined on the bed, clad in a pair of low-slung pajama pants and nothing else. He looked to be asleep, but when I paused to admire the view, one eye cracked open. “You changed your hair back.”

  “Yeah, I’m stuck on this attack problem so I thought I’d knock out another item on my to-do list while I thought about it.”

  Ian sighed and sat up. “We’re missing something, and being out of contact for four days doesn’t help.”

  I
worked through the time line out loud. “I caught a tricky encrypted message of just the word ‘Go.’ I was attacked publicly and violently. Meanwhile, Ferdinand was snatched silently, without leaving a trace. The next morning, I met with Evelyn and then a few hours later, someone painted me as a traitor. Do we know who started that rumor?”

  Ian shook his head. “I had people looking into where the traitor rumor came from, but I didn’t follow up with them. Too much other stuff going on. You didn’t tell me about the first message you’d caught.”

  “I didn’t tell anyone.”

  I tapped my fingers against my lips and paced at the foot of the bed. Something about the original message had been important. I focused on how it had felt to unlock the encryption because my emotional memory tended to be more permanent than the thoughts themselves. Joy and pride and a fierce sense of accomplishment. Then confusion. I stopped midstride.

  “The message that kicked off the attack was encrypted twice. The outer encryption I’d never seen before. But the inner encryption was standard von Hasenberg encryption.”

  Ian’s gaze sharpened. “Someone connected to the House was involved. Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  “At the time, there was no way to tell you without explaining how I knew. Then I had to run and it slipped my mind. The brain implant screws with my memory sometimes.”

  Ian spat out a low curse. “I failed to protect you, Bianca. I knew you were unhappy, but I never thought it was something like this.” He met my eyes, expression solemn. “I am so fucking sorry.”

  I edged around the bed to where he was sitting and took his face in my hands. “It’s not your fault. I don’t blame you.” He looked like he wanted to protest, so I bent my head and kissed him.

  His mouth parted under mine with a groan. I licked into his mouth, and his hands clenched on my hips. He leaned back, pulling me with him, until he was flat on the bed and I was straddling him.

  “You’re wearing too many clothes,” he growled.

  “Trust me, I’m going to burn these clothes at the earliest opportunity.” I was still wearing the too big fatigues I’d stolen from the mine guard. They’d gone a few cycles through the sonic wash, but I was happy to have my own clothes as an option again.

  “So you won’t mind if I do this?” He didn’t wait for a response before he pulled the front of my shirt apart, sending buttons flying.

  Lust warred with amusement. When he palmed my breasts, lust won.

  When we started docking at the space station orbiting APD Zero, I called Ada. She didn’t pick up, despite the fact that the early hour in Universal meant it was late afternoon in Sedition. I knew she’d be pissed that I’d left her behind, but I didn’t expect her to dodge my calls. I hoped she was away rather than ignoring me.

  I connected to the Net, brought up my usual security precautions, and checked my messages. I’d been offline for over four days, something that never happened. Ada had informed our siblings of what I was attempting in Antlia. Three days ago, Benedict had reported Ferdinand’s arrival with a warning to keep it to themselves until I turned up.

  After that, I’d received a series of increasingly worried messages from my siblings, until the final one from Ada yesterday morning that merely read: ARE YOU DEAD?

  Benedict had sent a message late last night, assuring everyone I was alive and on my way home with Ferdinand. He told them to keep it quiet until I said otherwise. I posted the same and swore them all to secrecy about Ferdinand because I wanted to spring it on Father myself.

  The messages from Catarina were the most interesting. She’d been digging into who had access to Ferdinand’s schedule while I was “off having fun”—her words, not mine. Then she’d expanded her search into who had started the traitor rumor, with Deputy Director Stevens’s help.

  Three days ago, she’d found a suspect.

  She wouldn’t tell me who it was on an insecure connection, but yesterday they’d had enough to pull him in for questioning. I tried to read between the lines, but she’d been careful and there were no hints. Was it someone on the security team? What would he gain? Revenge?

  Ferdinand pulled me aside while Ian spoke to Aoife and Alex. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked warily.

  “I heard Aoife talking about how the Rockhurst battle cruiser was going to eat our lunch. There’s only one Rockhurst in Antlia and he wouldn’t let us get away for free. What did you do?”

  “I said I was with the Syndicate and heavily implied that retaliation for my death would be swift and brutal.”

  “And Richard believed you?”

  “He didn’t shoot us down, did he?”

  Ferdinand narrowed his eyes at me. “I taught you that trick, Bee. You won’t distract me so easily. What did you do?”

  I sighed. “I promised him a future favor.”

  “And of course he extracted it from the one person who will honor their word. Fuck.”

  “I won’t apologize for getting you out. I was prepared to do whatever it took. I will deal with the consequences when they arrive.” Because I had no doubt that I would pay, it was just a matter of when and how much.

  “Don’t forget that you have support. You don’t have to take on the world by yourself. The family will help you. And it seems like you’re stuck with Director Bishop, too.”

  A soft smile pulled at my lips. I hoped I was stuck with Ian for a long time.

  The transfer to Aurora went quickly. We left most of our gear behind. Aoife and Alex promised to keep an eye on Phantom until we could come back for it. I hugged both of them good-bye and made them promise to keep in touch.

  I breathed out a sigh of relief to be back on my own ship. Aurora had made the trip from Brava without any trouble, but I had worried, like a mother worrying after a child left home for the first time.

  The gate queue was fairly light, so the estimated wait time was only twenty minutes. I undocked from the station and moved away from trafficked space so we’d be ready to jump when we got the coordinates.

  With Aurora’s von Hasenberg seal, we’d be able to jump in close to Earth. We’d be on the ground in about an hour. I started working on my game face. I had to play this just right or Father would ignore my wishes.

  I sent Catarina a message, asking her to meet me in the primary hangar. I also asked her to bring new clothes for me and Ferdinand. I needed information before I made a move, and I needed to look like the daughter of a High House, not a merc.

  Ian moved to my side and touched my shoulder. “We need to discuss how to deal with Albrecht,” he said quietly. “Can we talk in your quarters?”

  I nodded. “Ferdinand, keep an eye on things, please. I’ll be back in a few.”

  “Take the time you need,” he said. “I’ll watch your ship.”

  I led Ian next door to my quarters. He smiled at the cyan walls in the sitting room. “It suits you,” he said. I settled on the sofa and patted the spot next to me. He sat, then picked me up and tucked me sideways across his lap with his left arm providing a backrest. I rested my head on his shoulder and took a deep breath of the warm, clean scent of him.

  “What will you tell Albrecht?” Ian asked.

  “I will tell him we’re together. I’ve done my duty for the House once. I won’t do it again, which will likely derail his plans. Worst case, he’ll disown me.”

  “That’s a pretty fucking bad case,” Ian said. “You can’t—”

  I shushed him. “I can do whatever I want. But I doubt it will come to that because Father knows how valuable my skills are. If he loses me, he loses my information. I would prefer to stay in the House because I need to keep an eye on Catarina, but I’m willing to give it up if it comes to that. You need to decide where the line is for you.”

  Ian thought about it for several long moments. I didn’t rush him, though I dearly wanted to. He needed to decide what he was willing to risk to be with me because the last thing I wanted was for him to be unha
ppy.

  “My job is important, not only to me, but to the rest of the squad,” he said quietly. “As director of security, I have access to information that keeps them safe.”

  I fought hard not to tense up but I must not have been entirely successful because he ran a soothing hand down my side.

  “That said, I think you could get most if not all of the information I rely on from your own network. If Albrecht bans you from the House, I will go with you.”

  “Ian, you don’t have—”

  “It’s my choice,” he said firmly. “I choose you. If it comes down to it, we’ll go to APD Zero and annoy the hell out of Loch.”

  My smile had to be blinding, but I didn’t care—he chose me. Hope and happiness blazed bright. Father didn’t stand a chance against the two of us.

  I pulled Ian’s head down to mine and lost myself in a scorching kiss full of promises.

  After we returned to the flight deck, the time both flew and crawled. The three of us got our story straight with what we planned to tell Father. We decided to stick to the basics: Silva took Ferdinand. I had a contact with information who only dealt in person. Ian tracked me down, but then we had to stick together due to timing. We rescued Ferdinand after Silva sold him to MineCorp.

  By the time we’d worked out all of the details and all of the things to avoid, Aurora was nearly on the ground. A few minutes later, we touched down in House von Hasenberg’s primary hangar. The message was clear—I wasn’t slinking home defeated, I was returning in a blaze of glory.

  The cameras showed Catarina waiting in the wings with a large bag. So were a squad of House soldiers.

  “I’ll deal with them,” Ian said quietly. “You change.”

  Ferdinand and I met Cat in the cargo bay and she ran to Ferdinand. She didn’t wait for an invitation, she slammed into him and squeezed him tight. “I’m so happy you’re okay!”

  “I’m happy to see you, too, Cat,” he said in his computer-generated voice.

  She stepped back, shocked. “What happened?”