Once & Future (Once & Future #1)(35)

“The Mercer CEO?” Ari shot sideways out of her chair as anger, accusation, and rampant fear flamed through her body. “Gwen, he knows—”

“Stop,” she whispered.

“—where my parents are locked up. He—”

Gwen tugged on the front of her shirt, with that Damnit, Ari look. They were kissing so fast Ari’s internal fire sizzled. At first, it was a tender heat, but then the desperation of this entire trip built until Ari was holding Gwen as close as possible.

Gwen’s face nuzzled against Ari’s ear. “We can’t let him know what we want. He’ll use it against us. Trust me.”

Gwen pulled back, her brown eyes bright, her lips flushed red. “Aren’t we giving him a show?” she announced in the direction of the warning light. “Enjoying this with popcorn, Administrator?”

Ari felt sick at the idea of someone watching them. Not just someone. The man who ran the most powerful company in the galaxy—and therefore the universe. The door unlocked, and Ari reached emptily at the spot over her shoulder where Excalibur should be.





Gwen and Ari followed the flashing lights along the wall to an elevator on the dizzying top floor of a skyscraper. The Administrator’s office was a circular room made entirely of windows, the décor solidly Mercer white with bold black accents.

Ari had heard stories about the Mercer Company’s CEO over the years—and of course seen his face in his innumerable ads—but none of that prepared her for this meeting. He lounged across a couch, middle-aged with long limbs, his skin as white as if he had been grown in a tank of bleach. He was nondescript in the face, the body, the clothes. His hair was a white-blond thatch, oddly sparse. If Ari had tried to draw him, she would have managed a stick figure and given up.

He held up a bowl that had been resting in his lap. “Pretzels, not popcorn. What do we win for stumping you? Your planet? How about that awesome crown?”

When Gwen did little more than tighten her grip on Ari’s hand, the Administrator shot up and crossed the room. “We kid, we kid.” He hugged Gwen as if they were old friends, and Ari ached to dismantle the embrace with her bare hands.

Gwen allowed him to touch her and then breathed through her nose. “How lovely of you to drag me up here once again.”

“Oh, my sweet and spicy Gweneviere. Tell us you missed us.”

“No, thank you.”

His eyes twinkled as he turned to Ari. “Ara Azar, how delighted we are to find you still living. And married to my favorite monarch! Should we discuss celebrity power couple names or let something emerge organically?”

Ari felt slapped.

Azar.

Her bones knew that name. Her heart did, as well.

Only her head was behind.

“How do you…” Ari started, trying to find the words.

Gwen bristled whole-bodily, tugging them to the couches to sit while Ari’s mind stroked every single letter of Azar as if it were the greatest gift she’d ever been given… but that meant she was in debt to Mercer, which did not feel right. Her eyes dropped to the wooden coffee table, an elaborate chessboard embedded in its polished finish.

The Administrator lounged across the opposite couch. “Ara, please continue. You were going to say, ‘How do you know my family name?’ And we were going to say,” he sat up, cold, dark eyes suddenly piercing, “from your mother’s ship. Not your incarcerated adoptive mothers’ ship. The first mother. Such a determined heart, that one.” He leaned back again, seemingly bored. “But we won’t say any more, so don’t bother asking.”

Ari’s heart hammered so loudly she couldn’t think straight. He was talking about her mother like he knew her. Like maybe she was still alive. Was she in one of Mercer’s compounds, too? Was she a political prisoner here on Troy?

“We are only here for two reasons,” Gwen said, making a grab for control of the conversation, looking keenly aware that it had slipped away. “One, you promised hydration shipments, and you haven’t delivered. You have been late this past year, but this month’s cycle you’ve been flat-out hovering in the atmosphere, refusing to land.”

“Us? Personally, we never hover. Bad for the lower back.”

“You know what I mean. What do I have to do to get Mercer to keep its word?”

“Sign over the planet,” he said. Gwen snarled, and Ari gripped her wife’s elbow. “We’ll let you remain figurehead. You can even pretend to pass laws and whatnot.”

“You know my answer,” she said.

“As you wish. A few more weeks of dehydration and your people will hand over the planet willingly. For their troubles, we’ll give each of them enough water for their own swimming pool. Two-day shipping on all aboveground pools.” He held up a finger. “For a limited time, of course.”

Ari leaned in, wanting to help Gwen. “What does Mercer have against Lionel?”

“Mercer?” the Administrator said as if he’d never heard the word before. “Mercer is a corporation, my dear rogue Ketchan. We sell things and solve problems; we do not have enemies.” His eyes turned from Ari to Gwen, hardening. “But we do have customers who become loyal friends. Troy is such a friend. The same friendship Lionel has rejected repeatedly, and as you know, Troy is angry that it can’t vent its overpopulated cities to Lionel, a largely underused planet.”