Polaris Rising (Consortium Rebellion, #1)(110)
“I’ll do my best,” I told him quietly.
“Ada, put down the gun and we can discuss this like civilized adults,” Father said.
“You went behind my back and grabbed one of my employees,” I said. “That doesn’t seem very civilized.”
“You mean your fuck toy?” Lady Rockhurst said, contempt dripping from every word. “I should have expected you to lower yourself—”
I shot her with a stun bolt. She went down with a scream. Neither Father nor Lord Yamado moved to help her. “Would anyone else like to comment?” I asked.
“Ada Irena Maria Franziska von Hasenberg, I am your father and you will do as I say,” Father barked. “Put down the gun and stop embarrassing yourself.” True fury saturated his tone. He really meant I should stop embarrassing him—and possibly House von Hasenberg, but I’d bet even it was a distant second right now.
That tone of voice plus the use of my full name used to be enough to shove me back into line, but tonight it was not going to work. “You do realize that I vastly prefer Ferdinand, right?” I asked, naming my oldest brother and heir to House von Hasenberg. “You are in no position to demand anything of me.”
“I will disown you for this,” he promised.
Even though I knew it would likely come down to this, hurt sliced through my system. Family was everything to a High House, not for sentimental reasons, but in order to maintain a strong, powerful House. I couldn’t remember the last time someone was disowned.
As part of a High House, no matter what happened, you knew the House would have your back. So did everyone else. Even when I left home, I knew that if things ever went completely sideways, I could just reveal my identity and House von Hasenberg would do whatever it took to get me out.
By threatening to remove the protection of our House, Father had just promised that everyone who held a grudge against House von Hasenberg in general—or me in particular—would target me because there would be no House retaliation. I would become the most hunted woman in the ’verse, with or without a bounty.
I kept my expression cool through sheer force of will. “You will do what you have to do, just as I am. Now either we can have a conversation, like civilized adults, or I can shoot you all dead and take my chances with the RCDF forces outside.”
Lady Rockhurst climbed to her feet. Hatred twisted her features for a few seconds until her mask fell into place. She smoothed her dress with a hand that barely trembled. Stun bolts packed much less of a wallop than stunsticks, but even so, her recovery time was impressive.
“What do you hope to accomplish here?” Lord Yamado asked. Oddly, he seemed like the most rational of the three despite his legendary temper.
“A full pardon for Marcus Loch and myself, including removal of the bounties, plus posthumous pardons and familial restitution for every member of the Genesis Project,” I said. Three sets of eyes snapped to me in shock. I had their attention now. “Or I will burn down your world,” I vowed.
Lady Rockhurst rallied fastest. “I do not know what you are talking about,” she said.
“That is unfortunate considering it was your son who was the one directing the only surviving Genesis Project squadron to attack the starving women and children of Fornax Zero. But I suppose if you do not know about it you will not mind when the information is released in”—I checked the time on my com—“forty-three minutes.”
“Did this man tell you that?” Lady Rockhurst asked with a wave at Loch. “And you were stupid enough to believe him?” She sneered. “You deserve to be disowned. In fact, I am going to demand it.”
My temper flared but I was encased in the ice of my public persona. I looked down my nose at her and arched a single, imperious eyebrow. She didn’t wilt like most whom I hit with the expression, but that had never been my intention. I needed to provoke one of them into making a mistake. “Do I need to shoot you again?” I asked. “Because it would be my pleasure.”
Lady Rockhurst flushed red in outrage. If pure hate could kill, I’d be dead.
“Even if it was true, why would anyone care what happened to a military squadron so long ago?” Father asked.
“You think parents who watched their babies die from a simple gene deformity that the Royal Consortium arbitrarily decided cannot be altered are going to stand idly by when it comes out that you used illegal genetic manipulation to create supersoldiers? Especially when those soldiers were used to slaughter starving innocents? There will be riots in the streets of every occupied planet.”
“She is bluffing,” Lady Rockhurst said. “The information was destroyed. We all agreed.”
“I would hope so, since it was your job to destroy the shared data, Anne,” Lord Yamado said. “We destroyed our copies.”
Lady Rockhurst rounded on him. “You are not pinning this on me, Ren, so do not even try it. The data was destroyed.”
They both turned to Father. Albrecht stared them down. “She did not get it from our House,” he said. “I personally oversaw the deletion of our files.”
Despite their words, they all very likely had offline backups of the data because they were all backstabbing bastards. They would want to ensure that they could take down the other Houses if the data ever came to light in a way that was unfavorable to them.