Polaris Rising (Consortium Rebellion, #1)(88)

I certainly hadn’t expected it, so I doubt Richard had even given it a moment’s thought.

Loch continued, “I knew approximately when Rhys and Veronica were due, so I just had to find your cell. It took longer than I expected; Rockhurst kept your presence quiet. Otherwise, I would’ve given you warning. Nice escape, by the way.”

“I’d spent the day going over my marriage contract. I was getting out of that cell no matter what.”

Veronica turned to me. “Rockhurst still wanted to marry you?”

“If you can call it that. He was blackmailing me into a sham of a marriage with a number of threats, including one on your life and Rhys’s.”

“You wouldn’t have gone through with it, right?” Veronica asked.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “The way the contract was originally written—no. Richard wanted me to feed false information to my House, which would’ve cost hundreds of thousands of lives. I was modifying it when Loch rescued me. If I could’ve gotten it into a halfway decent state, I would’ve signed it, only to breach it as soon as an opportunity presented itself. Signing it would’ve given you and Rhys at least a slim chance of escape.”

“But that would me—” she started.

“Trust me, I knew what it meant,” I said.

Veronica bowed her head to me. “I am glad we rescued you from that,” she said.

I smiled at her. “You and me, both.”

“You want to clue in the rest of the room?” Loch asked.

“When two Houses join in marriage, there is a marriage contract that lays out all of the details, like the dowry. The lower houses try to marry into a High House for power and prestige. High Houses marry into lower houses for strategic purposes or because the lower house offered money, territory, or technology as part of the contract.”

“Sounds mercenary,” Loch said.

“It is and even more so when two High Houses marry. The duty usually falls to younger sons and daughters, those far down the inheritance hierarchy. It pays to have a spy in your enemy’s House, as well as a tiny bit of influence. Plus the contracts are dense with concessions from both sides, and sometimes marriage is the only way to get treaties signed. But neither side actually wants the two Houses to combine, so heirs are not married to rival High Houses.”

I shrugged and continued, “If I’d signed the marriage contract Richard proposed, I would belong to him, both in his eyes and in the eyes of the Consortium. It wouldn’t matter that it was coerced. If I broke the contract, Rhys and Veronica would die. If I killed or escaped him, I would be shunned by the entirety of the Consortium, including my own House.”

Loch looked furious but Rhys didn’t seem shocked. I wondered again about his background. I decided to pivot the conversation back into safer waters. “Where are we jumping?”

“Back to Sedition on APD Zero,” Loch said. “Veronica’s kid and nanny are there. Plus we can drop off this worthless bastard.” He jerked a thumb at Rhys.

“This worthless bastard managed to get his partner out of the Santa Celestia and back to this ship without either of us getting shot,” Rhys said. “How did that work out for you?”

Loch scowled at him.

I turned to Veronica. “I saw video of you and Rhys being walked off the ship and again once you were in your cells. How did you get out?” I asked.

“Loch got us out before he went to get you,” Veronica said. “We went on ahead, dressed like crew, to try to secure Polaris and as much alcubium as we could find. Unfortunately, Rockhurst’s actual crew found us out before we could get the alcubium on board. We retreated and prayed you two would make it.”

The ship chimed. “We’ve got a jump point,” Loch said.

“How long until the FTL is ready?” I asked.

“Ten minutes.” He tapped on the screen. “Looks like it’s good we got here when we did, because Rockhurst is trying to overload the gate with requests. That’s why it took longer to get a jump point.”

“If I sit here and wait for ten minutes, I’ll drive myself crazy,” I said. “I’m going to see if the soldiers found the stuff I hid.” I stood with only a minor wobble. Whatever Loch had given me for the pain was wearing off, which made my balance better but tiny daggers stabbed down my arm when I jostled it.

On top of that, the regeneration gel had started to kick in. I schooled my expression so no one would worry.

“I will help you,” Loch said. He followed me out of the room. “How’s the arm?” he asked after the door closed behind us.

“Still attached,” I said. When he frowned at me, I continued, “It hurts like the devil has decided to jab me with his pitchfork every time I even think about moving.”

“Pain meds wearing off?”

“Yeah. If it gets worse, I’ll take something.” That wasn’t technically a lie. It would just take extreme values of worse to make it true. Unfortunately, I had a feeling I’d be there before too much longer.

I pressed my right hand against the control panel for the captain’s quarters. The door slid open. I stumbled inside. Sweat dotted my brow and trickled down my back. Maybe I’d lie down until the regeneration gel did its thing.

“Are you okay?” Loch asked.