Bringing Stella Home (40 page)

So Gazan is the
key,
Sholpan thought to herself.
This war is between him and me—the others
probably don’t want to get involved.

“
Thank you,” she
said.

Zeline gave her a funny look. “Thank
you for what?”

“
For—for your hospitality,”
said Sholpan, recovering quickly. “It was good to meet
you.”

“
Indeed,” said Zeline. “And
you as well.”

From her flat tone of voice, however,
Sholpan doubted the sentiment was sincere.

* * * * *

Sholpan found Gazan on the
bridge the next day.
When she arrived, a
pair of lightly armored soldiers stood in front of the door,
blocking her path. Undaunted, she pressed forward—as Qasar’s wife,
she’d let no underling stop her.

“
Do you have business here,
milady?” the older one asked.

“
Yes,” she said. “I need to
speak with Prince Gazan. Is he here?”

The soldiers conferred for a moment.
Sholpan drew in a breath and did her best to seem
confident.

“
The prince is on the
bridge,” said the first one. “If you wish to speak with him, I’ll
bring him out.”

“
I’d rather not speak with
him out here,” Sholpan said quickly. “Our business
is…private.”

The soldiers eyed her uneasily for a
moment, as if unsure what to do. Sholpan stared at them as if they
were idiots, willing them to let her pass. To her surprise, it
worked; after a few awkward moments, they shuffled aside and let
her through.

The bridge was much larger than she
had expected, with enough stations to seat at least thirty people.
Dozens of displays and indicator panels had been added to the
original civilian design, but even with the numerous modifications,
the place didn’t feel tacked together. The additions were welded in
place, not taped or glued, and the wires running along the floor
were carefully bundled.

For all its size, however, the bridge
was surprisingly empty. Sholpan saw only three men in the room; two
seated on the far side, with the third one standing next to them.
The first two wore the light armor characteristic of the lesser
officers, but the third—a young, beardless man—wore a gray robe
almost identical to Qasar’s.

That must be Gazan,
Sholpan told herself. She took a deep breath and
stepped forward.

“
Milady,” said one of the
officers, “what are you doing here?”

“
Looking for my husband’s
son,” she said, looking each them in the eye in turn. “Would any of
you be him?”

“
The bridge is no place for
a woman,” said Gazan, staring at her with unfeigned contempt. “Do
you not know where your husband is? Or have you fallen out of favor
so quickly?”

Sholpan ignored the insult and did her
best to smile. “You are Borta’s son Gazan, I take it?”

The prince sneered. “Yes,” he said. “I
am the late Borta’s son. You would do well to remember
it.”

“
Ah,” said Sholpan, bowing
graciously. “I hope you’ll forgive me—I’m afraid I’m new to the
ship.”

“
I can tell.”

“
It’s a pleasure to meet
you.”

“
Don’t mock me,” he said,
his voice dangerously low.

Sholpan swallowed.
It’s now or never.

“
Master Gazan, would you
care to join me for coffee on the observation deck? I think it
would be good for us to get to know each other a little
better.”

Gazan narrowed his eyes.
“When?”

“
Whenever is convenient for
you, Master—”

“
Two hours.”

His quick answer caught her by
surprise. “Two hours? Well, ah, certainly we can—”

“
Is there a problem with
that?”

“
No problem, Master Gazan,
no problem at all. I’ll be pleased to see you then.”

“
As will I.”

Sholpan bowed again, much more
awkwardly this time. The three men’s eyes followed her as she
turned and left the bridge, hoping that she hadn’t just set up a
duel.

* * * * *

Two hours later, Sholpan nervously
paced the main observation deck. With Engus and two other servants
busy setting the small table in the center of the room, she had
nothing to do but wait. The spaciousness of the room felt
oppressive to her, and the starfield, though magnificent through
the enormous windows, comforted her little.

The two hour mark came and
went. Engus draped a towel over the platters of sweetcakes and
stood idly next to the other servants, frowning. He clearly thought
that the whole affair was a waste of his time.
At least he has to obey me now,
Sholpan thought to herself. That was one of the perks of being
Qasar’s wife—one of the few perks.

The hiss of a door broke her away from
her thoughts. A figure stood silhouetted in the open doorway, lit
from behind. Sholpan swallowed and drew herself up—even though she
couldn’t see his face, she knew who it was.

“
Master Gazan,” she said.
“Please, come in.”

Without a word, Prince Gazan stepped
inside. The door hissed shut, and the darkness on the far side of
the room shrouded the young man’s face. His heavy boots echoed in
the silence, each footstep sharp and distinct. He walked slowly,
taking his time.

“
Welcome,” said Sholpan as
he stepped into the light surrounding the table. She gave a short
bow.

He stopped and stared at her without
returning the gesture. His eyes shifted to the table, then to the
servants, then to her again.

“
Please,” she said, “come
in and eat. Make yourself at home.”

“
I don’t make it a general
practice to put myself at ease in the presence of my enemies,” he
said softly. “Neither should you.”

“
I don’t see any reason why
we should be enemies, Master Gazan.”

He scowled. “Is that what you said to
my mother?”

That’s certainly not what
she said to me.

“
I’m sorry about your
mother,” she said instead. “Truly, I am. Believe me—I know what it
feels like to lose the ones you love.”

Gazan’s eyes narrowed. He said
nothing.

“
I know it won’t alleviate
your suffering, but I promise you, I had nothing to do with her
murder. My servant Narju acted entirely on his own. He believed
that your mother was a threat and did his best to defend
me.”

“
A loyal servant, then?” he
said, his voice dangerously low.

“
Yes.”

Gazan smiled. “Then let us test the
loyalty of your new ones, shall we?” He turned to the servants.
“Leave us.”

Sholpan’s blood ran cold. “No,” she
commanded. “Stay here.”

The younger two glanced nervously from
her to Gazan, unsure what to do. Engus, however, turned and made
for the door.

“
Engus!” she said in a
loud, commanding voice. “Where are you going? Come
back!”

But Engus ignored her. As he reached
the door, he turned and barked orders at the others. They both gave
her a sheepish look, then turned and ran after their
superior.

“
No—wait! Stop!” she
shouted, her voice becoming frantic. “Tariq, Zaid! I order you to
stop at once. Can you hear me? I order you to come
back!”

Neither of them acknowledged
her.

I should run now,
Sholpan thought to herself.
If I hurry, I can reach the door before it closes—before they
leave me alone with Gazan.

Even as the thought came to her mind,
however, Sholpan knew that it wasn’t an option. If word reached the
other wives that she had run from Gazan like a frightened little
girl—that Gazan had ordered her own servants, in her presence,
against her own command—they would walk all over her for the rest
of her life.

She stood her ground and swallowed.
Across the room, the door hissed shut.

“
You’re still here,” Gazan
observed. He moved towards her, hands clenched into
fists.

“
Yes,” said Sholpan,
struggling to keep her voice even. “As I said before, Master Gazan,
I don’t see any reason why we should be…”

Her voice trailed off as Gazan stepped
closer. “You killed my mother, you bitch.” His eyes glowed with
hatred.

“
N-no,” Sholpan stuttered,
stepping away from him. “I promise you, I had nothing to do with
it.”

He kept coming, faster now. She edged
around the table, trying to keep it between the both of
them.

“
Pl-please,” she said,
unable to hide her fear any longer. “Please don’t do
this.”

In a single movement, Gazan lifted the
edge of the table and flung it to the side. The coffee and pastries
spilled across the floor, while the tableware shattered into
thousands of tiny shards. The sudden noise exploded in her ears,
and her legs all but gave out from sheer terror.

And then, to her surprise, Sholpan’s
mind cleared.

“
Think carefully about what
you’re doing, Gazan,” she said in a calm, even voice. “We don’t
have to be enemies. I lost my mother, too—my mother and all of my
family. I know what it feels like, and I’m terribly sorry for your
loss.”

“
Why should I believe you?”
he hissed.

“
Because I’m risking my
life to say it.”

For a few moments, Gazan said nothing.
Then, without warning, he shouted and charged. Sholpan barely had
time to scream before he was on her.

The first blow knocked her clean off
her feet. Time slowed as she fell through the air, pain blossoming
across the side of her face. She landed on the floor with a loud
crack, and for a moment her vision swam with stars.

Whatever had held Gazan back before,
it was gone now. He pulled her up and struck her again and again.
She screamed and tried to shield herself, but a blow struck her
square in the right eye, making the world go red. A powerful kick
connected with her stomach, and she doubled over in
pain.

“
Stop!” she cried. “Please,
stop!”

Gazan struck her all the harder,
filling her world with pain. The taste of blood filled her mouth,
and her breathing came in short, uneven gasps. After a few more
blows, he paused long enough to grab her blouse and tear it off her
body. Sholpan tried to fight him off, but she was too weak to stop
him. Rough hands pinned her face up against the floor, then reached
for her skirt and pulled it down.

He’s going to rape
me,
she realized. She closed her eyes,
powerless to do anything else.

Then, to her surprise, he stopped. For
a long while, he knelt over her bruised and broken body, strangely
hesitant. A moment later, he was gone.

For the next long while, Sholpan
passed in and out of consciousness. She didn’t know how long he had
beat her, or how long she lay on the floor after he’d left.
Somehow, she managed to make it to the door, stopping to check
herself over.

Bruises covered her arms and legs; her
left knee was too weak to support her body, the right side of her
face was swollen, and several of her ribs felt like they were
broken. When she wiped her nose with the back of her hand, it came
away bloody. Her clothes were in tatters, bloodstained and
ruined.

What just happened?
she wondered as she glanced back at the room. The
wreckage of the food and dinnerware lay as still as an alien
landscape. Outside the windows, the magnificent starfield bathed
the scene in cold light.

Chapter 21

“
What do you mean, you want
to cancel our contract?” said James. “We know Stella’s alive; we
know where she is; we even have the Hameji transport—”

“
I lost half my men in the
last battle, Ensign. I’m not going to risk losing any
more.”

James clenched his fists as a feeling
of sheer helplessness swept over him. “We don’t need to risk the
whole crew,” he argued. “We just need a couple of men to put
together a team—”

“
I’m not going to risk ‘a
couple’ of my men,” said Danica. “I have an obligation to my crew,
and I’m going to keep it.”

“
But we’re so
close!”

“
I highly doubt that,” said
Danica, setting her coffee mug on the table. “You want to take that
transport, fly it into the heart of the Hameji fleet, kidnap the
concubine of one of their highest ranking commanders, and get out
alive. That’s more than dangerous—that’s suicide.”

“
Then why did you take on
the job in the first place?” James asked bitterly.

Danica said nothing for several
moments. James shifted uneasily on his feet.

“
I’m sorry about your men,”
he continued, “but Stella is my sister. Did you ever think we’d
come this far? We can do this!”

“
Don’t delude yourself,
Ensign. You’re not invincible.”