Chapter One
When Miss Ariana Gilit, daughter of the duke of the Planet Wendo, heard the news that her suitor the Duke of Risciter was leaving the Planet Hallon, she wasn’t pleased. For one thing, Risciter had promised he would call on her later that afternoon. For another, she’d been absolutely certain that he would ask her father for her hand in marriage by the end of the week. For Risciter to be leaving so abruptly made no sense whatsoever. Furthermore, she was furious that he was leaving without saying goodbye to her.
The news, however, was all over the public nets. Risciter was her dream man. She, like nearly every other girl her age in the Evon Sector, had grown up with quite a crush on him, collecting pictures of him on the nets and following everything reported on him on the vids. When he’d begun courting her, nearly two months ago, she’d been out of her mind with joy. It was at his suggestion she’d even come to Hallon for the summer season. This season, it was in fashion to spend the summer on her homeworld, Wendo. And she would have been there with her family if it hadn’t been for Risciter.
His leaving her without so much as a word was completely unacceptable. She’d followed him to the ends of the universe—well, to Hallon, anyway, which was so unfashionable this season as to be synonymous with the ends of the universe—and he’d ditched her. Or at least, he was going to ditch her. In approximately one hour, according to the nets.
Ariana buzzed for her lady’s maid on her comm.
“Miss?” came the maid’s voice from the square communicator.
“Is Miss Vintro awake yet?” Ariana asked. Miss Vintro was her Aunt Tildy. She and Aunt Tildy were staying in her family home on Hallon. Her father had a house on every planet in the Evon Sector and four on their homeworld of Wendo. But her family hadn’t accompanied her to Hallon, considering how out of fashion it was these days. Ariana was hardly permitted to travel alone, however, and so Aunt Tildy had been sent along as her chaperone and companion. Unfortunately, Aunt Tildy, who’d never married and showed very little interest in ever getting married, showed a great deal of interest in alcohol. Which meant that she slept off a hangover nearly every morning. By the time Aunt Tildy deigned to get out of bed, it was generally after one in the afternoon.
“No, miss,” came the reply. “Shall I have her maid wake her?”
That was probably a terrible idea. Aunt Tildy was generally in an awful mood when she woke up, owing to her hangovers. But Ariana wasn’t supposed to leave the house without a companion, and she had to get to Risciter before he left the planet. What was she going to do? Ariana chewed on her lip. “No. Just come up here and braid my hair and help me dress.”
Ariana was formulating a plan. It was a plan that flew in the face of decorum and propriety, but this was a desperate situation. Her fiancé was leaving. Technically, of course, he wasn’t her fiancé, but he would be. She had to confront him, give him a chance to explain it all away. And if she didn’t see him before he left, then her life would be ruined. Possibly forever, but definitely for the rest of the week.
Her maid appeared in the doorway to her chamber. “Miss,” she said, “you aren’t planning on leaving the house without Miss Vintro, are you?”
Ariana tossed her hair. “Braid.” She gave the maid a sharp look. “It’s not your business what I’m planning, is it?”
“No, miss.” She began braiding.
Going to rendezvous with a man without a chaperon was indeed scandalous. But once she arrived, it wouldn’t be as though Risciter didn’t have his own entourage with him. They wouldn’t be alone then. So, really, she would only be unsupervised for a very short speeder ride to the spacedock. And that wasn’t that scandalous, was it?
After her hair was braided and her maid had helped her into a no-nonsense jumpsuit suitable for the spacedock, Ariana told her, “Have the driver get the speeder ready for me.”
The maid’s jaw dropped. “Miss, you are going to go out alone, aren’t you?”
“Just do it,” said Ariana. Of course, she didn’t need the maids’ gossiping about her either. That would get around society quicker than if she posted her intentions on the nets. “And don’t go spreading it about either. This is an urgent situation, and there simply is no way around it.”
“It’s about His Lordship, isn’t it? Duke Risciter? I saw that he was leaving today.”
“Get the speeder,” said Ariana.
The maid hurried out of the room.
And so, within fifteen minutes, Ariana was in the backseat of a speeder, rushing towards the spacedock. For good measure, she kept the divider between her and the driver up and opaque, so that he couldn’t see her. Surely, that was enough to protect her privacy.