Release(7)

“Stop crying,” said the man, annoyed.

She couldn’t. She didn’t say anything.

“This is all your fault, anyway. I was trying to get rid of you. I was trying to drop you off someplace nice, where you’d be well taken care of. You had to screw it up by trying to call the police. Trust me, I don’t want you here any more than you want to be here.”

That wasn’t exactly comforting.

“Seriously, sweetheart. Can you stop the waterworks, already?”

“Don’t call me sweetheart.” Ariana hiccupped, but being angry at the man made it a little easier to stop her tears.

“What do you want me to call you?”

“You can call me Miss Gilit. That’s my name.”

The man sneered at her. “That’s right. Miss Ariana Gilit, daughter of the Duke of Wendo. I’ve seen pictures of you on the nets. I knew Risciter was courting you. Why a woman who could have any man in the galaxy would be wasting your time on Risciter is beyond me.”

Ariana sat up primly in her seat as best she could through the belts that bound her. “It’s a very good match. My father thinks so.”

The man rolled his eyes. “Right. A good match.”

“It is,” said Ariana. “And anyway, I don’t see how it’s any of your business.” She sniffled. She was still frightened, but telling this man off made her feel a bit more in control of herself. “What are you going to do with me?” She hoped he wasn’t going to kill her. She was probably in the way of his plans now, and maybe he’d simply point a blaster at her and... She shuddered.

The man stroked his chin. “Well, I have no idea. The ship’s headed out of the Evon Sector to the planet Risciter was heading to. It’s a colony planet. It’s not like the places you’re used to, but there will be a town, and they’ll have a public comm you can use to contact your family. I guess I’ll just let you go there.”

Ariana swallowed. A colony planet? She’d grown up hearing horror stories about the barbarians outside the Evon Sector. But she guessed it was better than being held prisoner by this man, and she was glad he wasn’t going to kill her.

The terror must have shown on her face, because the man said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what else to do. Maybe you should be glad I didn’t kick your ass out of the ship before I took off on Hallon. You’d be dead now, sucked into space.”

Dead. She shrank into her seat. “Don’t kill me. Please. Mr.... I don’t know your name, but please don’t kill me.”

The man looked even more annoyed. “My name’s Keirth. Keirth Transman. And I’m not going to kill you. I’m not a killer.”

“You’re going to kill Risciter aren’t you?”

“That’s different. Risciter...” Keirth sighed. “It’s not the same. He deserves it.”

“He doesn’t deserve it. He’s done nothing wrong. He’s a good man. I know him.”

Keirth shook his head. “No, see that’s the thing. You don’t know him. You don’t know a thing about him.” He got up and knelt behind her chair, unfastening the belts. “Now, if I untie you, are you going to start scratching my face up again?”

“No,” she said quietly.

He began unwinding the belts. “I’m sorry about all of this, okay? I thought I had a good plan. Apparently, I didn’t. It’s too late to back out now, so...” He pulled the belt completely off her body, freeing her. “I don’t make a practice of running around kidnapping women in the nobility. This isn’t... I’m not going to hurt you.”

Ariana massaged her arms, glad to have them free.

Keirth looked around the bridge. “Well, we’re going to be in hyperspace for about six hours. You got anything to eat on this boat?”

* * *

Though Miss Ariana Gilit knew where the kitchen was on the ship, she was a complete idiot about preparing any kind of food, so Keirth searched through the packets of dehydrated provisions and found some soup. He added water to it and put it in the heating unit to boil.

Ariana sat at the table in the kitchen, fidgeting. “When we travel in the ship, usually the servants eat in the kitchen. I’ve always eaten in the dining room.”

“Guess you’ll get the chance to see what it’s like to be a servant, then,” Keirth said. He didn’t know what to think this of this woman. One second, she was standing up to him, the next, she was sobbing. In between all that, she seemed like a spoiled, sheltered little girl. Which, Keirth supposed, she was. He’d spent a bit of his life working for the nobility in various capacities. When he’d discovered Risciter was planning to go back to Hallon for the summer season, Keirth had gotten a job driving the duke of Hallon’s speeder in an attempt to get close to Risciter.