Release(9)

“Where did you grow up?”

“All over,” he said. “My mother traveled to different planets in the sector, looking for work. We’d settle wherever she could find something steady.”

She nodded. “And what did she do for work?”

Keirth shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about that.” He was fairly sure that announcing his mother’s occupation as a prostitute didn’t qualify as good dinner conversation. He should change the subject. Certainly Ariana would want to talk about herself. “What about you? Where did you grow up?”

“On Wendo, of course,” said Ariana. “We did some traveling when I was a girl, but we’ve traveled more now that my sister and I are both of age and actively looking for husbands. One must go where society dictates, after all.”

Keirth nodded. He knew that some people followed the nobility on the nets like hawks, wanting to know where they were and what planet was fashionable that season. To him, it all seemed absolutely ridiculous. They had too much time on their hands and too much money to play with. But he didn’t suppose saying that aloud was good dinner conversation either. He was beginning to appreciate why people in the nobility had to practice this kind of thing. “Do you like Wendo? Were you happy there?” That was safe, wasn’t it?

“Oh, absolutely,” she said. “It’s a small planet though, and the seasons are short. It’s nice getting back to spring quicker than everyone else, I guess, but there’s nothing like a long, extended summer on Risciter.”

And then they were both quiet, because she’d said the name of the duke, even though she’d meant the planet. Risciter was a big planet, and the duke was a sorry excuse for a human being. So, there they were again.

Ariana put down her spoon. “What do you have against him, anyway?”

“He’s a murderer,” said Keirth.

Ariana made a face. “He is not.”

Keirth rolled his eyes. “Maybe this conversation idea wasn’t a great one. Let’s just eat, okay?”

* * *

Ariana opened one eye. Her arms were flung over her head. All she could see was Keirth, standing over her in the bridge of the ship.

“We’re safe on the ground,” he said, glaring at her in disgust.

She lowered her arms and looked around, taking in the fact that they were indeed safe. Nothing inside the bridge seemed to be damaged. The visual was on, and outside, she could see the trunks of trees. They’d come down right in the middle of a forest, crashing and smashing down branches everywhere. It had been terrifying. “Don’t they have spacedocks in the colonies?”

“Sure, they do,” said Keirth. “And if you want your ship stolen or raided for parts, you absolutely land it there and leave it.”

Ariana was shocked. There was this much lawlessness out here? Ships weren’t safe?

“Maybe,” said Keirth, “if you came with a cadre of armed men to guard your ship, it might be safe in a docking bay, but I don’t have that luxury. So, we’ve landed in the woods. I don’t see why you were so upset anyway. I put the ship down in a nice clearing.”

Ariana still remembered the sounds of scraping branches and splintering wood. It hadn’t seemed like a clearing to her.

“Get up,” said Keirth.

She didn’t move from her seat.

Keirth reached down and pulled her to her feet. “Come on. We don’t have much time.” He dragged her out of the bridge and out to the loading ramp, which he’d lowered. Pushing her first, they exited the ship. Outside, they stood on the forest floor. The trees looked the same as they did on most planets, but the leaves were an odd shade of green—nearly blue. Now that she was outside, Ariana could see that, in fact, the ship had landed in a clearing of sorts, but it was surrounded on all sides by tall trees with blue-green leaves.

Keirth took several steps away from the ship and pulled a compass out of his pocket. Consulting it, he pointed deep into the forest. “Walk that way.”

He meant to set her loose in the woods? “What?”

Keirth gave her a dark look. He took her by the arm and dragged her to the spot he’d been standing in. He pointed again. “You see this path?”

“No.” As near as Ariana could tell, there wasn’t a path. Of course, she hadn’t spent much time in the woods—not in the wild woods, anyway. She’d gone on nice nature walks on Wendo occasionally, but they were always on cleared, paved walkways through the trees, with benches set up every ten feet or so for resting and talking. It was possible she didn’t know what a forest path was, she guessed.