Chapter 35: Imperious

Chloe slid to a stop between Quinn and Rudy, facing the Kyrillos man-at-arms. Behind her, she heard Rudy slam against a bulkhead as the slug hit him.

Help him! Her every instinct begged her to run to his side and see if she could help. To see if he was still within her power to help. But if she did that, he wouldn't be. The Kyrillos men would kill him, if they hadn't already. He'd been right about them, so right, and now, because she'd interfered –

"Step aside, Your Highness," Quinn said. "I have to make sure –"

Chloe locked gazes with him.

"Put the gun down," she said. She hardly recognized her voice. She felt like she would shake apart, but she sounded perfectly calm.

"Highness –"

"If you don't put the gun down," Chloe said, "if Rudy is d... if you do him any further harm... I will destroy this ship and kill every last one of you."

Quinn hesitated.

"It is enough, Quinn," Slava growled. "Put it down. We must talk."

The pistol clattered to the Errant Magpie's glaringly white floor.

"There is nothing to talk about," Chloe said. "You call me Princess, you call me Your Highness, and you will obey me as such. You will disarm yourselves, and then you will take Rudy to our quarters and render such medical assistance as you are capable of."

"He's dangerous, Your Hignness," Quinn said. "He's the one who started the fight. Forget killing me and Slava. If he'd pushed the wrong buttons, he could have alerted the Reformer to your location!"

"Rudy was wrong to act when he did," Chloe said, "but he and I arranged ahead of time for him to seize this ship at the first sign of trouble. After all, as is now painfully clear, we were dealing with gangsters. The fault is as much mine as his, and even more your lord's. Had Stephan told us the truth from the outset, we could have worked this out without violence."

Chloe's tone seemed to freeze the Kyrillos men in place. Slowly, the two who were still armed unbelted their guns and lowered them to the floor. Slava took a half step toward Rudy, looked to Chloe.

She nodded.

She allowed herself to turn as the ursid approached Rudy.

He flashed her what was probably meant as a grin, but looked more like a grimace. He'd stumbled into a console and sprawled on the floor, and she could see cracks in his flight suit where its nanomachine fabric had hardened into ablative armor. From his expression, she figured he had cracks inside, too. The suit prevented the slug from penetrating his body, but it could only do so much to disperse the kinetic energy.

But he was manifestly, unambiguously, wonderfully alive.

Chloe fought back her cry of relief. She could not afford even the slightest show of weakness in front of the Kyrillos men – not if she wanted Rudy to remain alive.

"Can you move?" she asked, her voice still unnaturally calm.

He nodded, and winced. "Not and like it, but yeah."

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"How bad is it?"

"Broken collarbone, suit says. Couple of cracked ribs. Had worse. Hurts to talk."

Chloe nodded. "Slava, please help Rudy to our quarters."

"Highness." The ursid bent to obey.

Rudy pushed him away. "Said I've had worse.” He braced his legs and uncurled himself, carefully avoiding supporting himself with his hands. "I'll make it."

"You need to lie down and either get medical nanopaste on your chest or let your suit work if it has that functionality." Chloe hated not being able to sound as concerned as she felt, but if she let go of the illusion of control, she didn't think she could get it back.

"Works for me." He took a few steps toward the door, hesitated.

Chloe swept to his side and, gently as she could, hooked one of his arms over her shoulder. "I'll help you."

Slava's shadow fell over them. "Highness, we still have troubles. It is not wise for you to leave."

Chloe looked up at the ursid. She half-allowed and half-forced her smile, her inclination to trust hybrids and her shock and fury at the Kyrillos men's actions combining into an expression she hoped looked imperious. "I leave the escape in your capable hands, Commander."

"Highness." He bowed, fist pressed to his chest. "We do our best."

"Then the Reformer is as good as foiled," Chloe said.

The ursid bowed deeper.

Chloe acknowledged the bow with a nod and stepped backwards, easing Rudy through the bridge doors.

She didn't dare speak or relax until she and Rudy were down the hall and into the quarters they'd shared. Until the door slid shut and she eased him off her shoulder and onto the bed. Until, finally, she could sink onto the couch and bury her face in her hands and breathe.

Rudy said, "Wow."

Chloe spread her fingers enough to peer out at him. He'd propped himself up on his elbows; but for the cracks on his suit, she'd never have guessed he was hurt.

"I mean, damn – I thought your Petra Jaric was a good performance, but that was something else." He gave her a thumbs-up.

"You were faking," Chloe said flatly.

Rudy shrugged. "Sort of. I'll have a bruise the size of a dinner plate, but nothing a little tender love and care – I mean, a little medical nanopaste – won't fix up. It takes more than a candy-ass pistol like that to punch through this gear. This is Marchess Threelete series nanofiber, so cutting edge the Feds can't even get it on the open market. Works like a dream."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, this is the first time you've wanted to get me into bed…"

Chloe slumped back on the coach and closed her eyes. "Be serious, Rudy. Please?"

"What's wrong, Clo? You were great up there! Seems I didn't do half bad, either, so barring any intervention from our pal Marcel, we're good to go."

She heard him stand and sprint to her side. She felt his hands closing around hers, and realized the latter had been shaking.

He whispered, "Chloe?"

"Great? I don't feel 'great,'" Chloe said. "Don't want to be 'great.' It's all too big for me – or maybe I'm scared it's not too big, maybe I am –"

Rudy shushed her. His hand slid along her arm and up to cup her chin.

She opened her eyes.

His electric blue eyes twinkled inches from her face. "You know what you need, Clo?"

Chloe shook her head. "Rudy, please don't. No kidding around. Please. Not right now."

"You need," he said, "to calm down and take a deep breath. Maybe not in that order."

"Oh." She smiled wanly. "Guess I kind of jumped the gun, huh?"

He chuckled. "Tell you the truth, I was going to crack a joke if you hadn't asked so nicely. So... not really."

"Heh." Chloe reached up to remove the hand on her chin. Her fingers didn't seem to want to obey, because they just lay over Rudy's.

She gulped.

Rudy cocked his head.

Chloe opened her mouth to tell him he was too close. She couldn't find the words.

He leaned forward.

Chloe wrapped her other arm around his neck.

And the Errant Magpie shuddered sideways, throwing both of them to the floor.