Chapter 67: A Promise

Relief and confusion, longing and fear raged through Chloe's mind.

So she ignored her mind and concentrated on what her body was telling her – which was that Rudy was, for whatever reason, kissing her, and that was exactly how things should be, and shouldn't she do her share, too?

She listened so well, she almost slipped from her chair.

He caught her effortlessly and pulled her to her feet and into his arms. She ignored the nagging voice that said he could hold her so easily because the Errant Magpie was still running on New Kyrillopolis gravity rather than a full one gee. Her subconscious sure knew how to spoil a mood.

So, it seemed, did Milissa Kyrillos, because she chose that moment to gasp, “Highness, Rudolf!”

Chloe came up for air, thinking plenty of uncharitable thoughts even as she knew Milissa probably didn't deserve them –

And saw the sleek black mecha rising from the treetops.

Chloe stumbled back into her chair and slapped her hands on the navigation console, swerving the Magpie up toward the stratosphere.

Rudy was already back at the weapons console, swearing blasphemously just enough under his breath Chloe didn't call him on it. Not that she didn't sympathize. “It's Stephan, all right,” he said. “Get us out of this gravity well!”

“I'll try,” Chloe said. She pressed her fingertips harder into the touchpad, not that it would make the ship fly faster. “Milissa, can you get him on channel? Maybe we can convince him to let us go.”

“He won't listen,” Milissa said.

“We have to try!”

“I know,” the Kyrillos girl said, “but just know it's not going to work.”

“Let's cross that bridge before we burn it,” Rudy said. “If nothing else, I want Steph to know you're on board. Maybe he won't just blow us out of the sky.”

“He knows,” Milissa said. “Can't you feel it?”

Rudy looked mystified, but once Milissa mentioned it, Chloe did feel a tension, a coldness in the air she hadn't noticed before. She shivered. She had felt it once: in the control room of New Kyrillopolis when Lord Brise brought Stephan back. Supposedly unconscious Stephan, but now Chloe wondered. She asked, “What is that?”

“My brother's mind,” Milissa said.

Chloe tried to shut out the feeling and resist the urge to rub the goosebumps emerging on her arms. Thinking about the chill only seemed to make it worse, but Chloe didn't know how to stop.

Stephan's voice erupted in her head. She was just grateful it wasn't directed at her. At least, not yet.

You have been very bad, Milissa, he thought. You have betrayed your family.

“That's not true,” Chloe cried. “She just did what she thought was right! What you swore your duty was, you stinking liar!”

Rudy glanced at her. “Did I miss something?”

Chloe held up a hand to stay his questions. She needed all her concentration to fly and stay sane at the same time.

Haven't we been busy, Stephan thought. Chloe imagined his mocking smile, or maybe he was imagining it and somehow projecting it to her. Forming telepathic links with your little friends, sister? You sold yourself short before.

I didn't mean to do it, Milissa thought. That would have been horribly rude! But I was planning on trying eventually so we could do what we had to do, and, well, their emotions were really strong just now and it sort of, um... Her Highness can hear me, can't she?

That's rather the point of telepathic links, yes, Stephan thought.

Chloe glanced at Milissa, who had flushed scarlet beneath her tan.

I didn't mean to, the Kyrillos girl repeated.

Chloe tried to form her thoughts into the clearest words she could without actually speaking: I believe you, Milissa.

How impressive, Milissa, Stephan thought. I wonder if the receptiveness of the host improves the clarity of the contact, or if you're simply a better telepath than you believed yourself to be.

Just leave us alone, Stephan, please, Milissa thought. Don't hurt them! They don't deserve it.

This is not about what anyone deserves, Milissa. It is about the harm they can do, and the harm that can be done to them.

“If you want to talk to us, Stephan,” Chloe said aloud, “I'm pretty sure you know how to call your own transport. You leave Rudy out of the conversation, you've got nothing to say to any of us.”

“As you wish, Highness,” Stephan said.

It took Chloe a second to realize the voice came not from her mind but from the corner of the ship's main screen where its communications suite displayed video feed from the Black Rook. The ship felt warmer than it had a moment before.

Stephan's expression wasn't.

“Heya, Steph,” Rudy said. “You may not realize this, but we were in the middle of a conversation before you showed up.”

Stephan snorted. “You were leading Her Highness astray, Her Highness was willingly straying, and my sister was failing to avoid voyeurism. You have an interesting definition of 'conversation.'”

“I'm always interesting,” Rudy said. “It's among the many things that set you and me apart.”

Chloe closed her eyes. Visibly rolling them seemed like it wouldn't show proper solidarity.

“You see, Highness, Milissa,” Stephan said, “why I preferred to conduct this conversation in private.”

Rudy laughed. “Did I spoil your psychic slumber party, Steph?”

“Be silent,” Stephan said. His voice, or maybe the thought behind it, made Chloe shudder.

Rudy seemed unfazed. In fact, he didn't even seem to notice.

“Chloe gets to tell me to shut up, and most of the time I'll listen because, hell, I like listening to her voice even more than mine,” Rudy said. “My brother gets to tell me to shut up, and once in a blue moon I'll listen because even though he's a capital-D dick, he actually knows what he's talking about.

“You, Steph? You can shut your own damn pie hole.”

Stephan turned his gaze to Chloe, apparently trying to ignore Rudy. The next person to pull that off would, in her experience, be the first. “I will catch up to that ship soon, Highness. You and Milissa will not be harmed when I do. If you both willingly return before I arrive, your dear Mr. Algreil will not be, either.”

Milissa said, “You really mean that, Stephan?”

“Of course, Mili. I know you want the best for him, however misguided you may be, and once he is safely away he is no longer our concern.”

“Don't listen, Milissa,” Chloe said, glad of the distraction the Kyrillos girl had caused. A few more seconds and she would have been considering Stephan's offer.

“But –”

“My living or dying has nothing to do with you, Steph,” Rudy said. “You come after us, I'll kick your ass back to the original Kyrillopolis.”

“Your time and my patience both grow short, Highness,” Stephan said. “I extend even this generosity. If you and Milissa board the mecha in the Errant Magpie's bays and exit the ship before I reach it, I will permit Algreil to take his stolen vessel to wherever his fate lies.”

Chloe could still sense Milissa's thoughts enough to know the Kyrillos girl wanted badly to agree. She was terrified for Rudy and Chloe and she feared she'd done wrong.

“You give us your word that Rudy will go unharmed?” Chloe asked Stephan. Rudy started to snap at her, but she held up a hand again. For a wonder, he actually stopped.

Stephan said, “Of course I do.”

“Your solemn oath?”

He nodded.

“Is it worth as much as your oath of featly to the Astroykos Dynasty?”

Stephan froze.

Slowly, icily, he said, “You have less than two hours to reconsider, Highness, Milissa. See that you have disembarked, or your friend dies.”

His face vanished from the screen and the cold from Chloe's thoughts.

Her bravado died with it.

Rudy's hadn't. “Nice line at the end, Clo.”

She nodded weakly.

He said, “You know what has to happen now, right?”

Chloe and Milissa both looked to him.

“I have to fight him,” Rudy said.

“You can't,” Milissa said. “You just... can't.”

“I'm sorry, Milissa,” Rudy said. “But yes, I can. If you didn't want this, you shouldn't have told me he was gonna kill Chloe.”

“Kill me!” Chloe stared. “I figured I might be held prisoner, or even shot while escaping, but since when was Stephan going to kill me in cold blood?”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“I don't know,” Milissa sputtered. “I could be wrong. It's all such a mess – he was so angry – I just felt like –”

“It's okay,” Chloe said. Locking the ship's course away from New Kyrillopolis and its sun, she rose from her chair and swept across the bridge to join Milissa at hers. She put a hand on the young noblewoman's shoulder. “Just calm down, Milissa.”

“It's not okay.” Milissa hung her head. “I didn't mean the Crimson Ph... Rudolf couldn't fight Stephan because I didn't want them to fight. Not that I do! It's just, if he does, well –”

“Stephan will kill him,” Chloe said.

Milissa nodded.

“And here I thought,” Rudy said, “you were a fan.”

Again, Chloe and Milissa both looked to him.

He wore the cocky grin Chloe hadn't seen nearly enough of lately. His eyes twinkled and his smile sparkled and he leaned over the row of consoles between the vacant captain's chair and Milissa's seat, all coiled predatory grace. “You ladies should have more faith in me.”

“This isn't a game, Rudy,” Chloe said. “You've seen what Stephan can do. What he did back at the battlecruiser! You can't seriously expect to go against him and win.”

“Marcel managed to pull it off,” Rudy said.

“My brother fought the Divine Auric Drake?” Milissa's eyes widened. “And he, and you, didn't tell me? That must have been something to see!”

“Admiral Avalon managed, maybe, to live through fighting Stephan,” Chloe said. “Assuming we believe the recording of President Ferrill's speech. He didn't manage to kill Stephan, or even hurt his body except with sympathetic pain. Avalon didn't manage to catch or kill us, which was what he came for. He didn't do any of what he did accomplish without a full destroyer's company of men, mecha and capital ship weaponry. Which, in case you haven't noticed, we aren't exactly packing here on the Magpie.”

Milissa blanched. Apparently, she hadn't realized just how strong her brother was.

She'd already believed Rudy couldn't survive going against him, and she was a fan.

“You have a better idea, Clo?” Rudy asked.

“I'll stop him,” Chloe said.

“Really.” Rudy cocked an eyebrow. “Did I miss the extinction-level event your awakening is supposed to be?”

“It wouldn't be like that,” Milissa said. “I think.”

“You came aboard to train me, right, Milissa?” Chloe asked. “When we were connected, I saw, or felt, I guess, what you meant when you said you couldn't leave.”

The Kyrillos girl nodded. “It's what Stephan should have done. We are oath-sworn to serve your house, Highness, and if my brother has forgotten his duty, I can only remind him by doing it for him until he remembers.”

Chloe turned back to Rudy. “See, Rudy? It's my turn to protect you.” Again, she thought, not that it would balance the scales for everything he'd done. Chloe wasn't an oligarch or an oligarch's daughter. If Rudy owed her his life a thousand times over, she'd give hers and gladly all the same.

She knew he felt the same way, even if he'd never admit it.

Milissa tugged at her arm. “Er, Highness?”

“Mm?”

“I can't actually teach you anything worth using in two hours. Not without – what did Rudolph call it? An extinction-level event. Stephan was right about us having to be really careful. And I don't actually know any combat powers, anyway.”

Chloe stared at her. “Oh.”

“What's more, I –” Milissa gulped. “Even if I could teach you and it was perfectly safe, if you were going to use my training to hurt Stephan, or kill him, I would not give it.”

“Even if he was trying to do the same to us?” Rudy asked.

Sweat beaded on Milissa's brow. She clenched her hands on the arms of her chair. “I'd... I'd like to say I'd die first. I think I would. I hope so.”

Rudy sighed. “Scratch that plan, then.”

“We have to give in,” Milissa said. “It's the only way! Stephan will kill you, Rudolf, and if he doesn't calm down, just being near him may kill me even if he tries to keep me safe.”

Chloe winced. “Your empathy is that strong?”

“With my own brother, who is also the most powerful psychic I've ever known? On the same planet – under the same roof? Oh, Principle, yes.” Milissa shuddered. “I felt like I was going to freeze to death when he was talking to me telepathically just now. It wasn't anything he tried to do, either.”

“That's the other reason you said you couldn't go back,” Rudy said.

“Pretty much,” Milissa said.

“Why do you think you'd be safe if we agreed to Stephan's bargain?” Chloe asked.

“Which is not going to happen,” Rudy said. “So why ask?”

Milissa flicked a glance his way, but answered Chloe's question first. “Getting his way always calms Stephan down. Especially where you're concerned, Highness. He's more than mad about your leaving. He's terrified.”

“Why?”

“I don't know!” Milissa's shoulders slumped further.

“Do you think,” Chloe asked, “he'd really let Rudy go?”

“He gave his word,” Milissa said. Her voice wavered. “Normally, he doesn't swear a lot of oaths because he doesn't like to break them. Anyway, why wouldn't he let Rudolf go?”

“Because I'm going to beat him,” Rudy repeated.

“Maybe.” Chloe frowned. “I'm going to Etemenos to save my dad. If you're going to save your brother and you could rescue them both...”

“I'd still have to fight Stephan to do it,” Rudy said. “He can't let me go, Chloe. I know where this planet is, where his family is. Hell, if you went back, I'd know where you were. Stephan can't let somebody who knows that much walk into the heart of Fed power.”

“He'd kill you for sure,” Chloe said.

Rudy nodded.

Milissa sniffled.

Rudy lay his hand over Chloe's, covering both girls' with a single gesture. “Milissa,” he said, “I'll try not to kill him unless there's no other way to stop him. That's the most I can give.”

“It'll have to be enough,” the Kyrillos girl said, not looking up.

“And Chloe –” Rudy hesitated. He swallowed hard. “I need to talk to you. Alone.”

“I trust Milissa,” Chloe said. “She's risked her life for us.”

“I trust her, too,” Rudy said, “but this is a private conversation.”

“Rudy...”

“It's all right, Highness,” Milissa said. She looked up, her old bright smile back. Her stratosphere blue eyes even twinkled as she said, “I understand completely. I'll watch the ship and make sure to call you if anything happens.”

“That's not necessary,” Chloe said. “I think we should stick together.”

“You're being very polite, Highness,” Milissa said, “but you don't have to worry about me. The two of you haven't been alone in a long time, and, well, if Rudolf is going off to fight, I'm sure he wants to say goodbye without a nosy busybody like me around!”

Chloe flushed.

“Don't worry, I promise I'll keep my mind to myself,” Milissa said. “It was an accident earlier, and only because we were so close. Besides, if I'm going to be teaching you barriers, I really should work on mine.”

“You're a real humanitarian, Milissa,” Chloe said dryly. Had Rudy put her up to this? She whirled on him –

And saw the laugh he was fighting a losing battle against as he watched the conversation.

Okay, so maybe he hadn't planned it.

Chloe was willing to accept it was just serendipity.

Which didn't make Rudy innocent, exactly, but, as with the wink on the landing platform, she had to give him a little slack now and then when he'd done so much for her.

Or a lot of slack.

Besides, there was plenty they needed to talk about.

She watched him stifle his chuckle, met his eyes. She nodded once.

They walked off the bridge together.

She had intended to stop there in case they had to rush back, but Rudy kept walking. She knew his direction: the mecha bay.

She matched his pace.

“You're not going to wait two hours to take Stephan on, are you, Rudy?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I've got to fight him at that old space station. I've got about ten minutes to get out there before he's past it.”

“You really believe he'll stop?”

“Of course he will,” Rudy said. “Stephan believes I'm the problem. He probably has to believe it, because he can't bring himself to think Milissa is, and if you are, he's screwed anyway.”

“Maybe you are the problem,” Chloe said.

Rudy paused before he reached the elevator down to the mecha bay. “For Stephan?”

Chloe didn't answer. She slipped her hands around his, told herself she'd meant to, and gently tugged at his arm until he faced her.

“Or for you?” Rudy asked.

Chloe sighed. “Maybe both.”

Rudy met her eyes. In the Magpie's over-illuminated hallway, his hair seemed to glow with a fiery light of its own, and his deep olive skin seemed etched in stark outlines. Chloe unconsciously traced the lines on his boyish face.

She wanted so badly to believe in him again.

“Rudy,” she whispered, “why didn't you tell me?”

“About your parents and Otto?” He sighed. “Honestly, Clo, I didn't know when to.”

“How about from the very beginning?”

“I didn't know in the beginning,” Rudy said. “I should have. Otto was sure pissed I didn't.” He smiled for a moment, but it didn't last. “He came to Wellach to capture you or take you into protective custody. It amounts to the same thing. I was supposed to help. So he gave me a subliminal briefing.”

“A what?”

“A recording that plays in your sleep,” Rudy said. “That's... not what it actually is, but it's the easiest way I can describe it. It imparts information so clearly it's like you can play it back in your head.”

“So why didn't you know?”

“They give me one hell of a headache. I'm not sure why. Something to do with how I like to live in the moment, maybe.” He didn't even try to smile this time. “The point is, I didn't take the thing. Haven't used one in years, and Otto should have known it.”

“When did you find out?”

“At the Wellach Cup. I saw your parents in the booth with Otto. Before that, I'd known he'd done something at the port city and he had somebody under lock and key at the arcology. It didn't take much to put two and two together.”

“Why not tell me then?”

“Because I didn't know what Otto was planning to do with, for, or to you. Hell, I wouldn't have put it past him to cut a deal with the Feds, although I may have been wrong about that.”

“If he had my parents in his private box –”

“Otto's killed people in his private box before,” Rudy said flatly.

“Sweet Principle!” Chloe's eyes widened. “And you say Stephan's a gangster?”

Rudy shrugged. “I didn't say it wasn't legal for Otto to kill them at the time.”

Chloe wondered how that worked. But not enough to interrupt the rest of their conversation. If – when – Rudy came back, they'd have weeks to talk.

“And you never thought it was okay to tell me afterward?”

“I finally decided to take you to them, try and slip by Otto if we could and find out what he wanted with you if not. But I figured, what the hell. She's gonna see her parents in an hour, why not make it a surprise? I thought you'd get a kick out of it.”

“And then the Reformer attacked.”

Rudy nodded. “Be honest, Chloe. Would you really have been happier if I'd told you that your parents were on an arcology that you'd just seen explode in nuclear fire?”

Chloe shook her head.

“After that, we fought, and you had a hunch, and Stephan's men dragged us out to the boondocks here. The next thing I heard about your parents was that your dad was gonna get strung up alongside Otto for crimes against the people and state. Until then I was operating under the assumption they probably didn't make it out.” Rudy cupped the hand on his cheek. “And in the meantime, Stephan told you what I never bothered to.”

They were about the same height, so she had no problem leaning forward and kissing him.

It wasn't like the kiss he'd started. That had gone on so long and got so enthralling, Chloe figured it was probably almost as indecent as what it seemed to be a prelude to. When she kissed him, it was lightly, and fast enough he didn't have time to pull her into a longer one.

But if the quantity was lacking, she thought she packed quite a bit of quality in. At least, judging from the smile she seemed to have kissed onto his lips, he liked it just fine.

“I do trust you, Rudy,” she said. “I'm sorry for ever doubting you, and it won't happen again.”

He took a deep breath. “You're going to have to trust me again.”

“About fighting Stephan?”

He nodded.

“Let me help,” she said. “I don't know how to do much of anything, but if I can figure it out quickly, maybe –”

“No, Chloe.” Rudy clasped both her hands, squeezed them. “You wouldn't be able to help.”

“How can you think you can do this?”

“I can't tell you.”

“What? Why not?”

“I can't tell you that, either.”

Chloe frowned. But she squared her shoulders and nodded. “It sounds really dumb,” she said, “but I did promise not to doubt you again. You just better not be wrong, Rudy Kaine Algreil.”

“I'm not, Chloe. I know that now. You have my word. My, uh... my oath.”

“Don't try to talk like a nob, Rudy,” she said. “It doesn't suit you.”

“I promise I'll come back to you,” he said.

Chloe's breath caught. She took a second to collect herself, and while she did, the elevator doors swung open.

Rudy stepped backwards through them.

“Rudy,” Chloe called.

He met her eyes.

She said, “I'll be waiting.”