Judit stood and waved Annika to her side. “Make a holo of us and get ready to send it to everyone,” Judit said.
“Ready,” Roberts said.
“Judit,” Annika said quietly, “can you forgive me?”
“I still love you.” Judit’s expression twisted as if she was feeling too many emotions to focus on one. “I can’t ever see not loving you, but…I’m going to need some time.”
Annika nodded. “And the new house? Is that what we’re going to announce?”
Judit took a deep breath, and Annika’s heart froze, wondering if she was going to say no. She had a flash of anger. She’d never cared about anyone this much before, and it was so darking painful. Judit couldn’t open her up like this and then say good-bye. It wasn’t fair!
“We have to,” Judit said, “for the good of the galaxy.”
“For the good of the galaxy,” Annika repeated, and she knew it sounded bitter. So, she was going to get her political marriage after all, only this time, there wouldn’t even be friendship within it. Her stomach cramped around the thought.
Judit gestured to Roberts, and a holo camera in the ceiling flashed, bathing them in green light. “This message is for all of Meridian and Nocturna, for all of the galaxy. I, Judit Meridian…”
Annika clenched her hand. “And I, Annika Nocturna…”
“Pledge to begin the first of the smaller houses that will be created from those formerly known as Meridian and Nocturna.”
Annika nodded, knowing what she had to say, what Judit needed her to say. “We ask the rest of the galaxy to cease attacking one another. Now that you know you’ve been manipulated by the hierophants of the Eye, we ask that you turn your attention to the galaxy’s two largest houses and extend your pressure and influence to force them to dismantle or else face destruction.”
Judit gave her a glance, but Annika only squeezed her hand again. Threats of force were the only thing their houses would understand. Sometimes, fire had to be fought with an even larger fire. And threats had stopped the war in the first place; they’d just had the wrong plan to stop it forever. They didn’t need to unite. They needed to disperse. And maybe with Willa dead and the largest houses in tatters, they could finally see peace.
* * *
The Damat was bombarded with transmissions from different sectors of the galaxy, but Judit took the hail from the Eye. Variel smiled at them from Judit’s screen.
“The hierophants who weren’t in on the conspiracy helped me retake the Eye,” she said. “All the conspirators are either dead or in custody.”
Judit nodded, but anger burned in her. Who was this woman to talk about conspirators and custody? She’d been part of this plot, never mind her reasons.
Before she could speak, Annika said, “We need to get over there, Judit, so you can take custody of the prisoners yourself.”
Judit lifted an eyebrow. That sounded like a good idea, but a new, suspicious Judit had been born in the time since Annika’s confession, and she wondered if Annika only wanted to go to the Eye to help her mother escape.
She tried to fight the new voice down, tried to remember everything Annika had said and done, not just the confession. She was a different person. Love had changed her.
But Judit had to give her new suspicious side a little peace of mind, too. She summoned a contingent of crew to act as guards, missing Evie keenly. Slattery protested as she got ready to leave the bridge. Judit nearly snapped at him about thinking he could take Evie’s place, but he was doing a job, one Evie had trained him for.
“If we dock at the Eye, we’ll be vulnerable,” he pointed out.
True, but Judit didn’t want to take a shuttle for the same reason. And so far, the ships didn’t seem to want to fire on the Eye or the Damat. Maybe they realized that if any one of them pulled the trigger, it would mean death for everyone.
“I’ve got more ships entering the system.” Beatrice turned to Judit with a happy look of wonder. “It’s House Munn and a fleet of unaffiliated ships.”
“Getting a transmission from Elidia,” Roberts said. “It’s open, so everyone can hear.”
Judit turned to her screen. “Put her through.”
When Elidia blinked onto the screen, she had that same smirk as when Judit had first seen her on the Xerxes, a woman in control who knew she was going to get exactly what she wanted. It made Judit smile, even as the suspicious voice said that Elidia had come to mop them all up.
“I’ve continued to follow your little love story,” Elidia said. “Everyone has. So I thought I’d come help.”
All the Nocturna and Meridian ships had gone quiet, probably listening.
“Good,” Judit said, “you can cover us as we dock with the Eye.”
“My pleasure.” Elidia had quite a fleet, and Judit felt certain the other ships would behave if they knew they’d be facing not only Nocturna or Meridian, but Munn as well. “The rest of the galaxy likes the way you’ve been so open with your info, and House Flavio has been keeping a low profile since we found out they were helping the hierophants. I don’t think you’re going to have any trouble getting everyone to help you dismantle Nocturna and Meridian. Hierophants are being ousted from every house as we speak.”
Judit smiled. At least something was going her way. The hierophants had only been able to engineer the chaos because they were welcome everywhere. She bet even the legitimate ones would have a hard time finding welcome now.
The Damat docked with the Eye, and Annika and Judit boarded with the guards. Variel waited for them. This was it; this was where Annika pushed her mother into a shuttle and helped her escape. Judit had to stop her. Annika was going to prove that her every word had been a lie; she hadn’t changed. She was Annika Nocturna through and through, a murderer at heart, and she would help her murdering mother escape justice.
“Mom.” Annika reached forward as if for a hug. Her mother’s arms lifted, both of them awkward as if they didn’t know what the other wanted. They both paused, laughed nervously, and ended up clasping hands.
Angry as she was, Judit’s heart broke. Everything Annika had said about love was true, at least. Even now, she and her mother didn’t know how to show it. But Annika had figured out a way to show Judit. And Judit’s suspicious half couldn’t blame that on Nocturna training.
“Mom,” Annika said, tears in her voice. “I have to place you under arrest.”
Judit held her breath, wonder and surprise coursing through her.
Annika’s mother blinked several times. “You…” She glanced at Judit, but her expression remained unreadable.
“It’s not something I’m saying just because Judit is here.” Annika’s lip wobbled, and she pressed a hand to her cheek as if trying to get her face to obey. “You killed people, Mom. You helped Feric bomb Nocturna Prime. I know you did it for me, and I want to keep you alive, but you have to pay for what you’ve done. You have to give yourself up.”
Her voice broke on the last word, and she looked an inch away from tears. Judit wanted to hug her but didn’t want that to break the dam.
“You’ll be turned over to House Munn,” Judit said. If she kept Annika’s mother out of Nocturna and Meridian hands, she was more likely to remain alive. Judit waved several of her crew forward. “Secure her aboard the Damat with every courtesy.”
They nodded. Variel took a deep breath and looked hard at Annika before she nodded and placed her hands on Annika’s shoulders. “I understand.”
Annika nodded back, but it seemed she couldn’t speak. As the guards led Variel past, she leaned close, and Judit expected an entreaty to treat her daughter right, but she whispered, “Feric is imprisoned in one of the rooms nearby.”
Judit nodded, and Variel cast one more look toward Annika before she was gone.
When they were alone, Judit took Annika in her arms. “It’s all right. Let go.”
Annika sobbed into her shoulder, her arms wrapping Judit tightly. Even when she’d been injured, even when someone had died, Annika had ne
ver cried in front of her like this. Judit joined her, weeping for her father, for all the dead, for a little Annika who didn’t know how to hug a parent, for everything their houses had done to them.
“I believe you,” Judit whispered when she could use her voice again. “I believe you.” And it felt stronger than “I love you.” As Annika smiled through her tears, it seemed she thought so, too. They kissed, lips wet and salty, truth passing between them.
Epilogue
The planet of Fortuna was much easier to sneak onto than Nocturna Prime. Annika didn’t even have to engineer a disguise. It had taken weeks to find Ama’s hiding place. The vultures of Nocturna had wasted no time picking their house clean as everyone grabbed for power. It was almost funny, but Annika couldn’t take real joy in it. It was hard to watch the house she’d been raised in fall apart, even if they deserved it.
The streets on Fortuna were abandoned. Perhaps Ama had kicked everyone off the small planet. Perhaps they’d left on their own. It wasn’t much to see, anyway, a craggy ball of rock that Nocturna used for heavy manufacturing. Annika hadn’t even known it was one of Ama’s bolt-holes, but she’d figured it out eventually. She supposed she should be grateful that all the factories were dark. She didn’t have to explain herself. She was a bit worried when she didn’t see any guards, but like everyone else in Nocturna, they’d gone with whoever could pay them the most, and at the moment, that didn’t seem to be Ama.
A hand scanner led her to the one building with power. Instead of barricades or guards, Ama had posted signs promising radiation damage to anyone who entered. Annika’s scanner confirmed the presence of radioactive particles, but she knew that trick. She took a small EMP grenade from her belt and lobbed it over the fence. She jogged out of range of the small blast, unseen but felt by the surrounding electronics as it knocked them out. When she approached the fence again, the radiation signal was gone.
She scaled the fence and spotted several concealed weapons drooping from recesses on the building’s side. The EMP had taken them out, too, but no backup generators resuscitated them, and no guards came rushing to see what the outage was about, further proof that Ama had no one left to protect her. And she was using the power for something else.
Annika ignored the doors and approached the air vents. Ama would be hidden behind secret doors, and Annika didn’t want to spend all day searching. But Ama would need air, and so the vents would lead to her eventually. Annika cut the wire inside the main intake vent and climbed inside. Ama used traps, but she’d never really worried about assassins. Of all those who’d tried, none had come through a confrontation with her alive. It both pained and tickled Annika that she might be the first.
Annika followed the power signatures to Ama’s office inside the walls, climbing around the bots that kept the vents mostly free of grime. She paused, watching as Ama strode from console to console, all of them scrolling with different data. Her hair was a mess, and the neck of her blouse stood open. Annika had never seen her looking so frazzled.
Ama stopped and pressed the comm hanging around her ear. “Then find someone else!” she screeched. “Don’t bother me with petty problems.”
Annika dropped soundlessly to the floor. “You’re coming apart at the seams.”
Ama whirled and blinked as if seeing a ghost. “What are you doing here?” She glanced left and right, no doubt looking for a weapon. A stack of crates stood in one corner, some of them unpacked, items strewn about the floor. In another corner was a cot, some ration packs, and many bottles of water.
“How long have you been hiding here trying to glue your empire back together?” Annika stood on tiptoe, trying to see what else Ama was hiding, and spotted a large jar. She gasped, shocked at seeing the worm. “What in the dark did you save that for?”
Ama smoothed her hair, and when she straightened, she had the regal bearing Annika remembered. Even with all Annika’s confidence, it still created a pall of dread inside her. “Have you come back just to ask stupid questions?”
“You never begin a conversation by asking me how I am,” Annika said. “Did you know that other people do that? Do you hate wasting time, or do you simply not care?”
Ama turned back to her consoles. “If you’re not going to kill me, either help me or go away.”
Annika barked a laugh. Dread was quickly morphing into pity.
“If you want to help, take whatever ship you came here in and go to Caligo,” Ama said. “We need to take the shipyards back from Ricardo.”
“Huh. I didn’t think he had it in him. I didn’t come to help you, Ama.”
Ama turned again slowly. “Then why?”
“To see whether or not I should kill you.”
“And?”
“It doesn’t seem worth it. You’re a spent force.”
Ama sneered. “Or you’re a coward.”
It didn’t even hurt. Annika wandered over to the worm. “What are you going to do with this?”
“I thought it might come in handy when I finally get my hands on our enemies.”
Annika stared into her grandmother’s eyes and thought of every nasty thing she’d been taught. She tried not to recall every childhood grievance, too, but they reared inside her mind without her permission. She smiled slowly, enjoying the way her grandmother tensed as if waiting for an attack. The fear in her eyes was nice, too. Even Judit might have enjoyed it.
“Feric was never your creature,” Annika said. “Maybe he was mine in the beginning, then he belonged to the hierophants. He believed in fate.” She’d had several long conversations with Feric. She’d scanned him for a worm but had found nothing. Of course, the worm was designed to be undetectable, but if he did have one, maybe Ama didn’t know about it. “You lost this fight a long time ago, and you didn’t even know it. You couldn’t even control one bodyguard who’d been raised to obey you.”
With one smooth, motion, Annika knocked the jar over, spilling the fluid across the floor. When her grandmother gasped, Annika ground the worm under her heel. “You’re too pathetic to kill.”
With a screech, Ama leapt, as out of control as Annika had ever seen her. Annika ducked out of the way, easily avoiding her grandmother’s strikes. Ama slipped in the fluid and banged into one of the crates, knocking it into several others. She crashed to the ground, sputtering in anger.
Annika walked back to the vent and crawled inside. “Enjoy the house you’ve built, Ama. I know I will.”
* * *
Judit had never waited on this side of the ship before: getting ready in her quarters while someone else guarded the door. She pictured Beatrice shooing away well-wishers and smiled sadly. It should have been Evie, but then, Judit’s father and Annika’s mother should have been there to wish them luck, too.
Judit looked in the mirror and straightened her uniform. She’d worn Meridian gray for so long, it unnerved her every time she saw the dark blue cloth that covered her now. Blue, Annika’s favorite, and a shade unclaimed by any of the other houses. It was only fitting that the first house to come out of the deconstruction of Meridian and Nocturna, House Penumbra, had its own formal military color, even though its current military consisted solely of the crew of the Damat.
It wouldn’t stay that way for long. Many Meridians and Nocturnas had volunteered to be part of the new house, though Annika had warned her that some Nocturnas would be spies. Both houses would have to be watched to make sure they didn’t try to recombine sometime down the road. Some members of other houses had offered to join Penumbra, too, including several Munns and Spartan. Judit wondered how many of the newcomers thought that being part of the galaxy’s hot new house would give them prestige, but Judit planned to put them to work. Everyone in Penumbra would have a job. No more lazy Blood doing nothing but bumping passengers from shuttles.
Judit straightened her uniform again. The gold buttons shone, and she wished she’d pushed harder for a more unobtrusive metal.
Noal stepped up beside her. “Stop fussing. You look g
ood.”
“I shouldn’t have let you talk me into the gold.”
“Gold is nice. It attracts attention.”
“I don’t want attention.” She sighed, knowing how surly she sounded but unable to help it. She tried to focus on the fact that everyone would be looking at Annika anyway; she was the beautiful one.
Over the two months since the chaos had died down, both Judit and Annika had to have some difficult conversations with their families. Judit’s grandmother had made several “over my dead body” threats about the future of her house, and then refused further conversation. But several days after that, Judit’s mother had contacted her and said that Grandmother had stepped down as head of House Meridian, naming Judit’s mother as her heir.
Judit had desperately wanted to ask what had happened to her grandmother, but since her mother assured her that the old woman still lived, Annika convinced Judit not to ask. After all, it wasn’t her house anymore. It wasn’t her responsibility. That had hurt, and she’d tried to turn her attention to all the work they still had to do.
Judit sighed and turned. When she saw the box of cosmetics in Noal’s hand, she pointed at him. “No.”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s for me, thank you very much. Now, if you’ll quit hogging the mirror.”
She stepped aside, and he sat, opening his box and getting to work. To her surprise, he also wore the dark blue of the new Penumbra military, but he’d added a bit of shine to the material, and some of his buttons had the sparkle of gemstones. He didn’t dye his hair, though, and she wondered if that was a nod to his Meridian heritage.
“Thoughts?” he asked.
She sighed again, a far different sound as she thought of Annika. Their future together made her giddy and terrified at the same time. “I love her.”
“Good.”
“You still don’t trust her.”
He shrugged. “I keep telling myself that was her then; this is her now.”
“You were the one who said she’s still capable of awful things.”
House of Fate Page 31