My mouth went dry. “So, they can hear everything I say?”
Reina glanced around the corridor, then reached into the flowers and clicked something with a soft click. “Now they can.”
The sound of approaching footsteps made us both turn. General Bowman walked toward us with sharp steps, his expression as cold and disapproving as ever. Seeing him still triggered the old childhood response of wanting to stand straighter and make him proud.
Reina squeezed my hand and mouthed ‘good luck’ before saying aloud, “Oh good, the father of the bride is here. Let me pop my head in to cue the music, and we can get this rehearsal going.”
Then she was gone, disappearing through the white double doors and leaving me alone with my father in the pristine hallway.
“Thanks for being here,” I said, acutely aware that the microphone hidden in my bouquet was picking up every word.
He grunted something that might have been acknowledgment, his ice-blue eyes scanning me with this all too familiar critical gaze.
“I know you don’t like Deklyn,” I said quietly.
His jaw tightened. “It isn’t him I dislike.”
“It’s all Drexians, right? All aliens?”
He glowered at me, his gaze flashing with barely contained anger. “Earth was fine before the Drexians revealed themselves and ruined it all. We don’t need big, arrogant aliens who think they can do everything better than us.”
“The Drexians saved Earth,” I said, my voice rising despite my efforts to stay calm.
He scoffed. “Earth could have handled the Kronock without them.”
“I was up in the air, fighting those bastards,” I shot back. “I can tell you firsthand that we needed the Drexians.”
His face reddened, veins standing out on his forehead as if his composure was cracking. “I’ve been betrayed by allies before. I won’t let it happen again. Not when I can stop it.”
I knew all about his being ambushed in battle because of a treacherous ally, but that had been ages ago. Was he really letting that experience and his own injury influence his view of the Drexians?
“The Drexians are the reason I’m standing here today.” I pressed. “But you know that, don’t you? You know exactly why Earth didn’t come to save me.”
“Because I told them not to,” he hissed, a vindictive smile twisting his features. “I was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to turn sentiment against the Drexians. As long as you remained a captive, Earth would know that the Drexians couldn’t fix everything.”
His words snatched the breath from my lungs. “You?”
“Who else could have approved it? You were my daughter, after all. If I were willing to lose you to the cause, no one else would hesitate.”
“So, you’re the reason Earth didn’t allow a rescue?” I managed, my voice shaking. “You’re the one who told the chancellor to veto it?”
He squared his shoulders, meeting my horrified gaze with cold pride. “You’re damn right I did. That simpleton will do anything I tell him. It was for the greater good. Any daughter of mine should understand that.”
Ariana had been right. My sister had tried to warn me, and I’d accused her of jealousy instead of listening. I felt as though I might throw up. The betrayal had come from the man who should have moved heaven and earth to bring me home. I jerked away from him and bent over, hands on my knees, trying to breathe through the nausea.
Just then the door flew open, and Ariana strode out, her eyes blazing with fury. Reina was right behind her, looking stricken.
“Ariana?” I gasped and heard my voice projected from inside the ceremony room.
The microphone. Oh God, the microphone had been broadcasting our entire conversation inside the ceremony room as well as to Earth.
My father realized it at the same moment. “What the hell—?” he stammered, and those words boomed from speakers inside the room, where dozens of witnesses and cameras were recording everything.
Ariana strode right up to him, reared back, and punched him square in the face. The general staggered backward, his hand flying to his nose as blood flowed freely down his face.
“That’s for being a shit father and a traitor,” Ariana said, her voice echoing clearly through the open doorway.
Then the entire place erupted into chaos.
