Her mouth went slack. Maybe she'd expected me to deny it or maintain the fiction of random chance. Maybe she'd hoped her suspicions about me, or the leaders of her colony, were wrong.
"What?" The word came out small.
I took a bite of the roll on my plate. It was good, but nowhere near as delicious as the bread she'd baked this morning, a nutty wheat loaf I could still taste in memory.
"I said that you are right," I repeated, setting down the roll. "It is no accident you are here. The deal our hordes have been making with colonies was meant to be insurance so nervous or weak leaders did not double-cross us or turn back to the Empire. A war bride seemed as good a guarantee of good faith as any.” I grinned. “Not to mention the side benefits.”
Fire sparked afresh in her eyes, and I tempered my smile, even though I savored her instinct to challenge as I added, “If the bond is true between a Vandar and a war bride, she can become his Raisa, his queen.”
“Not just his whore?” she snapped.
I brushed off the ire her accusation provoked, taking a long sip of wine and bestowing my most charming smile on her. “No mate of the Vandar is ever a whore, not that we hold pleasurers in low regard.”
This made her blink at me, as if she didn’t know what to say to that. Maybe her colony did not have pleasure houses or enterprising females who offered their company in exchange for coin.
"But then we obtained from the Zagrath,” I continued, careful not to mention or how reveal that we had an informant withinImperial ranks. “Credible intelligence. A list of rebels they intended to capture and execute for treason against the Empire. They identified the leader of an underground rebellion in your colony, a female who'd been targeting their soldiers, sabotaging their supply vessels, and disrupting their operations."
Jasmine's eyes widened further, the color draining from her face.
I tipped my head toward her. "You."
She looked too shocked to deny it. Finally, she shook her head. "How could they know?"
I shrugged, still unwilling to reveal my source, although of all people I suspected she would be the last to betray a spy. "That I cannot say, but I do know that they planned to take you into custody the next time they visited your planet." I paused, letting my words settle. "That is why I took you first."
Her hands gripped the edge of the table as if keeping her from sagging to the floor. "I thought it was because..."
I watched her carefully, curious about what she'd been about to say. What reason had she imagined? That I'd seen her this morning and decided on a whim? That I’d felt an inexplicable pull to her? That I’d desired her too much to deny myself?
Those things were also true, but I couldn't admit that to anyone. The truth was more complicated than intelligence. Yes, I'd seen her name on the execution list. Yes, that had been the catalyst for ensuring she'd be chosen. But even if she hadn't been targeted, even if the enemy had no interest in her whatsoever, I would have wanted her anyway. I would have taken her. That was the truth I would keep hidden.
I resumed eating, even though I wasn't particularly hungry. The silence stretched, broken only by the clink of my utensils against the plate since the woman had stopped eating.
Finally, I set down my fork. "You are a guest on my warbird. You will be treated with respect as befits a war bride, but if you think that your habit of sabotage will be tolerated here, you're mistaken." I let my voice hone more sharply. "Do not mistake my intention to thwart our mutual enemy for softness."
Her head snapped up, and I saw a flash of guilt. That momentary slip that told me I'd guessed correctly.
"Ah," I said, unable to keep the note of dry amusement from my voice. "So, you did plan to be a disrupter here, as well?”
Her chin jutted forward. "What did you expect from someone who thought she’d been abducted?”
I sighed and stood, the chair scraping against the floor. I crossed to her side of the table in three long strides, watching her tense as I approached. She didn't back away. She couldn't escape me since she was trapped between me and the chair, but every line of her body tensed.
I stopped close enough that I could smell the faint scent of flour and yeast still clinging to her hair and close enough to see her pulse twitching in her long, smooth neck.
"I had hoped," I said quietly, "that you could be an ally. That we could fight the same enemy together, but maybe I should treat you as my captive, after all."
She inhaled a quick breath. “Maybe we could make a deal. The Vandar make deals, right? You made a deal with the thaw-soft leaders of my colony, didn’t you?”
The female was trying to barter with me? “What kind of deal?”
“I could work for you.” The words tumbled from her. “You know I led a rebel team on Lexxona. I could do the same for the Vandar.”
“You wish to lead a rebellion within my warbird?”
She started to bob her head up and down then caught herself and shook her head vigorously. “No. Not against you. I could help you in overthrowing the Zagrath.”
“My battle chief leads our efforts against the Empire,” I said, thinking of Kolt and how he might mutiny if I assigned a human to his team. “He needs no help.”
