* * *
Linc turned when the door opened. Darx walked in and keyed a code into the cuffs. They opened.
Linc removed his hands and then unfastened the belt and let it drop on the floor.
Darx walked back to the doorway and stepped out without sealing it.
“We haven’t stopped, so she’s still on the ship. Why am I free?”
“You can guess why,” Darx said, walking away.
As Linc stepped out into the passage, he almost ran into Varse. Linc nodded an acknowledgment.
“Darx,” Varse barked. “There’s been no consensus judgement yet.”
Darx shrugged without turning back. “Then put him back yourself.”
Linc smirked, but covered it when Varse looked back at him.
“Her sister is like a mother,” Varse said. “Will the girl change her story when the sister asks her questions?”
“I don’t know what she’ll do. Gissandre’s actions are unpredictable,” Linc said.
“What will you say under formal questioning where details are demanded? Did you kidnap and rape her? As punishment that you consider justified?”
“I didn’t rape her. That couldn’t have been justified since I wasn’t raped. I was held against my will, unjustly, on her planet because of things she said. So a just punishment would involve her being held against her will. I endured pain, injury, and discomfort while imprisoned. It would’ve been just for her to endure discomfort and pain as punishment.”
“Ketturan law doesn’t expect lies and treachery to go unpunished. Failing to punish is a crime in itself. Why didn’t you bring her to Kettura for punishment? Then there would be no speculation that your revenge went too far.”
“Ketturan law and its punishments are just, but I didn’t want her to be subject to them.”
“Why not?” Varse asked, confused.
“My injuries left scars. I didn’t want that done to her. And not by strangers when I knew she and her sister tried to save me.” He shook his head. “She was mine to punish, and I punished her to the extent I felt was necessary for me to be satisfied and for her to feel she’d atoned.”
Varse’s brows rose. “You could have brought her to Kettura and said what you wanted done. We would have listened to your wishes.”
Linc shrugged. “There was another factor.”
“There often is when the girl is beautiful.”
“I wanted to know—” Linc stopped speaking because Gissandre appeared at the end of the passageway.
Upon seeing him, she smiled. The warmth in his chest was hard to ignore.
“Ah,” Varse said. “So Darx is proven right. She doesn’t protect you because she fears retaliation. She does it because she feels moved to.”
“You’re free and all right,” Gissandre said when she reached him. “I’m glad.” She held a blanket around herself. “Could we talk? Alone? Is that allowed?”
Varse nodded.
Linc ushered her to the closest room and gestured for her to sit. Then he leaned against the wall, watching her.
“What happens now?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I suspect when your sister arrives, you’ll be asked questions again. She’ll probably press you for details.”
“I’ll handle that. Zawri only cares about my well-being. When she sees I’m fine, she won’t cause problems for us.”
