“Now that you understand the consequences of your actions, let’s move on to the proof.”
She froze as he reached for the container, opened it, and dumped the contents onto the table. Metal pieces tinkled, bouncing, before settling on the surface. They glinted gold at her, one shard large enough to see the etched vine design of her old locket.
Her breath caught in her throat. How had he gotten it?
“We’ve retraced this item’s power signature all overOrion.”
Swallowing, Nia stared at the pieces, her mind scrambling.
“I can see your confusion, so let me explain.” He set the empty box on the corner of the table and closed the lid with asnick. “When a maintenance crew flushed the system of the Condor you arrived in, they found these.” He gestured to the table. “Even though you’d sent it through reclamation, part of the device still emitted a signature. A nice piece of tech, really. It had gotten through initial scans when arriving onOrion, and didn’t even die properly when reclaimed. Sometimes CORE tech impresses me.”
He grinned, and her heart beat faster. Her mother always liked quality.
“I’d already been looking for the device which had pinged against our security hubs, and had the signature flagged. Lucky the maintenance crew did their due diligence and contacted me.”
He stood and pressed his hands flat on the table. “The movements of the tracker also coincided with the movements of Commander Mace.”
The remaining moisture in her mouth evaporated. Foley leaned closer, hands straddling the gold bits and pieces. She resisted the urge to move away.
“I’m of the belief that you were the one with the device, but if I’m mistaken and it was Commander Mace, I’ll lay the charges against him instead.”
No!Nia stared at the disassembled locket, her eyesight fogging around the edges. Mace would take the blame for her without flinching. To know he would be publicly tortured and executed—her breaths left her in panicked bursts.
“Do you remember a man named Justice?” Her head snapped up and Foley sent her his unfeeling smile. “Lovely fellow. He recognized you. Said you were ruling class. But that couldn’t be. If you were ruling class, you would have been flagged for ransom the second you stepped foot on this station.”
Foley pushed away from the table to walk toward the torture tools. “Justice is dead, by the way. Mace brutally murdered him while he was bound, broke his neck.” Her head snapped to him, and he tipped his head at her. “I also had a lovely chat with the man who processed you on your arrival.”
Lovely chat?Nia swallowed around the rock in her throat. What had Foley done to the man who’d processed her? Was he in a room like this? Beside a cart full of surgical tools?
“Tell me Mace knew.” He stroked the handle of a blade. “Tell me he’s been protecting you.”
She shook her head, all the warmth leaving her body. Chills raced over her skin.
One side of Foley’s mouth quirked upward. “It seems Commander Mace broke a lot of rules to keep your identity secret. Should we add the tracker to the list of charges?”
“It’s mine,” she croaked, her throat feeling like she’d swallowed the pieces of her locket. “If I’m ruling class, you can ransom me. You don’t need to execute anyone.”
“But you’re not ruling class anymore.” He picked a blade from the tray. The hook on the end glinted in the overhead light. She couldn’t look away. “Your ID shows a different lineage entirely, a stolen one.” He stepped closer. “You want to know the funny thing? I couldn’t take proper legal action against you until you were secretly emancipated.”
Nia’s lips parted.
He smiled, his teeth flashing in the light. “As a civilian you can be charged for crimes. As a captive, you only lose rights, especially when the commander invoked the old laws. You were protected then. As a civilian, you are subject to all the rules and regulations the rest of us are.”
There wasn’t anything funny about it at all.
“So.” He leaned a hip against the table and twirled the blade in his hand. “As your arresting officer, I have two choices. I could go through the motions. Take you in front of a jury—and trust me on this one, they’ll convict you. Or,” he stood, “I could reveal your true identity and petition the council you’re better off as a bargaining chip. We could free Tellusian POWs in trade. I have a couple friends who haven’t been shot out a CORE airlock yet.” He shrugged, tossing the blade into the air and catching the handle in his palm. “What do you think I should do?”
“I think you should put that down.” Nia was surprised by the force of her own words.
He circled behind her. She turned her head slightly, not wanting to lose sight of him. Abruptly, he dug his fingers into her hair and jerked her head back. Nia cried out. The cool metal of the blade pricked against her throat.
Above her, Foley’s face filled her vision. He blocked the lights above, his narrow nose cutting his face in half.
“I’ll tell you a secret,” he said, bits of spittle landing on her face. She tried to shrink away, but he held on too tight. “Usually, I get the information I want out of prisoner within the first ten minutes. Just like this. I don’t need any more from you. The rest of the time, I play.” The metal stroked her skin.
Nia refused to cry or beg. “Mace is going to kill you for touching me.”
He tightened his hold on her hair. “He could have as your warder under the old laws, but not when you’re a free civilian.”
