The Stubborn Lord (21 page)

The woman had been sitting staring at her feet, yet she still managed to look as if Kendall’s presence was interrupting her important work.

“Haven,” Kendall repeated. She started to place her hands on the dirty metal desk but thought better of it at the last moment and pulled them back.

“Fifty space credits,” the woman said.

“I’m not going to pay you,” Kendall answered in affront.

“Good luck with the haven thing, organ-beat. We’re not into charity.” The woman turned her attention back to her feet.

“Fine. I’ll go myself the back way.”

“Fifty space credits,” the woman repeated.

“Show us first and then I’ll pay you.”

The woman’s dark eyes stared for a long moment. Finally, she sighed. “This way,” she muttered.

Lack of exercise gave their rude hostess an abundance of curves, not necessarily unflattering but for the ill-fitted cut of her tight clothing. The woman walked as if she had nowhere to be and yet did not want to be where she was. She absently kicked trash from the middle of the hall to the edges. Kendall made small noises of displeasure with each step.

“Cheapest we got. Fifty a night.” The woman manually pushed open a metal door and stepped aside. It squeaked on its hinges only to stick before fully opening.

Alek peered into the room. It was a small square, no bigger than a dungeon and not nearly as clean. Black grates covered the walls with hooks for hanging clothing. The lights flickered and buzzed. Holes had been beat into the walls only to be filled with bits of torn material and trash for privacy but it did nothing to block the music coming from a room next door. A woven mat was the only furniture.

“I don’t want—” Kendall began.

“I told you, no charity,” the woman interrupted. She squashed a bug as it crawled from the room. “You want sanctuary, you have to pay for the privacy like everyone else.”

“Not sanctuary, Haven,” Kendall corrected.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The woman sighed. She made a move to leave them. “If you try to stay without paying security will launch you into space without a ship.”

Alek placed his hand on his wife’s shoulder when she looked as if she might lunge at the hostess.

Kendall glanced in his direction but didn’t meet his eyes. He detected her deep embarrassment.

“The owner. Let me talk to the owner,” she said.

“That would be my father, but he won’t give you a free stay either.”

Suddenly, Kendall weakened her stance and wobbled on her feet. Whispering, she breathed more than spoke, “Margot?”

“What?” The woman jerked as Kendall tried to touch her. “I don’t have time for this. Owner’s down the hall, left, right, left, left, if you get lost bother someone else.”

“What happened to you? Don’t you remember me?” Kendall asked. “You look nothing like I remember. You’re so old.”

“Hey!” the woman yelled, finally showing a little bit of passion in her bored existence. “I don’t know you, lady, and I sure as piss am not going to listen to your insults. One more word and I’ll launch your ass into space myself. “

“I didn’t mean. I didn’t expect you to be…” Kendall tried to reach out her hand. “I remembered you much younger.”

“I warned you!” The woman slapped Kendall’s hand back and took off down the corridor at a fast clip. “I need security. Roger!”

“Maybe we should find your father first. Then we will explain things to your sister.”

“She didn’t recognize me,” Kendall said, dazed. “I didn’t recognize her.”

“It appears as if many years have passed, more than you thought. At least you know she’s alive. Let’s find your father before we’re asked to leave the dock, then we can proceed with how to handle Margot.” Alek led her away from the screaming hostess in the direction of the offices.

Kendall stumbled. “It’s too late to help her. What has happened to this place? It was never this dirty. Margot, she had to be, what? Thirty? Forty? That means I was in stasis for…”

Alek lifted his wife into his arms as she began to tear up. She clung to him. He strode down the hall, aware of the security calls echoing behind them.

“They stole my life,” she said into his neck.

“You have a new life,” Alek answered. Her grief rolled over him, tainted with her disappointment. She’d been so eager to find her sister, to raise her like the daughter she, by all rights, was. The bored creature they found was not the Margot of Kendall’s memory.

Kendall pushed weakly at Alek. “Here. Set me down. I’ll be all right.”

He stopped and obeyed. Kendall held on to his arm as she righted herself. Then, turning, she marched down the corridor and up a narrow row of stairs with renewed purpose born of anger.

* * *

Kendall refused to succumb to another force of panic. Though dirtier than she’d left it, she still knew her way through the station. At the top of the stairs, she glanced into her office as she passed, noting the stacks of liquor crates where her desk had been. In her mind only a few months had passed. In reality, it had been a lifetime. Her natural timeline had been delayed, her past erased while she slept.

“Father!” Kendall yelled as she whipped around the doorframe to her father’s office. “I’m home!”

Her heart hammered in her chest. The room was changed, not that she was surprised. It took her eyes a moment to adjust before she found the man she sought sitting at a desk. He was hunched over, his back toward them.

“Surprise,” she announced angrily. Feeling Alek behind her gave her strength, but at the same time it helped her to control her rage. If he had not been here, supporting her, she might have attacked.

The man turned a little too quickly at the intrusion. He blinked heavily as he set down a glass of liquor. Red-rimmed eyes stared drunkenly at her. “Wh-what?”

Kendall couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. Her mouth opened but words would not leave her.

“Haven,” Alek said. “I am Lord Aleksej, Younger Duke of Draig, husband to your daughter.”

“Husband? Beatrice married?” The man swayed in his seat.

“Alek, no,” Kendall managed. “He’s not my father.”

“Wait. You’re looking for Haven?” The drunkard put forth. “You’re about five years too late. I’m Cinder. This is my dock.”

“He lost the docks, didn’t he?” Kendall concluded. Part of her was relieved that the rude hostess wasn’t Margot. In light of what she’d thought moments before, five years wasn’t as bad as thirty.

“You’re one of his daughters? I heard he sold you all to Kintok slavers, but then you wouldn’t be here…at least not in one piece.” He seemed to sober some. “Guess that was just a rumor. I also heard he lost you girls at cards, or that you died and he buried you in the walls. It would seem that the card story is more likely. This the guy who won you?”

Kendall didn’t satisfy the man’s curiosity with an answer. “Do you know where I can find him?”

“Sorry, like I said, you’re about five years too late. All I know is the guy lost everything. I bought this place off a Larceny Casino auction. The way I heard it, when they came to take the docks his heart gave out. There wasn’t much left that he didn’t lose gaming. The casino collected most of it in pieces. The place was a wreck when I got here. ” Cinder turned and began rummaging through his desk.

Kendall glanced toward the dirty hall and said under her breath, “Yeah, you really fixed the place up nice.”

Alek arched a brow. Kendall frowned.

“Thank you,” Cinder answered, not catching the sarcasm in her tone. “I have to warn you, if you’re looking for an inheritance, there isn’t anything. The casino gave me some paperwork in case any relatives stopped by and tried to make a claim. I have all the documentation around here somewhere. From what I could tell, his most valuable property besides the docks were a couple ships called
The Margot
and
The Can-something
.”

“Kendall?” Kendall asked.

“Yeah, that’s it.
The Kendall.
They’re long gone. The casino took those before I got here. There were some old files, clothes, but they all came with the deal so I had every legal right to sell them.”

“I’m not looking to rob you,” Kendall said in irritation. She pointed at his deck when Cinder stopped looking. “The paperwork. Does it say who bought
The Margot
?”

The man pulled out an electronic clipboard. Its surface was scratched and dusty. “I don’t know. Truth is there was no money to be made in someone else’s lost property, so I didn’t bother to read it all.”

Kendall crossed his office and took the clipboard from him. Her hands shook. “I’m taking this.” She didn’t give him a choice. “My husband will give you contact information.” She glanced at Alek who nodded in agreement. “If anyone else comes looking, you have them find me.”

Alek went to the desk and she heard him dictating instructions to the man. Kendall slid her finger over the clipboard. The screen lit up and automatically started playing an advertisement for the casino. She numbly watched smiling, happy faces as person after person was shown scoring it big. It was all faked and it made her sick to her stomach. After the ad finished a menu appeared with the documentation she sought.

“Come on, Kendall. Let’s go back to the ship and look at this data. Cinder has agreed to call off his daughter’s security.” Alek placed his hand on the small of her back and ushered her through the office door. The sound of drinking followed them out. Cinder belched, clearly resuming his efforts to find oblivion. “Unless there is someone you would like to see first?”

“I only recognized a few of the workers,” she said absently, staring at the electronic clipboard. “The casino listed us as ships. That’s why they kept me in stasis so long. They had to hide the fact they took a person and make sure no one protested.” As they passed her old office, she suddenly stopped. Holding the clipboard to Alek, she said, “Hold this, please. I have to check something.”

Kendall glanced around to make sure they weren’t being watched before slipping into the office turned liquor storage. It was a tight around the crates and her shirt snagged on piece of splintered wood. One of the crates had been opened and the bottles matched those littering Cinder’s office.

Leaning over, she ran her hand over the wall. The dark made it hard to see, but she didn’t need light to find what she was looking for. Her finger fit against a small groove. A tiny green glow appeared as a sensor scanned her fingerprint. Seconds later, a small door in the wall opened. Reaching inside, she pulled out a tiny leather pouch.

Pressing the secret compartment shut, she joined Alek in the hall. At his quizzical look she lifted the small treasure. “Right where I left it.”

“What?” Beatrice’s yell sounded from behind them. “I want her gone. She’s nothing but…” The hostess saw them and pointed a finger in their direction. “You’re out of here. Get your ship and take off.”

Kendall fisted her hand over the pouch. “Quit your yelling. We got what we came for.” That wasn’t exactly true. “After I secure this on the ship, I want to walk around before we leave,” she said to Alek. “Maybe someone will know more about my sister. Maybe someone who worked for us is still here.”

“Of course,” he agreed.

Kendall lifted up on her toes and kissed him. “Thank you.”

She led the way back to the docking lot in silence. Once back on the ship, she stashed the pouch and the clipboard in their room. They discovered from the captain, who Alek ordered to prepare for takeoff, that the Draig crew had left to explore and find local food.

“The diner,” Kendall said, leading the way from the dock back into the main complex. Indeed, the men were in the small diner. The only thing Kendall could say about the place she’d eaten more meals than she cared to remember was that at least it was clean. Seeing a short, round gelatinous woman, Kendall rushed forward. “Vanni. It’s you, isn’t it?”

“Mistress Kendall?” The waitress paused before setting down two squirming plates of bugs. Her light-blue dress hugged tight to her frame. The material contrasted her green skin and accented her blue hair. Her voice had a husky quality to it, more so than Kendall remembered. “You haven’t aged an hour. I never took you for one of those enhancement types. Though what do I know? I suppose not all humans age like the rest of us.”

“I was locked in stasis.” Kendall hugged the woman. Her arms sunk into the gelatinous form before she let go. “And I never took you for the shrinking type. You haven’t been taking care of yourself.”

“Stasis preservation?” Vanni eyed Alek before turning her attention back to the girl. “You left so suddenly. I didn’t think you’d ever come back here. Not sure why you would.”

“I was repossessed, but I’m fine.”

“Lost in a wager, I know. It took us a while to figure out what happened to you, but your father let it slip once to some of the dock hands. I’m glad to see you survived whatever it was he sold you into.” She again looked at Alek.

“Vanni, this is my husband, Alek.”

“Greetings,” Alek said.

Vanni nodded in acknowledgement but didn’t speak to him. “I’m glad to see you are well, but what are you doing back here? There’s nothing here for you. Almost everyone left after you disappeared. Things fell apart. Wages weren’t paid. Then after Margot, well, now there’s only myself and Ger out on the docks. Still can’t understand a blasted thing the man says.”

“What happened to Margot?”

“She got into a lot of fights after you left. We looked after her the best we could, but then a few years after you left a couple of men came and took her. After that your father lost just about anything that wasn’t soldered down.”

“Do you know who took her? Where?”

“Sorry, I don’t. They had salvage uniforms on. I seem to recall one of the girls overhearing something about a spa service, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it. I can only guess they were the same men who took you.”

“Is this…
moving
?” One of the Draig crewmen stood, dropping his eating utensil.

Vanni gave a small laugh before hardening her expression. Loudly, she stated, “Elteeb stew. Only thing we serve. Food simulators have been gone since your father lost them.”