Page 125 of Smuggler's Beauty

The minute he killed her family, he lost his leverage over her. If she stopped focusing on her guilt, batted back the panic, she could see it was an empty threat. Why would he ever let go of such a vital resource? Emil was counting on her to be the irrational, emotional woman he’d met all those years ago. To react exactly the way her father had. Reusing known tactics.

Evelyn spoke, low and slow. “I may not have agreed with my family in many situations, but I know that none of them is loving their lives as your puppet monarch of the moment. Life in a stasis pod isn’t living.”

“You’d risk their lives to wage your pointless war?”

“They’re not living now,” she said, one of her shoulders lifting slightly. “You’re never going to let them. And it’s never pointless to fight against men like you.”

“You can’t win,” he said slowly, like he was speaking to a particularly idiotic child.

“Irrelevant.”

“Irrelevant?” His jaw worked. The finger tapped harder on the chair arm.

“Yes. Would I love to banish you to the pit from which you spawned? Absolutely. Will I do my best to do so? Again, yes. But you have never understood the spirit of Tanalia if you can’t comprehend why it’s irrelevant if I am successful. What matters is the attempt.” She tilted her head to the side. “Is the project going as you expected? Are your soldiers any more powerful? How’s the asset performing — that’s what you consider this planet, isn’t it? Is it as fruitful? Are the exports as profitable?”

He looked perplexed, trying to discern a hidden meaning in her words. “I’ve increased the efficiency of this planet threefold.” He stopped tapping the chair and switched to swiping on his communicator again.Rude.

“Efficiency, sure. I’ve no doubt you can increase efficiency. But the spark that makes Tanalia sing? You don’t have it, and you never will. You’ll wring it dry and then be left with another planet’s worth of people to feed, educate, and induct into your war machine without the means to pay for itself. You’ll find another planet you can subdue, rob of its resources, rinse, repeat. So, I will make my attempt. You can kill my family, you can kill me. I would advise against it. Martyrs tend to make for stronger revolutions.”

Evelyn crossed her legs and folded her hands together to stop them from visibly shaking.How does anyone stay in character so long?She could feel the dampness under her arms and prayed the color of the wool was dark enough to hide her nervous sweat.She poured all her focus into keeping the look on her face cool, composed.

She wouldn’t give him any more weapons to use against her. He had plenty scattered around the palace.

“If your family isn’t the right lever, I simply need to find the correct one.” Emil’s lips flipped into a smug smirk that made Evelyn’s stomach sink. “Perhaps this one will do the trick?”

The doors to the receiving room opened, and guards dressed in the Bauder uniform streamed in to ring the room. Evelyn thought it was overkill as shows of force went. She knew he had a large military at his disposal. That was the whole point of Corvinia’s plan: to get as many eyes on the situation on the ground as possible to force the GPC’s hand. Tanalia would never be able to stand against Bauder’s military, and everyone in the room knew it.

She was about to roll her eyes when a fresh wave of armed men entered, less polished than the first wave. In fact, these soldiers looked disheveled. One stepped forward, hat far too low on his head to comply with regulation dress, and saluted Emil. It looked like he had a broken nose swelling under the shaded brim. He stepped back, and Evelyn could see the rest of his company.

They were escorting Elenor, Nannette, Veselko, and Aiden.

The best weapons he could use against her.

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

The poundingin Aiden’s head had subsided to a manageable level by the time Mathias led them into the room where Emil was holding Evelyn. The comforting press of the blaster against his waistband did nothing to negate the anguish he felt at the look that had flashed across her face when she’d seen their bound hands.

Aiden understood that Vinnie’s plan was largely built on one mind fuck after another, but he would never forgive the woman for not letting Evelyn in on it, for not seeing exactly how strong, determined, and brave she was, not believing her capable or willing to go the distance.

So they stood in a row, neat little emotional bombs for Emil to throw at Evelyn’s feet while Vinnie’s plan unfolded around them. He hadn’t even bothered to try to mask the fury on his face, sure that the emotion he couldn’t conceal if he tried probably just added to the atmosphere Vinnie had intended.

He was seriously contemplating throwing her out an airlock the next time he had the opportunity.

Aiden tried to steady his breathing while he looked around the receiving room. The walls were papered in a garishfloral pattern. He thought they were maybe supposed to be dahlias, but the artist had taken a very liberal interpretation of the form. There were plushly upholstered chairs and sofas, ornately carved wooden furniture arranged in conversation areas throughout the space. A view screen on the wall displayed a security feed of the rest of the palace.

Evelyn was sitting, statue still, on one of the sofas. The color was draining from her face, but she’d schooled her expression into a blank, vaguely pleasant half smile. Across from her, a man in a charcoal suit was rising from his chair. Emil Bellica. He had the look of a man who’d just sucked on a lemon. He tucked a communicator back into his pocket and turned his back to the new arrivals.

“You’re willing to die for your planet,Your Highness,” he said, the last with a mocking tone that made Aiden want to punch him in the face. “Very noble. Are you willing to let them die for your precious Tanalian values?”

Evelyn rose slowly from her sofa. She smoothed her skirts and tucked a strand of hair that had escaped its tightly woven crown behind her ear.

“I would take my values over yours any day,” she said. While her face was still pale, she was radiating a sad acceptance. Aiden’s heart skipped a beat. If Vinnie thought Evelyn’s death was an acceptable outcome of this little showdown, the airlock would be far too good for her.

Emil grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm. Evelyn cried out. Aiden lurched forward, but Nannette slammed into his side. He stared at her, helpless.

Trust her. Follow her lead.

Aiden put his faith into that sentiment. He put his faith into the desperate hope that Vinnie wasn’t so cold as to sacrifice Evelyn. He put his faith into the belief that Evelyn was stronger than she gave herself credit for. Follow her lead? As if he’d beenable to do anything else since the moment she’d woken up in that damn pod.