Chapter 3
Gemma
W hen I stepped into my father’s office, I saw that my sisters were already there. Father sat at his desk. One of Hydroni-make that he’d had imported, all gleaming red wood inlaid with swirling metal strips. The thick, sturdy legs showcased intricate carvings depicting the last battle of the Pe’ji War.
The battle that had changed everything for us. The battle that had given us this house, this land, this territory.
“Gemma, there you are,” my father burst out when he saw me enter the office, a wide grin on his handsome features. Behind him, I saw the backside of our property through the tall windows. Once there had been a shimmering blue lake—Mother’s favorite place.
Though darkness was falling, I could still make out the muddy brown color of its murky water and smell the putrid film that had developed over the top of it. I swallowed, my gut twisting. I still couldn’t stomach the sight of it. Even after five years.
Resolutely, I took my eyes away.
“You heard about the blue salt cavern?” I guessed, eyeing the glass of whiskey on his desk. Another expensive import. Judging by the pinkness of his cheeks on his tanned complexion, I guessed he was on his third or fourth glass of the night.
“You found more blue salt?” Piper asked, whirling on me with large, watchful eyes. “That’s great news! Just in time for Lord and Lady Rossi’s visit. We can keep the plates after all!”
“No, we cannot keep the plates,” I said, a sharp edge lining my tone. “I’m sending them back tomorrow.”
“Father!” Piper barked, whirling on him. “I would just die of mortification if Lord and Lady Rossi ate off our chipped set! Fran broke another cup just yesterday. And there’s a big crack in nearly all of the salad plates. You cannot expect them to—”
“Piper, enough,” I exclaimed, feeling that stabbing headache return. My throat felt like it was tightening again, constricting.
Piper continued, “Lady Rossi’s cousin is a wealthy merchant. The handsome cousin. We need to make a good impression on them so she introduces us. And if she takes one look at our existing plates, she’ll turn her nose up at us. I wouldn’t be able to bear it!”
She was talking about plates and handsome cousins, and I was on the verge of a mental breakdown over the possibility that I would have to sell myself to a Kylorr, that my father had lied about paying our workers, that every day the interest on our debts grew to more insurmountable heights, and that plates wouldn’t matter when there would be nothing left.
I snapped.
“I don’t want to hear about the fucking plates anymore, Piper! We can’t afford them! And everyone knows Lady Rossi’s cousin is already engaged to an heiress on New Inverness. So, what chance do you really have? Why would he choose you over her?”
I hardly ever cursed and I hardly ever yelled . Like, actually yelled . And so the stunned silence that resulted in my small outburst was warranted.
“Gemma,” Mira admonished softly, stepping toward Piper, who crossed her arms and looked away from me. I heard her swallow thickly…followed by a small sniffle.
I blew out a short, sharp breath. Guilt started to settle, heavy in my mind as regret swarmed in my veins. I hadn’t meant to make it sound like Piper was lacking . Just that…well, reality was harsh. Lady Rossi’s cousin was a wealthy man. Who would marry into an equally wealthy family. Not one like ours, riddled with debt, with enough baggage to fill the emptying halls of our run down estate.
“I’m sorry,” I said, clearing my throat in discomfort. “Piper, I didn’t mean that you—”
“Yeah, well, he wouldn’t want you either!” Piper hissed, her green eyes flashing. She was crying now, but I knew that my sister could be cruel when she was hurt. I braced myself for what I knew was coming. “You’re a cold bitch with a stick up your ass. You’re just jealous that I might have a chance with him. Because he would never choose a frigid hag like you.”
All the blood drained from my face. My heart twisted into a sea of knots. Piper and I had never gotten along well, but this was a new low. Even for her.
“Piper!” came my father’s sharp bark. “Get out. Now.”
“But—”
“Out!” Father roared.
I blinked back the tears, breathing through my stinging nose. I felt Mira’s hand on my arm as Piper skulked from the office, slamming the door behind her, rattling a vase on the bookshelf.
“Are you okay?” Mira asked. When I met her eyes, I saw she was biting her lip. “She didn’t mean it, Gem. You know that. She’ll feel terrible once she realizes what she’s said. But you know how she gets.”
No, she meant it. She meant every word, I thought. But I touched Mira’s hand, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall, and said, “I know.”
Relief swam through her gaze. She didn’t like it when we fought. It always put her in a tough position, being between us all the time.
“Gemma,” my father said, the clink of ice filling the quiet office when he lifted his glass. There was an apology in his eyes, but I still spied something else. Something…hopeful. “I’ll tell her she can’t keep the plates, all right?”
But it wasn’t even about those damn plates anymore, was it?
“What did you need to see me for?” I asked him, impatient to return to my room. I didn’t think I could do any work tonight after all. I was drained. All I wanted was to sleep, to put this horrendous day behind me.
Father swirled the whiskey in his glass and then drained it down. “Mr. Cross called me.”
I stiffened.
“He said he made you a match,” he said, beaming. His dark, straight brows rose over his warm brown eyes. “A wealthy match. And that you told him you would think about it.”
“What?” Mira breathed, and I sensed her turning to me with wide eyes. “Why didn’t you say anything, Gem?”
So…this was the source of his excitement.
“Did he say anything else to you?” I prompted, a little confused by my father’s measured exuberance. The Kylorr had been allies of the Pe’jians during the war. The Pe’jians that my father had fought against for the United Alliance.
“Something about a matchmaking fee when the marriage happens, but he assured me the suitor would pay it,” Father said, shrugging. He stood, walking over to the bar cart, lifting a crystal decanter from it. “He assured me the suitor would pay for everything .”
The words had been loaded with something unspoken. I shot a look at Mira, but she didn’t appear to notice.
“I haven’t accepted yet,” I reminded him, licking my dry lips. “I know very little about him, and I’d like to have some assurances before I—”
He whirled, a small portion of whiskey sloshing from the decanter, splattering onto the wood floor. Father didn’t appear to notice.
“You will marry him, Gemma. It—it would solve everything . And once your sisters marry into wealthy families, the estate will be secure! Hell, they don’t even have to be wealthy families, if this man is as rich as Mr. Cross says. They could marry whomever they choose. Love matches—isn’t that what you want for them? But you will all be secure. Just as your mother wanted.”
My spine shot straighter. “And what about the caverns? The workers?”
Father waved his hand like my words were nothing but a small nuisance. Like I hadn’t given everything to the business for the last five years, all to keep our heads above water.
“I’ll manage it just fine.”
A tiny bloom of fury lit up in my chest. “You don’t know how to run the business. Not anymore. You didn’t even pay the workers last month when I entrusted you to do it.”
Father scowled. “Was it that damn Killup that said that?” he asked. “Look, I told them that I would invest their wages and get them double back in three months. None of them protested.”
“ My gods , there are laws in place for a reason. You can’t do that. Our workers depend on their pay. They have families to care for, and they don’t need to be roped into your ‘investments.’”
“Oh, Father, tell me you didn’t,” Mira said, biting her lip. She was likely thinking of Sorj.
Father’s temper was rising. I could feel it. He didn’t like to be cornered. And, much like Piper, he lashed out when he felt threatened.
He poured a hefty glass of whiskey, and the decanter landed on the bar cart with a sharp clatter. His cheeks were reddening quickly, but I knew it was more from his anger than the liquor.
“If I didn’t have you girls to care for, I could run the caverns easily,” he said, completely ignoring the situation at hand. “And I will. It will give me something to do when I know that all of you are settled and married.”
I bit my tongue so hard that I tasted blood. The metallic taste only made me think of other, more horrible things. Nausea pooled in my belly.
“You will marry this man, Gemma,” my father said, walking back to his desk, his words a sharp bark. “Tell Mr. Cross that you will accept the match. You might not see the blessing in it now, but you will thank me later.”
How had he turned this around? How had he turned my decision around so that I would need to thank him ? Especially considering we were in this mess because of him. A mess that my sisters didn’t even know about because he’d begged me, with tears in his eyes, not to tell them.
“The ‘man’ is a Kylorr.”
My father froze, the ice clinking with the sudden stop. Mira’s breath whistled in. The hand she had on my arm squeezed, her fingernails pressing deep.
“But I’m guessing Mr. Cross didn’t tell you that,” I finished. Another possibility nearly stole my breath. “Or maybe you didn’t care to ask.”
His hand shook, but I spied the shame mingled with his disbelief.
“So, what do you think of it now, Father? Would you still have me marry him, knowing what my future would hold?”
Would you have me marry him to settle all your debts? To save this house, where Mother died? To purchase more whiskey so you can drink yourself to an early grave? To feather this coffin of a place with more golden, glittering things that you don’t need?
I couldn’t help the terrible thoughts.
Truthfully, I had already made up my mind on the matter. There was no choice. That had long been taken from me.
But I wanted to hear him say it.
I needed to hear him say it.
“Father, you cannot allow this,” Mira exclaimed quietly, as the silence continued to stretch. “Absolutely not!”
Father’s brown eyes never left mine, however. He and my mother were night and day in appearance. He was a large, barrel-chested man, with thick salt-and-pepper hair, almond-shaped eyes, and round, ruddy cheeks.
My mother had been willowy and slender, with fine blond hair as smooth as silk, wide green eyes, and a honeyed complexion from her afternoon swims. A great beauty from a wealthy family, who had fallen in love with a grinning, confident, brash soldier from the outskirts of New Inverness.
Rye Hara and Sophie Crest. Lord and Lady Hara of the Collis, they had become.
Lord Rye Hara of the Collis looked me straight in the eyes, and he said, “You will marry the Kylorr, Gemma.”
Mira’s hand spasmed on my arm. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her gaping at Father.
“And you will save us all,” he grated softly.
He tilted his whiskey up to his lips and drained it in one gulp. The empty glass clattered onto the surface of his desk when he was finished. Then he turned his back to me, looking out the window toward the lake. I wondered if he still imagined Mother there, when it was sunny and warm. I wondered how he could stand the sight of it, even though she was buried there.
I barely heard Mira’s sharp protests. I barely heard what Father said to her in turn.
I was the eldest daughter. Before today, I had been of no real value to him. I was past marrying age, after all, and everyone knew it was marriages that exchanged wealth between families. Until today, he had planned to rely on Mira’s and Piper’s beauty to save us.
I knew Father loved me. But if he had a choice between settling his debts or marrying me off—the daughter who had no prospects—well…it was always going to be an easy choice.
“I’ll marry him,” I said, my voice finding strength, when I met my Father’s gaze in the reflection of the window.
“Gemma, just… no ,” Mira started, and I heard the wavering in her voice, the helplessness in the way she looked back and forth between us. “We can sort this out!”
“But I have some conditions,” I said, ignoring her.
Father turned, his expression grim. He waved a hand in the air to let me know he was listening.
“I will hire on a manager for the caverns. You will not go near them. You will not deal with any of the workers, nor will you touch their wages again. The manager will oversee everything and they will deposit your share of the profits into the main account at the end of every month.”
Father put his hands into the pockets of his trousers, but his expression didn’t change.
“You will let Mira and Piper choose their matches when the time comes,” I continued. “And you will not interfere.”
“Go on,” he said, his tone rough and guttural. “I’m sure you have more.”
“Just one more, though I would not consider it a condition,” I said, my throat tightening. “Once I leave the Collis, I’ll be done with the loans, Father.”
His expression darkened. His gaze flitted to Mira quickly, who asked, frowning, “Loans? What loans?”
“And everything having to do with them,” I added.
Which translated into keeping the collectors at bay . The pleading for extensions; the endless Halo calls; fielding the threats of terrible violence against me, my father, my sisters. Everything I’d shielded my father and my sisters from.
“This will be a clean slate for you. Don’t do anything to ruin that,” I said, my voice breaking at the last words. “Do you accept?”
It took long moments but finally my father inclined his head.
“I accept.”
* * *
Mr. Cross’s knowing face lit up the Halo orb. It looked like he was shirtless, likely getting ready for bed. I’d been pacing my room for the last twenty minutes, storing up my courage to make this call.
“I knew I’d be hearing from you soon, Miss Hara.”
“How much is he paying you to make the match?” I asked. It was something I’d wondered since our call earlier.
Mr. Cross’s grin could only be described as hungry .
“The Kylorr? One hundred fifty vron ,” he said.
One hundred fifty thousand credits.
That was the price of my father’s original loan, the interest if we’d taken until the end of the year, and more . Much more.
“ And he will pay off your father’s loan to me.”
Why? I wanted to shout in disbelief.
Why was marrying the eldest daughter of House Hara so vital to this Kylorr? To spend that obscene amount of credits when we’d never even met ?
I suppose I’m about to find out, I thought.
“Do you have something to say to me, Miss Hara?” Mr. Cross asked, his tone taking on a gleeful tinge. “A thank-you perhaps?”
Swallowing, I dug my fingernails hard into my palms.
Then, with the strongest voice I could muster, I said, “Tell the Kylorr I’ll marry him if he pays off all my father’s debts and secures our estate.”
“Do you have a price in mind that I should relay to him?”
A price .
Like I was something to be sold. Cattle in a field. Blue salt in a cavern. Plates from a potter on Dumera.
You’re a cold bitch with a stick up your ass, Piper had said to me.
The debts would only require 200,000 to pay off. If he wanted to make this a transaction, then I would too.
Steeling my spine, I said, “Four hundred vron . Two hundred to pay off the debts up front. But I will require another two hundred to be placed into a secure account under my name—and my name alone.”
Maybe a selfish, scared part of me thought my price would send this Kylorr running.
Mr. Cross laughed. But his grin was wide when he said, “I admire your sense of self-worth, Miss Hara. But his ambassador did assure me that he would pay whatever price you asked. I’ll relay your message and get the contracts drawn up.”
When the Halo call was over, I stood in the middle of my room, a fire roaring in the hearth, frozen in disbelief and grief and anger and shame and terror.
That was when the impact of what I’d just done hit me hard .
I just sold myself to a Kylorr.