Price of Ransom by Kate Elliott

him,” she breathed. She put out her hands and Lily took them in hers, an act of such unconscious sisterhood that it made Yehoshua feel awkward and intrusive.
    “Who are you talking about?” he asked, and was embarrassed to hear his own voice sound so grating.
    “Robert Malcolm,” Lily said, not looking at him. “Robbie.” When he still did not react, she finished, “Pero.”
    “Oh.” It was all he could manage to say, knowing that it was Pero’s death—his murder—that had brought them this far.
    “After the Finegal Revolt on Veritas,” said Trey, oblivious to anything but Lily’s regard, “when I had to turn him in, when he tried to escape from the hospital, after that they shipped my unit off to the next assignment, I couldn’t forget him. Or the things he had said. And I couldn’t forgive myself for stopping his escape.”
    “He forgave you,” Lily murmured. “No, there was no forgiveness in it. He simply never blamed you for doing your duty. He admired you for it.”
    Trey shook her head slightly, either not believing or believing too much. “I finally deserted. I joined Jehane and learned ships, because that was where they needed people then. When we came to Arcadia at last I thought, I’ll find him again. I knew he had taken the name Pero. I thought it wouldn’t be hard to find him, to show him that I finally understood, about the Finegal Revolt, about Jehane’s revolution. And then he was dead.” Clearly she was not a person who cried easily. Pain invested her expression, her entire body, but she only hesitated a moment before she went on. “I volunteered to come out on the Boukephalos . Vanov as good as said that the people they were going after were the ones responsible for Robbie’s death. But I began to distrust Vanov. And after this”—she had not ceased looking at Lily—“I think he must have been lying, wasn’t he?”
    The line of Lily’s mouth quirked up into a rueful smile.
    “Not entirely. I was responsible for his death, because of something I told him. But it was Jehane who had him killed.”
    This revelation proved too much for Trey. She broke her hold on Lily’s hands and covered her face again. “Jehane,” she murmured. “After everything Pero had done for him. How can I believe that?”
    Lily looked up at Yehoshua. Understanding the signal quite well, he nodded to her and left the two women alone. Waited outside for perhaps five minutes, watching Lily’s lips move as she began her explanation, Trey’s muted responses, and the shivering of her shoulders as each piece of Jehane’s betrayal of Pero fell into place. But he began to feel like a voyeur, so he left.
    He checked in with Rainbow again. Cleanup was progressing. Bach was taking systems through their paces, and evidently both the Mule and Pinto had already reported to the bridge and were beginning their calculations. Yehoshua still did not feel like making a personal inspection.
    Instead, he wandered to the mess. Its lights were dimmed down so far that one could scarcely make out the two occupants, one seated on the lap of the other at the table in the farthest, dimmest corner.
    He entered cautiously.
    Jenny sat in a posture so utterly uncharacteristic of her—so despondent, so drained of life—that for a moment he wondered if he had mistaken her. But the child huddled on her lap could be no one but Gregori. The boy had disposed himself both carefully, not touching his mother’s broken arm, and with the absolute urgency of a child needing comfort. His face was pressed against Jenny’s breast, his legs curled up completely on her lap. She had her good arm clasped tight around him. But her gaze was focused on the wall, seeing, and not seeing.
    She heard his footsteps and turned her head just enough to see him. A flare of hope—but it died abruptly as she recognized who it was.
    He approached and halted at the other end of the table.
    “Is there anything I can get you?” he asked, feeling like an idiot