My vision narrowed. Maisie’s thumb pressed against my hand.
“She left during a period of emotional distress,” James continued. His voice was warm. Reasonable. Carefully sad. “We had an understanding. A commitment. Financial obligations that were never properly dissolved. I have no wish to cause her pain, but she isn’t free to enter into a binding alien union while our prior arrangement remains unresolved.”
He looked toward Maisie. I wanted to step between them even though he wasn’t truly there.
“I’m only asking that the proper order be followed,” James said. “That she not be allowed to bind herself to another male until matters between us are closed.”
The words were smooth.
That made them worse. A rough lie could be broken. A smooth one slid into people’s ears before they noticed the blade.
One of the panel officers nodded as if any of that made sense.
A growl started low in my chest.
Maisie released my hand. Every instinct in me rebelled. Then she stood.
“No,” she said.
The room turned toward her.
She looked small standing there, one human woman in front of a panel, with a projection of the male who’d tried to own her glowing at the dais.
But she didn’t sound small.
“I’m sorry,” she said, and she wasn’t. “This is ridiculous.”
James’s expression didn’t change. Maybe the projection couldn’t carry it. Maybe he’d practiced too long.
Maisie faced him fully. “There’s nothing to close. I gave the ring back. I put it on the counter in the apartment, and I walked out. You know that because you’ve spent every day since trying to drag me back.”
The room was silent. My female’s hands curled on the rail in front of her.
“You didn’t file this nuisance because of finances. You didn’t hire people to lie because of a misunderstanding. I know you did it because I left, and you couldn’t stand that I got through a door you thought you controlled. And you pay me such little regard that you’re hereby holograminstead of in person. I would still tell you no directly to your face, but right now you’re proving just how small you are.”
She turned to the panel. “I want this on the record. If you rule against me, if you put me on a transport to Earth today, I still won’t marry him. There is nothing in this galaxy that will make me belong to him.”
My chest went tight.
Nezara set her tablet down.
“The panel notes the claimant has appeared by projection rather than in person,” she said.
Her voice had changed.
“The panel also notes the petitioner’s clear testimony that any prior promise was ended by her own action and communicated to the claimant.” Nezara looked toward Pell. “And it notes that the witness statement used to support this suspension has been withdrawn. Mr. Pell?”
Pell cleared his throat. “The witness recanted this morning. In the mayor’s office. Under warning of perjury charges.”
Nezara’s eyes stayed on Pell. “And you were going to mention that when?”
“I was getting there,” he said.
Nezara turned back to Maisie.
“There is one matter left.” Her voice gentled, but the formality remained. “Maisie Declan of Earth, do you accept the bond with Kazan of Ceres-9 freely and of your own choosing?”
Maisie didn’t look at me. She looked at Nezara. At the panel. At James’s flickering image.
