"Hostage. Riuondo alive. Send help, planet Mstuni," I repeated. "Yes. That would work."
He began teaching me then, tapping patterns against my arm. Short tap, long tap, combinations that formed letters. A was short-long. B was long-short-short-short. C was long-short-long-short. I focused intently, committing each pattern to memory, practicing until my fingers moved automatically.
We worked through the night, our voices low, our bodies pressed close together in the cramped cell. And for the first time since our capture, I felt something other than despair.
I felt hope.
Because we had a plan. We had each other. And we had a chance—however slim—of getting out of this alive.
"Again," Cullen said patiently as I tapped out the message for the twentieth time. "You're rushing the long taps. They need to be distinct from the short ones."
I tried again, forcing myself to slow down, to make each tap deliberate and clear.
"Better," he said. "Much better. Chloe will recognize that."
I rested my head against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. Our heart. The rhythm that bound us together more surely than any chain.
"We're going to make it," I said. Not a question. A statement of fact.
"Yes," Cullen agreed. "We are."
And lying there in the darkness, with my mate's arms around me and a glimmer of hope in my chest, I almost believed it.
Chapter 16
Serna
Riuondo came to our cell the next morning with the kind of swagger that made my skin crawl.
"Good news, Lady Prime," he said, his voice dripping with false courtesy. "I've scheduled a communication with the Alliance Council. Day after tomorrow. You'll make your abdication official." He paused, his smile widening. "Isn't that what you wanted? To be free of all this responsibility? To run off with your human lover and play house?"
I kept my expression neutral, though every instinct screamed to lash out. I felt Cullen's surge of anger, his heartbeat accelerating to match mine.
"The Council won't accept it," I said carefully. "Not without proper preparation."
Riuondo's smile faltered. "What do you mean?"
"Duke Ako." I met his gaze steadily. "The Council follows his lead. They always have. If Ako questions the legitimacy of my abdication, the others will too. You need his support, or this entire plan falls apart."
I watched the calculation flicker across Riuondo's face. He was arrogant, impulsive, but he wasn't stupid.
"What are you suggesting?"
"Let me communicate with Ako before the full Council call," I said. "Let me explain the situation to him directly. He'll accept it if it comes from me, if he understands that this is mychoice." I paused, letting the lie settle. "He's been my friend and advisor for decades. He knows I would never abdicate without extending him that courtesy."
Riuondo studied me for a long moment.
"And I'll need to speak with Chloe Blackwood as well."
His eyes narrowed as they flicked to Cullen and back. "The human's daughter? Why?"
"She's become my new assistant," I lied smoothly. "I've been training her to handle certain administrative duties. If I'm abdicating, she'll need instructions on how to manage the transition—what files to transfer, who to contact, how to handle the handover of power. It needs to look official, Riuondo. Legitimate. Or the Council will question everything."
I could see him weighing it, his desire for legitimacy warring with his paranoia. But in the end, his need to appear as the rightful successor won out.
"Fine," he said. "I'll arrange it. But I'll be monitoring the communication. One wrong word, and your mate suffers. Understood?"
"Understood."
