Page 12 of Only Hard Problems

Despite my hearty gesture, Rigel didn’t move a single inch, as if I hadn’t even touched him. He smiled at me, his face a benign mask, but his dark brown eyes were cold and assessing, and his arm flexed as though he wanted to snatch my hand off his shoulder and break my fingers one by one.

Rigel might ostensibly be a social handler, but I was willing to bet that he was also a Hammer, one of the Erzton’s elite fighters. Asterin’s mother and stepfather, Verona and Aldrich Collier, were among the leaders of the Erzton, and they wouldn’t send their daughter into Imperium territory without some sort of protection. Although I got the sense that Asterin was more than capable of taking care of herself.

Her hand was still firmly entrenched in her pocket, and I was willing to bet she had some small weapon squirreled away in there. Perhaps she would whip out a blaster and end our unwanted engagement before it even began. Being shot dead by one’s potential fiancée would certainly be humiliating, but on the bright side, it would put an end to all my problems, especially what to do about Vesper and Kyrion.

Rigel raised his eyebrows at Asterin in a sharp, pointed expression. Asterin’s lips puckered, as though she had just bitten into something sour, but she tipped her head to Tivona and Leandra.

“Lovely to see you both again,” she replied in a smooth voice. “I look forward to continuing our conversation later in the evening.”

Tivona and Leandra murmured their good-byes, then walked away. Tivona glanced back over her shoulder, her worried gaze darting back and forth between Asterin and me.

I reached out with my power, trying to hear the thoughts of all three women. Like many other psions, I was capable of telepathy, although I used that ability far less than my telekinesis, which was my strongest skill. If I couldn’t charm someone with my words or kill them with my stormsword, then I saw no need to listen to their cumbersome thoughts. For the most part, I simply ignored such whispers, although loud, vivid thoughts and feelings could still tweak my psionic senses, like Tivona’s earlier disgusted musing about my being Vesper’s brother.

But right now, I needed information about Vesper and Kyrion, so I deliberately stretched out with my telepathy, studying each woman in turn. All I sensed from Asterin and Leandra was soft silence, but that was no surprise. Most of the time, I didn’t bother trying to eavesdrop on other psions, since they either shielded their minds or their power naturally canceled out my own. But the thoughts of regular humans like Tivona were much easier to sense, so I focused on her.

We’re fine, her thought whispered through my mind.Zane can’t possibly know about our arrangements.

What arrangements had Tivona made with Asterin? Perhaps their little tête-à-tête hadn’t been about Vesper after all. Or at least, not entirely about Vesper. Perhaps as the new head of Quill Corp, Tivona was secretly negotiating some business deal with Asterin and the Erzton.

I made a mental note to dig even deeper into Quill Corp’s finances, along with those of Asterin and her family. Beatrice might claim that the Colliers admired the House Zimmer name, fortune, and connections, but the Erztonians’ dogged determination to snare me like a rabbit in a trap made me highly suspicious. Noble games aside, there had to besomedeep, dark reason the Colliers wanted to form an alliance with House Zimmer, especially given Asterin’s intense dislike of me.

Beatrice was lurking a few feet behind Rigel. She stared at me, then tilted her head toward the dance floor. I bit back a groan. Suspicions or not, right now, there was no escaping my grandmother’s machinations.

I looked at Rigel. “I was just about to ask Lady Asterin to dance. If that meets with your approval?”

Rigel grunted his assent, so I turned to Asterin and held out my hand. She bit her lower lip, once again clearly wanting to be anywhere other than here, but she reluctantly placed her hand in mine.

Despite the humid summer night, her fingers were cool, and I curled my hand around hers, trying to bring some warmth to her soft skin. Asterin tensed, but she didn’t pull away.

I led her onto the pink tile floor that had been set up on the grass, and a few other Regals who were already dancing moved aside to make room for us. Fergus was dancing with an older woman from House Gonzalo, and he gave me a knowing grin as Asterin and I stepped toward each other. I glowered at my friend in return, but Fergus just chuckled and spun his partner around.

Several musicians were perched on a nearby hoverdais, and their loud, lively reel slowed into a soft, sedate waltz. The bulbs strung through the tops of the honeysuckle bushes dimmed, their warm pink glows fading to a cool white, signaling the official start of the solstice ball.

Asterin stared fixedly at a spot over my shoulder, but I looked straight at her. Delicate eyebrows, high cheekbones, heart-shaped lips. She was much lovelier than I remembered from our last tense encounter after the midnight ball when we’d hurled insults and accusations at each other. Or perhaps that was just the romantic atmosphere rubbing off on me, along with the earlier echoes of my father talking about how much he had loved my mother. I had always been a sucker for a grand love story.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons Asterin annoyed me so much—because we would never have the kind of deep mutual care, concern, love, and respect that my parents had shared. Perhaps it was greedy or selfish or even old-fashioned, but I didn’t want to settle for anything less than complete trust and true happiness, not even to secure my House’s future.

“Why do you keep staring at me?” Asterin snapped, finally looking at me. “Do I have something in my teeth? Is the color of my lipstick not to his lordship’s liking? Or am I not cooing and fawning a proper amount over the high and mighty Zane Zimmer?”

I bit back a sigh. We couldn’t even get through a simple dance in uncomfortable silence. Still, animosity or not, this was a Regal ball, and I had a role to play, even for a woman who hated me.

“You look beautiful tonight,” I said in a cheerful voice. “Then again, you always look beautiful.”

Annoyance flickered across Asterin’s face. “I suppose you expect me to say how handsome you are in return.”

“That is the expected nicety and common reciprocity.”

She huffed. “Reciprocity? This whole thing isreciprocity.”

“Marriages often are, among the Regals.”

She huffed again, the sound even more caustic and derisive than before. “Among the Erztonians too, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“Then why are you here? Why not tell your parents that you don’t want to enter into a marriage contract? Or find another Regal lord whom you can at least tolerate? Surely you have other options.”

“It’s complicated. And unfortunately, I have only bad options.” She muttered the last few words.

A soft chime of confirmation rang through my mind. I wasn’t a seer like Vesper, but sometimes my psionic instincts whispered that certain things were true or particular events would come to pass, no matter how outlandish or unlikely they might seem. And right now, my power was agreeing that Asterin had only bad options, which made me even more suspicious and wary. What kind of trouble was she in?

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