Free In Fire Forged: Worlds of Honor V-ARC by David Weber

may be a prince, but in some ways his life is as restricted as that of any Masadan wife. Unlike me, he can’t run away and make a new life for himself without hurting those he loves and respects.
    Michael boarded close behind Vincent. As they entered the vessel, Alice could be seen through the flight deck hatch, intent on the control panel, apparently running a pre-flight check. She was concentrating on her task too intently to notice their arrival until Michael spoke in a soft but firm voice.
    “Alice, it’s me. Michael Winton. I need to talk to you.”
    Judith was just a few paces behind Michael, almost treading on his heels, and she saw Alice’s expression. There was surprise there, mild shock when she saw the pulser on which Vincent’s hand rested, but no guilt.
    What if she doesn’t know anything? What if we’re just wasting time? Oh, God—I’ll believe in you again—just give me back my baby. Alive. Happy. Unhurt.
    “Mikey?” Alice looked at the prince. Her hands remained on the control panel, but she didn’t move. It wouldn’t have mattered if she had. Before they had come to Banshee ’s berth, Michael had done some tech wizardry that cut the ship off from outside contact while creating a data loop to hide the fact.  
    Judith didn’t have the least idea how Michael had done it, but she took his word that for the moment at least Alice was isolated.
    “Is anyone else aboard?” Michael asked.
    The video images Vincent had been tracking even as they moved through the station had shown Alice alone, Judith knew, but it never hurt to check.
    “No,” Alice replied, her voice puzzled. “Mikey? What’s going on? Who is that woman? Why does your guard have his hand on his weapon? What are you doing here?”
    The three had all entered the ship’s roomy cabin by now. Banshee was a bit larger than Ogapoge, but otherwise, the two little runabouts were much alike. A few rows of comfortable seats stretched back from the flight deck, sandwiched between its hatch and the equally cramped engineering section aft. There was a small cargo area between the passenger seats and engineering, but its hatch was open and it was obviously empty. Judith glanced around anyway, looking for any sign Ruth had been here. There was nothing.
    “The woman is my good friend, Judith Newland,” Michael said. “We’re here because her daughter, Ruth, is missing, and we have reason to believe Ruth left Manticore on this ship.”
    “What? How…” Alice let her hands drop to her lap, and stared up at Michael, her momentary expression of incredulity fading, colored with something else. “Go on. Tell me. Fast.”
    Michael did. Judith knew he had various holo files ready to show if Alice demanded evidence, but the young woman only listened, her intelligent eyes narrowing.
    “Search,” she said, waving her hand back, “but you won’t find anything.”
    “Do you believe me?” Michael asked.
    Judith listened as she moved among the rows of seats.
    “I do,” Alice said. “My parents have been behaving strangely lately. My dad insisted that I come to Mount Royal with him today. He sent me into the corridor, flat out telling me he’d seen my old schoolmate the prince in the hall, and wouldn’t it be nice if I made myself really friendly. He even reminded me you didn’t go by ‘Mikey’ anymore. Then he sent me off in Cormorant, only to tell me to leave her in dock and get Banshee down to Choire Ghlais. No reason, no explanation—just do it. It was pretty obvious he was busy with some scheme, but I never expected something like this.”
    “So you believe he’d plan a kidnapping?”
    “If he could make himself believe it was for the greater good, yes,” Alice said. “Helping get the Star Kingdom back on track. Reuniting a daughter with her father. Yes, I do. It’s obvious they’ve managed to misread the Grayson mindset badly, if they expect this to have the effect they obviously want, but that doesn’t really surprise me.