The two of them were sitting in a windowless room that looked like it had been made out of a storage container—which meant it probably was a storage container, repurposed. Marce had no idea of its location. He’d been in the room all of ten minutes, placed there by the thugs who had grabbed him, before Ghreni arrived.

“I don’t like the word ‘kidnapped,’ ” Ghreni said.

“With all due respect, Lord Ghreni, at the moment I don’t really give a damn what you like.”

“Fair enough.” Ghreni leaned back in his chair and considered Marce. “Rumor is that you’re planning to leave End behind.”

“If I were, I don’t see how it’s any of your business.”

“Well, see. There’s a war on, and the duke has noticed that several of his nobles—or their children, adult or otherwise—are now suddenly trying to book passage off the planet.”

“That will happen when there’s a war.”

“I suppose it might,” Ghreni agreed. “The duke doesn’t see it as a vote of confidence in his leadership skills, however, so he’s been inviting those who are interested in leaving to stay.”

“I don’t think you’ve kidnapped me to extend me this invitation, Lord Ghreni,” Marce said.

“No, I suppose that would be going the long way around to do it. You’re correct. I’ve invited you here for other reasons entirely. You’ll recall the other day when I asked your father to assist the duke with the release of imperial funds.”

“I recall him telling you ‘maybe.’ ”

“He did—which I took to mean ‘no, but politely.’ And to be clear, if that really was his answer, his reasons were both ethically and legally sound. It was a good choice for him to make, for those reasons.”

“I’ll tell him you said that.”

“I don’t doubt that you would,” Ghreni said. “Just not yet. The problem with your father’s answer, legally and ethically admirable as it might be, is that right now the duke really needs that money, because he really needs those weapons. And even ‘maybe’ doesn’t work with the time frame we’re under. So where persuasion didn’t work, compulsion might.”

“You’re holding me for ransom.”

“Yes. And I do apologize for that. Your father isn’t susceptible to other… blandishments that I or the duke might offer. He doesn’t seem interested in money or power or anything else tangible. And he has no patriotism for End or loyalty to the duke. But there’s no doubt that he loves both you and your sister. From there it was just the matter of choosing which of the two of you to pick. We considered your sister…”

Marce laughed at this, and Ghreni as gracefully as possible acknowledged the laugh.

“… but she presented problems in terms of acquisition.”