章節 33: C: Uncertainty

Rafaela stared at Brendan Aldrich through the transparency of the door between them, while her mind raced in useless circles. His eyes seemed to examine her with concern, as his gaze traced across her body in far too familiar paths that made her hands tremble. Her fight with Eks Corp Security left her wondering if he was here as an enemy, a friend, or something else.

It took her a bit to realize that his mouth was moving, and even longer to work out what he was trying to ask. "Are you okay?"

She had no answer for that question yet, and she wondered if he had really been waiting for her alone. She didn't nod or shake her head, instead she leaned forward to look for the security officers that might be waiting just out of range. He took a startled step away from the door when she leaned against it. His reaction amused her for some reason, however if anyone else was lurking in wait, they were outside of the area that she could see while pressed up against the transparent door.

Brendan watched Rafaela with a confused expression, but she wasn't willing to focus on him yet, she wasn't ready to let him hold her attention. When she stepped away from the door he reached for the controls, but his hand stopped when she accidentally met his eyes again. He didn't avoid her gaze, instead he returned it for a long minute.

Her cheeks warmed, while her hands felt cold. He looked far too ordinary to be who he was, and she didn't know if he was here expecting to sign a marriage contract or to disqualify her. She glanced away from his eyes to his raised arm, and then lifted her own to the controls on her side of the door.

Keeping herself locked in the infirmary wasn't going to keep her safe. If he wanted to get rid of her, it would be easy for him, but he seemed to be giving her space. After another moment of thought, she decided that for now she would assume that the officers who'd fought with her hadn't been following his orders, and finally opened the door.

Brendan said almost calmly, "Hi."

"Um… hi," Rafaela replied uncertainly, feeling a little shocked somehow by the casual greeting.

"You are… I mean we have a lot to talk about?" he blurted.

She blinked at his awkwardly broken question, and then nodded. "Yeah? Um… I guess?"

"Well, you won," he explained a bit dourly.

She pulled herself upright and replied more sharply, "Yeah, and then my escort tried to…" she hesitated, since she couldn't prove that they'd been trying to kill her, but she was pretty certain that she'd killed at least one of them.

"I'm sorry," he interrupted her unfinished sentence rather stiffly. "I didn't…" he almost visibly changed what he was saying, "and will never, order anyone else to attack you, I swear."

"But they were Eks Corp Security officers," Rafaela began.

"Yes, the people who waylaid you worked for us," Brendan admitted abruptly.

She froze, and then nodded unhappily. "Are they…" she hesitated as she wondered how to ask how many had lived.

He seemed to know what she wanted to know though, as he replied, "Two are dead, the rest have been caught and restrained."

"But they were… weren't they…" she asked uncertainly.

He looked confused, and asked blankly, "They were what?"

"Actual security officers?" she asked after a moment.

"Yes," he agreed. His expression tightened as he added quickly, "But even though they were actually Eks Corp's employees, no one from my immediate family ordered them to attack you!"

Rafaela held onto the door frame as though it could give her more than physical stability. His answer provided the information, but she still couldn't help asking, "They weren't supposed to? They weren't working for you?"

Brendan shook his head as he glared at her. He looked angry, and more frighteningly, uncertain. His sharp angry eyes dispelled the 'ordinariness' of his appearance. He took a deep breath and then admitted quietly, "I don't know who else they were working for yet, none of the survivors have admitted to knowing that their orders weren't standard."

Her mind whirled as she tried to remember everything about the team that had led her away from her ship. "My ship?" she asked anxiously. Anything could have happened to sys20si by now.

He blinked at her again, and then frowned as he raised the screen on his wrist and checked, she was sure, even though she couldn't see the display. "It seems fine?" he informed her questioningly.

She straightened and told him, "I should go check." His sharp eyes pierced hers again and she relented slightly, "When you're done with me?"

He was here because she'd actually won the race to become his bride, and they were still just standing in the medical room's doorway. They hadn't even actually introduced themselves or anything yet, but they were still somehow in sync as he winced and she knew that it was because of her words.

Brendan replied calmly, despite his wince, "I will try not to keep you for too long Rafaela Donatella. But since you did win my race, I have some paperwork I'll still need you to complete, and there will be a public announcement for us to attend."

Rafaela flinched, but then nodded. She didn't know how to tell him that she had no real desire to marry him. "Um… Brendan?" she asked uncertainly, wondering if she should be using his title instead of his name.

"Yes?" he asked, and then frowned and stretched out his hand as he suggested, "Sorry, I am. Let's start over? Hi, I'm Brendan Aldrich. And you are the first place winner of my race, 'Cinderella', who is actually Rafaela Donatella, if all of my information is correct?" She nodded as she took his hand for a moment. He seemed to draw a deep breath before adding, "And so you'll become my bride… unless we cancel it?"

"Do you want to cancel it?" she asked less hopefully than she'd expected.

"I…" he hesitated for too long before finishing, "don't know anymore." His eyes seemed to search hers for something that she didn't know how to give him, and then he shrugged and turned away from her. "I've had a room prepared, if you're ready to tackle the documents," he explained.

As she followed him, she realized that while he was in decent shape, he was actually slightly shorter than she was. His brown hair was not richly tinted with anything, it was simply a brown mix of lighter and darker strands. Finally able to look at him carefully, free of his sharp eyes, he seemed almost too 'ordinary' or 'normal' to be quite real. Somehow, she couldn't get over the fact that she hadn't expected the 'peak' of the genetically manipulated corporation lines to be this short.

Rafaela was offered a seat in a small private room, in front of a screen that offered a truly frightening amount of contractual clauses.

There was a handy summary that notified her that she was free to refuse the contract at this point, and would be offered a five thousand mega credit compensation for her win from the prince himself, and disqualified on a 'technicality'. For a moment she wondered what would happen if the top twenty entrants refused, and the prince of Eks Corp suddenly had to pay a hundred thousand mega credits, plus the hundred thousand prize.

Brendan's hands moved restlessly as he watched her reading, but he didn't helpfully comment. Their eyes accidentally met again, and they both looked away for a moment.

"Five thousand to be disqualified?" she asked abruptly.

Brendan straightened and nodded. "Yes, if the marriage contract doesn't suit, that amount seemed…" his words trailed off and his expression was uncertain again.

"If the first twenty of your entrants refused it you'd have to pay twice the reward," Rafaela pointed out.

His expression changed to amusement as he asked somewhat hopefully, "Are you going to refuse it then?"

"Do you want me to?" she asked with surprise.

He met her eyes again and didn't reply right away. She watched him uncertainly, instead of reading more of the clauses.

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