Unlimited Honor by Michael Stackpole

Author:Michael Stackpole [Stackpole, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Grange, Baronville, South Riding

Maldive

29 July 3002

Walter stood at the window looking out toward the vast back lawn. Richard Oglethorpe anxiously paced on the stone arch bridge over a swelling stream as the rain pelted down. Ivan Litzau, half hidden by his enormous umbrella, approached and held the umbrella out to shield his brother-in-law from the storm.

Sophia Litzau, changed out of her kitchen clothes, took Walter’s hand in her own and rested her head on his shoulder. “To see Richard go from elation over Abby’s rescue to despair over her condition . . . Even though I have loved her all my life, I can’t imagine . . . ”

“It’s what they did—the invisible wounds.” Walter shook his head. “You see someone wounded or with a broken arm, and you can imagine them getting healed. But when a psyche breaks, you can’t begin to define the damage, so repairing it—imagining that it will ever be right—is impossible.”

“But she will be. Abby is strong. She will find a way back to us, to Richard.” Sophia looked up at him. “And you’re not hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

“Your clothes had blood on them.”

“Less than your apron.”

“There almost was a lot more.” She sighed. “Stephan Andrich did not want to see reason.”

“Yeah, but we knew he wouldn’t.” Walter turned toward her and kissed her forehead. “If he’d been a deep thinker, we wouldn’t have picked him for our charade. As it was, things seem to have worked out better than we imagined.”

“Let’s hope that trend continues.” Sophia pointed toward the window. “They’re coming back in.”

They headed downstairs hand in hand but broke their grasp outside the study. Richard had just entered through the French doors, and a puddle was slowly forming around his feet. Behind him, Ivan collapsed the umbrella, shook it, and then set it in the stand, drawing the door closed. He had a quick, quiet word with Richard. The older man nodded solemnly.

Walter made no attempt to kill his smile. Ivan Litzau had changed in the two years he’d known him. When they'd first met, Ivan had been diffident and distant, immature and uncertain of himself. To ascend to his rightful place at the head of Litzau Enterprises and become the chairman of the world corporation that governed Maldive, he had to complete a martial exercise that was long on tradition and ceremony—and that required skills he’d never mastered.

And which I thought he never would master. The Collective used the occasion of Ivan’s Final Vetting to stage a revolution. In one afternoon, they murdered the heads of the First Families, herded others into reeducation and labor camps, and utterly overthrew the Dhivi social order. They also did their best to assassinate Ivan but failed—though they seemed to believe they had succeeded.

Since that day, Ivan had grown into a man who had done remarkable things. He’d survived a reeducation camp. He’d escaped Maldive and traveled to Solaris VII, where he’d engineered a way to amass an incredible fortune and created a plan to liberate his home world.

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