Ghwenn didn’t understand her husband at all. He appeared so damned miserable. Barking at everyone in his way. Snarling, too. With her, he tried being cold and ignoring.

Which lasted only until she dropped her gown and laid herself bare.

Then he was on her like a hungry beast with a gentle touch, making her body sing. She knew he got pleasure, too, and the more pleasure he enjoyed, the surlier he got until she finally reached a point she was ready to snap. Especially since, every so often, the shield around his emotions dropped and she felt the reason why.

Guilt. He felt guilty for enjoying their time together. Guilt for caring.

He was letting a ghost come between them.

And she didn’t know how to exorcise it.

But she had to do something soon. They were hours from docking at Kluuma and picking up this super important wedding party. They were still accompanied by her father’s fleet. Although now they had more hostages.

The idiots kept sending in envoys. Jameson and crew kept capturing them and then tethering their ships in the Moth’s wake. Why the convoy didn’t leave she couldn’t understand.

She’d made it clear after the consummation that she was no longer available. And once they made it to port and she could access an intergalactic bank, it would be official. She’d be out from under her father’s thumb and an heiress to boot.

With a husband who couldn’t stand to look at her until he was sunk to the hilt.

“Problems?” an accented voice asked.

Whirling from the observation window in the common recreation room, she noted the First Mate’s wife. Michonne, a follower of the Dkar religion, had recently married someone outside her cast, just like Ghwenn. But at least Michonne’s husband didn’t scowl at his wife.

“What’s it like having a husband who is agreeable?”

“You think Damon is agreeable?” Michonne snickered. “Maybe now he is, but not so long ago, he was the one being an ass about marriage.”

“What changed?”

Michonne shrugged. “He finally figured out he was an idiot and came to his senses.”

“I hear when your father took you captive Damon came to your rescue.”

The other woman smiled. “He did.”

“I don’t know if Craig would.” Given their new status, she’d stopped thinking of him by his last name and refused to use that horrible nickname. So she did something unexpected and used his actual given name. He hated it.

“Do you want him to save you?”

“He already did.” Every day he didn’t hand her over he rescued her. What she wanted was for her husband to stop pining over a dead woman and love the one right in front of him.

She must have been silent too long because Michonne nudged her.

“You just thought of something.”

“Is it possible to love someone who hates you?”

“Crank doesn’t hate you.”

Perhaps not, but he hated the fact that Ghwenn made him forget. Why wouldn’t he let Sky go? How could she remove his guilt once and for all?

What if… She had an idea. “I need to get off this ship.”

“Are you going to make him think you’ve been kidnapped so he rescues you and declares his love? Because that was already done, and I’d rather not share that story.” Michonne gave her a look.

“No, because, knowing Craig, he’d let me go and then be even more miserable convincing himself it was the right thing to do.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“Make him miss me.” Show him what it was like without her.

Which could backfire, but at the same time, it was past time she stopped allowing herself to be used, and that included by her husband.

“What are you going to do?” Michonne asked. “Because that’s a devious look in your eyes.”

Which matched the devious plan in her heart.

And she hatched it the moment they hit the planet.

She kidnapped herself.