by Zara Zenia
I didn't envy whoever had let the human women wither under their care. Few failures reflected as badly on a servant as mismanagement of their kai'ben's affairs. The words of forgiveness Ingendia had spoken to me in the transport wouldn't be so well received by Primen Carzon.
"By the spirits, for your sake, I hope so," Farran spat in between gulps of wine. "I paid good money for this sitting. You call this premium stock?"
I looked at the third human. The thick line of kohl around her amber eyes hadn't moved. Light oils had been brushed through her fat curls, giving them a luscious sheen. But her eyes. They were more striking than any part of her. Unlike any I'd seen before. Rich pale gold, the color of desert sands.
Her shoulders straightened as her gaze locked on the other two. She reached out and recoiled in horror as her hand hit the barrier of her cage. My heart pounded as she turned her furious gaze toward the audience. My blood surged as she opened her mouth to speak, but she hesitated, clamping her lips shut as if she thought better of the idea.
Her silence disappointed me for reasons I could not justify. One of the servants came near me, proffering a bowl of wine with her eyes cast down. I waved her away. The beauty in the gold dress wasn't like the other two. She was made of tougher stuff than either of them.
I needed her. "I know which one I want. “
Farran and Harran turned to me, their faces perfect masks of horror. I didn't bother to spare either of them a glance. Their futures would remain in limbo for the night. But mine might yet be secured.
Even the Primen couldn't contain his shock. "Vin Xarran, I'm afraid I cannot in good conscience let a bidding round take place tonight."
I looked back to the stage, to the woman I knew in my gut was my mate. The humans didn't see in the dark as well as Xiban, but she stared in our direction anyway. She straightened her spine, lowering her shoulders and refusing to look away.
A vision of her tangled in my sheets flashed before my eyes. Yes.
"I've made a decision," I said again and gestured to the stage. "I want that one."
The Primen watched me in silence, his fingers twisting the bowl of wine back and forth. My insistence after his initial refusal ceded ground, usually a fatal flaw in negotiations. I couldn't afford to worry about the loss of face. Not this time. If that human left the room, someone might steal her from me.
Carzon drained his bowl and set it aside. The human barely slid her tray beneath the bowl before it crashed to the floor. "If it were up to me, you would have her, my friend, but I have to treat my customers equally. You understand."
Farran snorted from his seat behind Carzon's back. "I'm glad to see you remember a merchant's duty, Carzon."
This time, I cast the withering glare that silenced him. The young warrior had too free a tongue for a warrior and too little brains for a merchant. No Xiban woman with any sense would stand at his side. If fate had any kindness at all, he would find a brilliant spitfire among the humans, one who would learn our ways and push her mate to greater heights.
Only one human like that stood on the stage before us. Wine flowed instead of blood, and the company was more pleasing to look at, but this was a battle if ever I saw one.
A smart warrior pressed every advantage he had in war. I had wealth and status. Both Farran and Harran had one, and the other wouldn't be enough to win the day. But my last advantage, the favor of the Primen—that was a weapon powerful enough to rout any enemy. I only had to wield it properly.
My thoughts turned as I looked over both men. Their family fortunes were as much in crisis as mine. Stagnation doomed Harran's line. Farran's own foolishness put his line at risk. Was my stubbornness purer than their flaws?
"Then in the spirit of fairness, I have a suggestion." I climbed to my feet, rising to my full height. Even if the other two had been standing, I would have stood several inches above them. From their seats, I towered over them. "Instead of the first pick, I will buy her as if it were a private sale. These kind warriors came with me in the spirit of friendship."
Farran grabbed the last bowl from the tray. The one I left behind. "Doesn't sound fair to me."
I continued as if he hadn't opened his mouth. Damned fool didn't realize I was trying to help him. "And when they saw the lovely women presented to me, they chose to arrange their own sitting."
Carzon raised an eyebrow. "A private purchase is far more expensive than a sitting."
"A two-person sitting is more than a three-person sitting. I'm sure my friends would be willing to absorb the extra expense in exchange for locking in your earliest session. Tonight, perhaps?"
A smile appeared on Carzon’s lips. If I didn't know better, I would almost say the Primen was impressed. Almost. "If your friends find this arrangement sufficient, then I see nothing wrong with it. I'll even pull their selections personally."
I glanced over Carzon's shoulder at the other two. Harran wiped his mouth and nodded. The gesture of gratitude was small, but it was the only one he could afford to make in this company. Farran wasn’t as charitable. He waved a dismissive hand as if I hadn’t just handed a chance to breed to him on a silver platter.
“Then it’s settled,” Carzon said, clapping his hands together.
I turned back to the stage to look at the human again. My human. She had resorted to sinking her teeth into her lip to keep the tears of fear at bay, but the strength lingered in her eyes. She would bend, yes. As far as she had to in order to stay alive. But she would never break.
She was perfect.
Chapter Seven
Ella
Two of the three spotlights switched off, plunging Red and Blondie into darkness. I could hear their sobs, but this time from relief instead of fear. A good person would have been happy for both. I looked up at my light, the only one still on, and swallowed.
I could hear movement and whispers in the darkness on all sides. The deep, guttural words from the audience overpowered the softer clipped lilt of the glamazons. I strained to listen to the voices as they retreated, trying to separate them in my memory. One of those voices belonged to the man who had just bought me.
My stomach twisted as reality slapped me in the face. I couldn't settle on how to look at what had just happened. On the bright side, I wasn't going back to the Room. I wouldn't spend the unbearably frigid nights curled up on the floor, huddled beneath the remnants of a cocktail dress to keep warm. There were no more bowls of gray slop waiting in my future. No more glamazons with their steely fingers and judgmental glares.
Could anything that waited for me on the planet be worse than what had already happened? I didn't know. I didn't want to find out.
Red’s and Blondie's quite sobs faded into the distance. Obviously, they had made their decision. The hell they knew in the Room was better than the one they didn't know. I closed my eyes and forced myself to take deep breaths. The last thing I wanted was for the blues to see me panic. Focus on the bright side. Wherever I was going, it wasn't here.
As if to prove my point for me, Blue Prime grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me away from my spotlight. The invisible shock fence that kept me from touching Red must have come down after the lights went out. If I had known, I could have grabbed Red. It would only have taken a few seconds to hug her and tell her that this would work out.
I planted my feet against the stage and twisted my wrist. It didn't budge from Blue Prime's iron grip, but it got my point across. The glamazon stopped, her azure eyes blazing as she looked at me.
"You could have let us touch one another," I screamed in her face as if she could understand me. "This didn't have to be so scary!"
My blood raged in my veins. Never in my life had I been as pissed at one person as I was with Blue Prime. Now that it was over, now that I knew in my gut that she couldn't scare me anymore, I couldn't hold my anger back.
Blue 3 stepped in between us, wrapping an arm around my shoulder as she turned to face Blue Prime. She said something in their language with a biting edge that transl
ated fine. In my days in the Room, I had never heard any of the glamazons speak to the head blue that way. Her words were always absolute. But this time, Blue Prime lowered her head and backed away, clearing our path to the hallway.
Something about the auction must have shifted the balance of power between the blues. Was that why Blue 3 and New Blue had taken such good care of me? No, that couldn't be right. Blue Prime's nastiness made no sense if their position in the company was tied to how well their human makeover project performed.
Blue 3 slipped her arm around mine and led me back down the hall. Dozens of questions buzzed around my brain. I would have given anything for the chance to ask just one of them. Nothing on this planet made sense and nobody could explain it to me.
I stopped halfway down the hall, turning to look at her. "I know you don't understand me, but you helped me. At least, I think you helped me. Thank you." I bowed my head and hoped that was a gesture of gratitude for them.
The smile on her lips let me know that she understood, but a change in her body language caught my attention. This wasn't her usual warm, wide smile. It was close-lipped. Chilling. Nothing like the Blue 3 who had been with me in the bathroom. I hadn't noticed in the dim light backstage. Was that why Blue Prime backed off?
I started walking again without prompting. Even if I could speak the alien's language, Blue 3 wouldn't have answered my questions. I'd already gotten her what she wanted. My questions were officially someone else’s problem. Might as well make the best of it.
The glamazon finally stopped in front of one of the wooden doors. She hesitated as if she wanted to tell me something. What could she say? Thanks for getting me a promotion? Even if she could get the message across to me somehow, why would I care? Blue 3 seemed to rethink trying to communicate. Instead, she shrugged and pushed the door open.
Everywhere in the building I had been was nicer and better maintained than the Room where the glamazons kept us. But the room on the other side of the door put everything I'd seen so far to shame. The walls and floors of the room had been stained deep burgundy. Cushions provided the only furnishings in the room, but the sheer variety made up the difference. There were dozens of them, teal and wine, embroidered and silken, arranged in clusters on the floor and against the walls.
Gold sconces bolted to the walls bathed the room in a warm light. A cool breeze from the balcony swept through the open window, billowing the pale blue curtains that separated it from the rest of the room. It wasn't a large room, about the size of my freshman dorm, but the atmosphere was better than any room I'd ever been in. Even my bedroom at home didn't come close.
My name is Ella Browne.
I stepped into the room, feeling the smooth floor beneath my bare feet. Blue 3 shut the door behind me. Maybe the fact that the closest thing I had to a friend in this place had left without saying goodbye should have made me feel something. But I couldn't take my eyes away from the window and the sliver of the world I could see beyond it.
Ella Browne.
The few windows in the Room had been too high to look through. The ship that brought me to the planet didn't have any windows at all. This was going to be my home, maybe for the rest of my life, and I hadn't even seen it yet.
The building where they kept us was the tallest in the area, but it was only a few stories high. Most of them were wide and round, like medieval towers. From the outside, the one I was in sort of looked like an office park building except a road flanked the building instead of an endless parking lot.
The cars on the road, if you can call a hovering box with no wheels a car, zipped along at speeds that would have gotten anyone on Earth's license pulled with no hope of getting it back.
Two moons hovered in the sky over the planet, each bathing the black ocean and gray shores in silver light. Lights from a larger section of the city twinkled on the other side of the bay. The buildings on that side were larger than the ones on my side of the water. A few were easily four or five times the size of the one I was in, but most were only twice the size. Mansions? All of them had a tower at the center, capped with a gleaming silver dome.
I couldn’t see any bridges connecting the neighborhood to the city across the bay. Every now and then, one of the car . . . pod . . . things would approach the end of the road beside the shore and pause for a second. A gust of wind and light shot out from undercarriages as the pods rose into the air, hovering ten feet off the ground before continuing their paths over the black water.
Flying cars. Of course, they have flying cars.
Between the huge homes and towers of the city, I could just barely see rolling sand dunes pressed against a backdrop of a thousand stars. In that moment, staring at the twinkling lights in the buildings and the sky, I forgot to be afraid. I had always loved the flat grass and thick oak trees back home, but their humble appeal fell flat in comparison.
The door slid open behind me, but I couldn't turn around. All I could do was stare at the city and wonder which of those pale towers would be my new home.
Chapter Eight
Ella
The sound of footsteps on the floor behind me barely registered under the soft crash of the waves. There were two pairs of them, one light and gentle, the other heavier, almost like stomping. A familiar feminine voice called to me from the door. I didn't turn. I didn't move. The voice called again.
I stared at the twinkling lights of the city, clutching the smooth railing of the balcony. I couldn't shake the feeling that if I turned around, it would all be over. Ella, at least the version of her I used to be, would die in that moment. That city across the black water, or one like it, would be my home. It would be my grave. Everything in between would be decided by someone else.
Who would teach me the rules to stay out of trouble? They couldn't even talk to me. They didn't care to try. My shoulders trembled. All the scary thoughts I'd been working overtime to keep out of my brain flashed before my eyes. Every single way the blues could hurt me, and a few more they might not figure out.
Two voices spoke over my shoulder. I didn't have to understand them to know they were talking about me. Literally behind my back. My parents pulled that trick for years. Every night, my crappy grades or subpar friends dominated my parents' dinner conversation. Back then, all I had were mashed potatoes and string beans to focus on. Here, I at least have the black water and silver sand.
The gentler voice must have belonged to one of the glamazons. The other was deeper, with a rasp beneath the main words. A man's voice. My stomach sank to my knees. I clung tighter to the railing.
It had already happened. I had already been sold, and now the man who bought me wanted to inspect the goods. I didn't even want to think about how thoroughly he might want to check.
The voice called me a third time, more insistant than any other. I took a deep breath. Then another as I forced my body to relax. The worst thing you could do when someone had power over you was to let them know what scared you. My father taught me that.
I turned to see Blue 3 standing beside the door. An alien man stood next to her, just like I expected, but my breath caught in my throat as I first laid eyes on him. The man was a few inches taller than Blue 3, which would have made him half a foot taller than me. He was built like a football player, with thick muscles covering every inch of his body. The blood red tunic draped over his frame and held in place with a gleaming silver emblem stood out against his dark blue skin.
"You're built like a superhero," I blurted out. As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt a warm flush in my cheeks.
A twisted grin appeared on the man's lips as his cobalt eyes met mine. The shock of it jolted me back to reality. This wasn't a hot exchange student at a party. This was the man who paid for me. I shivered and hugged myself.
"Can we just pretend I never said that?"
The man never looked away from me, but there was no sign on his face that he had understood me. Well, at least he couldn't hear me make an ass of myself.
Blue 3 l
ooked between us and frowned. She whispered something to the man. He raised his hand as if to dismiss whatever opinion she’d brought up. That trick might have come in handy back in the Room, during Blue Prime's bitchier moments, but it probably only worked for him.
The man walked forward, each step slow and deliberate. I wanted to escape, but there were only two ways out. One meant a broken leg, or worse. The other would take me right into his arms. More than any other time in my life, I needed a third option.
He stopped at the edge of the small room, inches from the balcony. He whispered something in his language then held a hand out to me. When I didn't move, his expression changed. His eyes hardened and his nostrils flared. He took a step forward and grabbed me by the wrist, yanking my body to his.
He tucked his callused fingers beneath my chin and tilted my face up to his. "Mine."
I leaned backward, pulling all of my weight against him to wrench myself free of his grasp, when it dawned on me that he had just spoken English. Heavily accented, perfectly clear English.
"Oh, my God, I can understand you! Thank goodness!" The words left my mouth in a tumbling flood. "I don't know where I am, but I don't belong here. These people kidnapped me and a bunch of other women. They've been starving us and—"
The rest of the words stuck on my tongue as the meaning of his word dawned on me. Mine.
Not "Hello."
Not "Are you all right?"
Mine.
My eyes darted to my wrist. The skin beneath his fingers was going pale from the force of his grip. "Let me go."
"Mine," he said again.
"Is that the only word you know?"
The man pulled our bodies closer again. This time, he secured his grip so that no matter how I wiggled, I couldn't get free. That didn't stop me from trying. His skin was warmer than normal, almost feverish. He stared down at me, smiling as I struggled.