by Sophie Stern
"Good girl," I say, placing the glass on the nightstand, and she blushes. Interesting. Maybe she's a little submissive. Maybe she doesn't even know it. An image of Fiona tied to my bed, spread out for my pleasure, flashes in my head. Quickly, I banish the thought. She's been through a lot. She doesn't need me being all deviant on her. She doesn't need me being dirty right now.
"What happens now?" She asks. I head over to one of the cupboards and grab a large shirt for her. It's one of mine, and I'm not going to pretend the idea of her wearing only my clothes doesn't completely turn me on.
"Now you're going to put this on and we're going to go to sleep."
She takes the shirt and pulls it over her head. Then she wiggles out of the towel. Modest little thing, isn’t she? I try to hide my amusement. I’ve already seen her naked for much of the day. Hiding from me now isn’t going to make me forget how beautiful she is. No, Fiona’s body is burned into my memory and I don’t plan on forgetting the way she looks anytime soon.
Then she stands and starts to go to the door.
"Nope," I say. "None of that, now. You're staying here."
"But," she looks warily at my bed. "There's only one bed."
"That's right."
"I thought I had my own room."
"You ran away from your room," I point out.
"But," she protests again, and I press a finger to her lips.
"Bed. Now."
She instantly climbs beneath the blankets and scoots to the far side of the bed. She's between me and the wall now. She's not going anywhere.
I strip down completely and put my clothes in one of the cupboards. She’s going to see me naked sooner or later. It might as well be now, and I take my time putting my clothing away.
No, I’m not shy.
I don't miss how hungry her eyes look as she stares openly at my cock. Maybe she's never seen one this big or maybe she's just caught off guard by the fact that all of me is blue, but I love it. I love the way she's looking at me. I love the way Fiona watches me like she’s starving.
And then I realize maybe she is.
“Fiona,” I say suddenly. “When was the last time you ate?”
“Um,” she says, shaking her head. Then a blank look crosses her face. “At dinner? Before I was taken? So maybe…” She starts counting on her fingers, but that’s enough for me.
“You need to eat. Fuck. I’m so stupid. I should have fed you as soon as we got here.”
“It’s okay,” she says, but suddenly, I realize she looks pale and weak. She’s had moments of lucidity since we got to the ship, but those are interspersed with times when she seems dizzy or faint.
I don’t bother going to the kitchen. I’m worried she’ll just try to run away again if I leave her. Instead, I head to my bag and pull out a sustenance bar.
“What is it?” She asks when I hand it to her.
“Food. Eat it.”
She unwraps the packaging. Then she carefully sniffs the bar. Seemingly deciding it’s not dangerous to eat, she devours the entire thing. Somehow, she manages not to get any crumbs in the bed.
“Want another one?” I ask, amused.
“Schnarfmug,” she says through a mouthful of food.
“What was that?”
“Yes, please.”
She eats three more, has another glass of water, and then snuggles beneath the blankets.
“Thank you,” Fiona whispers. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”
“You’ll need to eat a lot for a few days,” I tell her. “To get your strength back.”
She nods, and rolls onto her side, looking at me. I finish putting the wrappers from her food in the trash and close all of the cupboards. Then I climb into bed. I get beneath the blankets and our legs touch, but I don’t move mine away from hers.
I like the way her skin feels against mine.
"Quinn?" She says quietly.
"Yes, Fiona?"
"You're naked."
"You're very observant."
"Shouldn't you...you know..."
"No, I don't know," I keep a straight face, but I'm trying so hard not to laugh at her blushing and babbling.
"Shouldn't you wear something to bed? You know, because it might get cold tonight."
"I think I'll be all right. After all, I have you to keep me warm."
"Oh," she whispers, but then she rolls away and faces the wall.
"Lights out," I say, and the lights in the room turn off. It's pitch black in the room now and despite the darkness, I can see her perfectly well. It's one of the benefits of being from Sapphira. Our eyesight is excellent. I can see her glancing over her shoulder, trying to figure out if I'm watching her. I can see her staring at the ceiling, then the wall. I can see her opening and closing and opening her eyes. I can see everything she's doing and it just makes me want her more.
Sleeping with Fiona is a dangerous choice because I'm going to have to make it through the entire night being close to her. I'm going to have to make it through the entire night next to her, smelling her, and maybe even touching her.
I have a feeling that if I'm not careful, this little human is going to be the death of me.
I have a feeling that if I'm not careful, I might just fall in love with her sweetness, with her cuteness, and with her little human habits.
I have a feeling that if I'm not careful, I'm going to want to keep Fiona.
And that's a dangerous thought.
Chapter 10
Fiona
It’s a very long night.
I think that after everything I’ve been through, I’ll fall asleep quickly. Quinn slides an arm over me and mumbles, “So you can’t escape.” Then he passes out almost immediately. I can tell by the way his breathing slows and he starts snoring gently. Aliens snore. Who would have thought?
It’s been a long time since I fell asleep with a man. It’s been a long time since I fell asleep with anyone, and to be honest, the feeling scares me a little bit. It shouldn’t. I should feel safe and satisfied and I do. Maybe that’s the part that scares me. Maybe I’m not used to feeling like everything is going to be okay.
Maybe I’m not used to feeling like I’m safe.
I don’t toss or turn at all. Instead, I lay silently in the darkness and listen to Quinn breathe. Instead of sleeping, I think about my family, about my life on Mirroean.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
I’m supposed to be getting married.
Granted, in the eyes of the law, being engaged is as legally binding as being married. That’s how Mirroean works. Once you’re engaged, you sign all these papers that basically mean you belong to your other person, your partner. “’Til death do us part,” might have been an old Earth tradition, but it stuck with the humans when they moved to Mirroean.
Some things you just can’t move past.
That’s one of them.
I wonder what happened to Darin and where my family is. I wonder if they’re dead or missing me. I wonder if they’re searching Dreagle for me. Did the Mirroean police come to find me? Is there a search party? Surely someone is looking for me. Surely, when our flight didn’t come back, someone decided to try to find me.
Surely.
Eventually, despite my mind going a thousand miles an hour, I fall into a restless sleep filled with nightmares and monsters.
Then I wake up.
“Good afternoon,” Quinn says. He’s not beside me, I realize. He’s across the room.
“Hi,” I mumble, sitting up groggily. I glance around the little space. Quinn is sitting at a desk doing something. Writing, maybe. Paperwork. I’m not entirely sure. “What time is it?”
“Time is irrelevant,” he says vaguely. Quinn gets up and carries over a cup of something. “Drink this,” he tells me.
At this point, I think I’ve gotten used to him being a little bossy, so I drink the hot beverage without arguing. It tastes almost like coffee, but it’s sweeter. Maybe it’s some sort of tea.
; “What is it?” I ask when I’m unable to place the flavor.
“Petal tea,” he says.
“Like petal juice?” It’s one of the most alcoholic beverages available in the universe and oh, so delicious.
“It’s slightly less alcoholic than petal juice,” he says.
“Are you trying to get me drunk?” I ask.
“On the contrary, little one. I want to help you wake up and feel a bit more alert. Petal tea is much better for that than petal juice.”
“Well, thank you,” I say, sipping it slowly. He hasn’t murdered me yet, hasn’t hurt me. He hasn’t locked me in a dungeon and tortured me, so I feel like I’ve got something going for me. I’ll still try to escape today, of course, but I’m glad I made it through the night.
Maybe Quinn isn’t as evil as I think he is. Then again, that’s just something I keep telling myself. Everything about him, at least so far, has been gentle. Even when he’s been harsh with me, he’s been gentle beneath that rough exterior. He’s a mystery to me, and one I want to solve.
“What are you doing?” I ask, nodding toward the papers. A tired expression crosses his face, but vanishes quickly.
“Nothing of importance.”
He puts the papers away and stands. Then he crosses his arms over his chest. He’s big, and his presence seems to take over the entire room. I finish my petal tea quickly and hand him the cup. I’m in over my head here and we both know it.
“It’s time for you to tell me who you are,” he says, setting the cup on the desk.
“What do you mean? I already told you,” I whisper. I told him more about my life than I should have, and it makes me nervous. Staring at him makes me nervous. Looking at his ripped alien body makes me nervous.
I hate how handsome he is. I hate that he bought me, but he’s so gorgeous. Attractive. Dark. He’s good-looking in all the wrong ways, and I despise it.
It’s a bad thing when you want to jump into bed with your captor. It’s a dangerous thing. Still, I can’t quite control the way I’m drawn to Quinn. My eyes roam over his hair, which looks so soft. I want to touch it, play with it. I want to run my hands through it.
“You know what I mean,” Quinn says. If he notices the way I’m eating him up with my eyes, he doesn’t say anything about it. “Who are you, really? How did you get here? You told me you’re from Mirroean, but why did you come to Dreagle, little one?”
“Vacation,” I say. I blurt the word before I can stop myself. Why did I tell him that? When you’re kidnapped, you’re supposed to lie. You’re supposed to hide information about yourself. You’re supposed to make it as hard as possible for anyone to discover who you are.
Somehow, though, I can’t lie to him.
I just can’t.
“Vacation?” He looks confused. “Why are you on Dreagle? Not for vacation, little one. Ships from Mirroean don’t stop here. Ever.” He cocks his head to the side and suddenly, I feel defensive.
“There was an engine problem,” I whisper. “Or something was wrong. Maybe we were lost. A wrong turn. It was something like that.”
“Who told you that?” He asks, but his words aren’t harsh. “Who were you with?”
“My family,” I tell him. “My mom and dad. My…” I choke on the word. “Fiance.”
“You were on a trip before your wedding,” he says slowly, rubbing his chin. He doesn’t seem to care I was engaged. “And your ship stopped on Dreagle, but you don’t really know why.”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“What happened when you landed? What reason were you given for landing?”
I try to remember what happened. I try to remember the words that were spoken. I wasn’t supposed to know we were landing. No one was. It just feels like it was so long ago, so far away.
It just seems like everything happened years ago instead of days ago.
I woke up in the middle of the night when the ship landed. I peeked at the map on my in-room monitor. The map showed what planet we were on or close to. It showed exactly where the ship was.
When I saw we were on Dreagle, I was shocked. Surprised. Scared. I knew something was wrong because if nothing was wrong, we wouldn’t have landed on Dreagle. Dreagle is where you go when you’re up to no good. Dreagle is a planet full of criminals and misfits and deviancy.
Dreagle is a place that’s not safe to go.
For anyone.
“I wasn’t given a reason,” I tell Quinn as my memories come slowly back to me. “I woke up in the middle of the night when we landed.”
“You’re a light sleeper,” he murmurs.
“I usually take a sleeping pill,” I say. “But I forgot that night. I didn’t take it because I went to bed later than usual. I was up reading and I just fell asleep on my own.”
“What happened when you woke up?” Quinn urges, and I feel like he’s really listening intently. He’s not judging. He doesn’t look malicious.
He doesn’t look like he’s going to gobble me up.
“I left my room. My mother was awake and she was talking to my dad and Darin.”
“What were they talking about?” He asks.
“I don’t know. A plan for something. I guess I thought they were going to surprise me with something on Orchid. That’s where we were going: Orchid. They stopped talking when they saw me. They looked surprised to see me.”
“And then?”
“Darin looked…” Suddenly, my heart sinks when I realize he looked upset. He looked anxious, almost angry. Darin was upset to see me. Why? And why hadn’t I noticed it before?
After I was taken, I barely slept or ate. I was delusional and dehydrated. I didn’t think about the details of my abduction at all, but now that I am thinking about it, everything seems so strange.
Why did he look so angry?
“He looked mad,” I tell Quinn. “Darin was upset I was awake. He asked me what I was doing out of bed. He said I needed to get back to sleep. He looked at his watch. Then he looked at my dad, who shrugged.”
“He shrugged?” Quinn makes a shrugging motion. “Like this? Why would he do that?” I only shake my head. I don’t know. I don’t know why he would have done that, why he would have looked so confused at the fact that I was awake. “What happened next?”
“And then I nodded, and said they were right, and I turned to go back to my room. It was late, and I didn’t need to be up so long past my bedtime.”
“You have a bedtime?”
“All females on Mirroean do,” I tell him, and Quinn rolls his eyes.
“Primitive,” he mutters.
“It’s for our own safety,” I parrot, but now I wonder if that’s true.
“What happened next, Fi?” He asks, using the nickname my childhood friends used. Fi. I haven’t been called that in years. The word brings back memories of running and laughing and playing. The word brings back memories of having fun with my mates, having fun just exploring the planet and being away from the watchful eyes of the adults.
“I went to go back to my room,” I say slowly. “I walked into the hallway and turned back to my room, but then I heard a noise. Someone was boarding the ship.”
“Who was it?”
“Two men in masks,” I say. “They headed straight for my room. I hurried inside and closed the door, but they seemed to know right where I was going. They came in after me and took me.”
“Did they break the door down?” He asks. “How did they get inside?”
“No, they…”
I can’t speak the words as I realize what secrets my memory holds. I can’t speak the words as I remember what really happened on that ship. I can’t speak the words as I realize my family isn’t dead at all, that none of them were ever in danger.
“They used the password to open the door,” I say quietly. “And then they took me.”
Chapter 11
Fiona
My family had me kidnapped.
They had me taken.
They’re the reason I was sol
d.
It was my family.
“There’s no other explanation,” I say, glad that Quinn isn’t freaking out because I’m about to. “There’s no other way to explain it. There’s just nothing.”
He’s silent, steadfast. He stands there as I make all the mental connections.
“I always take a pill, Quinn. Always. And that night, everyone seemed really distracted and weird, so I went to bed early. Everyone was a little snippy and short. I went to bed and read and passed out without taking my pill. That never happens. They were counting on it.”
They knew it was going to happen.
The situation was too perfect.
The plan went off without a hitch except one: I was never supposed to realize they were still alive. My captors laughed when I was thrown in the cell at the auction house. Someone said I was lucky to be alive because no one else was, but I didn’t really believe it. I kind of clung to a little bit of hope.
Wasn’t that stupid?
“I am such an idiot,” I manage to say.
“No,” Quinn says quickly, and he sits next to me on the bed. He wraps his arms around me and I start to cry because for the first time, I can. For the first time, I know he’s not going to hurt me for crying and I need to just let it all out.
My family.
My parents.
My Darin.
They all completely betrayed me. They wanted me to be stolen away, and what? Murdered? Tortured? Sold into sexual slavery? What was it they wanted from me?
Did they just want to be rid of me so bad?
Is that what this was all about?
I really thought Darin liked me. Loved? Not so much. Love isn’t a big thing on Mirroean. I’ve read the fairy tales and the romance novels and heard all of the stories about love being this huge, giant thing that can conquer any problem, but that’s not what we believe on Mirroean.
On Mirroean, marriage is a business transaction.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
Darin tolerates me because our families need to merge together. Our engagement was arranged by our parents and we were both satisfied with it. We’re both young and energetic and have similar interests.