“I didn’t know it was some ancient artifact—I was scared!” I sit up to yell better. “Why would you let me wear some priceless heirloom?”
He doesn’t answer me but storms out of the room and leaves his anger in his wake.
Angry? He’s not allowed to be angry at me! I didn't know. Christ, I was barely functioning when I fell out of my cryopod.
I stand, ready to give him a piece of my mind. To yell at him to let me go if I’m such an annoyance.
But when I step into his bedroom, I barely catch the door closing behind him to the hallway.
The towering wall of water to my right has me frozen. I don’t know how long he’ll be gone. I turn my back to the ocean and shuffle over to the door that leads out of this room.
My hand touches the handle, and hope swells in my chest as I jiggle it.
The latch doesn’t click, and I feel stupid for thinking my kidnapper wouldn’t have locked the door behind him.
My back stiffens as the handle moves and I hear the locking mechanism engage.
I take a few steps backwards, my heel hitting the edge of the rug, and fall flat on my ass.
The door opens, and it’s not the duke who stands in the doorway at all. It’s a woman. She’s wearing the same white dress I am—although the dress fits her alien proportions like a glove.
Her hair is long, a white braid swinging against her back, and her elegant, elongated fingers hold a keycard of some sort.
She has the key.
The alien woman's eyes widen in surprise, and her gaze locks onto me, as if trying to decipher my presence.—her mouth opening and closing a few times before any words escape it.
“Are you a placement from the palace?” she asks, still incredibly confused.
“What palace? This one? Is this a palace?” I scramble to my feet. I want to get more information out of this woman. Maybe she’ll even help me escape.
“Um, well yes…but it’s normally referred to as the Liin’gan Reef estate. I’m sorry, are you new to the staff? I don’t think I was notified of a new employee, and certainly not a human one…” She trails off, looking at my white dress, which I now assume is some kind of uniform.
“I don’t work here.”
“Then what are you doing in the duke’s chambers? Why are you wearing the uniform?” Her tone is suspicious.
I take a deep breath and drop what I assume is going to be a bomb. “I’m from Earth,” I tell her, maybe a little dramatically.
“Yeah, I didn’t know there were other options for humans. I don’t care where you came from—if you don’t tell me exactly what you’re doing here, I’ll call security.” The alien woman gives me an incredulous look, puts her hand on her hip, and pulls a small tablet device from her pocket.
“No! You don’t have to do that. In fact, maybe you can help me get out of here?” I know I’m coming off a little manic, but she’s my first shot at escape since my failed Molotov cocktail.
“Help you…escape?” she asks slowly, her eyes wide and her brows raised. “Escape from what?”
I can already tell this is going to go badly.
“From the duke. He’s holding me captive.”
CHAPTER16
?YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT?
?RAF’ERE
The Andjin malein front of me won’t stop shifting the color of his skin, and it’s putting me on edge. His natural hide, yellow with blue rings, flashes and then suddenly he’s the dark black of the tr’ael stone wall and then to the cool teal of the ocean biofilm window.
I know it’s something he can’t control, but I’m annoyed all the same. I hope my scars make them as uncomfortable as I am right now.
