Although I take personal offense to nearly everything this lunatic has said, there’s only one part that sticks in my mind.
Our human queen.
“There are no other humans here?” My voice cracks. It can’t be true.
A wave of recognition flashes over her face. “You didn’t know, did you?” She smiles, although her eyes remain as angry as they ever were.
“No.” There’s a tightness in my chest. I thought I was alone.
“There are hundreds of your kind at the palace.” She crosses her arms. “I can help you escape, and maybe the queen will help you get home.” There’s something off about her tone. If she’s being sincere, she’s bad at it. “Isn’t that what you told Far’ep you wanted? To escape?”
Hundreds? Why would Raf’ere keep me away from an entire community of humans?
“How can I believe you? I don’t even know you!” I take another few steps backward. I feel like the prey being stalked by some big-game predator, like in the nature documentaries I used to watch.
The Earthling cowers from the much larger fi’len as she stakes her claim on her intended mate.I imagine David Attenborough narrating.
She reaches into the purse slung over shoulder and jostles the contents around a bit before she pulls something out. I throw my hands up, expecting it to be a weapon of some kind.
But the woman rolls her eyes and types something on her data pad, flipping the screen to me.
A beautiful blondehumanwoman holds a hand over her pregnant belly. By her side is a tall and handsome fi’len man in the same green color I see Raf’ere wearing all the time.
Around them are fifty to sixty human women wearing simple tunics. And in front of everyone is a woman sitting in a cryopod, her red hair the only characteristic I can make out, with her face obscured by the tight embrace of another fi’len male.
“There’s so many of us here.” I raise my finger to the crowd of women—but the fi’len woman snatches her data pad from my touch.
“That’s nothing, there are hundreds of you at the palace. Something the humans call the Earth Two dormitories.”
“Hundreds?” My heart aches for all those stolen girls but desperately yearns to be with them.
“I can get you there, with your people. Would you like that?” Her grin is too wide, her smile too unnatural.
“I trust Raf’ere,” I tell her, even though my heart is breaking at his lie. “He’ll take me there.”
“He won’t…you’re his mate. What else is there to understand? He’ll keep you locked up in the estate rather than risk anyone finding out about you. You’re an embarrassment.”
“But…but…he introduced me to the staff last night,” I counter.
“The staff? Please, they’ll take his secrets to the grave, royal duty or some shit. Don’t flatter yourself. Far’ep only told me because she knows I can fix this.” The woman points a finger up and down my body, implying that I’m the problem.
She’s right. Jens’i made sure I was kept a secret—and he could easily make the rest of the house keep it, too.
Is the duke ashamed of me? Is that why he won’t kiss me, why he won’t make love to me?
“How would you get me out of the estate?” I ask, my stomach clenching in shame.
“It won’t be easy, but I have a plan. Can you swim?” she asks, her eyes lighting up with some sick glee.
“Yes,” I say, because the duke taught me. “I’m not a strong swimmer, but I can if I have to.”
The woman reaches back into her purse, pulling out a black tube connected to a mouthpiece. She holds it out, and when I raise my hand, she places it in my palm.
“That’s an e-breather. It’ll get you enough air to get to the shrine at the end of the ceremonial tunnels. I can have a cruiser waiting there to take you to the palace. You can be with your own kind.” She places a hand on my shoulder with mock affection.
I can’t help it, but tears well in my eyes. As they drop, the alien in front of me sighs.
“You don’t care for the duke, do you? It would never work…why else would he keep you locked away?”
