“Ah, that’s what the entertainment division wants approval for.” I saw their messages but hadn’t read them yet.
“Yes.”
“And your answer, Rafe?”
“No.”
“We want her to be angry enough to betray us to Gael,” I remind him.
Rafe’s blade flashes aggressively toward my throat. “She's not merchandise. She’s our employee.”
“You keep saying that, but then I find you’re logged into her private rooms at Fifth Chime watching her sleep.”
“I’m protecting her.”
“She’s human,” I say, slashing across his chest with force. “Giving her preferential treatment doesn’t suit our plan. Approve the request. Let them fantasize about her. If she’s as clever as she appears to be, she might be so angry she’ll contact Gael herself and save us the trouble of having to wait for him.”
“I don’t want our guests having sex with a holographic Eve. She. Is. Ours.” He slices deeply into my ribs, drawing blood. It hurts.
That was a real fucking hit.
“Point breach!” Kellen calls sharply. “Medics!”
I laugh bitterly through the discomfort, my warm blood spilling out down my legs and onto the floor around my feet. “The calculating twin,” I mock, “rejecting profit for a human woman he’s not even formally met yet.”
Our blades clash and lock, faces inches apart. “We must protect her.”
“Protection is secondary.”
We abandon pretense and are truly fighting now.
“She’ll see enough disrespect at the front desk,” he argues.
“Will she?” I counter, twisting his blade and sending it clattering away. “Denise experienced the same, and she was completely loyal to us.”
Rafe crashes hard onto the mat. “Fine, you milkless bastard, you win. But don’t make it an exact replica, and for goddesses’ sake, do not, I repeat, do not, put a collar on the hologram.”
After a second, I extend my hand, pulling him upright. “I’ll modify the entertainment request,” I concede. “Change her hair andalter her features.”
Rafe takes a deep breath as if we’ve both been relieved of the pent-upstress we’ve been carrying around since the last time we did this. “People will complain it’s not exactly her.”
“Let them.” I meet his gaze, letting him see his mirrored possessiveness in me. “Neither of us wants guests imagining they're fucking her, our human, our Eve.”
“Agreed. She’s ouremployee.” Rafe says, and we both know that’s the same as saying, already, we are both so enamored with her that she’s so much more than just our employee.
Back in my rooms, I settle into my meditation chamber, activating the neural interface with a thought. Within seconds, the quantum-linked bioprocessors come to life, connecting me to the Starlight Array’s network. My consciousness expands, flowing through digital pathways until I locate her quarters.
Eve Eden. Our human liaison.Our employee.
The first thing I do is check her vital signs. She's got a steady heartbeat, and her delta brainwaves indicate deep sleep, perfect for my next move.
The dream influencer nodes in her bed activate at my command. Technology originally designed for therapy has far more interesting applications in my skilled hands.
Then, I close my eyes and enter her dreamscape.
She's recreated the Grand Lobby, but in her dream, it’s distorted. The ceilings are stretched impossibly high, and shadows pool deeper and darker than any reality. She stands at reception wearing her Celestial Spire uniform, but it keeps changing, shrinking and exposing more skin with each anxious breath.
She dreams about guests walking past her desk with predatory eyes focused entirely on her.
