“Then you’re ready to go?”
Nodding again, she moved toward him. He reached for the controls of his vambrace. Instead of her bonds snapping together, the light on them turned blue. Meeting his inscrutable gaze, she raised her eyebrows.
“You have six hours. You’ll remember?”
Her heart raced in anticipation. “Yes.”
She stepped out into the corridor, shoulders tensing at the thought of being shocked, but nothing happened. Exhaling a slow breath, she cast one last glance at Mace over her shoulder and hurried toward the lift. A couple passed her by with a baby in their arms. Someone coughed behind a closed door.
She stopped in front of the lift. Instead of waiting for Mace to call it to them, she pressed the control panel like she’d seen him do.
It worked! The door slid open as Mace stopped beside her. She schooled her pleased expression and looked up at him.
“Don’t fret,” he said, stepping onto the lift beside her. “You’ll have space.” He touched the control panel inside.
It hadn’t been what she was thinking at all, but now he said it, she worried he’d be hovering for her whole day off.
They rode the lift upward, then the door slid open on the ground floor of the atrium. She stepped off and felt the heat of Mace following against her spine. For a moment, the amount of people pressed in on her, her chest squeezing tight.Too many.It always seemed the case with Tellusians. Too much. Too many.
The crowd thinned, people leaving, sitting, carrying things in their arms. Her eyes darted around, taking it all in. She took another step forward, throwing Mace a glance over her shoulder, but he was gone. Frowning, she turned around fully. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said she would have space.
With tentative steps, Nia walked forward, between the tables. Being on the ground level was so much different than watching from above. Music played from somewhere, the rhythm hitting her deep in her abdomen, but she couldn’t tell where it came from. Every table had at least one person at it, groups of gray and brown clad workers at several.
A group of warriors sat to the one side, their voices loud. She wasn’t sure if they were happy or angry at each other from all the shoulder slapping and guffaws.
Standing on the other side of the wide space, a woman and a man spoke animatedly in Tellusian, waving their hands furiously between them. No one else seemed concerned by the display of…affection?
Skin. Everywhere. Nia pulled at the hem of her shirt. Why did some of these people bother getting dressed at all?
It was then she realized there were captives mingling among the Tellusians, bonds on their wrists. She scanned faces, looking for someone familiar, someone fromElara Five, but no one stood out. One laughed at something a Tellusian said.
How could they sit there so calmly? How could they act happy? Anger swept through her body, making her warm. The urge to storm over there and demand answers almost overwhelmed her, but she held herself back. Shame followed her anger. Wasn’t she as guilty of integrating herself over the past days? Hadn’t she had inappropriate thoughts about her warder? Nia averted her gaze, indecision freezing her to the spot.
Viewers peppered the perimeter. Advertisements and public announcements flashed. A section of screens showed some sort of brutal and bloody game, making her wince. One viewer in particular caught her eye: a CORE newsreel. Three translations scrolled along the bottom. Chancellor Feering was making a speech. Members of the ruling class stood behind with stoic expressions, including the Xus and Mullers.
Nia swallowed the tight lump in her throat. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the familiar faces until the news story changed to another.
A hard knot of nausea settled in the bottom of her belly. Pressing a hand against her stomach, Nia distracted herself by walking the outer edge of the area, where shops lined the perimeter: children’s toys, items made from what looked like natural materials—wood? really?—a salon, a tech exchange, and food vendors with sizzling confections. She strolled by a wide, curving staircase winding its way to the second level before her feet stopped in front of a weapons manufacturer.
Chest squeezing, Nia watched a warrior test the sight of a gun about the length of her arm. Seemingly pleased with its construction, he purchased the item through his vambrace cred exchange. She’d healed injuries made from those sorts of weapons, ones that would slice a limb off like a laser scalpel on steroids.
Her eyes were drawn to the neat row of knives in front of the guns.So many blades.Nia couldn’t pull her gaze away. In the infancy of her profession, surgeons used knives to cut into their patients, a crude way of healing to be sure, but these knives weren’t meant for anything so noble. These blades were meant to kill, some serrated, other double-edged.Here’s a pretty.
Quick movements out of the corner of her eye had Nia turning. An enforcer moved toward her, the woman’s hand on her gun, eyes on Nia’s face. Another came at her from the side, his expression fierce, an intricate blue tattoo climbing his throat.
Panic set in. Nia turned back to the weapon’s vendor who was also staring at her, a frown puckering his brow. She’d done something wrong.I shouldn’t have stopped here.But for some reason, her feet wouldn’t move. Her limbs began to shake.
And the enforcers kept getting closer.
Chapter nineteen
IfNiaactedanymore suspicious, she’d gain more attention than that of two enforcers.
Mace caught Glade’s eye and waved her off. He’d only left Nia to her own devices for ten minutes, and already she’d have a report written up about her. Sliding behind her, he gave the weapons vendor a nod.
His ward wasn’t a danger to the people here no matter how she looked right now. He’d bet his life on it. If she grabbed a knife to hurt those around her, he’d slit his own throat.
When he settled a hand on her shoulder, she jumped like he’d screamed in her ear.
