Sarah has no idea about any of this. She just has a big smile on her face – as radiant as the rising sun, beaming at me and bathing me in the warm glow of her positivity.
I’ll remember that smile forever.
“Morning, Sarah,” I force my smile. “Good idea! How far is the market? Can we get there by foot?”
My voice is completely normal – as if I don’t have three priceless, Old-Earth antiques burning a hole in my pocket.
As if I don’t have a fistful of credits stuffed into my dress that are sufficient to grant me a brand-new life on Oasis.
The very things that could get me locked away for decades will grant me my freedom.
“It’s quite the walk,” Sarah warns. “At least a two hours. We’ll take a shuttle out of the residential areas and walk the rest of the way. Come along, we’re not getting any younger!”
She motions with her head, and I follow her out of my bedroom and down my hallway. As we walk through the towering corridor, I look around sheepishly, not wanting to run into any of the other women in the harem. I’m not interested in learning if all of them hate me openly, like Kendra does, or if they’ll just seethe and glare at me when my back is turned.
It doesn’t matter. They’ll all hate me soon enough; and with good reason.
We get to the main entrance hall, with its winding staircases and towering ceilings. Sarah pauses in front of a small set of drawers, tucked in the corner. She pulls it open.
It’s overflowing with credits. It’s way more than Gallus had in his room. It’s a fucking fortune, just sitting there like it’s nothing.
“They just… they just leave that there?”
I took a handful from Gallus’s room – more than enough to book a flight on a transport ship. This, though? This is enough to buy a spaceship of my own!
Sarah, however, seems totally nonplussed.
“Of course!” She seems surprised at my reaction. “It’s for anyone in the harem to take, in case we go to the markets… You know, for jewelry, tailored dresses – whatever we want.” She digs out a huge fistful. “Here, take as much as you want.”
I blink, my stomach sinking. I suddenly realize I didn’t need to steal anything from Gallus’s room – I could have just grabbed as much as I wanted on my way out – far more than I stole.
What’s that saying? Crime doesn’t pay?
I take a bill… and then palm a stack when Sarah looks away. Old habits die hard, I guess.
It’s not enough to be noticeable in its absence, given the huge pile of credits here, and if another woman checks the drawer she’d have to count it to be sure…
…but it’s now more than enough to set me up for yet another year on Oasis.
I barely have a pang of guilt this time. There’s no use pretending I’m something I’m not. There was never any use in enjoying my time with these Aurelians. The dream became all the more bitter as soon as I realized it was simply an illusion. Those three gorgeous warriors thought I was someone else – something else. They’d thought they were protecting me, bringing me into their house to keep me safe...
They thought they’d saved me, but they were just letting a fox into the chicken coop.
At my core, I’ll never change. I’ll always be a criminal – a scrappy Sector 4 cat burglar, con-artist, sneak thief and self-serving little bitch.
Enjoying the Aurelian harem and all its riches was a mistake. I’m meant to be living my life in fear, always wondering when my past is going to catch up to me. To have thought that I could have had all this…
…it’s laughable.
But that’s fine.
Getting to Oasis will put plenty of space between my past and my future; enough to maybe even leave my guilt behind.
Sarah and I step out of the big, double doors and walk down the cobblestone path, beneath the warm sun. Sarah is practically skipping. The early sunshine isn’t harsh enough to burn against our skin yet. It revitalizes me. I feel alive.
I realize I’m doing what I was meant to do – what I was born to do. My adrenaline is pumping, but it’s manageable – enjoyable, even. My feet are stalking over the ground, ever so gently, instinctively silent in my thong sandals. It’s my natural way of moving – as graceful and silent as a cat. I’ve lived as if any noise could alert the law to my presence, so I instinctively move as if I’m creeping through a house at night, careful not to alert the residents to my presence.
We reach the landing pad. I’d been impressed enough with the luxurious shuttle that Cyrus had brought me here in, but now I can see that the Aurelians have many ships in their fleet. Sarah points to a small, pure white ship that practically glows in the sunlight.
“That’s the shuttle we use for the markets. It’s got an AI and defensive mechanisms, so it’ll even look out for us while we’re there. We don’t need a bodyguard!”
My eyes widen. No bodyguard means one less pair of eyes to have to disappear from when it’s time for me to leave.
Sarah is oblivious to my scheming.
“I mean, it’s not even as if we need it watching over us, with our necklaces on. Everyone knows what they mean.” She lifts the sapphire necklace we both wear, marking as us members of the Aurelian harem. “No one would dare do anything against us.”
The necklace. One, last symbol of the Aurelians – a symbol of their ownership. I remember how it had felt when it was first put around my neck, marking my entrance into what they’d imagined was a new life. I remember the possessiveness in Gallus’s eyes as he’d secured the clasp around my throat.
But, suddenly, I
