I crawled toward him, the tile on the floor spattered with the blood I spit out my mouth.
Frank’s boot—all I could see of him out of the corner of my eye—reared back, aimed at Josiah.
With a burst of energy I didn’t know I had, I leaped forward and curled myself around my baby, protecting him with my own body, taking Frank’s boot in the small of my back rather than allowing him to hurt my child.
I awoke with a start, the feel of Frank’s boot throbbing in my kidneys and tears streaming down my face.
I could not allow him to figure out where Josiah was.
Of course, I hadn’t gotten back to Earth. I was still on Station 21, back in my overly lacy bride’s room. The shuttle had left without me while Vos had chattered about fitting us into the Bride Games.
In the end, I had stood by silently as Commander Gendovi drew the Games Administrator aside and spoke to him quietly and urgently. I didn’t know what about. All I knew was that I was standing to the side while two alien men kept me trapped and plotted out my future.
But it wasn’t the first time I had been trapped. I had gotten away then, and I would get away now. I simply needed to make sure Josiah was okay—and then I would do everything I could to find a way back to Earth.
I was sure that’s what had prompted the dream. It was my subconscious reminding me that I knew how to bide my time.
I knew how to run away.
Oddly enough, the situation I was in right now—onboard Station 21 with no clear way home—didn’t feel any more stifling than I had felt married to a wife-beating cop, living in New Jersey.
This is just another situation to run from, I told myself.
I simply had to plan.
And to do that, I would need more information. I moved to the com in my dressing-table mirror and messaged Thorvid.
“Could you please tell me how to watch the last several days’ Bride Games on this thing?”
That afternoon, Eldron commed to ask me to attend a duel with him.
My mouth fell open at the request and I stared at him for a long, silent moment. “A…what?” I finally managed to get out.
“A duel,” he repeated. “Is that not what Earthers call it? Two grooms who matched with the same bride are going to engage in combat.”
I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. “Um. Duel. As in, to the death?”
Now Eldron was the one who gaped like a fish. “To the death?” he repeated. “I should hope not.”
“But they are going to fight?”
“Yes. Vos is arranging for spectators, and I would like to attend to give my support to one of the two men. Will you accompany me?”
Sitting alone in my room wasn’t getting me very far in my escape plans. Besides, watching the latest Bride Games vids had brought up a rather pressing question—one I suspected I needed to ask Eldron in person.
“Would you come by my quarters first?” I asked him.
I wouldn’t have expected someone with cherry-red skin to be able to blush, but I swear Eldron turned even redder with pleasure. “It would be my honor.”
By the time he arrived, I had been pacing the length of my room for half an hour. I inhaled, hoping to calm my nerves before I opened the door.
It didn’t work. My hands trembled as I waved Eldron inside. “Please come in.”
His enormous shoulders took up more of my room than I had anticipated. Even leaning back against the door didn’t give me enough space. I tried to figure out how long it would take for me to rip open the door and get out, as opposed to how much time it would take him to cross the room and pull me away from the only exit.
I found myself counting the steps from where he stood to where I stood.
“What did you wish to discuss?” His concerned voice snapped me out of my reverie—but not out of my terror.
It was stupid to invite him in.
“Mia? Are you okay?”
I swallowed, trying to work up the nerve to speak.
“We can discuss anything, my vanata.”
Just spit it out, Mia.
“They’re not going to make us do one of those spanking ceremonies, are they?” My voice shook as I forced myself to ask the question. “Like Natalie and Cav had to do?”
Eldron frowned as he examined my expression. “A spanking ceremony? That is a very old Khanavai tradition—and it is not one that I find necessary in our modern society.” He paused, his gaze traveling over my face as if he were trying to read what he saw there. “Especially since our two cultures are becoming more blended every year.”
All the air rushed out of my lungs at once. My head seemed to grow lighter, and my vision went entirely white.
When I could see again, Eldron was helping me sit down in the dressing-table chair, his touch tender.
“Why did that worry you so very much?” His voice was as gentle as his hands.
“I need you to promise me you’ll never hit me. Not even as a joke or in play. Promise?”
He dropped to one knee before me, as if he were proposing marriage, his voice going even deeper than usual. “I swear I will never raise my hand against you.”
“Even if the Bride Games demand it?”
He lifted one fist and tapped his heart twice, once with the end and once with his closed fingers toward his heart, a kind of salute I had seen Khanavai warriors all over the station give one another. “No one could ever make me hurt you. On my honor as a Khanavai, I give you this vow.”
Those words were oddly formal.
I wasn’t entirely certain what he meant, but I didn’t have to be—it was obvious this was the most serious promise he could give me. I leaned forward and clasped
