I had to fight.
It wasn’t in me to give up.
Even when the odds were stacked against me?
And things could only get worse if I did?
“All right,” a haughty overweight Shadow said, waving Narissa aside. “That’s enough of that. We don’t want her looking like a clown.”
She appraised me and nodded.
“This way,” she barked, motioning with her finger.
She led me out of the room.
Out the corner of my eyes, I spied two other victims being prepped for the ceremony.
And another one entering now.
On the surface, they appeared as calm as I did.
Were their hearts hammering inside their chests like mine too?
As the Haughty Shadow marched down the hallway, I imagined planting a bludgeon across her back or swinging it across the base of her neck.
I would knock her out so I could make my escape.
But my hands still wouldn’t respond to my commands.
My legs still wouldn’t turn in the opposite direction.
Both male and female Shadows watched me as I wound down the hallways.
They leered, eyes scanning, making me sick to my stomach.
But it was nothing compared to what was about to happen to me.
I was more terrified than I had been my entire life.
And I looked as calm as a Hindu cow.
Vai
I slowed my ascent up the stairs, my chest heaving with the exertion.
Sweat peeled down my face in lengthy plows.
But I couldn’t stop.
Not when I knew Emma was out there.
Somewhere.
For all I knew, she could already be in the arena and—
There!
I felt her.
A blip on the bond, like a tiny mouse tugging on a length of rope.
I followed it through the hallways like the voice of God in the direction of—
No…
The arena.
She was being taken there.
It was her turn to “perform.”
A squawking crowd of onlookers milled in the cramped corridor.
My heart leaped into my throat and I ran into the fray.
I raised my elbows and knocked the others aside, shoving them out of my way, and took advantage of every narrow gap that opened up.
I turned down two more corners, then a third, and felt that pulse glow brighter, stronger…
Whatever the Surgeon did to the bond that bound us, it was not permanent.
It really hadn’t been Severed.
It’d been dulled somehow at the beginning.
Just a way to make us think the bond had been removed.
The thought brought tears to my eyes.
There was still hope for us.
There was still a chance.
I was drawing closer to her, traveling much faster than she was.
But the hallways were growing denser with bodies.
Not to mention excited anticipation.
I slowed to a crawl, unable to run any longer.
Then I saw her.
A shock of blonde hair done up in a gorgeous style.
But was it her?
Or was it someone else—
She turned a corner, following a hefty female Shadow.
I caught the profile of the blonde’s face.
It brought me to a stop, my heart along with it.
It was her.
There was no denying it now.
It was Emma and she was being led to the arena.
“Emma!” I wanted to shout but knew it would sign the death warrant for us both.
Even if I managed to get my hands on her right now, what did I expect I could do?
I couldn’t rescue her, not with so many Shadows here.
They would overwhelm me and I would be used to torture Emma, used as a warm-up act before they carried out their terrible deed on her.
Or even worse, they might make me watch.
I ground my teeth and forced myself to let her go.
For now.
The crowd jostled me as they continued rushing like an open river down the halls.
I needed a plan.
I needed a way to sweep her out of there.
But how?
How?
Think about the ceremony back home, I thought.
“The groom,” Computer said, whispering in my ear.
“What groom?” I spat.
“The ceremony back on M’yaw. The groom always enters from a different entrance.”
I had no idea what he was talking about.
“If you’ve got something you want to say, then say it!” I snapped at him.
I caught the look of a curious Shadow that eyeballed me.
I took the opposite turning to the crowd to get a little space.
“What are you talking about? I need a way to rescue Emma! I don’t need to be thinking about the wedding ceremony back home!”
“But perhaps you should. This world is a reflection of yours. This building, this ceremony, and all its practices…”
I felt a shimmer of something in the ether, the corner of a shard, light blinking off its edge.
An idea.
It wasn’t fully formed yet but it was sprouting.
“The ceremony…” I spoke.
The realization was like a lightning bolt, every bit as powerful as the fake Severing machine back at the Surgery.
It struck me hard and I blinked against the effects.
“The ceremony… Of course! Thanks, Computer!”
“Our real problem is the ship. I’m not sure I can keep the engineers from investigating it further. They may detect something’s wrong before we can return to it.”
I turned and ran down the adjacent hall.
“Don’t worry about the ship now,” I said. “Do what you can, and if you have to hack into their systems to hijack one of their ships, so be it.”
“Your father isn’t going to be happy…”
“He might not be happy for a few days but I would be unhappier for the rest of my life if I lost Emma.”
I took the hallways, following Computer’s directions to a T.
I remembered the general direction, having played down these same hallways back on my homeworld when I was a child.
My cousin had successfully returned with her fated mate and they got married in the Citadel, along with thousands of others that day.
It was a mesmerizing and beautiful event, one I had always dreamed of experiencing myself.
“Down here,” Computer said.
This hallway was far less busy than the others.
I supposed it would be until a male fated mate was forced into servitude in the arena.
But I had a problem.
I peered at one door and spun to another.
Then eyed the halls that seemed to stretch into infinity.
“Which one?” I said. “Which one
