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Kriz said he wanted to build me a palace. The only thing the triad cares about is keeping me safe.

Any palace would be a beautiful prison.

I can’t be part of their life. Not truly. They are warlords. They have spent centuries in the pits of hell. I lived a few hours of their life, when the Scorp attacked, and it nearly broke me. That has been their entire life, from the moment they woke up in their cryo-chambers and were handed the tools of their trade, walking out of the artificial womb and into the gruelling academy. Even if I lived a thousand years with them, I’d never be part of them.

As their auras cool and harden, I realize just how much of them is war.

I can only be thing they come back to after they fight…

If they come back.

Is this my future?

The three of them swore they’d kill everything that threatens me. There can never be perfect safety. There can never be a world without risk for them to hide me away from.

Being with them means hundreds, thousands of years…ofthis.

I reach out and feel nothing.

Can I bear it?

Do I have a choice?

22

Rachel

Iam in a clear sphere high above the city. I watch the people below. They live their lives. I watch a businessman flirting with a baker. She gives him an extra cookie with a wink. Lives pass, but I can do nothing but watch. I yearn to fly down to the surface, but the sphere hovers, ignoring my commands, and I cry out soundlessly as time speeds.

People rush around like ants, living, dying, families born, generations passing as I watch from above.

A little bird flies up. It looks at me, quizzical, its head cocking to the side. It has a long, sharp beak.

It hits its head against the glass, tapping, hesitant at first. “Go away, little bird,” I try to say, but my mouth opens and no sounds come out. Fear grips me as it pounds its head against the clear glass bottom of the sphere, and little cracks form, tiny little spiderwebs getting bigger and bigger.

It stops, looking at me, and opens its beak. “Rachel?” it says, and I wake up in pure darkness.

I panic, then remember where I am, and will the room to light up. It does, so bright I have to cover my eyes, pulling myself to my feet.

“Rachel, are you there?” comes the voice again.

“I’m here! Give me a minute,” I yell, and grab the plain white dress from the ground, pulling it over my body. I will the door to open.

The door disappears and Raneeda and Nash start, taken aback as they peer into the strange black room. I give them a reassuring smile, even though I feel empty inside.

“Oh, thank the Gods, we were looking everywhere for you. I know we weren’t supposed to go down this hallway, but…” Raneeda trails over, looking around the room, trying to figure out what it is. Nash is silent, glancing around carefully, and I’ve got the feeling she knows—and would rather not say it.

“Don’t worry. You won’t get in trouble,” I say, standing in the middle of the room as if nothing has happened. While I was asleep, the room cleaned itself, and there’s no evidence of what happened, except the stickiness in my inner thighs. “Did you get your breakfast?”

“Yes,” says Nash. “Did you bring it while we were sleeping?”

“It was no trouble. I woke up and found three plates in the dining hall. Thank those three, not me.”

Nash smiles politely. “We’re here to help you. Please, let us do our jobs, as best as we can—it’ll help us look good to the triad.”

“Sure. Hey, how long was I out? I was sleeping.”

Raneeda is still looking around the room, her brows furrowed as she tries to figure it out. “We heard them leave like…three hours ago? We thought you went with them, but then we started to get worried. What is this place?”