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I sit back to listen to my captain, hoping she sees an angle I don’t.

“We’ve got to be smart, unless we actually want to try and steal those Orbsbackfrom Captain Aelon—which would be a suicide mission—we’re going to have to be satisfied with escaping this with our lives and our freedom. Chris and the mining crew already made the idiotic decision to attempt an escape. They even dragged poor Theme into it.”

My heart pounds. Guilt gnaws at me. I knew Chris could have a second knife. If the mining crew killed any Aurelians in an escape attempt, we’re done for. I couldn’t save Theme. I tried to pull him away, but I couldn’t keep him safe. “That boy’s got great skill, but he’s in over his head.”

“We all are, butespeciallyhim.”

Should I have told Kit that Chris might have another weapon? Or would he have found it and executed him on the spot? Fuck—what if they’re already dead?

“Damn. Aelon can’t have liked an escape attempt. How is he going to punish them? I know he hasn’t killed them—not yet. You’d have told me already, right? Youwouldhave told me, right, Tasha?” My voice trembles. If they died because of me, I’ll take that guilt to the grave.

Tasha raises her hand. Relief floods me. “No, don’t worry. They’re fine—he didn’t hurt them,” she gulps, “and hewon’t.”

That doesn’t make sense.

If there’s one thing I know about Aurelians, it’s that they mete out their own form of justice. There’s something Tasha isn’t telling me. If we’re going to get out of here alive, we need to be open and honest with each other.

Then why haven’t you brought up Garrick?

“Wait a second, Tasha. Iknowthat look. You’re hiding something from me.” Her cheeks pinken in the darkness. “You are, aren’t you? What are you hiding?” It doesn’t make sense. I’m missing part of the puzzle. “He wouldn’t have let them off with just a warning, that’s for damned sure.”

She can’t meet my gaze.

“I…I accepted their punishment for them.” Her eyes close. “Well, Itriedto, anyway. I thought I could put Aelon in a no-win situation by offering to take their lashes for them…”

No one person could withstand the penalty for a crew’s mutiny. Tasha’s brave. Braver than I am. I’m always trying to be the voice of reason as she leads us into riskier and riskier ventures…with bigger and bigger rewards.

Now she’s risking her life.

“Lashes? You’d take the punishment forallof them? That would kill you, Tasha!”

She nods silently. “I thought I was being smart. I knew he wouldn’t let that happen, but he had to honor a captain’s demand to accept punishment in place of their crew…”

“So? What happened?” I need to pry it out of her, whatever it is.

She sighs and that embarrassed look returns to her face. Thank the Gods. Embarrassment means her life isn’t at risk. I was expecting raw fear and terror because I assumed the Aurelian captain would deal with an escape attempt with brutal finality. He’s leading a huge crew of testosterone-fueled, hyper-masculine warriors, and any weakness on his end is an invitation for a challenger.

“Once I’d volunteered to accept their punishment, he commuted it.”

“Commuted it? Towhat?”

“He’s not going to hurt me.” She sighs again. “He’s going to humiliate me, instead. The twisted bastard commuted the crew’s lashes to a spanking, instead—in front of everyone.”

My jaw drops.

Poor Tasha. She’s worked so hard to be the leader of our rag-tag bunch. She would prefer to take lashes than to deal with the shame of being spanked like an unruly brat in front of the men she’s led into battle.

I know why she’s doing it.

The roughnecks could handle lashes. Theme? He’d break like a twig.

“Don’t give me that look, Tasha—you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. You protected your crew, that’s all that matters. If they think any less of you for taking a spanking, sothey’dbe spared lashes? Well, you need a new crew.”

She laughs bitterly, and I reach forward to squeeze her hand. “Be brave, Tasha. You’ll get through it with nothing more than your pride hurt.” I can’t stop a little smile from coming to my lips now that I know she’s safe. “Gods, Aelon mustreallylike you.”

She raises her eyebrow. “Like me? No, he wants to humiliate me.”

I can only laugh. She doesn’t know the first thing about Aurelian psychology. The creatures are twisted, showing their affection like schoolyard bullies. “Well…from what I heard about the Aurelian harem my friend joined, a spankingdefinitelymeans he’s into you. They love that shit, those misogynist bastards. The power and domination turns them on as much as sex does.”