Page 9

Can you blame us?

The woman is bruised and frightened. My wrist still aches. However, the infirmary would have just patched up our injuries and demanded credits for doing so.

The security station wouldn’t have even gone that far. The small security detachment on Elnor isn’t here for our benefit. None of them give a shit about the “bottom-feeders” in the dormitory units – which is what they call us, the lowest class of passengers on a transport vessel like this. They pander to the richest and most influential passengers. In truth, they’re mostly here to protect high class passengers from bottom feeders.

To them, the rest of us are merely cattle.

So, the bar it is. The view is better than the infirmary or security station, anyway.

I rub my aching wrist. There’s nothing broken, but it still hurts like a bitch.

The young woman shifts in her seat.

“Hi.” Her eyes are hesitant to meet mine. “I’m Tessa,” she introduces herself – and then shudders. “Gods, if you hadn’t come at thatexactmoment…”

Tessa turns away – imagining what that brute would have done to her.

I don’t need to imagine it. I’ve seen the aftermath myself, amid the fifty slaves Ling and I freed from scum even worse than the man who’d attacked Tessa.

Her lips flash a momentary smile at me.

“Thank you for saving me.”

I wince.

Adrenaline is still coursing through my veins, and it makes me even more painfully aware ofnothingI’d done to deserve Tessa’s gratitude.

I take a deep breath, trying desperately to calm my racing heart. Nevertheless, a drop of cold sweat runs from my forehead and down my cheek.

I wipe it away, shivering.

Tessa’s eyes are like an unspoken accusation. She might not be making it, but they reflect my own self-disgust.

I didn’t save her from that rapist – at least, not deliberately. I didn’t do it out of competence. I saved her through instinct, terror, and blind luck.

In the crucial moment – when I could have made a difference – I’d frozen.

That’s why I don’t trust myself anymore. If that rapist hadn’t landed on the blade of my knife…

I shift uncomfortably in my seat, wondering what other hidden places exist on this ship. What other filthy beasts inhabit the shadows and cavities of this ancient transport vessel?

Tessa is still staring at me.

Reluctantly, I acknowledge her words.

“I’m Jamie,” I stammer. “Whathappenedto you?”

Tessa looks down. She’s wearing a thin grey sweater, stretched out from where the attacker pulled at it. She’s still decent, but the stretched-out fabric just highlights how slight and vulnerable she looks.

An easy target – that’s what that scumbag must have thought.

“I was just walking,” Tessa barely makes eye-contact with me. You know those damn sleeping compartments – I had a bitch of a cramp, so left to walk it off.”

Her eyes harden.

“I guess that bastard must have seen me limping and figured I’d be an easy target…”

Her voice trails off. Tessa shudders, and reluctantly meets my eyes again.