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"Then I'll make sure I don't."

He laughed at that. She couldn't blame him, but she wasn't willing to back down.

"Ophilia, Ophila, come on, now. I don't have time for this."

"You owe me," she blurted.

That got him real quiet. He gave her an icy look. An expression that would usually make even a hardened soldier really nervous. A look that threatened a night in the glasshouse. "Yeah, and how's that?" he said, real low.

"Last year, when I saved Drake from getting mauled by Cleo, our Siberian tiger. I saved his life. You said so yourself. You said you'd be in my debt..."

His mouth quirked into a smile, then he laughed once more. "It really does come full circle, doesn't it, Ophilia?"

Ophilia stood rigid. "If I can win, the money I owe will go straight to your house. It will pay off my debt to you and much more."

He put up his hand to stop her. He studied her for a long moment, his black eyes scrutinizing her, likely considering whether her proposal was worth it to him or if he should punish her for even having the gall to argue with him. Then he sighed. "All right, Ophilia, all right. I'll give it a chance, only because you're so stubborn. But if you or anyone else gets hurt again by this vrisha, even so much as a scratch, he's gone, got that? I'll let the scientists pick at him, got it?"

She nodded her head. "I do, sir."

He murmured something she didn't hear, then turned to his soldiers. "All right, put him back." He kicked sand at the vrisha. "And I mean what I say, you hear that, vrisha?"

The soldiers moved in unison, grabbing the vrisha by his chains and dragging him back into his cell. For a brief moment, the vrisha's eyes met hers. She couldn't gauge his expression. She watched him being locked back up, hoping she hadn't just made the craziest decision of her life.

CHAPTERSEVEN

Xeda

That night, though he could hardly move, he was restless. The waking dreams plagued him again, but he hardly let them stay at the forefront of his mind for long. Other matters drew his attention away instead.

He had expected to be killed after what he had done. The rage and hopelessness he had carried ever since his capture had grown to such levels he hardly cared about the consequences of his actions. Death did not scare him. He had been ready for death since the trials on Tryth. Since swearing himself to a now-dead queen. No, he wasn't afraid of that.

He didn't think he could feel raw fear ever again. Until yesterday.

Death, he could manage. The pain, he could endure. But the possibility of being experimented on had never crossed his mind. It was already hard enough to be contained, to be controlled. But to be violated in such a way was an offense he could not even begin to accept. To comprehend.

It was the worst torture a vrisha could be subjected to.

And so for the first time in many cycles, he did feel fear. He had grown so still with it he hardly breathed. When that black-eyed man had threatened to send him to a lab, he swore he'd take his own life before they got the chance to touch him.

Still, the fear of not having that chance, of being cruelly split open and taken apart, was worse than any nightmare he'd yet had. It would be like being on the ship all over again. Only far worse. As he’d knelt in the sand before everyone, he wanted to scream for someone to save him. To see one of his kindred's ships coming down to take him away. In his head, he'd prayed to Rikasha and Veradis to spare him this fate. That no matter his faults, he didn't deserve this. Not this.

Somehow, they must have heard him. For in his most desperate moment, he heard that familiar feminine voice and watched as that stormy-eyed woman stood beside him and allowed him that one last chance.

He had been so utterly shocked at what she had proposed that he had no more space for his fury. Now, as he was left alone in his room to think over everything that had just occurred beyond the barred door, out on the sand field, he could only wonder one thing.

Why?

Why had she done it? Why did she care? Clearly, she had something to gain. She had no reason to help him like she had out of pure kindness. Not after the way he had treated her.

He hated the idea of her pity, so he refused to think that was why she had saved him from a dark fate. He didn't like being in her debt either, but he found he would rather have that than be on a steel slab with tools in his guts or be under Hendrik's foot ever again.

Still, he couldn't stop his curiosity. As he thought it over, the image of the black-boned queen paced the room, snarling, as restless as he.

You still can't trust them, Xeda, she hissed at him.She is using you. You must kill her too, any chance you get. She's a filthy human. Just because she spared you means nothing. When the time comes, you know what you must do.

As he sat against his corner, he only stared out the window, at the clear bluish-purple sky. Like most times, he didn't have an answer, just let her talk, let her seethe.

He was left alone, waiting. Night drew on, and he caught himself wondering when the human woman would come because he knew she eventually would. And he would have much to say.