Page 5

CHAPTER

THREE

AIDY

I'm so warm I must be dead.

It's the first time in days that I don't feel completely miserable and near death as I awaken. Instead, I feel languid and delicious. There's something heavy on my chest, and the scent of smoke is in the air.

Smoke…?

I open my eyes and look around me, expecting to see the ceiling of that small, shitty cave, inches from my nose.

That my feet are still touching cat poop, and if I look up, I'll see endless snow and a glimpse of the inhospitable place we've been dumped.

But the ceiling is nowhere near my face, and this time it's rippled, a stalactite hanging just out of my vision.

There are big furry blankets pulled up to my chest and another underneath me.

The smoke scent remains, and I hear the crackle of a nearby fire.

I wiggle my toes and they're clean.

This isn't the cave we were in before. I sit up, puzzled, and look for Corvak. He's seated in the back of the cave, pulling open what looks like a briefcase-sized woven basket with a lid and sniffing the contents. He glances up at me and gives me a small nod of acknowledgment. "You're awake. Good."

"Did I miss something?" I ask, stifling a yawn. "Like a change in scenery?"

He doesn't answer that, but instead asks, "How do you feel?"

"Surprisingly good." I rub my neck, and my fingers don't feel like ice. In fact, all of me feels comfortable. Is it a little brisk? Yes, but I can handle brisk. I move the blankets to look at my feet, and sure enough, they're clean. "Did you wash my feet? Did the weather change?"

His eyes narrow. "You don't remember?"

I open my mouth to reply when a flurry of half-starved, confused memories flood in.

Corvak, fighting what looked like a saber-tooth tiger.

Corvak cutting the creature open and shoving all the organs into the snow as if searching for the prize in the Cracker Jack box.

When he didn't find what he was hunting for, he cracked the ribs open and squished the heart and then held out a glowing spaghetti noodle to me.

Things get fuzzy after that.

"I kinda remember you dismembering the tiger-thing, but that's all."

He moves to my side and crouches, and I notice that his loincloth has just about had it. The now-filthy fabric is in tatters, and I can see everything outlined. And by everything, I mean a rather large frank and beans. Jesus. "Show me your arm, Aidy."

I hold it out, curious, and he runs his fingers over my skin, looking for something. I don't see any cuts or bruises. He grunts, surprised, and his gaze flicks to me. He stares into my eyes for so long that it makes me uncomfortable. "What?"

"You don't feel any different?"

I shake my head. "I mean, other than I'm no longer freezing my ass off. Did the temperature go up this morning?"

"You've been out most of the day. It's now night."

What…? Have I truly been asleep so long? I look around me for the entrance to the cave, but when I find it, it's covered by what looks like a stiff partition of some kind. I can't see anything outside. The last time I was awake, the sun was just coming up, but now I think it's dark.

How is it dark?

"I'm so confused." I scrub my face with my hands, and I could swear there's a faint blue glow from somewhere around here. I glance over at him and he's still staring at me…or more specifically, my eyes. "What is it?"

He shakes his head. "I did not realize your eyes would change so vividly. I should have guessed, but it is surprising to see. The other male's eyes were not nearly as bright as yours."

"My eyes changed? What are you talking about?" I touch my temple, but there's no mirror here where I can see what he's referring to. "Changed how?"

"They are blue. Just like the others." Corvak sounds thoughtful.

" What others?"

"The other gladiators I ran into. It is how I learned about the necessary parasite."

I know I heard him wrong. The words "necessary" and "parasite" don't go together. "What gladiators? What parasite? Wait—you ran into other survivors? Where are they?" I glance around the cave again. "I don't see anyone."

Corvak shakes his head. "You misunderstand. They are not allies. They are hunting us."

My throat goes dry. "Hunting…us? Why?"

"Because that is how the game is played.

And it is why we cannot stay long in this cave.

" He sets the basket aside and reaches for the next item, and I realize he's wearing what looks like a chest harness of some kind made from leather, and stuck through holes in the leather are a half-dozen crude-looking knives.

Weapons. Because we aren't just worrying about our environment. We're worrying about others dropped here, too.

"Tell me more about this game, please," I say, feeling faint.

Corvak opens a leather pouch, sniffs it, and then holds it out to me. "Food. Eat. You'll need your strength."

I take it from him. It smells delicious, and not nearly as peppery as the stuff he brought me last time. I pull out a piece of jerky and take a cautious bite, and then a bigger one when it doesn't burn my mouth. "Don't change the subject. Tell me about these games."

He nods, watching me eat, and then goes back to sorting the goods in the cave.

"The ones that clone gladiators like me, they have many different types of games they like to bet upon.

There are organized games that take place in arenas, private games between competing stables, and games like this one, where gladiators are dropped to a remote location and must fight to survive. "

I chew as I listen, but something's not adding up. "So why me and the other women? We're not gladiators. At least I know I'm not."

He nods. "You are the prize."

I cough, choking on my jerky. "I'm sorry, what ?"

"Female slaves are sometimes offered as incentives to gladiators to perform well. You are here because we are expected to fight over you to win you, and probably to create more exciting drama for our owners to watch."

My lip curls at the thought. So they're chumming the waters to get the sharks riled up, and I'm the chum? "That is really, really shitty."

"It is nothing you need to worry about, because you are mine." He picks up another pouch, sniffs it, and puts it aside.

My hackles rise. Does he mean what I think he means when he says that?

And if so, what do I do about it? There's no question that Corvak has looked out for me since the moment we arrived here.

He protected me and carried me when I couldn't walk.

He tended to me when I was unconscious. He kept me safe.

The fact that he's starting to get possessive is a little unsettling, but what other options do I have than to go along with him? I can't strike out on my own.

I decide I'm going to ignore it. He hasn't tried anything. Maybe saying that I'm "his" is just some sort of translation confusion.

Sure, that's it. Let's go with that.

I take another bite of jerky. "So…what now?"

"If you are feeling well enough, I am going to find an animal and bring it back.

I am going to get a creature with the glowing blue parasite to put inside myself.

Then we will both be protected. The others said that if living things here do not have the parasite, they die.

You have one, and I will get myself one.

Then we will head out, to a place farther away from the others. "

I swallow hard, my mouth dry. All this talk of parasites is worrying me. We need one to survive? Every creature here has one? I wish there was someone else I could ask, because I worry I'm not getting the full story, but there's no one. I have to trust what Corvak says.

Honestly, Corvak hasn't steered me wrong thus far. "I trust you. What do you need me to do?"

"Wait here for me to return. When I acquire the parasite, I will likely pass out, like you did. You will need to watch over me and protect me until I awaken."

I'm strangely touched that he thinks I can protect him while he sleeps. "You trust me to watch you? I thought I was just a prize."

The look Corvak gives me is quizzical. "Of course I trust you. We are in this together. Our goals are the same—we want to survive. The best way to survive is to avoid the others and to make ourselves stronger."

He makes it all sound so simple, so obvious. There's no mention of my weakness, or anything sexy. No "you are mine" chest-beating shit. This is a partnership, nothing more. I relax at that and smile at him, glad that I misunderstood. "I won't let you down."

"I know," he says, unbothered.

But I don't like that I'm not carrying my fair share of the work. Corvak has had to do most of the heavy lifting since we arrived on this planet. It's time for me to do my part.