Page 5

Quinn

Nothing could have prepared me for my new home. The bathroom alone is bigger than the bedroom I shared with my mom back on Earth. There’s a high tech toilet with a wall of buttons whose functions are completely unknown to me. I might have squealed a little at not only the walk-in shower, but the huge bathing pool. Back on Earth, my mom and I only have a bathtub.

The bed is enormous. At least twice the size of the double I shared with Mom and there’s far more storage space in the closet than I have clothing. It would probably take me a lifetime to fill it up. I glance around the seating area from my position on the neutral-shaded sofa.

While the place is huge, it’s also…sterile. Almost cold, even. There aren’t any windows, which I’m not used to, and no decor on the walls. The bedding is pretty enough considering it matches the entire planet, but there’s nothing in here that makes it homey.

Different ideas run through my head, like adding some plants or flowers. Of course, they won’t get sunshine so maybe that’s not an option. A sharp knock on the door has me standing and moving to open it. One of the Bohnari guards stands on the other side, easily holding two large duffels which contain everything I own in the world.

“Greetings. I’m Bannik. Are you Quinn Brooks? I have your things.” He raises his arms slightly like I can’t see what he’s carrying.

“Please, come in.” I step back so he can enter. “You can just set them next to the sofa, if you don’t mind.”

I study him as he walks across the room and places them where I indicated. It’s a little hard to tell exactly how old the Bohnari are. None of the few I’ve encountered since arriving have any lines or wrinkles. His copper skin is just as shiny as all the others and the small horns at the top of his head are barely visible through his hair.

My gaze drops and my cheeks heat, because he’s turned around and looking at me in the same appraising way I’ve been staring at him. I’m the first to break eye contact.

I clear my throat. “Thank you, Bannik.”

“You are most welcome,” he says, but doesn’t move to leave. After a few seconds he finally speaks again. “Once you are settled, I would be honored to show you around Preska.”

“Oh, um, thank you. I’d like that.” I shift nervously and a bit self-consciously and finally glance at him again.

“Quinn, are you about ready?” Olivia calls out. “Oh, sorry, am I interrupting?”

I spin a half-turn and my gaze darts between the two of them.

“No.” It comes out too fast and too breathless. “Bannik brought my bags to me and, um, offered to give me a tour of the city some time soon.”

A sly grin appears. “That’s awfully nice of you…Bannik, is it?”

The guard nods. “Yes.”

Olivia closes the distance between us and loops her arm around mine. “Quinn is my best friend. You better not do anything to hurt her.”

Bannik rattles his head so fast I’m surprised it doesn’t come clean off. Me? I want to sink into a hole in the floor.

“I would never hurt a female,” he states.

“Good. Now, if you don’t mind, we’re going to get some food.”

He bows slightly at the waist. “Of course. I need to return to my duties anyway. Have a pleasant day.”

“You too.”

I’m not sure he hears me though with the way he dashes past Olivia and out the door, closing it behind him. I push her playfully away from me and she bursts out laughing.

“Oh my god. He’s never going to come back and see me now.” I slap my hands over my face and slide them down it.

“Are you kidding? He was enthralled with you when I walked in. I can guarantee he’ll be back,” she says. “And if I scared him that easily, then he’s not the kind of guy you want anyway.”

I suppose she’s right.

“You know I’m right,” Olivia says, reading my mind because she knows me so well. “Now, come on. Devon and Lindsey are waiting for us so we can do a little exploring.”

She leads the way and I make sure to lock the door behind me. Instructions had been laid out inside how to program the door to my biometrics, so that had been the first thing I did. Our two friends wait down by the lift.

“What did you think of your place?” Devon asks me when we reach them.

“It’s big. Nice. Could use some personality though.”

“Agreed. But it’s a far cry from the shithole I lived in back on Earth,” Devon says. “I feel like I’m living in the upper tier here.”

I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. Maybe this is all so we’ll be more willing to overlook the bad stuff when it comes. The lift bell rings and the doors open for us to step inside. No sooner does it close than Olivia snags my arm.

“I know what you’re thinking, and you need to stop.”

The other two glance back and forth between us.

“You have that look on your face,” Olivia continues. “The one where you keep waiting for something to go wrong. We both know that’s what you do when you think life is going too great. You’re preparing yourself for it to start going to shit.”

These are the times when I really hate how well she understands me. “It’s rude of you to point out my flaws, you know?”

“And yet, you still love me.” She tightens her hold before releasing me.

I sigh heavily. “You make it really hard sometimes.”

Because she’s fully aware I’m only messing with her, she gives me a cheeky grin. The lift comes to a jerky halt before the doors slide open and we step out. Scattered around the spacious atrium are a few women. A brunette in particular catches my attention. Mostly because she hadn’t been on the ship.

I can’t confess to knowing all the other potential brides beyond recognizing a face here and there, but I’ve definitely never seen this woman— human woman—before. It isn’t even her obvious Bohnari clothing that makes her stand out. She’s glowing like she’s obscenely happy. The two lottery brides standing at her side laugh at something she says.

At our approach, the three of them turn.

“Hi, there. I’m Johnna.” The new woman sticks her hand out with a large smile and Olivia is the first to reach for it.

“Olivia. This is Quinn, Devon, and Lindsey,” she introduces all of us.

“It’s great to meet you all. Welcome to Bohna.” Johnna swings her arms out in a sweeping gesture. “Sorry I wasn’t able to greet you when you first landed, but I was helping my mate at the hospital.”

“Mate?” Devon speaks up.

“Husband, sorry.” Johnna chuckles. “The Bohnari don’t really understand the concept of marriage like we do on Earth, but it’s essentially the same thing. Except they mate for life.”

For life?

“Were you a lottery bride?” One of the other women standing with us asks. “I thought we were the first.”

Johnna shakes her head. “Oh, you are. I was part of a terraforming crew ship. We were on our way to a planet just beyond the outer rim when we were attacked. A few co-workers and I managed to get out using the escape pods before the main ship exploded. My pod suffered serious damage from the aftershocks and I crash landed here about eight months ago or so, believe it or not. My mate is the head healer and saved my life.”

“Was it your idea then for the Bohnari to reach out to Earth for women?” I find the courage to speak up. If Johnna was part of any space program, then she was definitely a resident of the upper tier. Why would she care about us bottomers?

She grins madly. “Oh no. You have my best friend Eloise to thank for that. Why don’t we head to the market square for food and I’ll tell you all about it on the way?”

Since I’m not sure I’m ready for my own personal chef quite yet—as surreal as it sounds—it might be nice to have a person familiar with the planet and its people to act as our tour guide. We all nod in agreement.

“Excellent. I’ll show you around,” Johnna says.

The six of us follow her out the door, with the two unknown women taking the lead directly behind her. My friends and I hang back slightly. The air smells fresh the minute we step outside. Clean. Far different from the heavy grime that always lingered low in the sky back on the bottom tier. It was so thick, we often didn’t even get a glimpse of the upper tier. Just one more thing to keep us separated.

I’m so focused on breathing it all in, I almost miss Johnna speaking over her shoulder.

“Eloise is my best friend. She was on Helios 3 with me when we were attacked. Only she wound up on Tavikh, which is our closest neighboring planet.” She pauses. “I’m not sure how much news reaches Earth about the various planets the government has terraformed over the last decade.”

“Not much,” Devon replies although I’m not sure it was really a question.

Johnna slowly nods. “I didn’t figure. I’ve spent the last five years traveling and don’t have any family back home, so I wasn’t really sure. Anyway, the Bohnari and Tavikhi are allies and have a close trade relationship. Not long after Vornak and I were mated, we made a trip to Tavikh, where I was reunited with Eloise. After our last trip there, she and her Tavikhi mate Zedam came back with us so she could help Alik with the negotiations with the President.”

“Why us?” The question slips out before I can call it back.

Johnna glances at me with a wrinkled brow. “What do you mean?”

I don’t look at Olivia or the others. “I mean, why only those of us from the bottom tier?”

She stops in the middle of the street so we all follow suit. Johnna’s gaze bores into mine. “Because regardless of what you might think, not everyone from the upper tier agrees with the way our world is run. Some of Eloise’s closest friends on Tavikh were from the bottom tier. What better way to stick it to all those rich assholes who think they’re above everyone because they have more credits than they could ever spend in their lifetime than to give people—give women —a way to leave? Especially to go to a different planet where those same women will be worshipped by males and who have all the control because they need us far more than we need them. Does that answer your question of why you?”

Yes, I suppose it does.