I was alone in the room for a long time after Zarbonov left. With no clock in the room, I had no way to tell how much time had passed. Long enough that my stomach rumbled. If Zarbonov's house really was over in that sprawling city, then at least a decent meal was somewhere in my future. Assuming my tantrum hadn't soured him on the idea entirely.

He'd agreed to take me home with him, even on the condition that things stay as far out of the realm of sex as possible. But really, nothing would have stopped him from changing his mind the second the door closed behind him. Where would it leave me if he did? Back in the Room was my best guess. I could only imagine what Blue 3 would do with the trouble a rejected auction bride would cause her.

The longer I stood on the balcony watching the city, the more I panicked. By the time the door slid open, I was more than ready to be put out of my misery. But it wasn't Blue 3 at the door. This woman was different. Her jaw was more angular than any of the glamazons, giving her a look closer to a warrior goddess than a model.

She pressed her hands to her chest. The light from the sconces cast a bright sheen across her translucent blue nails. "Ingendia."

"I don't suppose you speak English too."

Ingendia shrugged and the leather of her bodice creaked softly as it stretched across her broad torso. “Some, human."

"Ella. I'm surprised you don't have some fancy title for me too."

“No title. You are ‘Tak. Until you are more, I call you how I want." She took a step to the side and gestured toward the open door. "Come. We go to Kai’ben's home."

Ingendia turned and walked into the hallway. Clearly, she was going whether I came along or not. As much as I didn't want to admit it, Zarbonov was right. I didn't have money, or whatever the aliens used in its place. Staying at the auction house probably wasn't an option unless I wanted to be sold again. Something told me that whatever blue-skinned hulk bought me next wouldn't be as nice about it as Zarbonov had been.

I followed her through the auction house and down to the transport pod in a daze. One of the sort-of cars I had seen on the balcony waited beside the curb. Nobody got out to open it, but the door slid to the side as we approached.

"Does everyone here have a car?"

“Not everyone, human. Many have no need. Others have poor resources." Ingendia's accent was thicker than Zarbonov's and we sat in silence for several seconds as my brain tried to sort through her words. She leaned back in her chair, letting her braid fall over her shoulder as she turned her back to me in favor of the view out the window.

That seemed like a great idea to me. It was probably better for everyone if I saved what little energy I had. I had questions, a few hundred of them, but Ingendia didn't give the impression that she wanted to answer them. So, I turned to my own window and watched the scenery.

We took the same road I had watched from the balcony, the street where I’d watched the cars rise in the air like an invisible giant had picked them up.

My stomach sank. "Can't we go a different way?"

Ingendia shook her head. "No other way, human. This is faster. Better."

The car reached the end of the road before I could object again, not that she would have listened to me anyway. I pressed my hands flat against the seat cushions and prayed that would slow my body down enough if the worst happened. Visions of a watery demise flashed in my mind.

But nothing happened. The car pod paused at the shore, vibrating softly as I felt the ground pull away from beneath us. I had taken First-Class flights that weren't as smooth a ride.

The city, V'dal, Zarbonov called it, grew larger as we traveled away from the auction house. The deeper we went into the city, the wider and larger the buildings became until I couldn't see anything but towers and slivers of black sky. What looked like candles to me from the balcony were lights embedded in the sides of the buildings, blinking in a set pattern. Were they there to keep the cars from flying into the buildings at night? I turned to Ingendia to ask her, but the car slowed down before I could get the words out.

We pulled up beside one of the larger four-story mansions near the far coast of V'dal. A thin sliver of moonlight hit the side of the building, giving it a strange blue shimmer that contrasted with the orange glow from the sconces embedded in the facade.

Zarbonov's home. My home, if he got his way.

"Is Zarbonov rich? I mean, does he have a lot of resources?"

"Kai'ben's family is old. They have never fallen. Blood like his does well here."

Blood like his, not blood like mine. Not like hers either, although she hadn't mentioned herself since she’d told me her name.

Both back doors slid open. Ingendia climbed out of the car without a backward glance. I didn't know what it was about me that made the women of this planet hate my guts, but three times in a row couldn't have just been a coincidence.

"Have I done something to piss you off?" I asked, only half expecting her to answer.

Ingendia shrugged, continuing her path beneath the front archway into a courtyard dotted with bare trees. The mansion's tower stood at the center, the highest dome the highest point of the building.

"You are 'Tak," Ingendia said. "Not worth much thought."

‘Tak. Zarbonov had used the same word when he offered his compromise. He added it to my name when I refused to tolerate ‘Jan. "What does ‘Tak mean?"

"’Tak, human," she said, emphasizing the first part of the word. "It is meant for. To be. Not is."

"That's a title for a person? Someone who isn't?"

We continued past the tower, and for some reason, I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't get to see the inside. It seemed more interesting than the rest of the building. The layout reminded me of an old castle, impressive but built more to take an attack than to impress the neighbors.

"Should be but isn't," Ingendia said as she led me toward the far end of the courtyard. "Meant to be but not yet."

The far wing of the house was plainer than the rest. There were no glimmering orange lights on the outside, no gnarled trees, and no ornate carvings in the stonework, inside or out. If the mansion were a small city, the smaller structure at the back was the slums.

Ingendia stopped at an unmarked metal door and pushed the screen on the wall. It slid aside to reveal a dark room with bare stone walls. "After dinner, I take you to Kai'ben again. Then you come back here to sleep."

A room that almost was for a woman who should have been but wasn't. The light sconces switched on as Ingendia crossed the threshold.

The room was about the size of the honeymoon closet from the auction house, but the silken sheets and pillowcases were blood red instead of teal. There were low cushions to cover the worn floor planks. A dresser, small desk, and chair completed the furnishings. Unlike the honeymoon closet or the Room, my bedroom had a keypad console on my side of the door.

"He doesn't stay here?" Even as I asked, I wasn't sure what answer I wanted. The idea of seeing Zarbonov again didn't leave me warm and fuzzy, but communicating with him was easier than it was with Ingendia. His voice was nicer to listen to.

"Kai'ben is in the talajut," she said, pointing toward the tower at the center of the house. "Talajut is only for ‘Jan or ‘Vin. "

None of the words meant anything to me, but gut instinct told me Ingendia wouldn't explain more. I got the gist of it. If I wasn't going to play the good little slave wife, then I shouldn't expect the perks. Seemed fair enough. More than fair.

Ingendia pressed the keypad, ducking through the door and into the hallway before it fully slid open. I padded over to the bed and sat down. It was softer than it looked, and the silk felt heavenly against my bare arms. In fact, next to the bath with Blue 3, it was the nicest thing I'd felt in days.

I closed my eyes. All my life, I'd been Ella Browne, the only daughter of Mayor Richard M. Browne. My dad learned early in life that money covered a multitude of sins, and thanks to that philosophy, I never wanted for much in my life. Now, something as simple as a soft bed felt like the lap of luxury.

It wasn't fancy, but it had a bed, four walls, and a door I could control. For the moment, that was enough to make it feel like mine.