Talia might have had a chance—not a good one, but a chance—had they left her in Desh’s room when they left, as she assumed they would.

Marshall and the guards appeared to believe what Desh had wanted them to believe. That he’d used Talia and threatened her to get her to help him.

She thought they would take him to the shuttle and leave her alone to return to the leisure suite, appropriately chastened for not reporting Desh immediately the way she should have but facing no further consequences.

Once they left, she would have a very small opportunity of doing something to help. No one would be watching her. She could do… something.

But before he left the room, Marshall turned to glance at her over his shoulder. “You better come along.”

Talia jerked in surprise. “But why?” She didn’t have to pretend that her voice was weak and trembling. “Am I… am I in trouble?”

“No, but we need to get the whole story from him, and you can fill in some of the gaps.”

“The whore doesn’t know anything,” Desh snarled. “Don’t waste your time.”

“I’m not a whore,” she said, shrinking away from him, her mind racing as she tried to figure out what was best for her to say, how was best for her to act. “And you deserve everything you’ll get.”

“I’ll decide what’s a waste of my time,” Marshall said coolly, shaking his head at Desh. Then he turned to Talia. “You better come along.”

She stared at him with wide, scared eyes.

He rolled his eyes as if he were getting tired of this whole situation. “You’re not in trouble as long as you tell us everything we want to know.”

“Is he really…” She shrunk away from Desh again, acting like she was turning to Marshall for protection. “Is he really the High Director’s son?”

“I think so. The facial recognition matches. But I need to do more research, and I need to get him to talk. We’ve got drugs that will make him tell us everything at Headquarters. And if that doesn’t work, we have other methods of interrogations. We’ll get the whole story.” Marshall turned stone-cold eyes on Desh. “And then we can tell the High Director that his long-lost son has been found. It will be quite the family reunion.”

Talia shuddered in terror, but she still had a role to play. “You haven’t told the High Director yet?”

“No. I’m not that foolish. You don’t approach the High Director until you have all the answers to questions he might ask. Now get moving. You can ride with us in the shuttle over to Headquarters.”

Talia nodded and dropped her eyes, walking beside Marshall down the corridor.

Desh was cuffed. The two guards were armed, as was Marshall.

There was absolutely nothing she could do to get away from them, much less get Desh away.

And even if she somehow managed, she’d never be able to leave the Residence. All entrances and docking bays were monitored. An escort would never be able to leave without prior permission.

She was trapped here, as much as she would have been trapped on a prison planet.

She didn’t want to leave without Desh anyway.

She searched her mind as they walked, but no miraculous plan of escape came to her. So she ended up on the shuttle with no clear idea what to do. She was sitting across from Desh and one of the guards. The other guard was piloting, and Marshall was in the copilot seat.

She listened as they communicated with the guard tower for the Residence, explaining they were on their way to the Coalition Security Headquarters, which orbited Earth just like the Residence.

She met Desh’s eyes across the shuttle, hoping for a brilliant plan for escape.

He gave his head the slightest shake.

He didn’t want her to do anything.

He was clearly telling her not to.

He was scared for her. She could see it in his eyes.

He wasn’t scared for himself.

He was scared for her.

He’d rather go to his death than put her at even the slightest risk.

But he didn’t understand that she felt exactly the same way.

She didn’t want to live without him either.

When the shuttle took off, she slipped her hand into her pocket.

She still had the med device. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it was something. It would only work if she could press it against someone’s skin though. It would do her no good at all at a distance. Very carefully she felt around on it until she was able to switch the settings to knock someone unconscious.

Desh’s eyes widened. He could see she was doing something, but he must not know what she was doing.

When the guard next to him turned his head in her direction, Desh said quickly, “Why didn’t we leave the whore back where she belongs?”

Marshall turned his seat around to face Desh. He was frowning thoughtfully. “Why are you so obsessed with her?”

Talia felt a chill run down her spine.

“I’m not obsessed. I don’t give a fuck about her.” Desh was giving an impressive performance of being arrogant and disinterested.

But Marshall wasn’t a stupid man. His expression had changed. “You’re trying to protect her.”

“I’m not doing anything like—”

“You are,” Marshall breathed, his eyes turning over to Talia. “You fell for the bitch.”

Desh made a growling sound, and Talia rose to her feet instinctively.

Marshall got up too, stepping over and taking her chin in his hand with a calculating expression. “Have you been lying to me the whole time then? Well, you’ll still be of use to me. If you mean something to him, we can get him to talk by hurting you.”

She jerked her head away from his hand, but he just grabbed it again. More roughly. He added very nastily, “Maybe I’ll even show him how you really like to be fucked.”

Desh tackled Marshall.

He literally tackled him, launching himself at the other man despite his cuffs and despite the small space on the shuttle.

When the two men went down in a tumble of arms and legs, Talia gave a little squeal. But she had sense enough to pull the med device out of her pocket and hold it against the back of the guard’s neck, who had jumped to his feet to help Marshall.

The guard went down in less than ten seconds, falling to the floor completely unconscious.

This med device was really something.

Desh and Marshall were grappling on the floor, so Talia ran over to the pilot seat, where the other guard had reached toward a communicator.

He was probably going to call for help.

Talia used the med device on the back of his neck before he could, and he fell limply against the seat.

When she whirled around, Desh was on top of Marshall, holding his forearms against the other man’s throat, despite the cuffs.

Marshall was strong and well trained, but Desh had trained with The Master on Mel Tana for years. Cuffs weren’t enough to hold him back.

“Someone needs to fly the shuttle, and I don’t know how,” Talia said, her heart beating so fast it was almost strangling her. She leaned over and held the med device against Marshall’s arm. “So let’s just knock him out.”

When Marshall went limp, Desh hauled himself to his feet, flushed and panting and a new kind of fire smoldering in his eyes. He reached out for her before he remembered he was still cuffed.

He scowled down at his bound hands.

Talia laughed a little hysterically and reached into Marshall’s pocket for the cuff release. When she pressed it, the cuffs opened and Desh tossed them onto the floor.

He went over to the pilot’s seat, dragged the unconscious guard out of the chair, and then sat down himself.

The shuttle was on course toward Headquarters, but Desh pressed a few buttons and steered them in a different direction.

Talia stood where she was, hugging herself tightly. “We can’t go very far in this shuttle.”

“We’ll need to dump it as soon as possible and find another vehicle.”

“Will they know to chase us right away?”

“I don’t know. It depends on how much he told Headquarters. It sounded like he was waiting for more information before he filled those in command in, and that would give us an advantage. They won’t know who I am or know that we’re a threat until we’re pretty far away.” He glanced behind him at the unconscious men. “How long will they be out for?”

“I don’t really know.” Getting nervous, she checked the small screen of the med device. “Oh here, you can set it for a specific amount of time. The most is four hours.” She ran the device at that setting over each of the unconscious men in the shuttle. “That will give us a little time. We don’t want them waking up yet. Do you…” She had to pause to catch her breath. “Do you think we can actually do this? Get away?”

Desh turned his head and smiled at her, the fondness in his eyes making her heart melt. “He apparently hadn’t told everyone who I was yet, so it might be possible, if we can get far enough away before the time they regain consciousness. You’re amazing. Do you know that?”

She smiled back at him, feeling something different, something new. Something she recognized as joy.

She wasn’t sure she’d ever really felt it before.

She said, “I didn’t know it until I met you.”

***

Forty-eight hours later, Talia fell into bed, completely exhausted but finally feeling safe and clean.

They’d taken the shuttle to the Moon, and there they’d knocked the guards out again for four additional hours before they’d dumped the shuttle. They’d rented a transport and put as much distance between them and the Earth as they could before they’d switched vehicles again.

In the past two days, they’d swapped vehicles five times. Then Desh had paid a visit to an old acquaintance of his who’d helped them both wipe their old identities and create new ones.

They’d seen no signs of pursuit, so they were as safe as they were likely to get as they finally arrived on a mostly undeveloped planet, the one where Desh’s friends lived. The place he’d said he go if he could go anywhere in the world.

Talia was too tired to interact much with their hosts, a friendly, attractive couple who lived in a big, sprawling house next to vineyards.

Vineyards.

She did manage to notice that much.

They were so bedraggled and exhausted that they’d gone straight to bed after a bite to eat and some brief conversation.

Talia was still having trouble keeping up with it all, but this much she’d managed to process.

They’d gotten away.

They were safe, at least for the moment.

They were on the planet where his friend from the cave had also moved with her family.

And Talia’s life would never be the same again.

She was no longer an escort.

She was Desh’s partner now—unless he decided to change his mind.

She didn’t think he would.

She’d taken a shower first while he was still talking to the couple who owned the house, so she was lying in bed, clean and happy and comfortable, when he got out of the shower himself.

He was naked except for a towel, and he stood next to the bed, gazing down at her.

“If you’re even thinking about telling me that you made a mistake or that you don’t want me around anymore,” she said, scowling at him, “then I’m going to have to beat you up.”

He chuckled and sat down on the edge of the bed, reaching to take her hand. “I don’t want you to beat me up, so I wouldn’t dream of telling you such a thing. I’m just trying to…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “I’m trying to convince myself that all this is real.”

“Why wouldn’t it be real?”

She squeezed his hand and then pulled him down toward her until he was stretched out on the bed beside her. “It would have been a futile gesture. Isn’t it better this way?”

He pulled her hand up so he could kiss her knuckles. “It’s better because I’m here with you. But it’s also going to be a lot harder. I was serious before, back on the Residence, when I said I need to do something. I… Part of me would love to set up a home here on this planet, live a life that’s safe and comfortable and filled with…” He shook his head again. “But I can’t. I’m so sorry, sweetheart, but I can’t.”

She gave him a shaky smile. “I know you can’t. I never thought you would. And part of me might like the idea of that kind of life too, but I’d rather be with the man you really are, doing what you need to do. The truth is maybe I need to do it too.”

His expression softened, and he was still holding her hand up near his mouth. He kissed it again. Then he licked his lips, clearly thinking things through.

“I’ll need to travel around,” he said at last.

She nodded. She’d already thought that far ahead. She’d been planning things out in her mind for years now. She had more ideas than most. “There are all those little rebellions going on. If anything is ever going to get to the point of threatening the Coalition, someone needs to start uniting them. The son of the High Director might have a real chance of doing that. If anyone can.”

Desh let out a long breath. “That’s what I was thinking too. We can’t… we can’t do anything until we know what we have to work with. I don’t know how long it will take. But Hall and Kyla say that you can stay here for however long it—”

“No!” she burst out. “What are you talking about? I’m not going to stay here.”

“But it’s safe here. And whatever I’m doing, wherever I’m going, it’s not going to be safe.”

“I don’t care! I’m not going to do it. I’m done with being a pretty object to be taken out whenever a man feels like it.”

“Sweetheart, no! I’d never think you were—”

“I know you don’t think about me that way, but that’s how I would feel. If you left me here, that’s how I would feel. I want to go with you. I think I can help. I don’t know how, but I have some good ideas. And I think… I think you need me.”

“I do need you.” He pressed another kiss on her hand, this time on her open palm. “But I’d rather you be safe.”

She shook her head. “Desh, how long do you think it’s going to be before your father figures out what you’re doing?”

“I… I don’t know. But he will eventually.”

“And when he does, he’s going to be looking for any kind of weakness in you. He’s going to be searching for any way he can hurt you. How long do you think it will take for him to realize that you have someone… someone special to you? He’ll eventually find me here, and then your friends will be in danger too. This lovely planet will be destroyed just like that other world you loved. I’m not going to be safe anywhere, Desh, so I’m going to stay with you.”

He was quiet for a long time. Then he finally nodded. “I do need you. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes. I know it.”

“I’ll never be able to do this without you.”

“Well, you have me.” She scooted a little closer to him. “And I have you. So it seems a pretty fair deal to me.”

“Damn, I love you so much, Talia.”

She gave him a wobbly smile. “I love you too.”

“Do you?”

She giggled and moved over on top of him. “Yes, I love you. Didn’t you know that already?”

“Well. I was hoping.” He slid his hands down to her hips, holding her against him. She could feel him growing hard against her lower belly.

Her pussy clenched in response, and she rubbed herself against him.

He groaned and took her head in both hands to pull her down into a kiss.

They kissed for a long time, gently, leisurely, so sweetly. Her body was washed with waves of pleasure and feeling—too deep to put into words. She was fully aroused—and so was he—when she finally broke the kiss and straightened up so she could untie her tunic.

She was straddling his hips, and he stared up at her hotly as she pulled the fabric away to bare her body and then let the tunic slip off her shoulders.

His hips bucked up a few times in jerky little moves, as if he were too turned on to hold himself still.

She loved that about him. Loved that he was so uncontrolled, so unpracticed, so genuine.

She’d never known a man could be like that before, open himself up so completely, be with her for real.

With a slow smile, she opened the towel he had wrapped around his hips and pulled out his hard cock. He groaned as she stroked him gently, and then he lifted his hands to fondle her breasts.

She gasped and arched in pleasure and then gasped again when one of his hands slid down to play with her wet pussy.

He caressed her like that until she came in a fast rush, biting her lip hard to stifle the cry of pleasure. Then she lifted herself up on her knees and lined herself up on his cock, lowering her hips until she sheathed him with her pussy.

“Fuck, sweetheart,” he rasped, holding handfuls of her bottom in his big hands. “Fuck, you feel so good. How do you do this to me every time?”

She started to ride him, filled with him completely, so fully, so tightly that there was nothing in the world left for her to need. He gazed up at her, awe and adoration in his eyes as she moved.

He wasn’t taking from her. He was giving; he was loving her. And so she was able to give back. She was able to love too.

It didn’t take very long for another climax to tighten at her center, and it was a good thing too because he wasn’t going to last very long. He was grunting softly as his hips rocked beneath her, growing faster, more urgent, less controlled.

She rode him hard until an orgasm broke inside her, and as her pussy clamped down around him, he choked on a stifled cry of completion. His body jerked through the spasms, and his face transformed in a wave of pure pleasure, contentment.

Release.

He’d lived so long without ever allowing himself such a thing.

And now he had it.

She could give it to him.

It made her so incredibly happy.

She fell down on top of him, sated and relaxed, and he wrapped his strong arms around her.

“I love you, sweetheart,” he murmured into her hair.

She wasn’t wearing a ponytail, and her long hair was falling down all around them both. The freedom was unfamiliar.

And she loved it.

“I love you too,” she said. “And now I’m very tired, so maybe we can save any more conversation until tomorrow morning.”

He chuckled and stroked her hair, her back. “Sounds good to me.”

After a minute, she rolled off him and snuggled up at his side. He pulled the covers up over both of them.

It took only a few minutes for her to fall asleep, and Desh was asleep before she was.

It was the best night’s sleep she’d ever had.

***

They slept in late the following morning, and when they did wake up, they took it easy, eating a leisurely breakfast, chatting with Hall, handsome and charismatic, and his quiet wife Kyla, and then taking a long walk together, during which they started to make plans for the next few months of their lives.

Talia enjoyed it, more than she could remember enjoying anything. She liked Hall and Kyla, and she loved walking through their vineyards, sampling a number of different grapes. She knew they wouldn’t have very long here on this planet that seemed so cut off from the rest of the universe, but she loved that such a place existed.

For dinner, Hall and Kyla invited some friends over. Two couples and their children, who also knew Desh.

One of the women was the friend he’d had when he’d lived on that primitive planet. Her name was Lenna, and she was pretty and blond and intelligent and immediately likable. Her husband, Rone, was big and strong and handsome with his hair in a long, sleek braid down his back. He didn’t say much, and when he did speak, it was with an accent. He had a kind smile, though, and an earnest, searching gaze.

Desh had told her about him, about how until last year he’d never known the rest of the universe even existed. She couldn’t imagine how someone could go through that sort of transition, and she hated that he’d been forced into it.

Rone and Lenna had two daughters and a son. The transition had been less hard on the children.

The other family who came over was a large, intimidating man named Cain who didn’t seem all that friendly and his wife, Riana, who was much more approachable. They had a son and a daughter, just a little older than Rone and Lenna’s children.

They all ate outside in the sunshine, and Talia could tell that Desh was genuinely glad to spend time with his friends, catching up on their lives and telling them about his.

She was happy that he could have this, even though they both knew they couldn’t stay here long.

After dinner, Rone stayed outside to play with the children, and the rest of them helped bring the dishes into the kitchen.

Wanting to be useful, Talia found the half-empty bottle of wine they’d been drinking—crisp and delicious and better than any replicated wine she’d ever tasted—and went around filling up people’s glasses.

When she returned the wine to the counter, she looked around and saw that everyone was looking at Desh.

Desh was obviously aware of it too. “What’s going on?” he asked, eyeing the people around him.

Talia went over to stand beside him, and he reached out to take her hand in his.

Hall was one of those men to whom words and laughter came easily. It was impossible not to like him. He was leaning against the wall, a glass of wine in his hand. He said, “I’ve been telling the others about your plans.”

“Oh.” Desh looked around, clearly trying to read the others’ expressions. “I’ll understand if you think it’s crazy.”

“No one thinks it’s crazy,” Hall said. His green eyes were uncharacteristically sober.

Lenna met Desh’s eyes and gave him a little nod. She was sitting in a chair near the window.

Talia could feel Desh relax slightly. Clearly his friends’ opinions meant something to him. “Good,” he said. “I’m glad.”

“You’re going to need help,” Hall added.

“I know.” Desh shifted slightly, although he hadn’t let go of Talia’s hand. “That’s my first step. I need to… see how much support there is.”

“And it never occurred to you to first see what support you had right here?” Hall’s voice was mild, uninflected.

Desh frowned. “I know you all will give me moral support, but what else—”

“What else?” Hall interrupted. “You’re really asking us that? You know what I can do, right?”

“Yes,” Desh said slowly “I know.”

Talia only knew what he was talking about because he’d explained it to her this morning. Hall was some kind of empath who could sense other people’s emotions when he touched them and even turn those feelings around, easing pain and anxiety or creating feelings that weren’t there.

“And you can’t think of any use that gift could be to you, given what you’re trying to do?” Hall had arched his eyebrows very slightly.

Desh blinked. “Sure, it might be useful, but you live here, and we’re going to have to be traveling around, and—”

“And I’m not capable of traveling too?”

Desh’s hand clenched harder around Talia’s, but his face was perfectly composed. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you need me. You’re going to need to know very quickly who you can trust, and I’ll be able to tell you that. You need me. So I’m going with you.”

“What? No!” Desh’s expression was visibly upset, shocked. “I would never ask you to—”

“You don’t seem to understand what it is you’re going to be doing. You have to ask people to help you. And you have to let them when they offer.” If anything, Hall looked faintly amused. “You’re never going to get anywhere if you don’t.”

“But you all are safe here.” Desh looked from Hall to Kyla, who was sitting in a chair at the kitchen table. “You’re happy. I don’t know how long this is going to take. You’d leave Kyla indefinitely like that?”

“No. Of course not. I’d never leave her behind. Kyla is going to come too.”

“I can’t help like Hall can,” Kyla said softly. “I don’t have his gift. But I’m sure there’s something I can do to help.”

“But… but you’ll have to give up your life, for who knows how long.” Desh was searching the other faces in the room and holding Talia’s hand very tightly. “You have a good life here. Your vineyard. I’d never ask you to give all that up. You’d just… Why would you leave?”

“Sometimes it’s enough. To live well, to love deeply, to shape something good, something beautiful, even if the rest of the world isn’t what it should be.” Hall was speaking softly, and his eyes dropped to the glass of wine in his hand. Wine he’d made with his own hands. “Sometimes that’s enough to answer what’s wrong in the world. But sometimes it’s not.” He looked up to meet Desh’s eyes. “Sometimes you have to do more. Sometimes you have to rise up and meet it.”

The words lingered in the silence of the kitchen for a long time, and they made shivers run up and down Talia’s spine.

Hall continued, “I know that’s what you and Talia are trying to do. You have to let Kyla and I do it too.”

Desh swallowed so hard she could see it in his throat. Then he gave a brief nod. “Thank you. I will need your help, so I’ll take it.”

Turning his head, Desh met Talia’s eyes. She gave him a little smile, feeling emotional, almost teary.

She didn’t know these people the way Desh did, but even she could feel the ache of what they’d be leaving behind.

“You’re going to need more than Hall before it’s all over,” Lenna said from where she was sitting.

Desh stiffened. “Don’t even think of trying to come too,” he said. He glanced out the window where Rone was playing with the children in the yard. “After everything that happened to you and Rone, you can’t…”

Lenna gave a little shrug and a smile that was slightly wobbly. “No. I’m not coming with you right away. But I’m a pilot. A good one. And you’re going to need good pilots before the end. You know you will.”

Desh nodded very slowly.

“So when you need me, I’ll be there.”

“Lenna, I wish you wouldn’t. You need more time to settle. It’s safe here, and—”

“And how long do you think it’s going to stay safe here?” Lenna broke in. “You think they’ll never get around to this planet? They destroyed our old world. They took that away from us. Not even to be cruel. They did it just because they could. And that was too wrong. You know it was too wrong.” She looked back out the window at her husband, who was laughing and tossing their little boy up into the air.

He looked happy right now, but Talia could only imagine what he’d been through.

Talia had to wipe away a tear, and she saw Kyla doing the same thing.

Desh’s voice was rough and broken as he said, “I know it was. I know, Lenna.”

“So I can’t just hide away anymore. I’m not going to—not if there’s something else I can do. You and Talia have made a choice in this, and you have to let the rest of us make a choice too. It’s going to be a while—probably years—but I’ll be ready for whenever you need me. I’m a good pilot. Cain is too. And there isn’t a better mechanic than Cain.”

Everyone turned to look at Cain, who was sitting next to his wife at the kitchen table with an utterly stoic expression. At Lenna’s words, he gave a brief nod.

Desh’s mouth twisted. “I do need help. I know I do. And later I’m sure what we’ll need is pilots. But I hate for you all to leave your homes here. To risk your lives. You… you have children.”

Lenna shook her head, and Cain finally spoke in his gruff voice. “Our children will have to live in this universe after we are gone. If we can make it better for them, then that’s what we have to do.”

Desh’s hand was shaking in her grip, and Talia squeezed it, trying to encourage him. “We’re not at that point yet, Desh,” she murmured.

He stared at her almost helplessly.

She leaned over to kiss him. “When we are at that point, you’ll be ready. I know you will.”

He let out a shaky breath. “Okay. Okay. Thank you. All of you. I don’t know… I don’t know what to say.”

“Maybe you can start by telling us your plans for the first steps,” Hall said, his light, polished voice breaking the tension and bringing them all back to more normal interaction, much to Talia’s relief. “We might have some ideas that can help you.”

So they talked for several hours that evening, and together they put together what Talia thought was a very good plan to begin a rebellion.

It wasn’t like all those stories she’d read. It was real and tedious and achingly hard. And it would probably take years.

Yet it was exactly like those stories.

One person made a decision, made a hard choice. And then other people made choices as well.

And sometimes it led to suffering. Much would be lost. Even lives.

Always lives.

But in doing so, something else was gained, something too precious to be won easily or achieved without great cost.

And eventually as one person chose good after another, the world could be changed.

Even her world.

It was what she’d always dreamed of.

She’d never known—even a few months ago—that dreams could ever come true.

But her life had already transformed.

And now she believed her world could too.