After a fitful sleep, I woke late the next morning to find a surprise waiting on my nightstand. I sat up in bed and tucked my legs beneath me. I rubbed at my eyes as I stared at the light blue box. Obviously it was from Rylos. I wasn't sure when he would've had the chance to sneak in and put it there. The bags underneath my eyes were so heavy that I felt like I hadn't slept even a wink.

The only other person who seemed to tolerate me around here was Kastia, and I doubted she was in the business of buying presents for humans. But, in the same vein, why would Rylos even bother giving me a present after the night before? Maybe there were packing orders inside, telling me where I could shove my human sensibilities on the way out.

Might as well find out. I pulled the box into my lap and lifted the lid with both hands. Inside there was a tablet and a handwritten note. In the Korysti language. I stared down at the indecipherable symbols with a flat look. He knew that I couldn't read it. Was this some sort of joke? My expression hardened the more I gave it thought. Another reminder that I was somehow lesser and deserved to be nothing more than a pet?

I picked up the tablet with a sigh and touched the screen, bringing it to life. To my surprise, I could actually read the words on the screen. They were translated. I thought back to a moment ago, when I'd been so furious at his gift, and I felt a little bad for assuming the worst. He'd told me he could make arrangements, didn't he? This must've been what he meant.

When I looked back down I noticed an icon for a dictionary. I fished the note of the box and placed it in front of me. Through trial and error, I slowly began to trace them onto the screen. A furrow between my brow soon turned into a scowl as I pieced together the note he left me. It said, "Good work, pet. I would hate for you to get so bored that you wander and kiss strange men you hate. Enjoy the rest of your day."

With a groan, I crumpled up the note into a ball and tossed it across the room. Just as it thumped against the wall and rolled across the floor, the door to my room swung open. Solyndi led the charge as she and Kastia walked into my room. She eyed the rolling ball with open disgust.

"See, Kastia? Raska."

There was that word again. I might've not known the characters, but I did know how to say it. I tapped the speech button on the dictionary, lifted the tablet closer, and said, "Define raska."

Solyndi's movements slowed to a crawl as she processed the tablet in my hand, and what I was doing with it. Too late. The dictionary on this thing apparently didn't have the filters of my in-ear translation device, so it happily told me that the closest equivalent was trash.

I clicked my tongue and gave Solyndi a flat look. "The only raska here is you."

Solyndi gasped and covered her mouth with a hand. Through her fingers, she harshly whispered, "You can't just go around calling people that."

"Solyndi, do you have any idea how stupid that sounds coming from you? I just don't— Nevermind." Kastia rubbed at her brow and sighed. "Please don't do this. Either of you. I'm not in the mood today."

I frowned. "Everything alright, Kastia?"

I felt compelled to ask because it just seemed like the right thing to do. She was obviously distraught about something. And, despite being Korysti, she had been the most pleasant to me out of anyone on this forsaken planet. Instead of replying, however, she quietly walked over to my side table and set down my breakfast tray. All of this still seemed like a lot of pampering for someone being held against their will, but I wasn't going to turn it down after the way I'd lived for a year.

Solyndi, who had begun pulling out my cosmetics for the day and lining them up on the dresser, scoffed and shot me a dark look over her shoulder. "She's upset because she got word from another maid friend that the Senator is under scrutiny after your public tantrum."

"Tantrum? If they thought that was a tantrum, I could really blow their minds."

"I don't think you understand the gravity of his profession," Kastia replied, her voice soft.

"I know what a senator does."

"Forgive me, but I doubt you fully understand the ways of the Korysti." Kastia folded her hands at her waist and chewed at her lower lip. "He is the face of our state and all the cities within it. For a Korysti, reputation is of the utmost importance. It's the thing that anyone in his position has to be very careful to uphold. If he were to lose the confidence of our state . . ."

Solyndi curled her upper lip back. "We'd definitely be out of our jobs. So if you could not be such raska, we'd both appreciate it."

"Solyndi," Kastia chastised gently, "I've told you a thousand times, if not a million, that you need to be more understanding. Your brash nature doesn't reflect well upon this household, and Senator Rylos deserves—"

"He put everything at risk by not only bringing this human into the household, but taking her to his work? I don't know what he deserves anymore. He's being destructive, Kastia."

"You know he must've had a reason."

I leaned back in bed, arms crossed. "Color me shocked, but I agree with Solyndi. What good reason could he have for buying a human? You all hate us, apparently, so I'm guessing we're taboo, right?"

Kastia sharply inhaled, eyes wide. "We don't all hate you. That isn't true at all. But, well, there is some stigma associated with the purchase of a human . . . of your preferred gender."

"Preferred gender?" I asked.

"She means for having sex with," Solyndi clarified for Kastia with a grin.

"Thanks," I said with a small smile of my own. "That one almost slipped past me."

Solyndi opened her mouth as if she wanted to joke in reply, then ducked her head and turned back around. All of her attention was focused on carefully arranging the sea of pastels that would undoubtedly go on my face yet again. Kastia handed me a cup of that sweet white liquid that I'd had before.

"What is this stuff?" I asked as I breathed in the scent. "It's amazing."

"It's the liquid of a fruit which contains a mild stimulant."

"Nice." I nodded slowly. "I've missed having my morning dose of drugs."

Her eyes widened. "We're not drugging you, it's only—"

I held up a hand. "No, no, that was just a dumb joke. About coffee. I really miss it."

"Coffee," Kastia said slowly, so slowly that I knew it wasn't being translated.

"Yeah, it was a drink made from hot water poured over roasted beans that weren't actually beans, but we called them that anyway . . ."

"That sounds convoluted," Kastia replied with a frown.

I smiled wistfully. "That sounds like home to me."

To my surprise, Solyndi moved a little closer, toying with the post at the end of my bed. "I can't imagine not being on Korystus. It must be hard to be so far from home."

I took a sip of my drink and nodded. "Especially when there's no home to go back to."

It was Kastia's turn to look interested. "I heard from another maid—"

"Kastia's a big gossip, in case you haven't noticed." Solyndi pursed her lips. "Careful what you tell her. Her mouth just flops open. She can't control it."

"You can't control yours either." Kastia shot Solyndi a playful glare. "Anyway, I heard from another maid that your kind were on the run and that's how you ended up here. Is that true?"

"We were. A violent species called the Adrax took over our planet. It was either enslavement, death, or running. So, millions of us fled. We took any ship we could. My ship wasn't even built to travel this far." I swallowed deeply as I thought back to my long shifts in the engine room. "We tried so hard to keep her flying."

"So, were you trying to land on our planet when you crashed?" Solyndi asked in a surprisingly measured tone.

I thought back to that meeting with Rylos and my heart seized. She wanted to know if we had done that on purpose.

I shook my head. "I'm not certain. I wasn't on deck. I was in the engine room just trying my hardest to make sure our engines didn't give up. I burned my wrist so badly that I nearly blacked out."

They both gasped as I pushed the pearlescent band on my wrist aside to show them a faint, paper-thin scar. I had a feeling scars were a rare sight for them. The damage I'd done had been so severe even the Korysti struggled to make my skin smooth, and they could mend bones within a day. The doctors had actually been upset by the slightly mangled skin. I was happy it was there. It was proof that I'd tried, even if I'd failed. That counted for something, I hoped.

"How did you do that much damage?" Kastia reached out and touched my wrist quickly, like she was afraid it might bite her. "Didn't it hurt too much?"

"At some point it just . . . stopped hurting. But from what I heard there wasn't much left to burn by the time I was done."

"Why would you do something like that?" Solyndi asked, horrified.

"I had to. There was a scorching pipe between me and a component that needed constant work to keep the ship going. Normally, we would've powered off that part of the engines, but we didn't exactly have that choice then."

"That was good of you, I guess, but . . ." Solyndi plucked at an invisible thread on my blanket. ". . . I still wish you hadn't landed here."

Kastia gasped. "How could you be so cruel? You'd rather them be stranded in space?"

That meeting flashed to mind again. Despite my hatred for the Korysti, I was starting to understand the hostility, at least. They probably thought we were selfish, choosing our lives over those in that mountain town. And for all I knew, that was true. I hadn't been on deck when they made the decision. I hoped they hadn't. If they'd told us, we could've held out long enough for them to steer clear of putting anyone in harm's way.

"It's okay, Kastia," I found myself saying, much to my surprise and Solyndi's. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for the hurt that we've caused. I don't think, for a second, that it makes the way we've been treated okay, but . . . I get it, I guess."

"I'm sorry, too," Solyndi murmured. "For assuming you were all terrible. You're not bad."

"On that same note," Kastia began, "I want to assure you that although he might have trouble expressing it, Senator Rylos does want the best for you. I assure you that very few humans have this life."

"He's told me as much. I'll try to be . . . more understanding." Emphasis on the word try. I could've sworn Rylos had been created in a lab specifically to press every button I had. If I ever wanted to escape, I was going to have to find some way to convince him to take this bracelet off. I didn't think I had very good odds of behaving nicely, though. Just a sneaking suspicion he would always manage to infuriate me.

"Excellent." Kastia's expression was bright and cheery as she got to her feet. She placed my tray on the bed. "Eat up. Solyndi, could you go prepare her bath?"

"Sure thing." Solyndi headed to the door, pausing just before she stepped through it. "But Marion?"

It felt so good to hear someone say my name that my eyes instantly stung with unshed tears. "Yeah?"

"Don't think for a second I've forgotten you called me raska."

I gave her a half-smile. "Likewise."

I looked up from the tablet, which I'd been reading for hours, glutting myself on all sorts of random information about Korystus, when I heard footsteps in the hallway. The door next to mine opened and shut, then I heard shuffling in the room beside me. I set the tablet down and crept over to the door, all the while adjusting my stupid, silky outfit.

"I'd kill for a pair of pants," I mumbled to myself.

There was definitely someone in the room connected to mine. The one with the locked door. The only one I couldn't open yet. I touched the screen and, to my surprise, the door opened a crack. I opened the door and peeked inside. The first thing I saw was Rylos's naked back, his deep purple tattoo glimmering in the dim light of what I quickly realized was his bedroom. It's right next to mine?

"Did you enjoy your day, pet?" Rylos asked as he turned around.

I folded my arms across my chest, desperately trying to keep my eyes on his and not the hard lines of his chest.

"Is that a no?" he asked with a smile.

"You could've just told me what happened when we crashed instead of taking me to that meeting and making humans look even worse."

His smile faded. "I brought you in hopes that you would share your side of the story as well."

"Why not warn me?"

"I've never exactly been given the chance, have I? This is the longest, most productive conversation we've had yet."

"Because you reduced me to your pet. All I do is sit around and get fed and dressed up. You've treated me like an idiot from the start."

Rylos crossed the distance between us in the blink of an eye, a hand holding my chin. "I've never once treated you like an idiot."

"So you don't deny treating me like your pet?"

"Absolutely not."

"Why?"

"Because I like the way you react."

"So I'm not just a pet . . . I'm a toy. Having fun?"

"If you were a toy, I would've played with you already."

I tried my hardest to ignore the way my pulse quickened. "Isn't that what you've been doing already?"

His hands found their way to my waist. I should've pushed him away, but instead I let him pull me closer. He dipped his head down to brush his lips over mine and, in a low voice, he said, "Not nearly as much as I'd like."

A curse fell from my lips as my body seemed to take on a mind of its own. My hands sank into his hair, pulling him down to close the microscopic distance between us, and I kissed him. Hard. The groan that came from somewhere deep inside him as I pressed my body to his sent a warm jolt through me.

His hands slid inside the fabric criss-crossed over my chest, fingers brushing over my stomach, then moving upward to just below my breasts. I let out a disappointed moan as he stopped there, fingers brushing small circles over my skin. I wanted him to touch me so badly it hurt. I slid one hand from his hair and brought to his wrist, urging him to move his hand those last few inches.

Rylos pulled his lips away and pressed his forehead to mine. His breathing was labored. Each breath was ragged and fast, matching my frantic heartbeat and the desire coiling deep inside my lower stomach.

"Do you want this, pet?" he asked in a hoarse voice, each word sounding like it was harder for him to say than the last. "Do you really want this?"

Rylos was right to ask. His kind subjugated my people. He bought me. How could I forget that? Sleeping with him, no matter how strong the urge might be, wouldn't be right. It just wouldn't. I had to stop before I did something I would regret.

I slowly unwound myself from him and looked up to see something in those glowing silver eyes that gave me pause. There was a surprising amount of understanding there . . . and hurt. Confusion clouding my mind, I began to back away. Why was he acting like this? Why were all of them acting like this . . . ? It was too much, too fast. It was so much easier in the lab when I couldn't see this side of them. I didn't—I didn't even know where to begin with processing any of this.

So I went back to the door that had brought me inside. I could feel Rylos's eyes following me as I walked. I wanted to turn around. I wanted to take him up on his offer. So I closed the door. What's happening to me?