"'Tak, wake up!" Ingendia shouted. She tugged on my shoulder so hard my entire body shook. My teeth chattered.

I groaned and tried to roll away, but midway through the motion, I bumped into something solid that I definitely didn't remember being there before. My eyes flew open as the smell of charred meat and fried deliciousness hit my nose.

Ingendia reached forward and caught the breakfast tray with both hands, shouting in the alien language. She looked at me as if she expected a response then shook her head and groaned.

"No time to make you more breakfast," Ingendia said as she set the tray back over the bed. "If it falls again, 'Tak eat anyway."

Whatever snippy retort I might have had for Ingendia was obliterated in another wave of savory aroma. Three steaming meat patties, each the size of my hand, were stacked in the middle of a square plate. They were flanked on either side by plump juicy vegetables that were the size of tomatoes but looked more like carrots. A pitcher of thick violet liquid, a small loaf of bread, and a hunk of butter took up the rest of the empty space.

"Please tell me that's for me," I blurted out.

Her brow furrowed. "'Tak, you make no sense. Of course, it is for you." She moved away from the side of my bed to the window and tossed the shades open, letting sunlight pour in.

I covered my eyes and groaned as pain shot through my eyes. Wait . . . sun?

"It's morning?"

If Ingendia hadn't had the presence of mind to press down on my shoulders, I would have sat up and knocked the tray over again. Thankfully, her reflexes were faster than mine. She was stronger than me too.

"Calm down, 'Tak," she said, adjusting her grip when she saw me wince. "When I told Kai'ben you slept, he said leave you be."

A sigh escaped my lips. Zarbonov couldn’t be mad that I missed the meeting if he's the one who canceled it. Something told me it wasn't a good idea to piss off the boss on the first day. I pushed myself up in bed, taking care not to jostle the tray again.

She passed me a fork and walked to the dresser. "Eat quickly, 'Tak. Kai'ben will wake soon. You will meet with him during his breakfast, which is already late.”

That was one order I was more than happy to follow. I plucked a patty from the plate with one hand and speared a roasted veggie with the fork in the other. I took huge bites out of everything, stuffing my face in a way that would have scandalized my mother if she’d seen it.

While I ate, Ingendia pulled outfits from the dresser, setting on the smooth surface in piles. I half expected to see more woven gold or see-through lace but was pleasantly surprised to see linen and light fabrics instead. Nothing she pulled out was as colorful or bright as the robe Zarbonov had worn the night before. None of it was as beautiful as the gold dress New Blue picked out.

"As 'Tak, you dress yourself. If you become 'Jan, I will help." She opened the second drawer and pulled out a leather bodice. "This will go over your dress."

"I'd rather not. I mean, it's not ugly," I said for fear I offended her. "It's just not really my style, you know?"

Ingendia grabbed my hand and set the bodice on my open palm. "Is Xiban style. Kai'ben will want to see you in it."

"Xiban,” I repeated, rolling the word around on my tongue. "What is that?"

"Our people," Ingendia said. "We are Xiban. It would please Kai'ben for you to look like us."

She walked toward the door as if the fact that Zarbonov wanted to see me with my waist cinched in leather overrode my opinion. Technically, it did, I guess.

"At least I get real clothes today," I mumbled.

Ingendia glanced at me over her shoulder. The sneer on her lips was hard to miss. "Until you are 'Jan, yes."

When the door slid shut, I undressed and bathed with the water in the china bowl. The selection of clothes Ingendia pulled turned out to all be dresses. I grabbed one from the pile and slid it over my head. The bodice was a chore to put on and made me wish I had an extra pair of hands, but I managed to snap it in place somehow.

That must have been why Ingendia took the time to tell me she wouldn't help me until I was a ‘Jan. Until I was what she thought I should be.

I tapped the keypad and the door slid open. Ingendia stood beside it, her arms folded across her chest and her blue eyes gliding over my body from head to toe.

"This will do. Come." Ingendia marched out of the building toward the center tower.

The courtyard had been deserted the night before, but a dozen blue-skinned aliens were in it now. Every time I passed one of them, they looked up from their work or paused mid-step to watch. A few of them exchanged whispers in their language.

My stomach sank further with each step we took toward the tower. Ingendia said Zarbonov had commanded her to let me sleep. He couldn't get mad if it was his idea, right? Maybe a normal person wouldn't, but Zarbonov was an alien who inexplicably spoke English and bought a stranger to be his wife. This whole thing passed normal a few stops ago.

If any of my growing panic made it to the surface, Ingendia didn't let on. She led me past the group of gawkers into the main tower. Thankfully, the tower was deserted and it had an elevator. It took less than a second for us to reach the top floor.

I had a sudden urge to ask Ingendia for advice as the door slid open. There was no way for me to know how well she knew Zarbonov, but she would know better than me how to avoid pissing him off.

The elevator door slid open and Ingendia stepped into the hall. She slid her fingers along a keypad in the wall. A soft chime and a loud voice responded and the door opened. Zarbonov was on the other side, sitting in a high-backed chair behind a breakfast feast that took up the entire table. Grilled meats, stewed grains, and sliced fruits of many vibrant colors covered every inch of every plate.

Zarbonov wore plain pants and heavy boots instead of the robes and sandals from the night before. His midnight black hair had been slicked back, and it curled just over the tops of his ears. A sturdy leather vest was wrapped around his torso, with heavy stitching that twisted and turned into a pattern. A gleaming silver emblem was pinned to his shoulder. He had worn the same one the night before, attached to his robes in a similar position.

He looked up at me, grunted, and went back to shoving spoonsful of the mushy wheat into his mouth. Was that approval or disapproval? I turned to Ingendia for clarification. She had already disappeared behind the closing door.

"I don't think she likes me very much," I said.

A sharp laugh burst from Zarbonov's mouth. "If you were Kai'jan she would not be so open. But you are Kai'tak, so Ingendia says what she pleases."

"Don't suppose you could explain to me what I did so I can avoid it next time?"

He paused, taking a sip from a bowl of what looked like orange milk. "Can a warrior retreat from battle after he draws first blood?"

As far as I was concerned, yes, but something told me that wasn't the answer Zarbonov was looking for. "I'm not a warrior."

"But your position is the same," Zarbonov said with a shrug. "You cannot take back actions she objects to. The choices were made."

"So back to my original question, then." I rubbed my forehead to keep the headache at bay. Zarbonov was the only person on the entire planet I could talk to, and every conversation with him turned into a wrestling match. One I could never win. "What did I do to her?"

"You are not Ella jan Zarbonov."

It took a second for his words to sink in and then a few more for them to make sense. Of course I wasn't Ella jan Zarbonov. I was Ella Browne, and would be for as long as I could help it. Why would that matter to Ingendia?

"Would she like me if I were a ‘Jan?" I asked, hating how small my voice sounded as it left my lips. It shouldn't matter to me if Ingendia hated my guts, but it did.

He paused mid-bite, drops of thick pale slop dripping from his spoon back into his bowl. "Does that matter to you?"

"Kind of . . .?"

Zarbonov's eyebrow quirked. "Why?"

"In my experience, it's a lot easier to live in places where there isn't a target on your back."

He laughed again, and this time, the sound didn't scare me. "Humans may be wiser than I thought. No, Ingendia would not like you more, but she would behave better. If she has hurt your feelings, I will correct her."

I shook my head. "That would only piss her off more. I can learn to live with it."

Zarbonov looked at me, his azure eyes suddenly fiercely intense. "I said I will correct her, Ella tak Zarbonov."

His tone didn't leave room for argument, but that didn't mean I had nothing to say. "What makes you think she will listen to you when it comes to me?"

"Ingendia is Xiban," he said, rising to his feet. "She knows her place."

The words stung more than I expected them to. In my first morning on my new planet, I had managed to annoy the only two people I could communicate with. Every chance I had, I reminded myself of whom I had been, clinging to it like a life preserver. But I would never be that Ella again.

Zarbonov's patience would eventually run out. Sooner than later, if I didn't find some way to learn the rules of their people. One of us had to bridge the gap.

"Will you teach me your language?" I asked.

He looked at me, his eyes narrowing for a moment. "No."

"What? Why?"

"You will learn it when I say, not before." He stepped away from the table.

I stepped in his way. "You mean you don't trust me yet."

Zarbonov stared down at me, folding his arms across the bulging muscles of his chest. "If those words carry more weight, yes."

I pressed my lips together and suppressed the urge to say I felt the same way. "Last night, you said I'm here to learn, right?"

"Yes, to be Kai'jan."

"How am I supposed to do that if I can't talk to anybody? How am I supposed to learn your culture if I don't understand anything? It'll take more than shoving me into your clothes."

Zarbonov lifted his chin. "The answer is no."

Every conversation with Zarbonov turned into a battle, and somehow, I was never quite sure which of us had won. If I couldn't get him to teach me, my life in his house would be long, hard, and lonely. I'd lived that life before once, back on Earth. I'd been dreading going back to it when I was stolen. Now, here it was, staring me in the face again.

I moved to my knees in front of Zarbonov, holding his gaze as I lowered myself to the stone floor. He eyes widened, but he didn't look away or move.

"Please, Kai'ben, I know I'm causing you trouble. I know you are trying to be kind. But I can't be whoever I'm supposed to be here if I can't understand the world around me. I'm begging you. Let me learn."

He stared hard at me for a long while, his chest heaving with each breath. But Zarbonov wasn't looking at my eyes. I followed his gaze down until my eyes landed on the soft curves of my breasts, perfectly visible above the linen dress and leather bodice.

As I crossed my arms over my chest to cover myself, my eyes landed on Zarbonov's straining bulge. A flush crept into my cheeks. "Um . . . I'm sorry. There's no mirror in my—"

Zarbonov bent down until his head was near mine. "You refuse to let me touch you, then pose like this and use these words?"

"I . . . don’t know what it means." I leaned back, shifting my weight onto my rear end to put distance between us. "Ingendia used it."

He groaned in frustration and stood up again. "Of course she did! It means . . . you have proven your point. We start tonight, after dinner."

Zarbonov turned and strode toward the door, leaving me cowering on the floor like a child. I could only imagine how our first lesson would go.