Lois thrashed and screamed. Dana, gassed to placidity, sat in a chair seeing nothing of Lois’ struggles. Clara couldn’t look away from that pained and awful writhing. She whispered, “Help her. Please.”

Marik nodded. He knelt beside Lois and used a syringe to administer the dosage. Dana’s other daughter was nowhere in sight, and Clara hoped she did not return anytime soon either. This was enough of a nightmare.

Lois died in a matter of a second. Clara’s hands dug at her clothing then she pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes, grinding them against the bones of her eye sockets. Even that was not enough to keep the tears from falling.

Renall’s arms went around her. She let him hold her. Jeval said, “We have to talk to her now while she is under and may be able to answer.”

Renall’s hands came up and smoothed Clara’s hair away from her face. She sobbed against his chest, not caring that her tough façade had cracked, not caring that she was in the arms of the being who just kept taking her heart and breaking it. She hurt so much in so many ways that all she could do was lean against him and let the tears flow and the sobs come and sound out.

His body rocked hers gently. His arms held her within his embrace, and his scent filled her nostrils. She knew she should back away, let go and keep on letting go of him until she was really done with him. He was the worst thing she could do to herself. He held way too many cards. She couldn’t win his love, and he didn’t want hers. But no matter how true those thoughts were, her hands held on; and he held onto her in return.

Her sobs began to taper off. Marik and Talon carefully and gently lifted Lois’ limp body and left with it. Clara didn’t have to be told she would be taken to the rejuvenator fields to be turned into fertilizer for the planet’s greenbelts. She didn’t need to be told, and she did not want to know either.

Jeval knelt down in front of Dana. He spoke softly. “I need you to speak with me.”

“All right.” Dana’s wide and unseeing eyes stared past Jeval at nothing.

Jeval asked, “What is your name?”

“Dana.”

“How many daughters have you?”

“Two Sanara and Lois. Lois is dead though.”

Clara jumped. A cry broke from her mouth. She had thought that Dana, deeply gassed, would not be able to see that, and knowing she had cut like a blade. Then Dana spoke again.

Dana said, “It was the fever. I asked her father, my husband, to take a debt for us. To get her into a medi-center and medicine. He said he would, but instead he took on a hunger debt.”

“Lois is dead?” Jeval pressed on.

Dana nodded. “The fever took her. But…” Her eyes blinked, slow and steady. “They brought her back.”

Jeval asked, “Who brought her back?”

“The…”Dana frowned again. Her tongue touched her lip. “Her. Jessica. She brought her back. Said she was Lois.”

Jessica? Clara’s eyes widened. Renall caught his breath. But the most startling reaction came from Talon. He paled and sucked in air. Jeval shot all of them a warning look then asked, “Dana, was it Lois she brought back?”

Dana nodded happily. “Yes. Lois is my daughter. She was sick. Now she is not.”

Renall said, to Talon, “Get Jessica in here now.”

Talon said, “Renall, I warn you. Don’t harm her.”

Electric tension hit the air. Clara looked from Talon to Renall. Something was going on, but she was too weary and sickened by the sudden death to try to understand what it was. Renall spoke softly. “I do not intend to harm her. None of us do.”

Talon went. Jeval asked Dana, “You said Jessica?”

Dana nodded. “But not Jessica. She was…” A vague look filled Dana’s face. She didn’t go on.

Renall released Clara. The heat of his body stayed on her skin, and she clung to that phantom warmth. She felt adrift and lost now, alone in a way she could not even explain.

Talon came back. Jessica stopped and gawked at them all. “What is it?”

Jeval placed two fingers below Dana’s nostrils. He said, “The gas is wearing off. She’s breathing more normally.”

Renall said, “Jessica, we need to know who Lois really was.”

Jessica’s face went white. “Was?”

“She was a cycle spy,” Talon said without even trying to soften the words. “You brought her to Dana. We need to know why.”

Jessica said, “I don’t know. I don’t even recall doing so. I will believe you that I did, but why I could not say.”

Renall said, “Clara, are you all right?”

She’d been swaying on her feet. She quickly gathered her courage. She said, “I am. Is Dana?”

Jeval said, “She will sleep once the gas starts to wear off.”

Clara licked her lips. “What do we tell her about Lois?”

“That she had the fever. That it must have come with her and taken her very suddenly.” That came from Marik. He added, “And that we did not let her suffer. We will also tell Dana she has the fever and quarantine her for a short time just so I can watch her to make certain her memory wipe does not unravel. Or the implants, whichever needs the most attention.”

He said, “I’ll take her now. Talon, you help me.”

It was an order, and they all knew it. Talon dug his heels in. “I think I would rather stay.”

Marik said, “I need your help now.”

Talon relented. He gave Jessica a long look as he passed her. Jeval said, “Jessica, you know I can drift dream, don’t you?”

She nodded. Fear showed on her face as she watched Talon and Marik lead the stunned Dana from the room. “I have heard you could.”

Jeval said, “I need inside your mind.”

Jessica flinched. So did Clara. That seemed so personal! Jessica said, “I would like to know too. So go ahead.”

Clara held her breath as Jeval began. She wondered if perhaps Renall was possessed of the same ability. Could that be that strong magnetic pull she always felt for him?

No.

She could wish it was, but that was not it at all. She was drawn to him because she was attracted by his kindness and his sense of justice and fairness. She was drawn to him because he was attractive and warm.

Oh is so fair? That little voice came back into her head, mocking her. He offered you the chance to be his whore but not his wife. He won’t break that pact because it means more to him than anyone and anything, including you. If he were so fair, he would simply hand you that crypto file and your mother’s chamber keys and let you go with the credits you have earned, just like you told him. But had he offered to do that? No. He will leave her, and he will leave you behind and all so he can fulfill his dreams and without you.

Her emotions were too conflicted where he was concerned. One more reason to just leave him alone. To try to find a way to get the file and her mother and flee from Orbitary and him. She could figure out another way to get the rest of her family out of serio-max if she had to.

Then Jessica began to speak, and Clara forgot about all of that. “She’s Halsey Miggs.”

Halsey Miggs? The daughter of the highest governor? That made no sense at all. Why would…? Clara looked over at Renall. He looked as confused as she did.

Jeval asked, “Why did you take her to the seamstress?”

“I was trying to save her life.” Jessica wore the same vague and un-present look that Dana had worn. It was eerie and slightly frightening. Clara drew closer to Renall, but that time he did not reach for her. In fact, he stepped closer to Jeval—and away from her, making her heart plummet all over again.

Renall said, “Why was her life in danger?”

Jessica didn’t respond until Jeval repeated the query. Then, “She was sold to satisfy a debt. Private sale. Private debt. The buyer wanted to see her suffer. Watch her pain. I took her to the seamstress before the circuit could be flipped. I thought she’d become an under dweller and that would satisfy the buyer. That she would suffer enough there.”

Clara’s mouth dropped open. She whispered, “That is why they beat her so severely and put her on that ship to Narnlia! She went against the government!”

Renall gave her a nod but didn’t answer. He leaned forward, listening intently as Jeval asked, “Why did they wipe your mind? Why did they take her memories?’

Jessica answered. “They didn’t. I did. I used a black market contact to try to remove the circuit when I realized she would die and that the suffering they wanted was far more. I knew what the ship really did. Brides. They call them brides. But they are not brides. They are chattel and often killed in horrific ways for the pleasure of Magna beasts.”

Renall gasped. Clara stepped back. Jeval stared back at them, his mouth hanging ajar and horror showing on his face. “Magna beasts? It is forbidden to fight the Magna beasts now.”

“They do though, and they bait them with the bodies of the women who do not do well in the brothels. They don’t want me to know. The government would be overthrown if the secrets I hold were known.”

Jeval asked, “What other secrets do you know?”

“I don’t know. But her, I do know. Because…because I was wiped before I was taken to the ship, but it was too hasty. I saw her there. Saw her. Knew. In my head but not—I did not know on the bottom of my brain.”

Jeval said, “I think that is as far as I can go with her now.’

Renall nodded. Jeval brought Jessica back. Clara asked, “What do we do now?”

Renall said, “You go to the hall and take your table.”

She searched his face. “You had Marik gas me so you could find out if I was a cycle spy, didn’t you? You somehow knew there was one and you wanted to know if it was me. You had my chip removed so you could test my fluid.”

His eyes dropped away from hers, telling her everything she needed to know. Ire filled her. “How dare you? Why did you simply not tell me you were going to have it done?”

“Because we had no idea if you were the cycle spy. If you were, we could not let those who were watching know that we knew.”

Her chin thrust out. “I would say that they know now.”

His eyes snapped back to hers. “Yes, they do. They also know that we are criminals now too. That means that the Federation can confiscate everything we have gained over the last centuries.”

Her eyes widened. She had not considered that. “You still should have told me. I woke up wondering if all of it, all that happened last evening, was a dream.”

“I am sorry for that.”

His words held no emotion. Just like that, he shut her out. Again. Clara looked away then from his face. She managed a deep breath. “You do know that if you had trusted me enough to tell me about all of this in the first place, maybe it would not have gone this far.”

Renall’s lips flattened. “Clara, this is not the time for that conversation.”

She had no doubt that he would never want to have that conversation with her. Why would he? He did not trust her any more than she trusted him.

She turned and walked out of the room, away from the stench of death and toward her chamber. By the time she reached the hallway, she was running as fast as she could.