18 Cylene
Vitus escorts me to my room. His friendly demeanor is gone, and he’s all business. “There’s one hour left until the bonding ceremony. You are free to go, to stay and watch, or to choose one of your other offers.”
Other?I scroll through the list but don’t see him on it. I don’t know what he and Rhynin talked about or what’s gotten into him. “You’re not on here?”
He hangs his head. “I do not feel that I can or should be the one to protect you. I have failed at it in a large way. While you climbed out of the space suit, Abr officers spoke with me. They believe I endangered your life. So no matter what I want, I have been disqualified.
The walls press in on me in a way I don’t like. “So what? Screw what they think. What do you want?”
Vitus motions me into my room. I walk inside but he doesn’t follow. “Please, choose wisely.”
“Are you staying for the ceremony?”
“If they let me.”
“What about our deal?”
He tilts his head. “I will honor our agreement. I will provide you the funds to open a studio where you wish to have one. Your wristband can still call mine.”
Vitus turns and walks away. I lean out and call after him, but he is met by an officer and escorted down the hallway.
I scroll through those who have made an offer to me. All I have to do is tap the name, and it will signal them that I’m interested in continuing to pursue them as a mate. But I am beyond confused and broken over what has transpired. We survived being abducted, and yet Vitus is in trouble.
None of the prospects in the list are much more than a recognizable face among many from the week’s events. I’m tired and irritated and hungry. My chameleon was taken from me and put in a pet care facility somewhere else on the base.
When I go to grab my things to leave, I discover a rack of formal wear with labels for each species that has proposed continued courtship. There’s everything except Nytheralian.
Vitus said he’ll help me, but that doesn’t feel like enough.
I’m not taking any of the offers. I’m not interested in them.
I thought based on the conversation he had with Jalut that Vitus didn’t want me considering what had happened, and maybe he doesn’t. But we’ve been paired since basically the beginning. And whatever consequences they try to deal him after he freed us from Faerlin’s ship, need to be corrected. I need to fix this.
Ohni— maybe she can help.
I grab my bag and leave everything else behind. Outside the room, I snag the first attendant I can find. “Where is Ohni?”
“I can summon her for you, but she’s helping other women get ready in the staging arena.” The woman shows me a holo map on her tablet.
I thank her and hurry up the stairs to the top floor, where the grand hall opens up to the sky with a tall windowed room. Beside it, through a cracked door, I see women getting ready in an assortment of dresses and a few in salon chairs getting their hair done.
Ohni sees me, and her smile falls. “You’re not dressed.”
“Of course not. We just got back.”
“But I put the dresses in your room.”
Another woman, dressed in a milky semi sheer gown walks up to me. Her hail is curled in shiny ribbons, and she’s recently tanned. “That sounds so scary! I heard the Nytheralian abducted you and tried to have his way with you in a nebula.”
“That’s not what happened at all,” I defend.
Other women confirm they heard the same story despite my protests.
When they won’t listen, I ignore them and pull Ohni aside. “Please, I need your help.”
Ohni glances around the room, and the women go back to prepping for their chosen mates. “Only because you and Ihna became quick friends, and the one who caught you offered her a chance to meet his Second. I don’t want to lose my job.”
“How about preventing a collapse of a peace treaty between planets because of a simple joyride gone wrong? It was not an abduction, not by a longshot. Would you risk your job to make that right?”
Ohni nods. “Okay, tell me what you need.”