Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
Bri
Iwait a few minutes in the prayer room and listen for Boss. Hopefully he’s convinced I prayed long enough and I can get back to my room. This is such bullshit. It’s past time to plan a little retaliation for Boss being such a prick.
On tiptoes, I creep through the tunnels toward my room and wonder if Tai is there. Maybe I’m still in the sex haze, but I’m excited to get back to him. I smile despite myself.
That little voice in the back of my head whispers warnings.
You’ll only hurt him.
You weren’t made to settle down with anyone.
By the time I reach our room, I’m completely conflicted. Part of me wants him. In some weird way, we work. The other part wants a life free of guilt, and that means no one gets close enough to get hurt.
I take a deep breath and open the bedroom door. No more of the hottest sex to ever exist. We’ll keep it friendly and plan our revenge on Boss.
The room is dark and empty. I don’t have to see anything to know Tai isn’t in there. Something is off. There aren’t any brethren hovering around, Boss isn’t anywhere to be found, and Tai is missing.
I turn on my heel and begin my search.
“You arrogant Tilak, thinking you can come in here and take what is ours.”
I hear Boss’s condescending tone down the hallway. Excuse the fuck outta me? Theirs?
Oh, hell no.
I step around the corner and into absolute chaos. Tai is on the ground, wrists cuffed behind his back. Boss looms over Tai, pointing a blaster down at his chest. Brethren are scattered all over, rubbing jaws and inspecting injuries.
“What is going on here?” I ask innocently. Boss and Tai look at me in unison. Tai looks concerned, but that concern is not for himself, It’s for me. Boss has his familiar arrogant air about him.
This bastard loves it when he can reign over anyone.
“Glorious Light-Bringer, the Tilak has broken the sacred laws. He has defiled the Wahadi and deceived you. It is time he paid for his transgressions,” Boss says keeping the blaster firmly pointed at Tai.
“How has he deceived me, loyal Brethren?” I slip into character. I’m going to need to be convincing to get Tai out of this.
“He has not told you the truth about his past. He was here, on Sabaak, when he was caught for his crimes,” Boss says. “I knew he looked familiar. I checked our records and confirmed it was him.”
“Tai?” His name slips from my lips.
He looks ashamed, caught in a lie. His reaction tells me everything I need to know. Boss is telling the truth.
Betrayal hits me right in my chest, and it knocks the air out of my lungs. Why didn’t he tell me this before? That feeling disappears, quickly replaced by anger. I feel manipulated, and I didn’t expect that from Tai.
“Bri…"
Tai struggles on the ground, and the cuffs shock him so hard, he is knocked unconscious.
“Lower the blaster. He can’t do anything now,” I tell Boss, sadness and disappointment soaking my every word.
“We will return him to the gods.”
“No! Wait.” I stop them from picking up his limp body. “I give him mercy. No returning him to the gods. Take him to the dungeon. And take those cuffs off—it’s inhumane.”
“But—” Hot-Breath steps in.
“No. As your goddess, I decide what happens to him. Take him to the dungeon or you can join him there.” I stare him down, daring him to defy me. I’m not fucking around. I’m tired of this shit and want to go home.
It takes a dozen of them to drag Tai down the stairs to the dungeon. The plan has officially changed. No more trying to get through to these guys. It’s not worth risking Tai. He has become far too important, and I want answers. He owes me the full truth.
What I need is a distraction. I need something so big, so monumental that the brethren won’t even remember Tai exists.
There is one thing that could take their minds off the giant blue prisoner in the dungeon: the mere thought of their goddess performing one very specific ceremony I refused to participate in previously.
I grab my pack from the bottom drawer and check the contents.
No hydropacks, no nutrigels, but everything else is still there.
I look down at my clothes and wish I had my nasty coveralls.
This goddess costume they have dressed me in is not ideal for a daring escape, but I don’t have any other options.
I bolt to the bathroom and grab a handful of the bottles of soap from the edge. I spin around, looking for anything else that could be useful. Seeing nothing, I stash the pack under my bed.
I crack open the door. Bug-Eyes sits on a wooden chair facing me. Just sitting there. Staring. Waiting for me to open the door.
Creepy fuck.
“There you are! I was hoping to find you.” I should have been an actress with how convincing I sound.
“What can I do for you?” He yawns. Someone isn’t excited about being on guard duty.
“I need to speak with Boss. Can you go find him for me?” I ask sweetly, hoping a little charm will help get me what I want.
“Boss?” he asks.
Dammit, why do they only go by Brethren? It’s so fucking confusing. I suspect he knows exactly who I’m referring to. He’s just being difficult.
“Brethren, the Brethren. Long eyebrows that connect with the long gray beard? Ever heard of him?”
“Wait here. Don’t leave your room.”
The illusion that I had the upper hand fades fast. I might not be locked up in a dungeon, but I am a prisoner just the same.
I wait impatiently in the doorway, watching for a possible break in the steady stream of brethren walking past. Why are they all in this part of the colony today?
Don’t they have better things to do with their time?
Boss finally shows up, his thin lips pressed tightly together.
“Yes?” he says impatiently. I notice he didn’t address me with any of the over-the-top titles I have come to expect.
“The brethren have proved their loyalty to me. You have found the traitor in our midst. I would like to reward you all. Tonight.”
He raises one skeptical bushy eyebrow at me.
“The ceremony, the one we didn’t finish,” I clarify, hoping I can get away with saying less. I refuse to say the words “pleasure” and “completion” around these guys.
“Goddess, the ceremony requires purification of the brethren before we can begin, and we still have the Tilak to deal with.”
“Don’t worry about him. He’s locked up, right? He can’t go anywhere. I want to do the ceremony tonight. I’ll do my own little purification thingy as well, and I am not to be disturbed. I’ll come out when I’m ready.”
His eyes light up at the tenacity in my voice. He’s fucking crazy if he thinks I am getting anywhere near any of their cocks.
“I am happy to see you have come around. I will notify the brethren to begin preparations.” He bows low and backs away.
“Tell them to prepare the rooms on the third level,” I call after him before closing the door. They will be out of the way up there so I can get down to the dungeon while they are doing whatever they do to prepare for this.
Back in my room, I strap on my pack and wait with my ear to the door until I am completely satisfied that the brethren are busy “purifying.” Gross. I shudder at the thought.
Outside the safety of my room, the coast is clear, but I don’t have long. The tunnels are quiet, not a bell or robe in sight. I dart from alcove to alcove carefully. My eyes scan my surroundings for stray brethren around every turn.
Tai better be conscious by now. There is no way I can drag him up on my own.
Moans come from a darkened room, and I scurry past as quickly as possible. As I suspected, these idiots are jerking off to prepare for the ceremony.
Down the hall, a curtain is pulled back. I slip in the doorway to my left and ease it shut, closing myself in. Scratchy robes push against my back in the tiny pitch-black closet. A lucky move on my part. I slip into one of the robes and leave the bell behind—they don’t need to hear me coming.
A brethren shuffles by and takes the staircase up, heading to the third level.
I dash to the stairs on the other end of the tunnel and take a dark, narrow staircase down, praying to the Goddess of the Radiant Sunburn that this is where the dungeon is.