Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71082 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71082 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
I nod, pressing my face against his chest. "Why did that woman have my face?"
"That's what we're finding out," Kazex tells me, and he sounds so self-assured that I relax a little. I've been alone for so long, unable to trust anyone. Maybe it's foolish, but...I really want to trust him. I need to trust someone. I'm just so tired of being alone and afraid.
Maybe when this fog in my head clears, I'll be more afraid, but right now I just want to huddle against Kazex and let him handle all of my problems.
CHAPTER
TWO
KAZEX
The woman in my arms—Ruthie—is unconscious before I even make it to my quarters. My heart hammers with worry in my chest, but I tell myself that if there were true health issues, Sakkar would have noticed them already. She's just tired and hurting and needs to rest.
I hope. I don't want to do the wrong thing for her. She needs a champion and I knew the moment I saw her that I'd be hers.
Once inside the quarters I share with Dopekh, I shut the door behind me and switch off the lights. I know where my bunk is in the dark without having to stumble about despite the mess on Dopekh's side of the room. Gently, I lay Ruthie down in my bunk and tuck the blankets around her. I don't care that she's filthy or that her bare feet are getting dirt all over my bedding. She can wash later, when she's feeling better.
As I tuck the blankets around her, she stirs.
"It's dark," I say, keeping my voice soft so I don't hurt her head. "I'll make sure it stays quiet, too. You can rest here."
She licks her lips. "Water?"
"I'll get you some." I want to smooth her hair back from her face, but I don't dare touch her without an invitation. She doesn't belong to me. From this moment on she's her own person, no matter what her past was like.
I get a drink from the lavatory sink and bring it back to her. Her hands are shaking as I help her take small sips, and then she relaxes against my pillow, silent and wary.
"They drugged you?" I ask. "It's a common practice in the slave markets. Hurts the values of the merchandise if they're all screaming and hurting themselves trying to get away."
She's quiet for a moment and then says, "I didn't mind the drugs. It was better than the reality."
I know how that can be. Before I joined Lord Straik's crew, I worked in an asteroid mine. I saw some of the worst things in the universe. I know how bad people can be to each other. It's all the more reason why I need to keep Ruthie safe. "You'll be all right here with us, I promise. This ship is a good ship."
"Are you taking me back home to Earth?"
I go still. I hate the hope in her voice. She's dazed from the drugs so she doesn't realize— or maybe it hasn't sunk in that she's a clone. That she was never on Earth. That there's no “home” to go back to. "I won't lie to you, Ruthie. You're a clone, a created person just like me. There's no 'home' for us. We were created in a lab."
Her breath sucks in, but after a moment, she seems to accept this. "You're a clone, too?"
"See my red skin? It marks me as a clone." I keep my voice calm and steady. "I don't know why yours isn't red, but that's a question for someone else to answer. You're a clone to Lord Straik's mate, but it doesn't mean that you're the same person. You just look alike. Can I have your hand? Just for a moment?"
She offers it to me, palm up.
I take her small hand in mine and kef me, my heart aches with emotion. My female. My Ruthie. I'll murder anyone that ever tries to hurt her again. But I clamp all of this down, because now is not the time. Instead, I put her fingers on the side of my face. "The a'ani are a race of people that died out long ago. The ones you see here on the ship were cloned. Those of us that come from the same lab look alike, but you can tell small differences if you look closely. The space of our eyes, or if someone has a crooked tooth. Here on the side of my face, I have a tattoo. It's a swirl with three branches under the eye, so you can always tell me apart from the others. My name is Kazex."
"Kazex." She tastes my name on her tongue, her fingers light and petting my skin. "Why are you being so nice to me?"
I don't want to spill my story out and scare her. But I don't want to lie, either. So I give her a watered-down version. "Because I had a friend, once, that I should have helped. I didn't, and I regret that. Because I know what it's like to wake up and see someone else wearing the same face as you, and how confusing it can be. I know what it's like when you're alone, and I want you to know that you have a friend right here."