King?
Because I wasn’t in deep enough shit as it is.
And what a liar. Shak told me he was of the lowest caste and here he is, the son of the freaking king?
God, I sure do know how to pick ‘em.
But at least when Shak starts towards my cage, the technician makes no move to stop him.
Shak snaps the lock on the door as if it is nothing. It was five inches thick, all pure metal. I’d been fiddling with the thing whenever no one was looking, trying to see if there was any way I could jimmy it open. But it wasn’t like any lock I’d ever seen before.
Then just like that, Shak’s opening the door and holding out a hand to me.
This is all happening so fast. And as much as I want to scream at Shak to go fuck himself, that he had no right to do what he did— I want out of the cage more and he seems to be my only ticket out.
So I take his damn hand.
Chapter Twenty-One
Shak
I immediately pull off my human chest covering and hand it to Juliet. She’s naked and shivering. And it’s all my fault. She turns her back to the room and slides the cloth on over her head. It comes down to her knees.
I take her arm and lead her to the med bay exit.
I do not look at or address anyone else as we leave and walk down the corridors together towards my barracks. I throw my shoulders back and portray confidence but I am not sure how long First will allow me to walk around freely. I would run with Juliet back to the shuttle and try to escape, but I am almost certain that would fail.
And I do not want to put Juliet through another confrontation right now.
Better to show Father and the Queen that I am merely asserting my rights to that which was promised me—a place in the Thraxian caste by my father’s side. Thraxians have ruled the throne for four millennia. My father is the fifth in the succession of Thraxian kings and I would have been the sixth, had he married my mother and she become Queen.
But he did not and so First will be King when Father dies.
Father is yet a hale and healthy 621 years old, though, just barely past his midlife. So there is time before I must bow to my brother.
When we finally get to a corridor that is clear of any Draci, Juliet squeezes my arm. “Where are you taking me?” she whispers.
I give a slight shake of my head. We cannot talk here. They are always listening.
She makes a disgruntled noise but does not try to communicate again.
I take her to the only place I can think of. My barracks.
I bang on the door first just to make sure Ezo is not doing anything embarrassing and then wave my hand over the sensor to open it.
I was hoping for Fortune, that Ezo would not be at home.
But Fortune has rarely favored me.
“Hey Shak,” he starts to say but then he freezes. “You have a human! Shak, why do you have a human with you?”
He leaps up from his bunk and runs the few paces to us, immediately reaching out and touching her hair.
Juliet jerks back and moves behind me, using me as a shield.
“Ezo,” I snap. “She is not a curiosity. She is a person.”
“Oh.” Ezo stands up straighter, chastised. At least he is wearing human pants. “I apologize, human female.” Then he cringes. “I’m screwing this up. Hold on a second.” He picks up his tablet he’d discarded on the bed, looks at it for a long moment, then tosses it back.
“Hey babe, great to meet ya. Wanna go out later for beers and burgers?”
A shocked little laugh escapes from Juliet and she peers out at Ezo from behind me.
His eyes are shining. “How’d I do? I’m studying like…” he pauses, obviously searching for words. “…like insanity. I can’t wait to get to earth. I want to try chocolate. I’ll eat a lot of chocolate. And pizza. Pizza and chocolate. And chocolate is for romance. Females like it, yes?”
“Um…sure?” Juliet says, a confused smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“You can leave now, Ezo,” I cut him off before he can continue with his nonsense. I am the one Juliet should be smiling at, but since I pulled her from the cage, she has barely looked my way.
Ezo takes one look at me and chooses wisely. “I have to go in for a treatment session. But it was great to meet you, female. Goodbye.” He extends his hand, shakes it in her face, and then is out the door.
The door closes but still Juliet will not look at me. Her eyes are trained on the floor.