She didn’t want it, but her stomach turned when she thought about what the future might hold now that the implant removal had happened. She’d thought about it, of course, when they were making plans — but she didn’t know if it would work.
She could already feel that she had access to a little more, but she didn’t know what.
Marc’s voice was loud and magnified. Whatever speakers they used were making her cage vibrate.
The onlookers walked away from her cage. Apparently a subdued and half-asleep Yore girl wasn’t very interesting.
There was only one person left there. He was definitely a wealthy Draka.
Was he going to buy her? Phuong couldn’t wipe away the tear that leaked from her eye with her hands bound.
“Did you choose to be auctioned?”
Phuong tried to open her mouth, but she couldn’t move her tongue properly. With a lot of effort, she closed it.
The Draka frowned. “Hm. You know what? I think that I can help.” He winked at her.
He bit his lower lip deliberately, hard enough to draw blood. A few drops came out. He put his long, elegant index finger to his lip to catch a little blood.
Then his long arm was coming straight through the bars of Phuong’s cage. His finger was making its way inside of her mouth.
The second that the blood touched her tongue, her tongue tingled. She reflexively sucked all the blood that she could from his finger.
Then she caught herself. What was she doing? She didn’t know this guy. Who knew what else was on his hands? Had she really just drunk a few drops of his blood?
But the tingling was spreading throughout her body. First it went to her throat, but her body was thawing like ice in the springtime.
She flexed her hands in the cuffs.
She could talk now. “My hands are tied.”
“I can get you out of this cage.”
The Draka pulled a small gadget from an inner pocket.
“What’s that?”
“Something that ensures that I’ll never have to call a locksmith.”
He put it against her cage’s door. They both heard the click as the door unlocked.
And then he was leaning into the cage and putting it on her handcuffs. She was able to pull her wrists out of them.
He took her hand and brought her out of the cage.
“Olivier, what are you doing?”
“Gahariet, I thought that this lovely lady needed a little help.”
“What have you done? You’re so impulsive.”
“I saw someone in need and helped them. Is there anything wrong with that?”
Gahariet just shook his head and opened his mouth. Instead of words, he expelled smoke which quickly settled into a simulacrum of Phuong, complete with the cuffs that were really on the floor of the cage.
“This could buy us some time.” He closed the cage again. “They’ll be able to see you inside of your cage, which is all that they’ll need until the end of the night. We can maintain it for as long as you like.”
“We need to get out of here,” Olivier said. “I don’t want to tangle with Marc, not on his own ground.”