“Don’t mention the others,” I said, a bit drunkenly.
“There’s my jealous girl again.” Thane wrapped his arms around my waist and walked out on the balcony.
“We should have a house here,” I said sleepily, too tipsy to monitor my words.
“You can have whatever you want,” he replied.
Corran and Derrial strolled out just as our ship landed on the shore below us. Thane helped me down the stairs since I wasn’t moving very steadily and we climbed on the ship.
I stayed cuddled up in Thane’s arms for the trip back to the mansion, feeling better about our relationship than I ever had before.
* * *
“Tonight was perfect,”I whispered as I hugged each of them in front of the mansion. “One of the best nights of my life.”
Corran pulled me in for a kiss that left me breathless. The tension was bubbling at the surface for us. I wanted him badly and I didn’t know how much longer we could hold out. I was just contemplating how we could possibly sneak him in when lights all of a sudden shone down on us. They were bright, like spotlights, and they blinded me for a minute.
“What the hell is going on?” Thane looked like he was going to break the neck of whoever was responsible for this. To my surprise, three members of the Council appeared.
“Say your goodbye’s boys, this one is disqualified,” one of them said, grinning.
The three of them stood in front of me protectively. “On what grounds? Corran stopped before anything happened tonight,” Derrial said.
“One of the Councilmembers stepped forward with a device that started projecting a holographic image. I gasped in horror, feeling very sober all of a sudden. It was a picture of me sitting in Zeni’s ship.
“She tried to escape earlier and was stopped by one of the other contestants. Her attempt counts as a forfeiture.”
I could see the guys’ bodies stiffen upon seeing the picture. I could only imagine how disappointed they were in me thinking that I had tried to leave. I should have just told them what happened at dinner.
I guess this was it.
“And I suppose the other contestant who stopped her was Zeni, was it? Doesn’t it seem suspicious that Zeni bothered to take a photograph of an escape attempt instead of letting Ella go and immediately reporting it. We know for a fact that Zeni was the one who offered Ella the ship and she refused it,” said Derrial, shocking me with his defense of me and the fact that they seemed to already know exactly what had happened.
Thane stepped forward and pressed a band on his wrist, his own holographic image popping up, but this one a video. I watched in a mixture of amazement and horror as the exact scene that had transpired with Zeni played out on the video.
After it was done there was a grim silence. “There’s obviously been a mistake,” one of the Councilmen said stiffly before all three of them walked away.
I watched numbly as the ship the Councilmen had flown in on disappeared into the sky.
All three of them turned to look at me. There was an awkward silence.
“I should have told you what happened, but how did you get that video?” I asked, not knowing whether I should feel angry or grateful they had been spying on me.
Corran shifted guiltily. “I had a tracker activated in you after what happened with that prison worker who attacked you. We wanted to be able to check in on you in case something happened.”
“You put something else in me without my permission?” I asked, my voice climbing. I reached up to brush against the skin where I knew at least one of the devices resided.
“No,” Corran responded fast. “It was just a feature that hadn’t been activated yet in the sensor that monitors your health.”
“Does that make it any better?” I snapped. “You never told me it had that capability. What else have you recorded of me?”
“Calm down,” barked Derrial. “You’re not being rational. We obviously needed that video to prevent you from getting kicked out. It’s not like you bothered to tell us about that happening.”
I immediately backed down, feeling chagrined. “You sounded so mad earlier that I didn’t want to upset you any more,” I explained lamely.
“How about we all just forgive each other. I told you that I would never let someone mess with you,” said Thane. “That applies to women as well.”
I was suddenly very tired. “I’d better go inside now,” I said wearily. They nodded grimly, each of them hugging me in turn.
“I hate this,” Derrial whispered in my ear. “Someday soon there won’t be goodbyes.”
I laid my head on his chest and listened to his heart. “I hope that day comes,” I said, reluctantly pulling away.
I could feel their eyes on me as I walked inside.
What a night.