Page 38 of Rescued

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CAIMBRIE

“If you need anything, just let one of us know. TheTitanessisn’t quite what we want it to be yet, but we’re trying to make it as homey as possible.”

Tayla gave me a sweet smile, and handed me a small hand basket filled to the brim with candies and treats. It had been so long since I’d treated myself to something sweet. My mouth was already watering. I accepted the basket, grateful for her kindness, but a bit astonished by the luxury of it all. Was this how the other women had been living since the rescue? If so, I was a little jealous.

“Thank you. For all of this, actually. You’re doing so much good, you know?”

“I’m only doing what is right. None of you deserved to be locked up, and if it weren’t for Adreax crashing on my planet, I would have been locked up with you, sooner or later. Now we need to fight for the women who are still trapped.”

I could see the fire in Tayla’s eyes, and I felt connected to her in some way. She and I had a lot in common, more than either of us knew. I’d heard so much about her, even seen her through the video screens once or twice, but meeting her left me a little in awe of all that she had accomplished. No, all that she had dared to accomplish, against all odds.

“How did you and Adreax become… uhh…”

She looked at me in surprise. I wanted to crawl inside myself and hide, ashamed of my forthrightness. But far from looking scandalized, Tayla only laughed and stepped back into the room, closing the door quietly behind her. She sat down on the soft bed beside me and patted my leg gently.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t pry.”

“No need to apologize. The truth is, they’re not so different from men on Earth. They’re stubborn and egotistical and argumentative. They almost never want to take advice. They get their feelings hurt and they act absurdly. And at the end of the day, we fall for them because it’s what feels right. Adreax and I had a rocky start, but we understand each other. We’ve found common ground. It just works for us.”

I shook my head in disbelief. She made it sound so simple, like the only thing standing in their way was a quick conversation about whose responsibility it was to take out the trash or do the dishes.

Tayla rose from the bed, already at the door and letting herself out before I could say anything else. In that brief encounter, I started to feel like she was my older sister, here to guide me through all the difficulties of living this new life. I was envious of her, the way she spoke of Adreax with so much devotion, even as she listed his faults.

I dug through the basket of treats, examining them with curiosity before selecting one and popping it into my mouth. Then, I went to the washroom and started the shower. I was astonished by the privacy I had aboard this ship. It was surreal, like a floating resort, and yet I knew it was outfitted for battle. I was worlds away from the tight quarters of Herod’s ship, ducking around one another constantly just to accomplish basic day to day living. Here, I felt like I could go days without seeing a soul, relaxing in my own little villa.

I looked around the whole space, spinning in a slow circle and drinking it all in. Immediately, I knew it was wrong. This place wasn’t meant for me. It was lonely and too quiet. It was not where I belonged. Maybe I could take a roommate or something to fill the space. Or move into a smaller room, something half or a quarter of the size. That would be perfect.

I imagined myself nested in the tight cubby of my bunk on Herod’s ship, and I missed the closeness of the walls. I missed the noise of the equipment rattling and humming all around. There was no escaping any of it on his ship. But here, it was the opposite.

I felt ungrateful, as if I should be head over heels enamored with my new lot in life, but I wasn’t. How could I possibly tell them that this would never do? They would never understand. They couldn’t understand unless they had lived it themselves.

But there was another matter to consider, too. This wasn’t just about living arrangements. It was also about the greater mission. Adreax and Tayla had rescued all of us, but that didn’t mean we were free. We all had a place in their ultimate plan to stop the Patrol from harvesting any more women. Their mission was a noble one, of course, and I had already been assigned a working group to help out with once we were back in the air, but it was also a trap. TheTitanesshad a kind of culture among the women, and I wasn’t sure I could fit into it now.

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