Page 69 of Caged By the Ruthless Thief

Nico nods. “He will. I’ll tell him when we return theomada.”

I nod. I’m facing forward, but I don’t turn for him to see me or mention anything else. It’s more I don’t want him to see the look on my face. Maybe he’s right. It hurts a little to think about Castor. It’s like he’s our missing piece. But I understand. I get it, really, I do. He has to think about more than just me. He has the complete city to think about. A nation to fix. And boy, there is a lot to fix. I open my hands. They might be gone soon if they don’t work on their fixing.

“Belle.” Holter’s voice is low. “Look.” He inclines his head to the domes out the front window. They’re still a good distance away, but they’re so tall they barely look like domes. More like silos stretching to the sky. And the way the light is refracting off them, it’s hard to see how many there are. Three, four, seven, I can’t tell.

“What are those?”

“Our science and medical tech buildings. See the one on the far right?”

“Yes.”

“That’s dome twenty-nine. I was born there in an artificial womb. Me and twenty-two othergeminaeswith the same DNA.”

“Oh, I...”

He pilots by them, and there are buildings between us and them. The other shorter buildings spread out along the seabed, making the science buildings look even more ominous. There’s a lump in my throat. I wish Holter wasn’t the one driving. I want to wrap him in my arms and give him all the love he didn’t have.

“Don’t cry or feel sad for me, Belle. I have a wonderful dad. I have a good apartment. I’m fine.”

I nod at him. I don’t believe him. How can he be so good when he came from there? From anywhere here, wheregeminaeandviroare treated so differently.

And then I get it. I’m good. Or at least, I want to believe I’m good. My uncle made that difficult. I could have grown up taking his aggression toward me out on others. Sometimes who we are is neither nature nor nurture. It’s more than genetics or a series of events; it’s what you do with what happens to you.

“You don’t believe me, but you knowgeminaesgrow up in pods. We have fathers and a mother. They used to be raised—if you can call it that—by robots in centers like those, but for podlets.” He hikes his thumb back to the agricultural domes.

“Yes.” Goosebumps prick at my skin at the horror of it. Children raised like cattle.

“It’s a lot different now.” Holter smiles at me.

“It’s not good enough.” I cross my arms over my chest. Is my hand heating my arm, or is that my imagination? I put it on the side of my face, then my forehead. I decide neither are hot.

“Are you okay, Sunshine?” Eros leans forward far enough to touch my shoulder.

“I’m fine.” It’s then I realize they haven’t been talking, neither him nor Nico. They’ve been quietly sitting next to each other, not arguing. Nico is probably overthinking what the mark on my hand means, and Eros seems scared and excited at the same time. Like my old farm dog.

When I turn back, we’re going into a dome airlock. The dome is entirely glass and all porticoes. All the buildings have fancy docks that seal up next to thesolosandomadas, allowing people to walk right up to them. The entire floor feels like walking on an air mattress, or more so a waterbed.

But I can’t stop thinking about how alike Holter and I are. It’s odd how, in a strange way, I’m a lot like each of my guys. I smile at each of them. My mermaid hormones are kicking into full gear. I want them—no, I need them. But we have some shopping to do first.

Nico points to a shiny gold and silveromadathree rows over from where we’ve parked the one we arrived in. “That one.”

Eros maneuvers over to it. He scans theomadawith his block. “Yeah, it’s safe, good ratings, lots of space, and has a gentle dry feature.” He stills when he says that and is careful to not look at me. “The engine is top-notch. Room for eight. Let’s take it.”

“Good, but we will pay for it.” Nico grunts. There’s been so much grunting recently.

“I don’t steal.” Eros glares at him. “Anymore.”

“Right.” Nico looks at me, and I have a feeling this is one thing we’re going to be talking about when the time comes in a few days.

A salesperson walks over.

“We want this one.” Holter slaps the hood, and with his other hand, he clasps my right hand. The one with the mark. That’s extra fine with me; I don’t want anyone to see it.

“I’m driving it home,” Nico says.

“Like hell you are,” Eros replies. “But I’ll pilot the Drakos hunk of junk home, and Holter can take you and the beauty in our new beauty.”

I’ve stressed more over buying a pair of shoes.

---