Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
They wouldn’t be hurt or taken from him—not while he still drew breath.
10
BRIGHT
The cold in the Skow prison ship wasn’t just physical…it was the kind of chill that crept under your skin and curled around your bones like vines made of frost.
Bright felt it in his gut—not just the cold, but the wrongness.
He couldn’t help noticing the tightness in Burn’s shoulders…the way his best friend’s head was bowed, and his jaw was clenched like stone. He noticed the twitch of the Dark Twin’s fingers and the too-quiet breaths coming too shallow and fast.
Burn wasn’t okay.
And Bright knew it—he felt it in that deep, invisible thread between them. It wasn’t a bond—not yet. But it was something that had always been there. It might not have been ordained by the Goddess at birth, but it had been forged by years of loyalty and trust.
And right now, that thread felt stretched thin, fraying at the edges.
He’s spiraling, Bright thought grimly. Whatever this place is bringing up for him, it’s bad. Worse than what’s happening to us now—and that’s saying something.
The cuffs around his wrists hummed and buzzed when he flexed his hands, and when he reached—instinctively—for Burn’s shoulder, they crackled with warning.
“Shit,” he muttered, jerking back as a thin blue arc of electricity sizzled between the manacles. He was able to touch Noelle a little bit, but apparently the cuffs didn’t want him touching another person also wearing cuffs.
Burn didn’t even flinch…didn’t look at him.
The Dark Twin just stared straight ahead, shoulders rising and falling like he was breathing through a battle.
Bright clenched his fists.
Talk to me, he wanted to say. Just say something, brother. Let me in.
But Burn was a fortress when he got like this—he always had been.
Bright had tried, once or twice, to get the story out of him. About his family…about what happened before they met on the training field back on Twin Moons, both too young and too angry to speak. Burn had scars—visible and invisible—and Bright had always known they ran deep.
But he’d never pushed…now he wished he had.
Because whatever memory this place was dragging up, it was eating Burn alive from the inside. Bright could feel it…and there was nothing he could do.
Nothing but keep standing next to him. Keep being solid…steady…present.
You don’t have to talk yet. Just stay with him and wait…maybe soon he’ll say something, he told himself.
A quiet sound beside him made him turn.
It was Noelle. She hadn’t said a word since they were herded into the hold. But her eyes—Gods, her big brown eyes were wide and luminous in the dark—filled with fear. She was shivering again, arms wrapped tightly around her chest. Her long, dark hair trembled against her cheeks, and she kept glancing toward Burn like she was afraid he might shatter right in front of her.
She’s scared out of her mind, Bright thought, his heart fisting in his chest. And she senses there’s something wrong with Burn, too.
She wasn’t just trembling from cold, he thought—though the metal floor beneath their feet seemed to leech the heat out of their bodies by the second. She was in shock—still reeling from their sudden abduction…still trying to make sense of what the hell had just happened.
Bright inched closer, until their shoulders brushed. The cuffs sparked again but didn’t fire this time. Maybe they were calibrated to warn, not punish.
He kept his voice low.
“You okay, sweetheart?”
She blinked up at him. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. Then, after a beat, she shook her head.
Bright nodded slowly.
“Yeah. Me neither.”
“This is all just…so crazy.” She gave a tiny, shaky breath that might’ve been a laugh…or a sob.
Bright tilted his head toward her just slightly.
“We’ll get out of this,” he said quietly. “I promise you, Noelle. Burn and I—we’re not going to let anything happen to you. You’re safe with us. Even here.”
Her fingers tightened on her arms, but she nodded once.
“Thank you. That…makes me feel a little better.”
Bright swallowed the knot in his throat and turned back toward Burn. His friend still hadn’t moved a muscle.
What’s going on in that head of yours? Bright wondered. Why won’t you let me in?
But he already knew.
Burn wore his ghosts like a second skin. And whatever the Skow ship reminded him of, it had peeled that skin wide open.
Bright closed his eyes for a moment, listening to the sounds echoing down the corridor. Shouts…distant crying…the high-pitched whine of metal under strain.
They were in a prison ship headed for the Flesh Bazaar—the most notorious slave auction hall in the known universe.
Goddess, he thought grimly. What have I done?
He’d made the call to surrender…had given their word in exchange for a fragile promise from a monster in a mask that the three of them wouldn’t be separated.
And now here they were…caged…powerless.
But still alive.
That matters, he reminded himself fiercely. We’re still breathing. We’re still together. As long as we are, there’s still a way out.