cradle of them, letting me curl up against his chest. With that, he drapes the blanket atop both of us, over his shoulders and tucking it around me.
It's a cocoon of warmth, and I snuggle against his chest. "You're right. This is better. Thank you."
"I should be thanking those shell-creatures," he murmurs. "This way I get to hold you all night long."
My heart squeezes. Funny how I look at it as disappointing because we don't get to continue making out, whereas U'dron's just thrilled that we get to cuddle. Maybe I need a change of perspective. "That's an excellent point."
I lean against his chest and relax.
"You're a stripper?" Tia screeches in my ear.
I'm sitting near the main fire on the beach, and everyone's gathered for dinner. I can't taste the food. It's too hot, so I'm holding my bowl and waiting for it to cool off. I look over at Tia in surprise, and she's sitting with the others—Bridget, Sam, Steph, Flor, Willa…everyone's here. "What?"
"Angie told me you're a stripper," Tia exclaims.
I look over at Angie, who's whispering with Lauren and Veronica. Everyone seems to be staring at me, their expressions a mixture of horror and disgust. "I mean…it was just a job," I stammer. "I did it for money, because that's how I paid my bills."
"That's so disgusting!" Tia recoils.
"It's just stripping," I say lamely, but I can feel their revulsion boring into me. I stare down at my bowl. "I'm sorry for lying."
"Sorry isn't good enough," a new voice says, and it's R'jaal. He's got a firm look of displeasure on his face, and right behind him is U'dron. They have handcuffs, and as I watch, U'dron takes the bowl of food out of my hands and puts handcuffs on my wrists.
"You have been exiled," U'dron says. "You don't belong with the rest of us."
"U'dron, wait," I begin, whimpering. "I thought you liked me."
"That's before I knew how bad you were. You never said." He walks away, his clothing morphing into a prison uniform. As he leads me down the beach, I realize that my surroundings are no longer the ice planet. I'm in a women's prison, escorted by a guard. My beige uniform has my ID number branded across my chest, with the word "STRIPPER" underneath it in stencil. Even here, the strangers—the other prisoners—look at me with disgust.
"It was just a job," I protest again as U'dron leads me to my cell. It's exactly how I left it, four bunk beds in a gray, gray room with a sad little toilet hugging the wall. There's a few ripped out magazine pictures pasted by the bunks, and the top one has a Bible on it. It's so familiar I can practically smell the cafeteria nearby, and the faint scent of bleach in my clothes from the constant floor-scrubbing I have to do as my job.
"I don't want to be back here," I moan, holding my cuffed hands out. "I did my time. Please."
U'dron—still in prison guard uniform—gives me an ugly look. "This is the only place you belong. Now…strip."
I look down at my prison uniform. "But I'm wearing what I'm supposed to."
"You don't get clothes. Remember? You like taking them off too much. Now…strip." And he reaches out and tears my top off. I can hear the women nearby laughing. Gail's laughter blends in with that of the other prisoners. I hear Harlow, and Liz, and Nadine and Penny. Everyone's laughing as U'dron rips all of my clothing away from my body, leaving me bare.
"You should have said something. You lied to us all." U'dron's voice fades into the darkness, heavy with disdain and disappointment. "A liar is worse than anything…"
I wake up with a gasp, my limbs flailing. My hand connects with something hard and crunches. There's a grunt.
I stare at my surroundings, my heart pounding. I'm still warm and clasped in U'dron's arms, his legs under mine. The fur blanket covers both of us, and outside it, I can see the dim sunrise beginning to lighten the night sky with the first streaks of light. The ocean curls and surges against the beach. There's no movement on the beach, only a few tufted corpses of the furry crab-monster things that never quite made it to the water.
Even so, I'm utterly relieved that this is the sight in front of me.
I'm not in prison. I'm still here on the ice planet. No one knows my secret. Well, secrets, as in plural.
I look up at U'dron, and