that side of the glass.”
I rolled my eyes as the Emira sprayed more of the yellow liquid on the glass that separated us and wiped it clean. He stared at me and I smiled at him before deliberately licking a path along the glass.
He squealed in disgust and quickly sprayed the glass again as I rolled my eyes and walked away.
“Oh my God, they act like we’re the grossest things they’ve ever seen,” I said.
“Maybe we are,” Inara said. She was sitting on the floor of the empty room the Emira had herded us into, wiping down walls and surfaces as we passed with disinfectant spray like we were infected with the plague.
She wiped at the tears on her face and I slid down the wall to sit on the floor next to her, slinging my arm around her shoulder. “It’ll be okay, honey.”
“It won’t be,” she whispered. “My sister will be sold by my uncle and I won’t be able to do anything to stop it because I’ll be in prison for breaking my work contract with the Draax.”
“You won’t,” I said. “When the Draax get here, I’ll tell them I was trying to escape, and I convinced you to go with me rather than ask the Draax for help with your sister.”
“I won’t lie and get you in even more trouble,” Inara said. “You wouldn’t have tried to escape if it wasn’t for me and Wendy.”
“I would have,” I said.
“Be honest with me,” Inara said.
I opened my mouth to lie and instead said, “I planned to escape but I kept putting it off.”
“Why?” Inara said.
“Galan. I kind of, maybe, am in love with him.”
Inara’s mouth dropped open. “You’re in love with Galan?”
“I think so. I’ve never actually been in love before but I’m acting stupid about him. We’ve been sleeping together for a while now.”
“Holy shit,” Inara said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because he could get in major trouble for sleeping with me,” I said. “I’m a thief who’s technically a prisoner of the king and he’s the head of the King’s Guard. He shouldn’t have been sleeping with me, but we were attracted to each other and then…”
“Then?”
“Then I fell in love with him,” I said. Tears were stinging the backs of my eyes and my throat was burning. “Which is fucking stupid because he doesn’t love me, and I’ll be going to prison where I’ll die, and he’ll find another woman to spend the rest of his life with and never once think about me again. I had this plan to escape, you know? I was going to steal a bunch of supplies and then leave the castle and hide on the Draax planet, but I… I kept not doing it. I told myself it was because the war was still going on and I had plenty of time to escape, but it was because I didn’t want to leave Galan. I waited because the thought of never seeing Galan again killed me.”
I glanced at her. “That’s love, right? When the thought of not being with a person makes you wish you were dead instead?”
“I think so,” Inara said. She touched my blood-soaked hair. “Why did you leave with me then?”
“Because you needed my help. Because I failed my sister and I didn’t want you to feel like you failed yours. Because I wanted to save Wendy.”
Tears dripped down Inara’s face. “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I said. “I wanted to help you and Wendy, and I don’t regret it. I do regret believing Uzel when he said the goddamn ship was repaired.”
Inara hiccupped laughter before resting her forehead against mine. “I’m telling the Draax the truth, Ellis.”
“No, you’re not,” I said. “You’re going to tell them it was my idea.”
“I won’t do it,” Inara said.
“Oh my God, it doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’m going to prison no matter what, remember? Think about your sister. If you play dumb, if you act like you really did think this was your best and only option, then the Draax will probably be cool with you tagging along with me. Plus, they might even be willing to figure out some way to help your sister.”
“How?” Inara said.
“Maybe they’ll talk to the cops on your behalf, get them to take your sister away from your uncle. The cops will be more inclined to help the Draax then they are us lowers.”
“The Draax won’t help me,” Inara said.
“They might.” I squeezed her hand. “Especially if you offer to bang one