I've been awake for a while just listening to Cain sleep. My head is against his arm and my legs are tucked up against the couch. The fire has burned out and the sun is rising outside this little world we've found ourselves in. It's a selfish world, filled with greed and desire. I don't want to wake him but I'm eager to use the bathroom and I have no idea where to find one.

Suddenly, he jerks himself awake, panting after another nightmare. He looks down and checks on me, rubbing his eyes before rising from the couch and walking across the room. I sit up.

"How do you stand them?" he says. "They feel so real."

"Good morning to you too," I say.

He smiles as he positions himself in front of the large window, casting a thorough glare at the lands before him. He stretches his arms and I hear something in his body crack. "This is the first planet I've been on that only has one sun. The previous had three, which was why the odds of a solar flare were greater. The specimens called them otorisises, one of only several phrases they knew. Their language wasn't developed as much as the human, it was frustrating to us."

I lean my head back into the armrest. "What were they like?"

"Feisty little things," Cain laughs. "They loved water, most of them spent their lives swimming. They ate these strange kind of shells to survive as they were the only species on the planet. Every disguise we take on is a difficult process. Adjusting to being a lifeform and seeing the world through their eyes is something I have never taken for granted."

"So what's with the wings?" I ask. "We don't have them."

He smiles as he looks back to me. "We have wings no matter where we are or what we become. It is part of our original design."

"Ah."

"It is how we move between planets," he explains. "We wouldn't be able to do it in these physical bodies but once we release ourselves, we can be as fast as your rockets."

"Probably faster," I say. "So. . . which planet was yours?"

He stares at me and I think I've crossed a line but I don't know for sure. He probably thinks all the planets are his. That the moment he claims them, they have always belonged to him and his species.

"I don't remember," he says, his eyebrows creasing with frustration. "I don't remember why we left or how we ever figured out that we could. It was thousands of years ago."

"Something must have created you," I whisper. "And if you're immortal then you couldn't have been born, right? So how did you come to exist?"

"We're not immortal, Aurora," he says instantly.

I roll my eyes. "Okay, apart from the blade you are. Living thousands of years sounds like immortality to me and you have called yourselves that."

"The blade can only kill my species while they are in physical form. If they released themselves they are considered immortal. But they cannot feed unless they form a body. And if they do not feed, they starve, also ending their existence. At some point, we will wipe out the entire life on all planets and my species will die out."

I blink. "Will that happen to you? If you don't feed?"

He shakes his head. "Consuming completed souls is different. Even having a part of you inside of me will keep me strong for a few decades. Thank you for being concerned for my life though."

I shrug with a smile. "I'm more excited about your kind's demise than I am about you living."

He laughs. "Only the completed were ever this honest and brave around me. It's a gift for sure. They're always drawn to me, one way or another."

I clutch a hand to my stomach as a cramp stings my abdomen. I adjust my position on the couch, knowing I need to leave.

"What's wrong?" he questions.

"Cramps," I say, holding my stomach as I rise.

"Oh."

"Human males usually have that look too," I laugh. "Can you take me to my room?"

"Right away," he says. "Do you need help walking?"

I shake my head, holding in another laugh as he tries to help me anyway. He keeps his arm around my shoulder as he escorts me down the hallway. We bump into a slave that is walking out of a bathroom and Cain halts us before him. The slave straightens with fear, his eyes high and unwavering as he waits for us to pass.

"Aurora is on her period," Cain says, very factually. "Tell Christian to make her a hot water bottle and bring it to her room immediately, with the new boy."

"Oh my god," I mutter, slapping my head.

"Yes, sir," the slave says.

"What are you still standing there for? Go."

The slave swallows fearfully and runs along the hall. Cain looks at me but I glare at him. "What?" he says.

"We like to be discreet about it," I inform him, eyeing the guards at the end of the hallway that are staring at us.

"Why? You are you on your period, it is a fact."

"Stop saying that," I hiss, trying to pull him along the hallway.

He grins down at me, eventually allowing me to move him. We turn the corner and climb the staircase up to the next level. I see a guard at the far end, positioned outside the window that I opened a couple of weeks ago. There isn't any outside my doors but it still makes me feel uneasy.

Cain unlocks my door and as I go inside, desperate for the bathroom, I notice that he's lingering in the doorway, staring down at the key.

"I want you to have this," he says, stretching it through the air.

"Why?"

"Because I don't like the idea of you being locked inside a room that you can't leave in an emergency. The guard at the window will be dismissed, he was only there because you weren't here last night. There will be no guards on this floor, you can go for a walk whenever you wish."

I take the key from him, smiling as I place it on the table. "Thanks. I really have to. . ." I point towards the bathroom.

He nods. "I'll come get you when Axel returns. It will be soon."

"Okay."

He still stands there, looking at me, observing every damn thing about me. I don't have the time for it and I turn and hurriedly walk into the bathroom. After relieving myself and struggling with one of the uncomfortable tampons that were brought to my room, I finally change out of my black funeral clothes. I spray my underarms with deodorant and place a white, baggy shirt over my body with soft pants. I've been trying to avoid the painkillers because I'm not quite sure what they are but the pain reaches a point where I am ripping the box open.

I take my hair out of its braid and I move over to the mirror to brush it. The moment I look into my eyes, I almost drop it.

"Impossible," I mutter.

I spread one of my eyes open with a thumb and a finger, trying to get a better look, hoping I am imagining the lime green splash against the light blue. My eyes are changing colour. To his colour. Just like his are changing to mine. I brush through my black hair slowly but the green keeps demanding my attention back to the mirror and I throw the brush to the side as I turn around from it.

I shoot up from the chair as the door knocks and Jackson is the first one to enter, with Christian closely behind him. He runs right to me and I collapse to my knees as I embrace him.

"Are you okay?" I say, looking over his face.

Jackson nods. "Bella is a bitch but other than that I'm fine."

"Language," I say.

"Sorry."

I laugh, rising to my feet. My eyes meet Christian's as he places my breakfast on the table and I follow the invisible rope that is guiding me over to him pathetically. I don't know if he's mad with me, I haven't spoken to him since the night he brought Wendy into my room. He allows me to hug him anyway, he takes a deep breath as he softly pulls his fingers against my hair.

"I'm so sorry," I cry, tightening my arms around his tall, broad build. "I know you hate me but she begged me and I couldn't not do it."

"I don't hate you, Aurora," he whispers, releasing me gently. "You did what the rest of us couldn't. If I was in your position, I would have done the same."

"You wouldn't have risked someone else's life to do it though," I say.

"That doesn't matter now. I'd rather not talk about it." He passes me the hot water bottle that's wedged under his arm. "This is for you."

"Thanks." I hold it to my stomach as I take a seat at the table beside Jackson. He wastes no time with diving into the sausage, bacon and eggs. Christian takes a seat opposite and leans back in his chair, he holds a hand to his ribs as he reaches over and uncovers the tray in front of me. "Are you okay?" I ask.

"Not really," he says. "I think a couple of my ribs are broken. But on a brighter note, the slaves aren't suspicious anymore."

"There must be something Cain can do," I say, thinking of options.

"It's not like there's hospitals or doctors anymore," Christian laughs. "But the King gave me some heavy painkillers that are helping. He even offered to send a medicine practitioner from the nanneries, but I refused."

"Why did you refuse?"

"I've had a broken rib before and it healed all on its own," Christian says. "It'll heal again in no time. Just drop it please."

"Okay," I whisper.

I pick up my cup of coffee that he always brings me, turning to Jackson. "So what was your first day like? What jobs did you do?"

"I emptied some trash out of the girls' bedrooms and swept the palace floors," Jackson says as he chews down a piece of egg. "And then that Bella girl kept ordering me to make her drinks and bring them to her. She kept snapping her fingers at me, I wanted to break them."

"Jackson," I laugh.

"The kid has a point," Christian says.

"And then this other girl wanted me to water all of her plants in her bedroom and change the pots. So I did that."

"That's not your job," I say. "You can say no to that."

"I told him that." Christian grins down at Jackson. "But someone has a crush."

"Shut up," Jackson mutters, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "The foreign girls love me. I can't understand a word they're saying but they squeeze my cheeks and kiss my forehead. It's like they're saying thank you or something."

I look up at Christian. "What happened to the girl that spoke Spanish? I was supposed to meet with her once a week."

"She died the first day being owned," he says sadly. "Her owner consumed her with one feeding. He had probably never tasted a pure soul before."

I drop my eyes and clutch my fingers tighter around the water bottle. "Cain never told me that."

"There's probably a lot he doesn't tell you," Christian says. "Once they're owned, it's out of his power what happens to them. Just because they have to treat them better doesn't mean they can't kill them."

"Of course," I mutter, looking away. I never even got the chance to speak to her, to know her name. Her story.

"Natalie isn't a pure soul so she won't die as quickly, right?" Jackson asks.

Christian and I stare at him. I prepared Jackson for almost everything in this life, except caring for an owned girl.

"Jackson, I don't think it's wise to become involved with the girls here," I say gently, trying not to anger him.

"Isn't it?" Christian asks me, his eyes softening as he smiles.

"We are different," I say. "How old is Natalie?"

"Fifteen," Jackson says. "She's really smart. She knows every type of plant and she talks about them like they're alive."

"They are alive," I say.

"I mean alive alive. Like, she has names for them. I promised her that if anything ever happened to her then I'd still water them. I think that's why she wanted me to learn it."

I smile. "That's sweet but just be careful, okay? I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm meeting with her later for a walk outside," he says. "She's just cool to talk to, nothing else."

"If you say so."

I place my coffee down and I force myself to eat something. I haven't eaten since the day before yesterday and I'm surprised Cain didn't bring it up, seeing as though he can read my energy levels. I think about last night, about spending the night curled up beside him, I was so exhausted that I would have slept anywhere but it felt right somehow. Even now, after merely a few hours apart, I still have this aching pain in the side of my head from being apart from him. I knew he had changed his mind about killing me last night but there was a part of me that still wondered if I'd even wake up. He chose not to. . . again. If we're over that now then what's left? What are we?

"Do you remember what to do?" Christian says to Jackson.

Jackson nods. "Um. . . take her trash, her sheets and her empty glasses."

"Good," he says. "And her clothes from yesterday."

"You don't have to do that," I say.

"It's good practise for him to learn," Christian says.

"He isn't my slave," I say angrily. "I don't want him believing that he is."

"It's okay," Jackson says. "I know you can't leave the room so I want to."

"Actually, Cain gave me a key today," I say. "I can only walk around this floor but it's better than nothing."

"Really?" Christian's eyes widen. "That's progress."

"You still can't go downstairs," Jackson mutters. "So let me take your clothes to be washed."

"Okay, smartass." I rub his hair and he cringes away in embarrassment. "Will you come back and see me later?"

Jackson nods. "I have to bring your sheets back."

I laugh quietly. "That wasn't the only reason I was thinking of but okay."

"He's a natural," Christian says. "Picked everything up very quickly. Bella is a handful but you'll get used to that. In fact, you're probably the only one of us that can actually ignore her. What are the guards or the King going to do about it?" Christian laughs to himself.

"True," Jackson says.

"I wish I could be with you," I whisper.

"You might get your chance soon," Christian says. "The King has increased the security outside, most of the indoor guards are on the roof. Is he expecting some trouble or something?"

I want to tell Christian everything but I can't say anything in front of Jackson. I don't want him to worry about me, or tell any of the other humans anything, so I shrug. "I have no idea."

"Something is happening," he says. "I guess in this world something is always happening."

"Yeah," I say.

I turn my attention back to Jackson, watching him eat. Christian was right, I am acting like his mother. I can't help it. I don't know what happened to his parents, if they died before all of this or if they were consumed, but I know that wherever they are, they are trusting me to keep him safe. For I am the only one that can.