His eyes light up at the tenacity in my voice. He’s fucking crazy if he thinks I am getting anywhere near any of their cocks.
“I am happy to see you have come around. I will notify the brethren to begin preparations.” He bows low and backs away.
“Tell them to prepare the rooms on the third level,” I call after him before closing the door. They will be out of the way up there so I can get down to the dungeon while they are doing whatever they do to prepare for this.
Back in my room, I strap on my pack and wait with my ear to the door until I am completely satisfied that the brethren are busy “purifying.” Gross. I shudder at the thought.
Outside the safety of my room, the coast is clear, but I don’t have long. The tunnels are quiet, not a bell or robe in sight. I dart from alcove to alcove carefully. My eyes scan my surroundings for stray brethren around every turn.
Tai better be conscious by now. There is no way I can drag him up on my own.
Moans come from a darkened room, and I scurry past as quickly as possible. As I suspected, these idiots are jerking off to prepare for the ceremony.
Down the hall, a curtain is pulled back. I slip in the doorway to my left and ease it shut, closing myself in. Scratchy robes push against my back in the tiny pitch-black closet. A lucky move on my part. I slip into one of the robes and leave the bell behind—they don’t need to hear me coming.
A brethren shuffles by and takes the staircase up, heading tothe third level.
I dash to the stairs on the other end of the tunnel and take a dark, narrow staircase down, praying to the Goddess of the Radiant Sunburn that this is where the dungeon is.
TWENTY-NINE
Tai
“Wakey, wakey.” Bri’s blurry face comes into focus inches from mine. Her eyebrows are pinched together. I can’t hear what she’s saying over the ringing in my ears. My arms shake as I push myself up off the dirty floor. Bri steadies me when I sit up and sway a little, struggling to find my center of gravity. She checks my pulse at my throat and smiles up at me when she confirms a regular heartbeat.
Bri’s voice cuts through and her image sharpens. “You have some explaining to do.” She grabs both sides of my face and watches my eyes, checking for any sign of brain damage.
“I know, I’m so sorry?—”
She stops me. “We can talk about this later. Are you able to get up? We should get going.”
“How did you get in here?” I ask.
“It’s not hard to sneak past a sleeping guard,” she says and helps me to my feet. The room spins and I stagger back. Bri catches me before I fall and crack open my head.
“He’s still sleeping? Shit. These guys are so useless.”
Bri laughs. “The rest of the brethren are busy. As long as we avoid the third level, we should be good,” she says.
I lean heavily on her, still trying to find my balance. “My pack and blaster should be right out here.” I step through the wide-open door on wobbly legs.
My belongings are right where I last saw them. I sift through the pack, making sure nothing is missing. It’s all there: a handful of hydropacks and nutrigels, tent, translator, and best of all, my blaster. I tuck it into my belt and breathe a sigh of relief. It feels good to have it back.
“We’re going to need provisions.” I hold open the pack, showing her how little we have left.
“Let’s make it quick. I don’t think we have much time left,” Bri says.
“How did you get away from them?” I ask. A multitude of possibilities run through my head: poisoning, barricading them in some room, setting off explosives. I rule the last one out. If she had access to explosives, she would have used them on me by now.
“Let’s just say I flexed my goddess powers,” she says with a sly smile.
“Bri, what did you do?” I ask again. This time more forcefully.
“I told them I wanted to reward them for uncovering the traitor in the colony.” She bites her bottom lip to hold back a smile.
“And that reward would be…?” I cross my arms over my chest.
“I told them I’d do the ceremony.”
