5: She Talks to RainbowsWell, puking made her feel better, anyway. The fact that it was all over an “Elfish knight” would have made Katie howl ughter if she wasn’t dying from iron poisoning.

  Somehow, despite the fact that she’d slid into a chair like cream of chicken soup into a Ziploc bag, everyone in the bar had come over to meet her. Maybe it had been a while since anybody new was stupid enough to be captured and they were all desperately bored. At first they’d approached one at a time, but pretty soon they were jostling each other out of the way for the dubious privilege of sitting beside her.

  She fought hard to think through the red haze of pain. The lounge in which she found herself, when she could see it through the throng of people, was entirely white. The carpet was white, the seats were white, all of the partygoers wore white. A winding, mirrored staircase joined the upper level dance floor–Katie had not seen it, only been invited to dance too many times already–and the bottom level with the semi-circur bar, tables and booths. The too rge room swallowed the few people inside.

  That meant one of two things: the aliens who had kidnapped her meant to take more captives, or there had once been enough people to fill this pce up.

  God, Katie was sick. She’d never been so sick in her life, even after she’d taken the arrow wound, and all of these idiots wanted to buy her drinks and ask about her family. She hadn’t meant to throw up on that Renna–Reannath–oh fuck it, who cared what his name was, anyway–but it had certainly gotten her point across.

  He wanted to sy a dragon for her. Bloody shitting idiot.

  She sat beside a tall, slim man with burnished skin and chestnut hair worn short and artfully tousled. He had ears as long and pointed as a Tylwyth Teg’s, pierced from lobe to tip with bangles that all looked real. His eyes were the most striking thing about him–honey-golden, ringed with thick, dark shes. He wore something that looked like a white zoot suit under an ivory fedora. When he’d first approached she’d thought, hello beautiful, but her stomach lurched and she didn’t say it aloud. If she threw up on this one, it might actually be embarrassing.

  Call me Fox, the man had said, though she wasn’t sure if that was his name or if it was just shorter than naming him ‘Gorgeous.’ The Elfish knight had offered her the moon and stars, but he had not offered her real kindness. When she threw up, all the people who had come to gawk had immediately abandoned her. Only Fox had stayed.

  A pair of doors on the other side of the room slid open to reveal two people in bck uniforms like those of the attackers in the alley. Unlike the people who had struck her and then poured her into this stupid dress, they were decorated with military insignia. Katie’s brain fired through a haze of pain and nausea. Think, she begged it. Please, please think. She forced her body upright into a straight-backed sit, fully aware she was too weak to fight or run.

  Fox turned a concerned golden gaze down at her, then, swallowing, looked back up at the soldiers. For a heartbeat, his expression showed open terror, but he smoothed it away as quickly as any Sidhe. Katie understood Fox suddenly and all at once. This was not a stupid, pretty man with too much confidence. This was a smart, pretty man who knew how to make people underestimate him. He knew these people were monsters. He’d picked her out because he thought she needed protection. He was right on both counts.

  “Good evening, most august companions.” The woman sounded like the customer service representative from the bank just after hackers had stolen all of somebody’s money. “We are pleased to inform you that the south recreation bay will reopen next cycle. In the meantime, kindly avail yourselves of the other facilities we have to offer, including the new screening room on deck five. To inaugurate the space, we hope you will join us when we show a series of cssic films from Horod 19.”

  Horod 19? How many worlds were they raiding?

  “Please bear in mind that the food chutes can no longer dispense vartak meat. You may enjoy one of several new alternatives, including Spam, a delicious new treat straight from Earth.

  “As a final note, don’t forget to fill out your customer satisfaction survey. Your feedback is important to us! Have a lovely evening, august companions.”

  As if this speech was some kind of signal, the people in the bar meandered toward the doorway, some still with drinks in hand. Fox gently lifted her out of the couch. As they walked, Katie clinging to his arm for dear life, she counted the people ahead of them to distract herself from the pain. Seven. Twelve. Fifteen. Seventeen. She and Fox made nineteen. In a bar made for at least a hundred people.

  As they approached the doors, the woman offered a handshake. Fox accepted, but Katie ignored the soldier’s touch. The woman fixed Katie with a hard look–apparently she, too, knew Beri had killed some of their people. Then she turned a bright, fanged smile on Fox. Katie recoiled.

  “Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Ensign Jatus, and this is Commander Frixm. We will be acting as your liaisons while you are aboard. If you have any questions or concerns, we will be happy to assist you. Our intention is for you to enjoy your stay as much as possible.”

  Katie considered her response for a split second before she opened her mouth. “Great! Who do I talk to about the Cold Iron torture? Because– and forgive me, I’m not trying to make a Karen of myself here– I am really not enjoying my stay so far. In fact, I would go so far as to say this is very literally killing me. Would you be the one to handle that, or…?”

  Fox stiffened. Katie forced her knees steady in case she had to stand on her own, but he didn’t withdraw. She was gratified that he wasn’t a coward.

  Wide-eyed, Jatus looked up at Frixm for help. Frixm patted his junior’s shoulder before turning a benevolent smile down to meet Katie’s gre. He was nondescript, the type of person it would be easy to look over. His eyes were a normal color, his nose was a normal shape, and his expression was boring as unbuttered toast. If she had seen him on the street, she wouldn’t have thought anything of him.

  Frixm blinked sideways. Cold water doused her nerve endings. He was far from what he appeared, and he wanted her to know it.

  “I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, august Princess,” he said. “Unfortunately, we really must insist on your company for the moment, and there is some significant concern that you might simply leave if you had access to your magic.”

  Katie snorted. Of course she would.

  Frixm smiled. The expression didn’t touch his eyes. He, too, had fangs. “I understand you, as one of the Daoine Sidhe, cannot break your word. If you like, I would be happy to remove the bracelet and you can instead promise not to leave the ship. Would that be more acceptable to you?”

  Katie’s mouth felt very dry. This sick bastard. By asking her to give her word she wouldn’t leave, he could force her to stay here for the rest of her life. Most non-fey didn’t understand how literal a binding like that was. Katie got the feeling Frixm was not the least bit confused. She thought about spitting at him, but decided she’d need the moisture before this was over.

  “I’ll keep the cuff,” she grated.

  Frixim’s smile widened. “That is certainly your choice. We’ll commence our tour, shall we?”

  The two aliens led them into a long hallway. The white floors and white walls were so shiny they reflected each other, so it was hard to tell where one stopped and the other started. She wasn't sure where her feet would nd until a few steps in. The ceiling was a peculiar, organic shape like the inside of an eggshell.

  Frixm peeled off to leave them alone with the woman. Jatus was dark haired and olive in complexion. Though her ears were pointed just like Katie’s and Fox’s, a Vulcan she was not. Her hair was tight and shiny against her head, and she stood with her spine stiff and her shoulders square. She wasn’t just an officer. She was a soldier first. That was a good thing to jot down on the little notepad of her brain.

  A weapon like the ones she’d seen in the alley hung from Jatus’ belt. Katie could probably take it from her–even with the iron sickness, she was quick–but if she was honest with herself, she had no idea what it was or how to work it. She’d need real time with the thing before she felt comfortable taking it into a fight.

  And that was presuming the surface of this weapon wasn’t steel like the others she’d encountered. Then Katie would have iron burns on her palms, too. She thought of Beri, how he’d screamed and dropped the weapon onto the ground. Where was he now? Was he okay?

  Katie and Fox were the only ones the woman had dragged along on this little excursion. Their captors didn't live by the Sidhe Rules of Engagement and they couldn't die. If they had separated Katie and Fox from the pack because they’d decided to stop fucking around and toss them both out an airlock, there was really nothing Katie could do about it.

  She almost wished Jatus would toss them out an air lock. The cold of space sounded like a vacation in Aspen compared with the feverish heat filling her skull.

  “The Resort is where all of our august guests stay while they are with us, and we like to think it has all the amenities of home for any noble personage.” The officer gestured magnanimously, as if she were doing them a favor. She turned to look at them over her shoulder as if hoping for some kind of approval, but when she was met with only icy silence, she turned back to continue her tour.

  Jatus waved her left hand, and a door Katie hadn’t noticed slid silently open. Instinctually, she pivoted to put her body between Fox and the yawning portal. He let his top lip turn up. She suppressed annoyance at his response. He could have no idea she wasn’t a limp rag under normal circumstances.

  What must she look like in this stupid white dress? Where full Sidhe were tall, elegant beings who could y waste to any setting in which they found themselves, she was, at her best, cute like a bunny. Now she must look like a sweat-stained, bedraggled bunny, and she probably smelled like a barbeque.

  Katie couldn’t factor into a fight now. If they insisted on making her admire how pretty their spaceship was, she would admire the goddamn spaceship.

  Cheerfully, the psychopathic alien in bck said, “This is our sauna!” She gestured them both inside.

  The sauna was spacious and white, elegant but austere. The third room on the left was a small movie theater, empty and dark except for some footlights along the stairs on the aisles. This room, too, was white. Apparently they didn’t serve popcorn, or they had some kind of advanced stain-lifting technology strong enough to put the fast fashion industry out of business. The fourth room was a luxurious, if still blindingly white, handball court. Nobody was inside.

  Why did they have all this stuff if there was nobody to use any of it? A small town worth of amenities for fewer than twenty people? Even if you were trying to spoil a bunch of already-spoiled nobility, why would you need this much stuff? The feeling of dread, of missing vital information, grew at the nape of Katie’s neck.

  They made their way around a hallway corner. A hissing sound like a rge tea kettle made Jatus pull up short, throwing out a hand like Katie’s dad when he hit the brakes. The tea kettle noise was joined by another in a different frequency. Katie and Fox exchanged a questioning look. The first tea kettle answered, and Katie was suddenly certain it wasn’t tea kettles at all. It was a nest of vipers having a conversation. If so, whatever transtion device it was that allowed her to speak to Fox had failed at an inopportune moment.

  Or an opportune moment for somebody else.

  Katie listened hard, hoping to glean something, but the nguage was so different from her own she couldn’t even follow the tones of their voices. Ensign Jatus cast an anxious smile over her shoulder, as if to comfort small children during something terrible they were too small to understand.

  Katie braced herself, tightening her hand on Fox’s forearm in warning. A pair of uniformed aliens walked past the mouth of the hallway, one backward, one forward, carrying a cylindrical psticine case stretched between them. It was six feet long and three feet wide, round and oblong like a toothbrush storage case. Jatus’ shoulders hitched up around her ears. She shot them a second sickly smile.

  Holy shit, Katie thought. They’re moving a body.