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I still didn’t like the idea of him touching me, so I extended my hand.
He gave the vial to me and smiled.
“You have nothing to fear from us. We won’t harm you. It’s our duty to protect the Prizes. One of them, anyway.”
“Sometimes you don’t do such a good job,” I snapped.
“Not when you’re in the cells, maybe. But we do a good enough job the rest of the time.”
I sniffed the cream and slipped my finger into it.
It was cool and pleasant to the touch, like moisturizer.
I applied it to my skin and hissed through my teeth at the sting it produced.
The manacles had rubbed the top layer of my skin off and left it open to the elements.
It wasn’t too bad, I thought. So long as I kept it clean, it shouldn’t get infected.
“What made you come out here with the prisoner in the first place?” the leader said.
“Because I wanted to escape,” I almost said before catching myself.
I recalled the story Egara had told me that night he thought his crew had abandoned him with no shuttlecraft.
They were good excuses, even if he had said it while he was in a dark place.
“I didn’t choose to come out,” I said. “Egara—that’s the name of the prisoner— he made me go with him.”
“Is that so?”
Damn, I wish I could see his expression.
It was hard to gauge what someone really meant when you couldn’t see their face.
“Yes,” I said. “You don’t honestly think I would come out here by choice, did you?”
“The thought had crossed my mind.”
“Why would I do something so stupid as that?”
“I’ve seen some funny things in the prison. Sometimes the Prizes develop… feelings for those they shouldn’t.”
“They do?”
I snorted but even to me it sounded forced.
“It’s the first rule we have in the Prize Pool,” I said.
“What’s that?”
“Never fall in love with the prisoners.”
“So why didn’t you refuse to leave when he took you?”
“Have you seen how big he is? He could crush me like a twig.”
“I often wonder about that. Some of these prisoners are real monsters. How were you able to… deal with them?”
