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When the drone eases closer for a tight shot, Titan looks straight into the camera and says, “Slavery should be outlawed. Although it’s legal in most places in the galaxy, every being with a conscience knows no person should own another, should have the power of life and death—”
They cut to an unscheduled commercial break. As soon as the red light goes out, indicating the drone is no longer filming, Titan receives a shock so powerful his knees crumple, and his breath soughs through his teeth.
“We’re not playing,” Zedd seethes. “The next misstep will result in punishment to the female. Got it?” She looks off-camera and says, “These gladiators don’t have the brains the gods gave a rock.”
The red light comes back on as soon as Titan finds the strength to stand tall. Although he’s still recovering, his face contorted with the aftereffects of the pain, Zedd wastes no time getting to the million-dollar question. “For a male who was at the top of his career in the arena, what caused you to be entered intoThe Game? Might it have something to do with those marks on your back?”
The screen shows a closeup of his back as he walked into that holding area yesterday—cut to ribbons.
“I was beaten due to unproven allegations I was organizing an uprising.”
The red light goes out as a shock comes through my collar. I’ve never endured a shock this high. The pain is excruciating and brings me to my knees, then I tighten into the fetal position on the sandy ground. Out of my peripheral vision, I see Titan. He’s crouched, his fists curled around his collar, as are mine.
Your higher mind may know that you have zero chance of ripping the collar off your neck, but your autonomic nervous system still tries to pry the excruciating piece of tech off your body.
I must have passed out from the pain, because when my eyes flicker open, Titan is on his knees, peering over me.
His blue face is close enough to mine I can feel hot gusts of his breath breeze across my cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” he breathes, shaking his head. “I shouldn’t have done that. Should have known better.” His callused palm skates along my cheek as his gaze inspects me. “You okay?”
“Need a minute.”
There are only two thoughts in my mind right now, my thirst and the sizzling aftershocks of the punishment.
I don’t blame him. For a moment, I thought it was just his arrogance that caused him to tell the truth, but that wasn’t it. If he’d admitted to causing a rebellion, we would have earned our last credit.
“I guess they’ve postponed my interview?” I ask while he pulls me to a sitting position. As I shake my head, trying to clear my mind, I see the tote board on the drone’s screen.
The number of credits next to my picture says zero.
