Page 37 of Star Bringer
An unfamiliar feeling starts burning low in my belly, but I ignore it as I try to piece together what she’s saying—and what she’s not. “Who did something?”
“On that station.”
“TheCaelestis?” I ask, trying to keep the shock from my voice.
She frowns. “I suppose. If that’s where we’ve just come from.”
“You don’t know?”
“No. I was…” She shakes her head like she’s trying to clear it. “I think I was drugged when they took me on board. I don’t remember much from my time there—just a cell and the lab where they…” She waves a hand at the back of her neck and the scar.
“Where they did this to you.” I remember Ian saying something about experiments. I’d thought he was exaggerating or making stuff up to annoy the princess, but it sounds like he was telling the truth.
I hop down to stand in front of her again. Just the idea that someone could do such a thing is a revelation to me.
“That’s evil.”
She lets out a short laugh. “That’s the Corporation, baby.”
“They’re doing experiments on innocent people?” The feeling in my stomach is getting hotter, harder to ignore.
She looks away for a second. “Not innocent.”
“It doesn’t matter what you did! They had no right to use you like this! No right to do any of this to you!”
Her brows draw together, and she studies me as though she can’t figure me out any more than I can figure her out. I start to think she’s going to say something more—something important. But then she gives a shrug and waves her hand up and down in front of me. “That’s a fancy robe.”
Hardly fancy. “Not really. I always dress like this.”
Her brows hit her hairline. “Hard luck. I thought I had it bad.”
She gestures toward her own gray prisoner jumpsuit. It’s ripped, one of the missing sleeves revealing a slender arm, the skin smooth and tattooed, and suddenly I itch to touch it.
“So, what did you do to deserve that?” she asks.
“Nothing. It’s an honor to wear the robes. I’m the High Priestess of the Sisterhood of the Light.”
She stares at me for several seconds, then throws her head back and laughs.
Huh. Not the response I usually get to that statement. I purse my lips and try not to feel offended.
“You’re not serious?” she says when I don’t say anything.
I wait another beat. “Well, I’m certainly not kidding.”
“I’ve never met a high priestess before.”
It’s not like there are a bunch of us to go around. I don’t say that, though. It sounds elitist, even in my head, though I don’t mean it that way. “Well, I’ve never met a…” I trail off as I realize I have no clue what she is or what I should call her. I don’t want to offend her. And I definitely don’t want her to leave.
“A criminal?” she suggests.
I blink a couple of times. “Is that what you are?” I whisper.
She gives a shrug, then rubs her forehead. “Probably. It’s all a little…blurry, but I’m pretty sure I was with the Rebellion.”
“Oh. Wow. Even in the monastery, I’ve heard of the rebels.” They use terror techniques to try to bring down the legal government of Senestris. Violent. Dangerous. Despicable. Certainly not working in the interest of the holy Light.
I never thought I’d ever meet one—or that I would like her when I did. But Beckett draws me in. More than she should, considering who she used to be. Maybe even who she still is.
