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Chapters (54)
  1. Title Page
  2. Also by Aileen Erin
  3. Dedication
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Three
  7. Chapter Four
  8. Chapter Five
  9. Chapter Six
  10. Chapter Seven
  11. Chapter Eight
  12. Chapter Nine
  13. Chapter Ten
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Chapter Fourteen
  18. Chapter Fifteen
  19. Chapter Sixteen
  20. Chapter Seventeen
  21. Chapter Eighteen
  22. Chapter Nineteen
  23. Chapter Twenty
  24. Chapter Twenty-One
  25. Chapter Twenty-Two
  26. Chapter Twenty-Three
  27. Chapter Twenty-Four
  28. Chapter Twenty-Five
  29. Chapter Twenty-Six
  30. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  31. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  32. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  33. Chapter Thirty
  34. Chapter Thirty-One
  35. Chapter Thirty-Two
  36. Chapter Thirty-Three
  37. Chapter Thirty-Four
  38. Chapter Thirty-Five
  39. Chapter Thirty-Six
  40. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  41. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  42. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  43. Chapter Forty
  44. Chapter Forty-One
  45. Chapter Forty-Two
  46. Chapter Forty-Three
  47. Chapter Forty-Four
  48. Chapter Forty-Five
  49. Chapter Forty-Six
  50. Chapter Forty-Seven
  51. Off Balance
  52. To My Readers
  53. Acknowledgments
  54. About the Author

I would climb rocks with Lorne. Practice weapon training. On a soft carpet he would read me a story about adventures across the galaxy. There I felt safe and peaceful, living in a home I couldn’t remember—the one my mother had wiped from my brain. I’d get the feeling of everything being okay. That life wouldn’t always be so hard.

And then Declan would come, dragging me from the beach back into the execution arena, and any reprieve that I got from the nightmares would fade into nothingness.

One dream flowed into the next without pause over and over again.

I couldn’t do anything but listen to the sounds of my own muffled screaming echoing in the cryo chamber.

If anyone was there to hear me, no one ever came to help.

No one shook me awake.

I was trapped in the hell of my own mind for two weeks.

Chapter Fifteen

I was aware enough to feel the shift in the ship’s vibrations when it started to slow. I knew we were close but wasn’t sure how much longer it’d be. Each second I stayed in the cryo chamber felt like a year. I tried to stay awake and not slip back into my waking nightmares, but holding on made my heart hammer and my skin glow like lit gold. I couldn’t take much more of this. I needed out of my coffin before I went completely insane.

I started counting. Before I got to one hundred the patch grew hot, and the tingling began to spread again.

When I’d first gotten into the cryo chamber, I’d hated the tingling, but after feeling nothing for so long, I welcomed it.

Thank God. At least this part was nearly over.

The first thing I could move was my lips. “I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay.” I said it over and over. I wasn’t sure if anyone could hear me or if this would somehow reveal me as Aunare, but in that moment, all I could think about was getting the hell out of the chamber.

By the time the glass slid open, I was in control enough to fling my body out. I hit the floor with a painful thump and tried to sit up but couldn’t. I lay spread eagle on the floor and stared up at the ceiling. My limbs weren’t totally working yet, but at least I was awake. The very real pain of my body hitting the ground told me that well enough, and that meant this particular nightmare was over.