What if they found her strange and repulsive?

What if she wasn’t any good at being human?

The day finally came. They had done all they could. Rhea had some valuable information from the madam, Juno. Ariadne had hacked the registry of Zelus. She had massaged the Oracle programming on the soldiers aboard so they wouldn’t think to question Damocles’s favorite courtesan and one of his top mercenaries joining a complete unknown as dona aboard the vessel. She had programmed a way to cut Zelus off from the Oracle’s main network once they boarded.

Rhea had spirited their costumes away, talked Nyx and Ariadne through how to carry themselves with confidence, how to speak, how to pretend to be something they were not.

Nyx had planned how they would kill everyone aboard once they hit space. Ariadne wasn’t sure if she’d be able to do that. But she had a knife and a Mors from Nyx, just in case.

Once Ariadne left the Temple, they wouldn’t have much time. Ariadne had tried to run a proxy of infrared readouts to fool the Oracle into sensing that she was still asleep in the garret, but it would not last long. Ariadne also had to hope that once the Oracle realized she was missing, One would be too protective of the secret that she’d used a human child at all to sound a palace-wide alarm. One would try to find One’s daughter on One’s own.

Ariadne knew she was no match for the Oracle. Eventually, One would find her. But Ariadne could help Rhea and Nyx escape, and she could have a taste of that freedom. It would have to be enough.

When Ariadne finally left the garret, Nyx and Rhea were waiting. The pity on their faces when they saw her scrawny frame made Ariadne ashamed. She hunched her slight shoulders. Rhea reached into her pocket and held out a small wrapped package.

“What’s that?” Ariadne asked, almost suspicious.

“A sweet. You look half-starved.”

She’d hadn’t told them she’d never eaten food. Looks of pity, again.

“Here. Try it.”

“We don’t have time,” Ariadne protested.

“Suck on it as we walk. Come on.”

Ariadne unwrapped it with shaking fingers. Carefully, she put it on her tongue. Sensations she couldn’t begin to describe filled her tingling taste buds. Her eyes widened, filled with tears.

Rhea slid her arms around her shoulders. “Let’s go,” she whispered. “We have a galaxy to explore.”

The steps of their plan fell into place. Once on the ship, Ariadne slipped her code into the mainframe. They clutched hands as the ship took off from the ground, though Nyx only hooked her pinkie with Ariadne’s. The last of the sweet melted in Ariadne’s mouth as she watched the palace retreat into the distance as the craft rose into the sky and took them to the stars.