"A'Ran looked pretty savage," she said with a shiver. "He's locked up, right?"
"He is."
"And someone other than Kisolm has the key?"
"We don't use keys," he answered. "We use honor. He is placed in a room where he must stay, unless someone frees him. He won't leave."
"You trust him?" she asked skeptically.
"It has always been this way. Before we had spaceships, we still had war. The only way to protect innocent people from the blood feud that runs between my family and A'Ran's was to use honor." He took her hand as they started to walk down the hall.
Evelyn glanced over her shoulder again, feeling uneasy. If only Kiera had stayed seated or didn't have such a hyperactive bladder or just waited five minutes! Romas could have convinced his brother to leave Kiera be, but now, with a blatant challenge from the prisoner, who had dared Kisolm to claim Kiera before he did … Romas trusted his brother, but Evelyn had seen the look on Kisolm's face when he looked at Kiera.
"Do not worry, love," Romas said, looking at her.
"I feel like I should've warned her about the arm band," she said. "She doesn't know that giving it to any man she comes across basically makes her his wife."
"Kiera is an honored guest. I've told my family she is your sister. They will not dishonor you or me by doing anything without coming to me first."
Dear God, I hope not! Evelyn smiled at him but wasn't so sure. She'd keep an eye on her friend to make sure nothing else happened.
* * *
Kiera lay on the bed an hour after Evelyn left, staring at the white ceiling with its brightly corded edges. A midmorning breeze drifted through the windows to her right, and she closed her eyes.
She needed to leave. What had started out as a favor to her friend was turning into something else. Her gaze fell again to the closet in which boxes were stacked. They didn't contain Evelyn's things; they contained her things, down to her dirty socks. She'd found them when trying to find the invisible bathroom door.
Evelyn-- or Romas-- never intended for her to leave. There was no way she was staying! Yet home was a very long way away, which meant she needed to go home on a spaceship. Who piloted them? How did she go about getting one discreetly?
She pondered the spaceship dilemma and how to commission one to take her home without Evelyn, Romas, or anyone else finding out. Given that she had no money or belongings that might possibly be of interest to the people of this planet, how could she bribe or pay someone to take her home? As much as she loved her friend, she couldn't help feeling betrayed.