EMBER’S POV

“So. Like a sex slave.” I hear myself say, and my voice sounds like it’s being transmitted from somewhere far away, from someone standing at the edge of a cliff and looking down.

His jaw tightens, a flash of pain following.

“Yes.”

“And when I ran — when I stumbled onto that plane thinking it was fate, thinking the universe had finally thrown me something kind — you were already there. You already knew my name. You’d been watching me for years. And I thought that meant something beautiful. Romantic, even. I thought it meant someone finally saw me.”

“Yes.”

“But you weren’t seeing me. You were collecting...