“I never dreamed Azor was so beautiful,” Jenny Tompkins said, enthralled with the beauty of the landscape around her. Trailing Ketta Mayasan to a waiting, shielded rallid, a motorized, air-propelled vehicle, she eagerly jumped in beside the woman, so excited to be free from Adoniah, if only for a little while. The forthcoming shopping expedition thrilled her as never before. “I still don’t know how I’m going to repay you,” she continued, “once I find a gift for Jeiel. Are you certain you don’t mind advancing me the funds I need to buy it?”

Ketta’s lips curled in a secretive manner as she glanced sidelong at the ignorant, trusting Zarcon....