Chapter 1

PALOMA

“Don’t fuck this up, Paloma.”

My father’s words repeat over and over in my head.

Three days ago, a contingent of orcs arrived in our colony to negotiate with our council. I didn’t know what was at stake then.

They reached an agreement two days ago.

That’s how long I’ve had to accept my fate. Two fucking days.

The repulsive green beasts will be here any minute.

For me.

My own people—my father—blindsided me.

“We need this alliance,” my father adds as he stuffs a few of my belongings into a backpack that he shoves at me. “We all have to do our part for the colony.”

Numb from what is happening, I accept the bag, not even caring how callously he thrusts it at me.

None of this is real. It can’t be.

I’m standing in our living room, in our modest but comfortable three-bedroom adobe brick home, wondering if I’m awake or having a nightmare.

I’ve seen orcs before, in the market of Pen’Kesh, a neutral area where we trade goods and services. Outside of the market, the orcs are our enemy. Brutal beasts.

Animals.

Uncivilized.

Deadly.

“The safety of the entire colony depends on this agreement.” My father crosses his arms over a thick chest. He isn’t a weak man by any means, but that doesn’t make him a good man.

“I didn’t agree to anything,” I sputter, unable to string more than a few words together.

“We’ve been through this, Paloma. You’re the oldest. It’s your duty. Now get moving. The escort will be here any minute.”

I stare at my father, not comprehending why he won’t say goodbye, good luck, or even that he is proud of me for saving our colony.

His callous rejection hurts down to my core. I’m only twenty-five and my sisters are twenty-three, twenty, and eighteen. They are the reason I never moved out of my parents’ house back on Earth when I turned eighteen and our mother fell sick. They needed me. Our father’s never been very supportive. Or warm.

Three years ago, we traveled here to Kovos. Back when I thought I had a future of freedom and choice, since we’d escaped Earth after the occupation.

That future no longer belongs to me, but to the orcs.

Ugly green monsters with tusks protruding from behind their lower lips. Beasts who smell and live like animals.

The man from the Coalition who picked our family to receive one of the lucky spots on the spaceship said the medicine on Kovos would help Mom. What we found was a lush world full of trees, magnificent canyons, and waterfalls that fill me with awe. But no medicine.

Aside from abundant game, five species, including humans inhabiting Kovos. All transplanted here by the cendagi, one of the races that makes up the Coalition, Earth’s conquerors. They don’t live on Kovos. Only vints, bantarans, moxxels, humans, and…

Orcs.

I’m being given to them like a sack of flour no one will miss.

“Mom would never let this happen.”

“She’s dead,” my father snaps at me.

“I’ll marry anyone else here. Even one of the older men in our colony,” I say in a desperate attempt to avoid being given to the orcs. Maybe I’ve become complacent, not searching for a husband, but I don’t need a husband to make me happy. I have my sisters and my work.

“There are three women for every man here. The men have their pick of the women. Why would any of them want you? Look at you.”

Look at me? I’m a bit thick in the waist, sure, but I work as hard as anyone else in the colony. Harder. Especially compared to some of the many who believe they’re entitled to sit back and relax because of their status.

When my father opens the door and steps outside, I freeze. I can’t make myself leave our house. There has to be a way to avoid this. Some way of reasoning with him.

Being sold to monsters... I can’t understand it. Or accept it.

“I’m not going,” I say, dropping my pack where I stand.

My father steps back inside, grabs me by my shirt, and pulls me out of our house that sits on the outskirts of the colony.

Stupid of me to think he’d have trouble letting me go.

This can’t be about money, can it? We don’t have a lot, but we aren’t poor either. He always has money left over after paying for food and other necessities to buy his dried leaves to stuff in the armash gourd he uses to smoke.

The rancid smell of Kovos’ tobacco clings to his shirt even now as he forces me several steps forward. At least I won’t have to put up with that putrid stench any longer.

Now, I’ll have a different odor to endure. Orcs.

A shiver runs through me at the thought of those monsters touching me. Never have I seen a dirtier group of beings in the market. Unlike the moxxels, bantarans, and vints who also trade in Pen’Kesh, orcs are always covered in mud, blood, and who knows what else. I got close to one once, enough to know I never want to be near another one again.

I’ve been sold to them as if I were another product in the market. Except no one here has the balls to admit they sold me.

You volunteered to marry an orc to protect us, Paloma.

You fell in love with one of the orcs and now they’re helping us.

This is an ambassadorship, and you applied!

This morning, when my sisters visited—the first time since this horror began—they repeated these and other lies Council told the colony, looking at me with confusion in their faces, as if they knew the truth but were too afraid to speak against Council. And our father.

My sisters, the people I’m closer to than anyone in the universe, can’t accept what is happening any more than I can. They’re scared. I saw it in their eyes.

It’s easier to buy into the lies our sanctimonious leaders shovel like horse shit rather than confront them and risk being targeted like me. Only, I never did anything to warrant this.

“There has to be another way to get the orc’s protection.” I fight back tears as my father shuts the door behind me, keeping me from escaping into the safety of our home.

“This is what the orcs demanded. A woman.”

“Then why me?” Tears roll down my cheeks as desperation and terror threaten to shut me down. “Why not ask for a volunteer from the colony? Lily fell in love with an orc. Perhaps there is another woman who?—”

“Enough! We all have our duties here. This is yours.”

“My duty is staking and weeding the crops during the day, taking care of my sisters, and cleaning this house at night. I never signed on to be breeding stock for one of their monsters! If you don’t want me here, let me go back to Earth when the next ship arrives. I can live on my own in the forest until then.”

“The Mayflower doesn’t arrive with new colonists for another month. We can’t waste time looking for another volunteer.”

“I didn’t volunteer!” I shout for the umpteenth time.

“Enough of your tantrums. You’re going with the orcs, where you’ll finally be of some use.”

My head spins with disbelief. “I work as hard as anyone else in this colony. Harder. I took care of Mom while you were out smoking and gambling. How can you do this to me? I’m your daughter!”

His face drops, giving me a false glimmer of hope that I’ve gotten through to him. “You can’t change this. It’s done.”

“They’re going to use me for breeding. Like a cow. Doesn’t that bother you?”

“We need time.”

“For what?”

“None of your business. Stop your whining and do your part, Paloma.”

“We’ll find another way. Please, Dad. I’ll do anything you want. But not this.”

“Stop your blubbering before you embarrass me. The orcs are on their way here.” He points down the long line of trees to four massive orcs atop mounts, with a fifth in a cart trailing behind.

Panic coils through me as I look for a way to defend myself. Even if I grab a shovel or a rock, it won’t be enough. Not against five orcs. I can run, but they have me in sight. They’ll run me down, truss me up, and haul me away.

My father is the only one with power here. He can stop this, if he’s motivated to do so.

“I’ll find a way to escape. That will destroy your plans.”

He narrows his eyes at me. “If the orcs can’t hold on to you, that’s their fucking problem. Just don’t return here empty-handed.”

“What do you mean?” My voice quivers with the glimmer of hope he’s thrown my way. A chance to return.

“Intel. Information about their camp, their numbers, defenses, weaknesses. Councilman Roberts said he’ll take you back if you bring something useful. Something that would make losing the orc’s protection worthwhile.” He scurries back into the house, returns a second later, and shoves a leather pouch the size of a shoe into my backpack on the ground. “Camila asked me to give this to you.”

Information? He wants me to spy on the orcs? Is that what this is about?

I stare at the orcs as they get closer. They’ll be here in minutes.

“Is this why you agreed to sell me? To get me on the inside and force me to spy for you? Why not just tell me this? Why make me believe?—”

“The orcs need you.”

“And you need intel. I get it. It’s a perfect excuse.” Hope is starting to build within me.

He glares at me. “Councilman Roberts is giving you the opportunity. Not me.”

I tuck that depressing fact away for later. Time is short and I need details. I don’t have an out, but a way of returning. If I can get information they could use.

“What is Council looking for precisely? Why didn’t they give me time to ask questions, to get an idea of what they’re up to ultimately? And what is the timeframe? How much info is enough? What happens if I don’t get the right information or in a timely manner?”

When my father doesn’t answer, my jaw drops as I realize why. He never intended to tell me any of this. He doesn’t want me back.

“You don’t give a damn about me. You never have,” I bite back, not sure what to say or do. I’m beyond terrified at this point, and lashing out is the only way of keeping a grip on my sanity.

“I did my part. Raised you. You’re no longer my concern.”

“Unless I spy for you.”

His jaw clenches. “Not me. Councilman Roberts. It was his idea.”

“And what did you say to Councilman Roberts?” I ask, afraid to hear his answer, but I keep giving him a chance to redeem himself because I want—need—to hear him change his mind, to show me a modicum of love, to protect me like a father should protect his daughter, and to save me from this horrible fate.

“I told him the truth. We need the orc’s protection more than we need you.”