The Gigolo's Bride (The Necklace Chronicles) Read Online Free PDF Page A

hadn’t really
helped any of the women, and maybe it made things worse for them.
She didn’t really know. What if fighting back was the worst thing
she could do? She was frightened and missed her home. She rubbed
the gem on her necklace in thought. She decided to continue to be
calm and learn all she could. Maybe, just maybe, she could figure
out a way to get back to Earth. She didn’t have the most exciting
life, but no one had asked her if she was ready to give it up to go
to some alien planet.
    Bride . Shreva said they were chosen as
brides by men from their planet. Although a part of her knew that
the term bride could really be interpreted in a myriad of ways,
they did seem to be going out of their way to be kind. If they
thought of the women as chattel, to be traded, used and abused,
they wouldn't have treated them so well, would they?
    Shivering, Ashleigh cleared her mind and
turned towards the wall where the door would appear when she heard
the now-familiar whoosh.
    The two guards who had come in each time to
retrieve the women looked at her warily. She hadn’t exactly
formulated a plan, but her instinct was to do whatever they said
and to be as nice as possible. The two guards, both of them with
blue hair, towered over her five-foot-three frame. They were
wearing black jumpsuits and military-style boots. "It's time to
go," one of them said, and she wondered why he was actually talking
to her instead of just grabbing her as he had the others. Maybe
because she wasn't screaming, fighting, or cowering in fright?
    With a quick movement he attached the glowing
cuffs to her wrists, and she lifted her hands to look at them. They
looked like beams of light, but they felt heavy and cool. "This
way, please." He gestured towards the open door, and she dropped
her hands and began to walk. She caught the curious and surprised
looks from the guards at the door but ignored them. They were
probably wondering why she was being so quiet.
    He stayed on her right and the other guard
came on her left; the other two guards walked behind them. They
moved down a long, narrow, nickel-colored hallway. "Why didn't you
manhandle me?" She asked.
    "What does it mean to ‘manhandle’?" the one
who put the cuffs on her asked.
    "You know, drag me out of the room, like you
did the others?"
    "They fought us; you did not."
    "Well, it might have been helpful if you had
told them what you were taking them for; where they were going,"
she pointed out.
    "They didn't ask."
    She glanced up at him. He was very serious.
She hummed in thought. "So where are you taking me?"
    "To your sacrosant's chambers. He will
answer all of your questions and share the truth of your new
life."
    "Sacro-what?"
    He glanced down at her, and a smile curved
his mouth just slightly. "The one who wanted us to take you."
    "Ah, so it wasn't just my random bad luck to
be abducted?" She felt a little edge of hysteria and tried to tamp
it down. Calm down, Ashleigh. She reached up to tuck a
strand of hair behind her ear and was reminded that she was a
prisoner when the cuffs flashed in front of her eyes.
    "No, you were chosen for a reason, Ashleigh
Turner. All will be revealed soon to you."
    She let that information process for a few
minutes as they walked, turning this way and that down various
metallic-colored hallways. "Why do you speak English?" she asked
after some time had passed.
    "We don't. When you were being examined by
the medical team, you were given a translator implant that allows
you to speak in our language and hear in your own."
    "So I'm speaking in your language?"
    "Yes." He nodded. "There are some words that
won't translate, which is why I didn't understand ‘manhandle’, but
for the most part, you are speaking flawless Norlanian, the
language of our home world."
    They entered something like a glass elevator,
and it moved swiftly upwards until her stomach felt like it might
be somewhere down by her feet.
    “Our people don’t know much about space
travel,” she