We Who Lost The Sky

THE STARS ARE NO LONGER HER ENEMY. THEY ARE HER CAGE.

Sarah bought the survivors of Ivan's rebellion a way home with the only currency she had left: her own freedom.

Now she wakes on a private moon at the edge of the known galaxy, sequestered in the gilded manor of the Great Xilukulkas. There are no shock collars here. No forced labor. No guards waiting to punish her for a single misstep. Her every need is anticipated, her comfort is absolute, and she is treated as an honored guest.

She is also owned.

Xilukulkas collects the rare, the beautiful, and the impossible. Sarah, the human who could not be conditioned, is his newest acquisition. Cut off from everyone she sacrificed herself to save, she is left with nothing to fight but grief, silence, and the terrifying emptiness of a future she never planned to have.

Her only refuge is the company of Mira, a relentlessly cheerful alien who considers servitude an honor, and Llywelyn, her sharp-tongued Akutwasian roommate. With his laziness, his secrets, and his infuriating habit of seeing through her, he should be impossible to depend on. Instead, he is the only person who makes the manor feel like more than a tomb.

As the manor's strange routines begin to feel like a life, Sarah faces a danger she never expected.

Safety.

Because the longer she remains, the harder it becomes to tell the difference between being trapped and having somewhere to belong. And when freedom finally comes within reach, Sarah may discover that leaving is no longer the simplest part.

"This is your master's house."

"Ours. He's your master now, too. Welcome home."