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floor. “She’s Ra’jen’s half sister, and she’s here to help you heal.”
    Excitement sped Cub’s heart, yet anxiety tightened her belly. She’d never realized hope could be so painful. She still wasn’t convinced these women wouldn’t demand some form of payment, but this was as close to security as she’d come in a very long time.
    Cub spent the better part of the next two weeks with Saroji learning how to cope with her loss and the rapid-fire changes her life was undergoing. Unlike her brother,
    who had blazed into Cub’s mind, Saroji used a touch so gentle, so skilled, all Cub felt was the reaction of her emotions.
    Cub was able to self-correct her speech pattern without needing a language infusion. She’d been a college senior when the Gathosians arrived and accessing those memories allowed her to shed her “refinery persona”.
    “We can’t keep calling you Cub,” Autumn decided one night at dinner.
    She had to admit that she felt like an entirely different person from the filthy ragamuffin Ulrick had rescued that day. “I don’t want to go back to my birth name. I’m not that person either.”
    “Then choose another name,” Autumn suggested. “You’re about to launch the next stage of your life. It might be best if you separate it completely in your mind.”
    “I want to be called Winter,” she said emphatically.
    Autumn smiled, wiping her mouth with a lace-edged napkin. “Is there a reason for your choice?”
    “Grizzly’s last name was Winters. I’m leaving Cub behind, but I’d like to take a small piece of my friend with me.”
    Autumn nodded, her blue eyes warm and encouraging. “An excellent choice.”

Chapter Three
    The conversation Winter had been dreading came the following Wednesday night. Saroji had returned to the army base two days before, so Winter knew her emotional recovery had been deemed sufficient, if not complete. Autumn had mentioned the “new stage” of Winter’s life several times, but they had yet to define what the stage would entail.
    Winter smoothed down the narrow skirt of her dress as she took a seat in front of Autumn’s desk. Each time she looked in a mirror, she still felt as if someone else was staring back at her. Her features had matured in the four years she’d spent at the refinery. As had her body. The curves she’d fought so hard to conceal were now a valuable asset.
    Autumn folded her hands on the desktop, her gaze assessing. “How are you feeling? Have your sessions with Saroji been effective?”
    “Very much so.” Winter kept her knees pressed together and placed her hands on the armrests, hoping her anxiety didn’t show.
    A gentle smile curved Autumn’s lips, and her gaze warmed. “Your transformation has been astounding.”
    “Thank you.” Despite her determination to appear calm and composed, Winter’s voice sounded tight and tremulous.
    “Relax. You look as if you’re waiting for a sentence at the end of a grueling trial.”
    The description wasn’t far off. Winter rested back in the chair and crossed her legs. “I don’t want to be a pleasure ambassador, yet returning to the workforce holds even less appeal. Are there any other options?”
    “For you there might be.” Autumn pushed back her chair and came around to the front of the desk, sitting beside Winter. “You’re in a unique position, as was I.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I chose to become an ambassador over joining the workforce. I figured my body was no longer my own regardless of where I went. The embassies enforce rules and codes of conduct on the men who would have access to me. I figured it would be safer.”
    “But?” There was obviously more to the story.
    “But when my training was complete and I was faced with the reality of selling myself, I couldn’t do it. I became a whipping girl instead.”
    Winter felt her mouth gape. Had she meant it in the literal sense? “You were punished in place of one of the ambassadors?”
    “It was an act