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diving into the mountain range. It was the only way to avoid detection from the surveillance bots because this side of the building wasn’t monitored. Meiling was too egotistical, or perhaps naïve, to think someone would attempt a breach from the mountains.
    “You better get back to dinner, Lian.”
    “Yeah.” Yet standing on the freezing outcrop seemed a much better way to spend her evening than in the dining room with a piranha. She held Vera’s hand as they headed back inside. Vera shut the heavy door behind them.
    “You handle the cold better than most, but your skin is freezing,” Vera said, rubbing Lian’s bare arms with her gloved fingers. “She’s going to know you weren’t in the bathroom.”
    Lian shrugged. “I doubt she’ll notice. She’s too busy hanging on to every word that jerk says.”  
    “Give me your hands.”
    “What?”
    Vera pulled off her own gloves. “Let me put these on you.”
    “I don’t—”
    “Lian…”
    “Okay, okay.” Vera fitted the thick gloves over Lian’s hands, then continued to rub her arms. She felt warmer already. “Thanks, this is helping.”
    “Good, because if you don’t get up there soon, Boss is going to send someone to find you…”
    “You’re right, we don’t want that .” She pulled off the gloves and handed them back. “I wish you wouldn’t call her that.”  
    “Lian, it’s what we all call her.” Vera frowned.  
    “It doesn’t mean I have to like it.” She refused to get upset with Vera, though. “Thanks.”
    “It seems to have worked in warming you up—”
    “No, I mean thanks for everything. We both know Meiling will figure this out sooner or later, and when she does…”
    Vera shrugged. “Someone’s got to stop her.”
    “Yes, and I’m glad it’s us.”
    “You know, you should start calling her what she really is. Wicked as she is, she’s still your mother.” Vera mentioned this at least once a day. “Calling her by name and not title is a blatant show of disrespect and isn’t going to make your life any easier.”
    “As long as she’s in my life, it’ll never be easier.” And she doesn’t deserve any respect. “Besides, if I should be calling anyone mother , it should be you. You’re the bravest woman I know.” Lian leaned over and kissed Vera’s cold cheek. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Vera.”
    “You’re a very sweet girl, Lian.”
    She spun on her heel and raced along the corridor before her emotions overwhelmed her. When she reached the stairs, she paused for just a moment to catch a glimpse of Vera’s rueful smile and the shine of tears in her eyes.
    She’d meant it. Meiling might have given birth to her, but Lian could only remember Vera being there every time she’d needed a mother. When she had nightmares and couldn’t go back to sleep, or when she’d wanted someone to read her a bedtime story. Even when she needed to talk to someone about embarrassing growing pains, Vera had answered all her questions and listened to her problems. She never insulted, degraded, or made her feel stupid—all things Meiling did on a daily basis.
    Vera hadn’t shared much about her life before she was dumped in the Shan Estate, or even how she got there years ago, but she’d told Lian bedtime stories she suspected were actually fragments of her former life. Stories about a young woman marrying the shifter prince of a forest moon after they met by chance and fell passionately in love. Tales of having the perfect baby boy who grew up to be a strong man, until both husband and son were taken and the woman was whisked away to a foreign planet, where she became a servant.
    Lian knew Vera desperately wanted to help these innocents from being condemned to a fate like hers, but she never asked any more than Vera was willing to share. She respected and loved Vera too much to cause her pain. The memories she passed off as stories were enough. Either way, Lian loved her like a mother.
    It didn’t take