Chapter 3

 

The mechanical voice kept talking, but my brain was still trying to catch up with the fact that I was standing in the middle of nowhere with a sword wielding warrior who had just claimed ownership of my body.

[ATTENTION, HOSTS. YOU HAVE BEEN REGISTERED AS DUAL CULTIVATION PARTNERS WITHIN THE SOUL SYNC FARMING SPACE SYSTEM. YOUR PRIMARY OBJECTIVE IS TO EARN POINTS BY GROWING PLANTS, UPGRADING LAND FERTILITY, SECURING WATER CHANNELS, PURCHASING FARMING TOOLS, AND EXPANDING STORAGE CAPACITY.]

"Farming?" Xiomara's entire expression collapsed into disgust, her upper lip curling like someone had shoved rotten fruit under her nose. "You dragged me out of the void and bound my soul to this soft little creature for farming?"

[CORRECT. AS STARTER COMPENSATION, EACH HOST HAS BEEN GRANTED THE FOLLOWING: ONE HOE, ONE SHOVEL, ONE 30-LITER WATER DRUM, ONE EMPTY SEED POUCH, ONE HARVEST SICKLE, AND FIFTEEN STARTING POINTS.]

A row of tools materialized on the cracked ground between us, glowing faintly before settling into solid form. The hoe looked ancient. The shovel was rusted at the edges. The water drum was barely big enough to fill a bathtub. I stared at the sad little pile and felt my stomach drop.

"This is a joke." Xiomara kicked the shovel with the toe of her boot, sending it skidding across the dirt. Her jaw was tight, her dark eyes burning with the kind of fury that made me want to take several steps backward. "I am a warrior. I have conquered armies. I have burned kingdoms to ash and walked through the flames without blinking. And you expect me to grow vegetables?"

[THE SYSTEM DOES NOT ACCOMMODATE COMBAT PREFERENCES AT THIS STAGE. FARMING IS THE ONLY AVAILABLE PATH TO POINT ACCUMULATION AND RESOURCE EXPANSION.]

"Then find me a different path." Xiomara's voice dropped to a dangerous growl, low and threatening enough that even the air around us seemed to tighten.

[NEGATIVE. NO ALTERNATIVE PATHS AVAILABLE.]

I watched her fume for a moment, her fingers twitching toward her sword. Part of me felt bad for her. The other part of me, the part that was tired of being scared and pushed around, saw an opportunity.

"Look," I started, keeping my voice steady even though my heart was pounding. "If you don't want to farm, that's fine. I can handle it myself. I grew up in an orphanage. I know how to work with my hands. I'll do all the planting, all the watering, all the harvesting. You just stay out of my way, and I'll manage the points on my own."

Xiomara went very still. The kind of still that a snake goes right before it strikes.

"On your own?" She repeated the words slowly, tasting each one like she was deciding whether to spit or swallow. "And what exactly do I get out of this arrangement, little flower?"

"You get to not do any work." I shrugged, trying to look more confident than I felt. "Seems like a good deal to me."

The silence lasted exactly two seconds.

Then Xiomara moved. I didn't even see her hand reach for the blade. One moment she was standing three feet away, the next the cold edge of her sword was pressed flat against my throat, the metal biting just hard enough to break skin. A thin line of warmth trickled down my neck, and I knew without looking that it was blood.

"Let me explain something to you, little flower." Her face was inches from mine, her breath warm against my lips, her eyes burning with a cold fire that made every nerve in my body scream. "I don't take orders. I don't accept leftovers. And I certainly don't stand on the sidelines while someone else decides what I get."

My whole body was frozen. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. All I could feel was the pressure of the blade against my skin and the absolute certainty that this woman would kill me without blinking if she decided I was more trouble than I was worth.

"Xiomara, please..." The words came out as a whisper, thin and trembling.

[WARNING. SYNCHRONIZATION DROPPING. CURRENT LEVEL: 48 PERCENT. CONFLICT BETWEEN HOSTS IS DESTABILIZING THE FARMING SPACE. IF SYNCHRONIZATION FALLS BELOW 25 PERCENT, THE SYSTEM WILL PERMANENTLY DEACTIVATE.]

Xiomara didn't move the blade. Her eyes narrowed, calculating. "Tell me something, system. If I kill her, do I get a new partner? Someone less pathetic?"

[NEGATIVE. IF ONE HOST DIES, THE SOUL SYNC FARMING SPACE SYSTEM DEACTIVATES PERMANENTLY. BOTH HOSTS WILL PERISH WITHIN THE SPACE. NO REPLACEMENT PARTNERS ARE AVAILABLE. EVER.]

Something shifted behind Xiomara's eyes. The fire didn't go out, but it dimmed, just slightly, just enough for the cold logic to push through the rage. She stared at me for a long, horrible moment, and I could see the math happening behind her expression. She was weighing the satisfaction of killing me against the certainty of her own death.

"Well," she murmured, the corner of her mouth twitching with bitter amusement. "Isn't that inconvenient."

She lowered the blade. Slowly. The metal scraped against my skin one last time before pulling away, and I nearly collapsed from the relief that flooded through my legs.

"Fine." She sheathed her sword with a sharp, angry motion. "We work together. But if you ever try to cut me out again, I will make you regret it in ways that death cannot fix."

I nodded, not trusting my voice. My throat was burning where the blade had pressed, and my entire body was shaking so hard I could feel my teeth rattling.

[SYNCHRONIZATION RISING. CURRENT LEVEL: 52 PERCENT. FARMING TOOLS PARTIALLY REACTIVATED. WATER ACCESS RESTORED.]

The system's voice faded into silence, and the barren wasteland around us shimmered briefly before going still again. The tools on the ground glowed faintly, as if waking up from a long sleep.

Then everything went black.

I hit the floor hard, my shoulder slamming against the cold bedroom tiles. For a moment I just lay there, gasping, staring at the ceiling of my bedroom in the Montero mansion. My hand flew to my neck and I winced at the sharp sting. When I pulled my fingers away, there was no blood, but the pain was real enough to make my eyes water.

I was back. Back in my body. Back in the real world.

My fingers closed around the twin-star pendant, still warm against my chest. My mind was spinning, trying to make sense of what had just happened, trying to separate what was real from what couldn't possibly be real, when a loud knock on the bedroom door nearly stopped my heart.

I scrambled to my feet, smoothed down my hair with trembling hands, and forced a smile onto my face before pulling the door open.

The smile died instantly.

Alejandro stood in the hallway, his dark hair slicked back, his tailored suit perfectly pressed, his brown eyes fixed on me with the kind of cold irritation you give a stain on your favorite shirt. He didn't greet me. He didn't ask if I was okay. He glanced at his expensive wristwatch and let out a short, impatient breath.

"You're not dressed yet?" His voice was clipped, each word sharp enough to cut. "I told you we have dinner downstairs in twenty minutes. If you make me look bad in front of my family, Mia, I swear to God..."

He let the threat hang in the air, unfinished but perfectly clear.

"Don't mess this up for me." He shut the door in my face without waiting for an answer, his footsteps already fading down the hallway.

I stared at the closed door. The wood was dark mahogany, polished to a shine that reflected my own hollow expression back at me. I could still hear his footsteps growing fainter, each one a reminder that I was nothing more than an inconvenience to him. A problem he tolerated because walking away would cost him more than keeping me around.

And standing there, with the sting still burning on my neck and the memory of a sword pressed against my throat still fresh in my mind, I remembered exactly how I had ended up in this loveless marriage. A reckless one night stand. One stupid, drunken night that I had been paying for ever since. A night that Alejandro would never forgive me for, no matter how many years I spent trying to earn back a love he never had in the first place.