Cedra: Running a farm on your own is exhausting and lonely. The Servana 200 service bot I ordered was expensive, but I need the help—and if it can also hold a conversation, it will be worth the price.

When the bot arrives, though, her hair is curlier than I selected, her skin is surprisingly soft, and she’s curvier and more beautiful than I imagined. But do bots tremble at the lightest touch? Do they smell like a heady mix of flowers and hot, sweet blood, teasing my fangs to life?

Technology is truly a marvel. Or is it?

Twyla: Running from a forced engagement is terrifying. But I’m backed into a corner, and my only escape is to crawl into a packing box for a bot modeled after me.

It’s certainly a panic move, but it got me out of one bad situation… And landed me right in the middle of another.

At first, Cedra isn’t the most welcoming sort, not when she presses a knife to my flesh and threatens to kick me out of her home. I come clean fast, pleading with her to let me stay and be her housekeeper. She’s hesitant, but I can tell she’s warming up to the idea…

Something’s flaring between us—fierce and urgent and insistent. And if these primal desires are mutual, maybe she’ll be the one begging me to stay.