He smiles too much, but maybe he's an idiot. I can work with that. I smile back; let's get this shit over with. ----- Patricia is furious. She isn't going to take this whole kidnapped by alien thing lying down. When she realizes she can't escape without finding a partner first she dives right in, pretending to be someone she's not to score a weak partner she can escape from easily. When things don't go as she planned, she must decide whether to live her life with a man she would never have chosen, or forge a new path and risk everything. Sean doesn't have the best track record with chosen. Julia died under his care and Ivy is missing. And now that he has the chance to guard another one- he absolutely hates it. But when he finds that she isn't all that she seems and finds himself drawn to her, he must decide if this time he will also fail in his duty. Haringhude is rocked with the death of the High Priest and nightly protests, an upcoming election will decide the fate of the city- for the better or the worst.

All of the private chapters for the book The Structural Silence

I see him. As I so often do. He watches me. Watches for me. Watches out for me. He peers through the see through curtains, the thin fabric only providing the illusion of privacy. My naked form on display for anyone with an interest. I am not one of the lucky ones. I am a priestess. ----- Dunn is disillusioned with his role as a priest. He tired of the priests using the priestesses for the own gains and he's tired of the hypocrisy and abuse of the High Priest. But in the course of his duties, he finds himself drawn to mysterious Rachel. When Dunn's uncle finds co-conspirators to try to bring down the High Priest, he will risk not only his own life but those of the people he loves to bring him down. Rachel has lost her fire. She does her duties as a priestess at the goddess temple in Haringshude, and she has grown numb to the pain and suffering inflected in the name of the messed up religion she serves. She is rescued from an aggressive worshiper by the Master Priest Dunn. When he asks her to help him bring down the religious establishment, she will risk it all to help him. Together they will bring down the religious hierarchy or they will fall.

I vomit. It isn't pretty, it isn't delicate, and it's followed by dry heaving as my body seeks to somehow expel what I have just seen. I shouldn't bother; I will never un-see that. ----- Ivy has just witnessed a terrible truth about Pinn. She is surrounded by aliens who worship though committing secret horrors and a partner who is one of them. Yet, Ivy must be realistic; she is stuck on this planet for the foreseeable future and so she must play her hand well. She must do what she can to survive this world while also building a future she can live with. Giddean is torn between his beliefs and his growing affection for Ivy. Posed to take down the High Priest, he must decide whether he can take on such a powerful and influential person. Giddean must use his wits to save both those subjected to the High Priest's regime while protecting those he cares about. When those devoted to the High Priest hear of their scheming, Ivy and Giddean must work together or be separated by forces larger than themselves.

"Not all women are successful in adapting to Pinn" The handsome man narrowed his eyes at the woman in the back "It saddens me to think of what happens to those who don't" I gasped silently at the threat. So far none of the Pinns had said anything but hallow words of propaganda and encouragement. The room was unnaturally silent. The woman in back clearly understood the implied threat. Somehow the threat brings me back to the reality of the situation. I was here against my will. ----- Ivy wakes up to a changed life. Kidnapped by aliens and taken to a world where females no longer exist and human women are kidnapped as replacements, she must adjust to her new reality. Her role and purpose are clearly laid out in the alien society, she uncovers the horrors embedded within her new world and the man she is supposed to spend her life with has enabled in its hypocrisies. Ivy has to decide if she can love a man complicit in her trauma. Gidean has been hurt in the past. He is wary of trying with a human woman again and has accepted his life without female companionship. His mother has other ideas and forces a young woman upon him knowing he would never send her away and risk exposing her to the true nature of the Pinn society. Gidean must choose give up the privileges of the only society he has known or risk hurt again. Together they must overcome the wrongs of Pinn or face their lives subjected to it.