Copyright © 2018, Nia Mars. Please don’t copy and share. I’m a scavenger. So what? With society’s collapse on Earth, I do what I have to for survival. Especially after I’m kidnapped by space pirates. I have no idea why the five most powerful rulers in the universe decide that I’m the Oath Forger, the one foretold to fuse their royal houses together and bring peace. But I’m going to play along. Because, hey, it’s better than probes in uncomfortable places. Now let’s just hope they don’t find out I’m lying. Chapter One Cancer didn’t kill my mother. The common cold did. When she was already weakened by cancer. It’s the same when people say aliens destroyed Earth—pure bullshit. We destroyed Earth. Earth was in a system-wide failure by the time the aliens came. We used up our resources and didn’t have enough left to fight the invasion. “Ava!” When I raise my head but don’t see Lily, my heart lurches so hard it hurts. My sister is all I have I left. I run forward in the abandoned shopping center, my boots echoing off the ruins. We are in a section newly uncovered by a weeklong, fierce…