He saunters closer to the broken Thirteen, tapping the hard end of the whip in the palm of his hand.
“Don’t!” I scream, heaving forward. “Don’t you touch her!”
Screw sadness. Screw being weak. I’ll defend my own even if it brings death. She deserves someone to care about her, to stand up for her. The Fortunates sitting on the couches gasp as Kade wraps his arms around me and pulls me back. I struggle against him, but he’s too strong for me. I grit my teeth as Vince beams widely at me, excited by my outburst.
“I don’t know who this is going to hurt more.”
Rita gasps. “You’re going to let her talk to us like that?”
“I’ll deal with her later,” Kade growls, squeezing me until my lungs ache.
Vince cocks his arm back, until his sweater tightens around his biceps, and then he lets his arm fly. The whip comes down hard and makes a loud ‘crack’ as it lashes her thighs.
I flinch as she screams out.
“Stop!” Bile rises in my throat and my entire body feels as if it’s floating away from me. This can’t be real… Vince whips her again and she screams. There are sobs sounding loudly in my ears and I glance around the room for a few long seconds before I realise it’s coming from me.
“We don’t do this in our house!” Kathryn protests, as mascara tears stain her cheeks.
“No, you have the moderators take care of it,” Rita announces over whips and sobs. “That’s why you have the highest Unfortunate misbehaviour rates out of any of us. They’re not scared of you. Your Unfortunates don’t respect you.”
Kathryn swipes at her face and pushes off of the couch. Her orange floral patterned dress swirls around her feet as she storms towards the door. She offers no farewells. She just leaves with her partner in tow, completely offended and emotional.
“Do you want to re-think your answers, Nine? You’ve never seen this map before?”
Whip. Scream. My bottom lip trembles and I bite it.
“You didn’t help this Unfortunate escape?”
Whip. Scream. I flinch. “I—”
“She didn’t!” Thirteen cries, pulling her knees to her chest. “She didn’t.”
“Stop it!” I yell at her. I’ve never felt so helpless than I do in this moment. If they want a confession, fine, I’ll give them one. I refuse to have Thirteen’s death on my conscience.
Kade hauls me up and I thrash against him, begging him to put me down. I don’t care how feral I look.
“Nine clearly knows nothing. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to take her back to my room and sort this out.” Kade wraps his arms around my face, stifling my confession with the fabric of his jacket. “You deal with Thirteen, and stop torturing the damn girl, will you?”
“No!” I scream, but it sounds more like a muffled sob than anything else.
I move my legs as Kade carries me from the room. My eyes are blurred and puffy. My face is soaked by tears and my chest hurts worse than anything I’ve ever felt. Then, BANG. A shot rings out and the manor falls quiet. My heart stills and Kade holds me tighter. That’s it. Thirteen is gone… put out of her misery with a bullet to the head. I stare off into the distance, numb and hurt. Everything we pass by is a blur and I can’t hear anything through the ring in my ears.
“Nine?” Kade whispers, wiping my face with a damp wash cloth.
I come to… I’m in his room, sitting on his bed. “It’s all my fault.”
He grips my face, letting his fingers dig into my undoubtedly gaunt features. “Hey, listen to me. It’s not your fault. She ran. She got caught.”
I sniffle. “But I told her to. I told her where the mine was and I told her to run.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
I close my eyes as he pulls my forehead to his. “What happened in that room was fucked up, but it wasn’t your fault. You gave that girl a way out and she took it. The look on her face… she was happy to go, Nine. She didn’t want to be stuck with Vince another minute.”
The mention of his name forces a deadly, black snake of hatred into my stomach. “I want him dead,” I state through gritted teeth. “I want to squeeze his throat in my bare hands until he stops breathing.”
Kade’s lips twitch. “You’ll have to get in line.” His slight curve falls, thinning out into an impassive line. “I have to do something about the mine… you know that, right?”
“But you won’t,” I tell him. “Because it’s not the right thing to do.”
“What do you think is the right thing to do?”
I swipe at my face. “Let them be. They got away, they’ve won.”
“No, they haven’t. The mine is Sario property. I’m going to be head of the house and everyone will be watching. I have to set an example.”
He doesn’t feel comfortable with hurting Unfortunates that he owns, but he’ll gladly blow a bunch up? How does that make any sense? I inch away from him. “Do it and you’re no better than your father—or your brother.”
He releases my face and stands up. I don’t look up at him as he towers above me, but I can feel his penetrative gaze piercing me. “I’ve never claimed to be better than them.”
I cross my arms tightly over my chest.
“You’re mad at me and yet you have no right to be.” I feel his fingers snake through my hair before he closes his fist and bunches up the strands. I wince as he pulls my head back and brings his face an inch from mine. “You betrayed me and I saved your ass again.”
“You saved my ass?” I spit, the sceptical tone thick in my voice.
He tightens his grip on my hair, pulling until it burns my scalp. “You think they weren’t going to kill you? One wrong answer and you’d be dead.”
“You should have let them kill me.” Tears well in my eyes again, as well as feeling thick and warm in my throat. “This society is sick and twisted and I don’t want any part of it.”
Kade crushes his mouth to mine, not caring it’s moist with tears. His lips move roughly against mine, but I don’t kiss him back. I’m not in the mood for my Fortunate. I don’t care how I feel about him, so he claims his stolen kiss, taking pieces of my soul away with his perfect lips.
“Get used to it, Sweetheart,” he speaks against my mouth. “Because I’m not about to let you go.”
With a tug on my hair, he releases it and turns away from me. I drop my head into my hands as he leaves and shuts the door behind him. I’m not sure if I hear it lock or not. There’s too much in my brain to really hear the finer details of my surroundings. I fall back against the mattress and pull my knees into my chest. My heart is deflated… my blood running so thinly through my veins. I watched her die and I didn’t do a damn thing about it. Not the first time I’ve failed her, of course.
Beside me, Thirteen stumbles over a rogue floorboard and falls forward. I reach out, curling my fingers around the band of fabric that flows freely from the back of her dress and her weight tugs my arms. I fall forward too and we both crumple to the dusty floor.
That was the first time I ever tried to help her and even then, I was too scared to stick it out and help her up. She was rammed with the tail end of Soyer’s gun… and I didn’t do anything.
I take a deep inhale and release it slowly, then I hear a slap on the wood. I whip my head to Thirteen, but she’s no longer on her pedestal. She’s a tangle of limbs and fabric on the floor. The spectators chuckle and the sound twists my stomach. Instinctively, I step forward to help her, but Kade’s large hand snatches my wrist and he holds me in place. My pulse thrums hard against the veins in my wrist and I know he can feel it.
“Leave her,” he growls under his breath, squeezing me to the point of physical pain.
“I can’t just leave—”
He grabs a fistful of my hair and subtly squeezes until my scalp burns. I wince, inhaling sharply. Thankfully, nobody is looking at us. They eagerly watch Thirteen as the Fortunate that stood behind her slaps her hard across the face. The sound reverberates around my skull and makes
my chest ache.
Again. I did nothing. For the second time.
Hot tears spill out and burn down my face. I inhale and it’s all over the place as my body rocks with sobs. Thirteen is dead… I killed her.
Chapter Thirteen
Kade
It was still morning and Kade felt exhausted. All he wanted to do was sleep, but there was no way he was going to be able to relax until nightfall. An Unfortunate tried to escape and his father is ‘under the weather,’ which means Kade had to overlook all decisions and head counts until his father is back on his feet. The thought made him smile.
Back in the private sitting room, things weren’t going so well. A dead Unfortunate with half a face missing wasn’t the easiest thing to stomach. Sadly, he was more upset about the murder of Thirteen than he was over his own father. Late at night, Kade wrapped Michael’s body in a sheet also filled with rocks and threw him into the lake. He sank immediately and Kade felt no remorse… that bugged him the most.
Kade remembered the first time he saw Thirteen, shaking on the pedestal as the Fortunates approached. She was terrified, like a tiny mouse in a cage with hungry cats. She was pretty, too. Her skin glowed and her curly hair was alive and bouncy—the perfect picture of innocence, really. Compared to her, Nine looked mischievous. Her violet eyes seemingly more playful than Thirteen’s frightened clear blues.
What good was that observation now? Thirteen was dead, her innocence gone along with her blue eyes and curly hair.
“Can we continue this conversation without the dead girl on the floor?” Kade asked, running his hands over his face. Was it possible to smell a dead body so soon, or was his brain making it up?
“You are just like Mother,” Vince said, uncrossing his legs. “Fine.”
Vince whistled, loud and clear, and Moderators entered with a black sheet. They wrapped her body and picked up the scattered pieces of her brain and skull. Blood seeped into the rug, but there was no way he was going to have it cleaned and forgotten. No. Kade was going to have order a remodel for the room. With her gone, Kade still felt like shit.
“So the other girl knows nothing of the map? She’s not going to spread the word or try and run?” Rita asked.
“No,” Kade answered. “Even if she did see the map, after seeing what she saw… there’s no way she’d risk running.”
“Give me a few minutes with her and I guarantee I can make her spill any secret she has,” Vince offered, grinning widely.
“That’s not necessary. I’ve already dealt with her. She doesn’t know a thing.”
“We’ll just have to see what Father says about it when he comes out of his room.” He leaned forward in his chair. “If he gives me the go ahead, your whore is mine.”
Kade was unable to hold back a smirk. Michael was dead. Nine was safe. “That’s fine with me.”
“And what about the mine?” Albert chimed in. “Something has to be done.”
The rest of the Fortunates murmured their agreement and Kade had no choice. As the (soon to be) head of the Sario house, he had to take charge. “We’re going to blow the mine sky high. Tomorrow.”
∞ Nine ∞
I watch from my window as the last of the Unfortunates trail back inside their manors. Moderators litter the lawns, chatting and having a blast. They don’t care that Thirteen was killed. No one does. All day Unfortunates have been counted and tallied. Perimeters have been checked and laws enforced. Every now and then, I’d catch a glimpse of Kade walking around with the moderators pointing and explaining. He’s been busy… too busy to come back to the room and I’m thankful for it. His presence isn’t something that brings me comfort… not right now.
The sun has set. It’s like I blinked in the morning and the whole day has slipped away. I should be hungry but I’m not. The thought of food makes me want to puke. There are a lot of thoughts troubling me… more than I care to name. The most prominent thought, the one sticking out in my mind like a bright red dress in a sea of black tuxedos, is I have to leave. Thirteen tried to leave in search of a better life and to warn the Unfortunates in the mine, but she failed. Behind me, I hear the door creak, but I don’t peek over my shoulder to see who it is.
“Nine?”
Portia. Again. All day she’s been popping in and out to see how I am. She’s upset Thirteen is gone, but not like me. No one cares the way I care. No one knows what I know and no one saw what I saw.
“I’m leaving, Portia,” I admit. I don’t know why I tell her… maybe I want to hear it out loud. As my words vibrate through my ears, I know it’s the right thing to do. Silence falls. I almost think she’s gone until she speaks, finally.
“Are you leaving because of what happened with Thirteen? Or because of something else?”
I turn to face her. “What would that something else be?”
Portia runs her hands over her hair. “Master Kade. You’ve developed feelings for him and you’re afraid it’ll get you killed.”
What the hell? Can she read all that on my face? “Kaden is my Fortunate. I have no feelings for him.”
She cocks an eyebrow. “Kaden?”
Oh.
“I heard you two… the other night,” she confesses. “What you’re doing is dangerous. The cuddling, the jealousy, the sex, the disobedience—when people catch on, it’s not going to be good.”
“I’m leaving for Thirteen. Not for myself. Yes, I saw how they hurt her… I watched them as they whipped her and cut her skin, but it didn’t scare me out of loving my Fortunate. I don’t want to run from him.” Gosh, my words don’t even sound convincing.
“You’re free to make your own choices, Nine, but I want you to think about how your disappearance will affect Master Kade. It’s not often he trusts people… underneath all of the pressure and politics he’s a good man and I’d hate for one act to turn him into everyone else.”
With a tight smile, she leaves, leaving me with my brain in a jumble. What is this about, exactly? Am I leaving because I’m scared of my feelings for Kade? Yes, my heart answers, and it all makes sense. I never wanted to leave here… but now I suddenly do. I saw the way they treated Thirteen—the way they murdered her. I’m absolutely petrified of that happening and Kade trying to save me… or worse, pretending it doesn’t bother him. He can never love me like I love him because at any second I could die or I could be taken away, and to save his own life and the reputation of his family name, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. That’d kill me more than anything… to witness him deny my love in front of everyone.
Oh, how bitter it is to realise something you thought was so selfless turns out to be so selfish. This isn’t about Thirteen at all. This is about my fear—the fear of being hurt and rejected. The fear of being every bit the Unfortunate I was born to be. So much for that higher purpose.
Tonight is the perfect night to run. Sure, there are Moderators all over the place, more than usual, but they won’t expect an Unfortunate to escape. It’d be too dangerous. No one in their right mind would ever attempt it… but I need to. I need to get away.
∞
I peer around the corner of the door. My nerves are frazzled by what I’m about to attempt. I can barely hear anything, only my heart as it beats wildly in my chest. When the hallway is clear, I run for it. My plan is to get to my room and go from there. I dash down the stairs, keeping my eyes down so I don’t draw unwanted attention. If I head for my room first, if I’m stopped I can tell them with absolute confidence where I’m going.
I make it to my room with no hassles. The halls on this level of the manor are busy as Unfortunates prepare for something, I don’t know what, but an unnecessary dinner won’t be off the cards.
“Here,” an Unfortunate calls to me as I pass her in the hallway. “Take these outside and sit them in the centre of the tables. Her long, orange curls fall in her face as she shoves a large box of centrepieces in my arms.
“No, but—I—”
She swivels on her heel and sashays
away without a glance over her shoulder. God, can’t she see that I’m attempting a very dangerous, very serious escape right now? Then it hits me… this is good. This gives me an excuse to be outside.
I hurry out the back door with the box in my hands. Unfortunates drape cloths over bare tables and place beautiful, white plates. Swiftly, I move from table to table placing ugly, white centrepieces. Usually, the centrepiece is an animal of some kind or a gorgeous candelabrum. Tonight, the centrepiece is a graphic sculpture of a human being slicing another’s throat. The implication of obvious dominance is clear. Don’t fuck with Fortunates.
As I make my way to the back row of tables, I peer over my shoulder. I’m a hundred metres out from the forest line and most moderators are drunk and inside. Suddenly, I feel stupid for donning a white tunic. I’m going to stand out like a diamond necklace on an Unfortunate.
No one will notice. There’s too much going on. I sit the box on the grass and use my foot to push it under the table. Blood rushes through my veins and my heart can’t keep up. I inhale and exhale, clench and unclench my fists. It’s now or never. I peer around one last time before I turn and I run. I run hard, pumping my legs as quickly as I physically can, desperate to make it to the tree line and out of plain sight. The tree line closes in on me. It’s so close, yet so far away. Before I know it, I pass the tree line and stop once I’m concealed by its dense shrubbery. My legs ache and my thigh muscles are hard. I’m breathing like I’ve never run a day in my life and my chest hurts like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I peer at Kade’s manor, but everything remains the same. No one knows I’m gone. Good.
I walk through the bush, eager to locate the lake. On second thought, I hope I ran in the right direction. I don’t remember all of the trees when Kade brought me here. Dry leaves crunch under my feet as I step out the other end of the mini-forest and approach the edge of the lake. I’m here. My freedom is close, so close I can taste it. I step forward until my feet sink into the cool mud on the edge of the water. The water laps at my toes and it’s freezing! Goosebumps spread up my legs and cover my entire body. This is going to suck. I inch even further. It’s not that cold, I tell myself, hoping it’ll become a reality. I lean forward slightly, trying to gauge the depth. It’s too dark to tell. I guess it never occurred to me that I might have to swim across the lake… which, I guess, should have been my number one priority considering I can’t swim. I scan the lake bed, squinting in the darkness for something that floats, and sure enough, five metres away, a thick branch is wedged against a rock. I don’t know how well it’ll work, but at least it floats. I turn and move towards it… that’s when I feel the cold barrel of a gun press against the back of my head. My heart stills, stopping me dead in my tracks. My hunter doesn’t say a word… and that’s how I know it’s Kade. If it isn’t, I’m dead anyway.