The Eden Chronicles Boxset

by S. K Munt

  ‘She’s not his favourite…’ Kelia muttered, killing my smile.

  ‘Going off gold count, ’ Emmerly hissed, rattling her own gold chains which haunted Kelia so, ‘neither are you.’

  ‘… but because my bloodline, though divine, is not perfect and we have made mistakes that Arcadia has paid for. You have forgiven us for those mistakes and that is a beautiful thing but recently, I’ve realised that I’m never going to have the confidence in myself to lead you, until I forgive myself. So…I have a story… or rather, a confession to make, about a diamond who fell through the cracks of our system last year and sadly, will never be recovered.’

  Martya! Oh my God, he has to be talking about Martya, right? What’s he going to wish for- an inquiry into her death? A tribute for her? Oh my god, please- yes!

  I turned around to glance up at the panel of royals and was not surprised to see that Elijah had shifted in his seat and was already frowning at Karol. Kohén had his royal poker face on, Kohl (the only person who had read Martya’s letter, aside from me) had one perfect eyebrow arched, while beside him, the duchess cocked her head, making her curiosity clear. Seeing those faces made me feel nervous for Karol, but I turned back to the gazebo and smiled, silently encouraging him with my eyes and keeping my mouth shut. Yes I was a heckler, but as Kohén had said- I was a little bit of an anarchist too, and if Karol had something to wish for regarding Martya that was going to piss Elijah off, then I wanted to hear it!

  Keep going! You’re doing great!

  As though he’d heard my silent encouragement, Karol glanced at me and smiled and then looked back out toward his parents. ‘You have all probably heard that a young girl by the name of Martya Rice, was the individual responsible for concocting the Rice formula, and you may know that she was one of the Given girls handed over to Eden in six-thirty-two. And some of you may even know that she was being trained to be a Companion.’ He sighed. ‘But Martya was never Companion material- she was a scholar, only because of all of our royal red tape, she was forced to be treated as an equal when realistically... girls like Martya will never be equal to anybody, but to other girls like Martya. They are exceptional and rare- they are diamonds, and should be treated accordingly as the exception to our much-needed rules, if nothing else.’ He smiled sadly at the few nodding heads. ‘Martya should have been studying around the clock from the day she came to Eden, only she was taught to focus on other things, and though those things have their purposes too, some people simply are not born to do certain things and should not be forced to do them when we KNOW that they would do better somewhere else. This is the flaw in our jewel of a kingdom: We get so hell-bent on treating everybody fairly, that we forbid ourselves from making exceptions when they obviously need to be made.’ A murmur of agreement rose from the seated bodies before him. ‘… And because Martya knew how hesitant we were to lift the red tape for her, and feared that we would change our minds about releasing her from her Companion contract, she left for her new destination with a sense of unfounded urgency and recklessness before the roads were thawed, and never made it to St Miguel.’ I exchanged a glance with Adeline, who bit her lip and frowned back at the king. ‘She earned the right to have her fondest wish granted and yet never lived to experience it- and that is truly tragic.’

  There was a responsive rumble of remorse from the crowd, and I swallowed back tears, reliving that night; Martya’s angry attitude toward the king, my kiss with Kohén, the letter I wrote to my sister… it had only been a year and a half ago and yet I’d changed so much since… so who would she have become by now?

  Karol was still talking softly. ‘… Though the circumstances of her death were no one person’s fault, it has been weighing on my mind for many months, and has made me question the caste system when really, I have almost complete faith in it. Not only because it keeps things in Calliel fair and equal and running smoothly, but because our strict laws make it hard for more than the occasional person to fall through the cracks.’ He met my eyes then and I dropped my head, hearing him. How many pirates had snuck through Rabia’s lax borders? How many families, like Lindy’s, were hungrier than they were afraid to let on because they’d procreated beyond their budget?

  How many lucky girls like me, had been spared from being raised by mothers like mine?

  ‘Here it comes…’ Caprice whispered. ‘He’s bringing up the castes... he’s getting around to making exceptions… prepare to be summoned by a ringing phone, ladies!’

  ‘You think he’s using Martya’s death to push his agenda for the White Collars?’ I asked her, incredulous.

  ‘Undoubtedly,’ she said. ‘Especially if he suggests making half of the Given enter into it, instead of the Corps.’

  ‘That would be a cool idea,’ Emmerly agreed.

  ‘I guess…’ I hedged, though I had wished for something bigger since he’d said her name- like the abolishment of the Companion caste altogether! Still, it was something.

  ‘Ssh,’ Maryah hissed again, so we shushed.

  ‘I have not forgiven myself for being so swept up in trying to complete her formula with the ingredient she’d forgotten to write down, that time wasn’t taken to mourn her. And since the formula has been completed and mass-produced, we’ve been so busy seeing that it gets to every corner of the globe that we haven’t taken the time to give credit where it is long overdue. I failed her in that respect, and for some time, I’ve been convinced that it was a mistake that I’d never have the chance to make right.’ He smiled and lifted his chin, and I could see his confidence radiating in waves all of a sudden, as though speaking Martya’s name aloud in front of his father had been the most stressful aspect of all and now, he was golden again. ‘But a few months ago, I reflected on the last conversation that I had with Martya and realised that breaking her contract with us had not actually been her fondest wish. Because even after that had been granted, she asked for something else that she was denied- and though we had good reasons for doing so then, like many things in history- years later, hindsight is twenty-twenty and I see that Martya Rice was smart enough to understand what we could not then, and even though she’d worn glasses, she’d spotted a diamond in the rough that we had all overlooked with our ‘perfect’ vision, and in order to balance the scales between what she has gifted us, and the power you are all gifting me- I am determined to unearth that very same diamond today.’ He looked at me then and I cocked my head, trying to think of something else that she’d asked for, but coming up blank. All she’d wanted was her freedom!

  Hers. And… and mine!

  My heart did not only trip over a beat- it made an odd clunking sound as it threatened to come to a complete stop for eternity.

  Oh. My. God. Me! He’s talking about ME!

  ‘Martya is gone, and will never hear this declaration,’ Karol went on, his eyes burning into my wide ones. ‘But I will declare it in her name anyway as a retrospective thank you to credit this brave, clever young woman... and use my birthday wish to grant her dying one-’ he looked straight at me and said: ‘by releasing her equally bright, equally exceptional best friend, Larkin Whittaker, from her Companion contract.’

  I sucked in a breath and whirled around to see how Kohén had heard that- to see if anyone had heard that and that I had not just imagined it, but I was suddenly crushed by several white-sheathed women who were squealing and tackling me to the blanket in joy.

  I was free.

  30.

  Blood roared in my ears and the world spun as the girls around me squeezed me and shook me and patted me and blew out my eardrums with their shrieks of euphoria, and I wanted to do the same things but I could not move.

  ‘Larkin!’ Emmerly was going to pop my head off if she hugged me any harder. ‘Oh my god!’

  ‘Did you hear that?!’

  ‘More gold for the rest of us!’ (Elfin)

  ‘Free! She’s FREE!’

  Free! Free? Whhhhaaaatttt????!!!

  Suddenly panicking, I pulled myself fre
e of my excited counterparts and faced back to the stage to find Karol grinning at me and nodding.

  ‘Yeah, I said it,’ he taunted me, and his eyes were gloriously green. ‘You’ve scored the highest of anyone in Calliel history on your preliminary Larkin. Maybe we didn’t get it before... but we get it now.’ He gestured to me with a sweep of his arm. ‘A ninety-two point four, ladies and gentleman, from a girl whose course schedule demanded that she balance a book on her head twice as often as she read one! Let’s have a round of applause for the melioristic girl who not only outshone my original score, but helped complete the Rice formula that we all depend on today!’

  The audience went absolutely nuts and the sound of it took twenty years off my life. Was he truly saying that I was free?! Was the audience’s applause ensuring that? I pressed my hands to my temples and stared at Karol with disbelief as he casually sat down on the topmost step of the gazebo, where I had once stood with Kohl and spoken of firefly wishes, and looked straight at me as he made one of them come true:

  ‘Larkin has won mine and my family’s esteem by proving to be a girl just like Martya- a dark horse who could bust out of the boundary at any given moment, and the fact that these two bright and melioristic young ladies made their way into Eden’s walls in the one year gave me pause to think… who else have we overlooked? How many Given citizens of Calliel- not just Arcadia- are living half lives for the kingdom’s benefit, when they could be doing so much more for the world if they were granted the right to live whole ones?’ he cleared his throat and held up the piece of paper he’d been holding onto before. ‘So I looked through the test scores from this past Spring and I must admit that I was shocked to see that fifteen of the Given draftees scored higher than those from the Academic castes, despite the fact that they were offered only the barest education.’ An awed murmur went through the crowd, and he nodded. ‘Fifteen indentured children found a way to shake off the rough they were living in, to study harder than those privately educated, to reach deep inside themselves and qualify not only outside of the Blue Collar parameters, but in the top five percent overall by scoring over ninety.’ He shook his head again. ‘There are scientific minds laying bricks, musical prodigies sifting through rubble, and mathematical geniuses washing clothes. And no, there is nothing common or lowbrow about any of those jobs. In fact, the Blue Collars form not only the foundation of our society, but the walls and ceilings too…’ he smiled wryly. ‘But who knows what kind of houses the Blue Collars could build and live in, or what luxuries they might come to know, if minds like Martya Rice’s were mined, just like diamonds once were?’ He stood up as people cheered their agreement. ‘So that’s my birthday wish: Not only to mine the brightest minds that were given to Eden in the year six thirty-two by taking them out of their current positions and putting them into more fitting apprenticeships- and I do mean all fifteen of them-’ he paused, holding up the paper which I supposed was a list of names now and NOT his speech as more enthusiastic applause broke out, and I clapped a hand to my mouth in understanding. Kohl had scored over ninety! Kohl was free as well! ‘-But to reward that entire year of Given draftees, by granting the ones who will remain indentured wages until the completion of their service!’

  My jaw dropped, remembering the conversation that Karol and I had had in the courtyard only a few weeks before.

  ‘Is it not enough that I’ve done all you’ve asked of me thus far? Must I save the entire fucking world in order to prove God’s existence?

  No, I hadn’t expected him to save the world, but I hadn’t wanted to be treated as special if it meant that others like me continued to be unfairly overlooked. Now, Karol had found a way to save me, but he hadn’t saved me alone, and grateful tears spilled over my lashes. He WAS a good man! The duchess was right! And oh, how she was about to be rewarded for her faith in her eldest son!

  Before I could stop myself I was rising to my feet and turning and that was when I saw a sight I’d never forget- the duchess hugging Kohl tightly and sobbing into his shoulder while he stared up at his eldest brother in obvious shock. He had a family again! He had a chance to prove himself Kohén’s equal, and I wasn’t going to have to mediate their success anymore! He hadn’t been born with the privilege of being treated as an exception either, but hard work and perseverance had made him one and that was what was so wonderful about it all- and so shocking! Karol really had used his head!

  No one looked more shocked than Kohén though. My dear friend was on his feet, pushing his hair back from his face to gape at his oldest brother, while beside and beneath him, his father tugged on his shirt, probably urging him to sit down. But Kohén did not, and when his eyes locked on mine, the terror inside them was intense enough for his neon blue to radiate across the space between us like a laser. My heart sank- he wasn’t happy for me, not at all! Rather, he looked like he was about to faint from fright, as Adeline had predicted Karol might do earlier. Afraid that he’d leap over the crowd, yank me up and run me right back to the harem if he saw the delight in my eyes, I turned back to face Karol and sat quickly, feeling Emmerly’s arms around me, but no warmth.

  Why wasn’t Kohén happy for me? For Kohl?

  Karol went on as soon as the din died down a little. ‘So, though the people of this kingdom will not know perfect equality for many years to come, at midnight on Saturday when I turn thirty, my hope is that the ones from the year six thirty-two will be honoured with a little bit more of their share of our almost perfect world... and they will have Martya Rice to thank for it after, not me.’ Karol stood taller again and beckoned for me to come over. ‘So, if you agree that this lovely, bright young lady and her equals should be granted the right to make our world a better place by having their contracts torn up today, let me hear your approval now! Grant my wish with your support, and I promise that you will be glad that you did!’

  The applause was immediate and deafening and unquestionable- the power of it strong enough to make me collapse back onto my haunches. I sobbed, then covered my mouth as though my happiness were going to be drained from me if I let even the tiniest bit escape. In dreams, the thought: ‘This is a dream’ could kill the dream in a second- and tear the sleeper from their personal heaven by thrusting them back into reality. And in life, believing that something perfect had happened made that euphoria feel as impossible as a dream, and as vulnerable. So, like when I’d seen Liberty for the first time, and had believed in Kohén’s love because of it, and had been struck senseless by that elation- afraid to blink in case she disappeared- I now clasped my heart and my mouth with separate hands to shield them from believing what they would never recover from if proven a lie: that I was free. That the torture was over.

  But then hands hoisted me to my feet, accepting my happiness for me and forcing me toward it and then suddenly, I was stumbling toward the stage and people were both parting for me and reaching for me at the same time.

  ‘That’s all I really have to say today,’ Karol said, taking my hand in his and hypnotising me with his powerful, joyful emerald eyes, and when he pulled me up onto the stage, I felt as though I had wings and had floated up instead. So many eyes on me should have made me feel unnerved, but for once, I didn’t mind being Arcadia’s cynosure. For once, people were thinking about what was inside my head, not what I was clad in. ‘But I must confess that I had a reason for saying it today, and not Sunday.’ His hand was warm and radiating excitement down from my shoulder and right through me as he faced me to the crowd. ‘Every single dignitary in Arcadia has taken the opportunity to pull me aside and inquire into the availability of this bright mind since they arrived over the weekend.’ He shook me a little. ‘There was nothing I could say before, because she was slated to be Arcadian property for another three and a half years. However now, I can declare open season on this young lady’s future! And father…?’ He winked and hugged me to him. ‘Get the good cheque book out- because no one knows her worth better than those of us in Eden!’

  I glanced at Kar
ol in shock, my eyes filling with surprised and grateful tears and though Elijah shook his head in absolute astonishment, I saw his eyes soften when they shifted to me, and he finally nodded, conceding my worth. A sob escaped me to see that I was a person to him at last.

  ‘So…’ Karol turned me to face him, switching off the microphone and stealing my focus so that everyone else turned to background noise. ‘How did I do, heckler?’

  ‘Perfect,’ I breathed. ‘Karol…’ I tentatively touched his jaw, feeling the slight bristle of his permanent ten o’clock shadow. ‘I’m…’

  ‘Speechless? At last? Did I bring a little joy into your dark juvenescence?’

  I nodded, and he grinned.

  ‘Do you adore me yet?’

  I nodded again quickly, each jerk of my head shaking free a hot tear. ‘You… you…’ I bit my lip and threw my arms around him. ‘You are a good man,’ I whispered. ‘Adeline was right.’

  He sighed a deep contented sound. ‘I’ve been waiting so long to hear you say that. Well… that, among other things…’ the timbre of his voice dropped, as did his fingers and I felt it like a whip cracking against my back- four perfect, warm, heated and magical fingers trailing down my spine slowly, exploring my bare skin while keeping his back to the audience and shielding his true motivation for releasing me prematurely from view. ‘...and I couldn’t wait a day longer.’

  Oh no...

  ‘So, at midnight on Saturday, you’re going to come to my chamber…’ his fingers slipped all the way down to the edge of my dress, fondling my tailbone then over the rise of my backside before sweeping back up and making me shiver. ‘And we’re going to burn that contract, and your indifference to me away- together.’ He moved his lips to my ear and whispered huskily: ‘And you’re going to come to me willingly, and gratefully, aren’t you little swan?’