by Dylan Steel
His lips parted slightly in surprise. “Really? And how do—”
The ground shook as a sudden influx of Sixteens noisily piled into the lounge, interrupting their argument.
Pippa came bounding in the door with the others and made a beeline for the two of them.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she said accusingly as she plopped into the chair across from Sage.
Sage blinked in confusion, reluctantly tearing her attention away from Everett. “Tell you what?”
“About Naturagre. All the benefactors. The estates.” Pippa sighed happily. “I got to ride a horse today. Do you have any idea how amazing that is?”
“A horse?” Sage stiffened, an icy tendril of dread making its way down her back. “Pippa, did you go to Edward Grayson’s estate?”
“Yeah,” she said dreamily. “And he’s so nice too. I figured the benefactors would be too busy to spend time with us when we’re at their estates, but they always come and talk to us.”
Sage swallowed. Pippa’s excitement was making her a little nauseous.
“Anyways, yeah. You totally held out. You should’ve told me how amazing this Interest was.” Pippa pursed her lips together in a look of serious reprimand. The corner of her mouth twitched as she tamped down a teasing smile.
“Sorry. I guess I didn’t think about it,” Sage lied. She licked her lips, stealing another quick glance at Everett, who had apparently decided his databook was more fascinating than the girls chatting in front of him.
“You know, we were actually in the middle of—”
“Uh-huh.” Pippa cut her off and waved her hand dismissively. Her gaze flitted around the room in boredom before stopping on a girl sitting beside Carnabel. “Ugh,” she huffed.
Sage sucked in a breath, trying not to be too perturbed. Obviously, she and Everett were going to have to wait until later to finish their conversation. “What?”
“Her.” Pippa jerked her head toward the girl. “Bev.”
Sage tilted her head questioningly.
Pippa rolled her eyes. “She was hanging all over the benefactor today.”
“Grayson?”
“Yeah,” Pippa squinted disapprovingly at Sage, “but don’t be rude.”
“Sorry,” Sage managed through gritted teeth. She silently scolded herself. She’d forgotten that not using his title or full name was tantamount to an insult. If she wanted to pull off good graduation assignments, she couldn’t afford to make those kinds of mistakes.
“Anyways,” Pippa continued, “it was weird. I thought she was trying to get herself paired with him the way she was falling all over him, but then when I rode by them and could actually hear what she was saying, it sounded like she was trying to set him up with one of her friends.”
Everett leaned forward, suddenly taking an interest in the conversation. “What makes you say that?”
“Because I understand the difference between ‘I’ and ‘she.’” Pippa rolled her eyes. “I didn’t hear much, but I did hear her say a couple things like ‘she’s pretty,’ and ‘she’s really good at Bokja’—you know, dumb stuff like that.”
“Huh.” Everett’s brow furrowed. He stole a quick look at Sage and then looked back at Pippa. “You’re right. That is weird.”
Pippa shrugged and collapsed deeper into the chair. “Told ya.”
An unwelcome sense of foreboding crawled over Sage’s skin. She glanced over at the girl Pippa had been talking about.
Bev and Carnabel were hunched together closely, talking in whispers. Without warning, Carnabel looked up, meeting Sage’s gaze. She held her stare for a moment. Expressionless at first, Carnabel’s face started twisting, contorting into a knowing sneer.
Sage’s eyes widened, and she dropped her gaze quickly. Bile rose up in her throat, but she choked it back. Her heart was pounding wildly as her chest heaved with a horrifying realization.
Carnabel really was going to do whatever it took to make sure she wasn’t paired with Nic.
Even if that meant offering her to the most vile benefactor in Eprah.
8. AMOS
A sharp pinch along the back of her arm, and Sage suddenly felt herself being pulled through a doorway, separated from the rest of the after-dinner crowd. Whirling around, she came face to face with a boy, probably a Fourteen, who was unsuccessfully trying to hide his nervousness.
“What in Eprah’s name are you doing?” she snapped, jerking free of his grasp.
“Sage, right?” The boy’s voice cracked as he spoke.
Her eyes narrowed. “Who’s asking?”
“Amos,” he said quickly. “But that’s not important. I need you to come with me.”
She crossed her arms and looked him up and down. He was athletic, but if her guess was right and he was actually a Fourteen, she had two years of Bokja training on him, not to mention plenty of extracurricular experience. If he got too pushy, fighting him was a risk she was willing to take. She snorted. “That’s not happening.”
“Please. I need you to come with me.”
He reached for her arm again, but she took a step back, dodging him.
“Listen, Amos, I’m not going anywhere with you until you tell me why you need me to,” Sage growled.
“I can’t exactly, uh… I can’t tell you.” His face screwed up in apology. “It’s nothing bad,” he added hastily.
She shook her head, allowing unfettered sarcasm to seep into her response. “If you can’t tell me, then I can’t exactly, uh, go with you.”
A look of terror flashed across his face, but he quickly replaced it with a neutral expression. “But… you have to.”
“I really don’t.” She stepped toward the door.
His hand landed against the door with a loud thud, blocking her path. “You really do. You’re not leaving this room without me,” he said, suddenly emboldened.
“Amos.” She slid her gaze to him, coolly meeting his eyes in a challenge. “Do you know who I am?”
He nodded, never once blinking. “I’ve heard of you.”
“So you have at least some idea of what I’ve had to do to survive.”
She hadn’t meant it as a question, but he nodded again.
“Trust me when I say that you don’t want to do this. You do not want to fight me.”
“You’re right,” he said, lifting his chin, “but that doesn’t mean I won’t.”
Sage studied the boy’s face for a moment. He was scared, but for some reason, he wasn’t backing down. What could possibly scare him more than the threat she’d just made?
An alarming idea skittered along the edges of her mind. She tried to push it away but couldn’t. She didn’t want to be right.
“Is it—” Sage tilted her head and pinned Amos with a serious look, making him squirm. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Is this one of your trials?”
She might have been officially part of the Kunbriat, but she dealt with them the absolute minimum amount that she could get away with. Votes and ceremonies, mostly. Granted, now that she was paired with Nic, she couldn’t avoid them quite as much as she liked. Ever since he’d been nominated, Nic had been working hard building relationships among key members of the Kunbriat, strategically placing himself so that he’d wound up getting a position on the panel.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” This time, his voice didn’t waver in the slightest.
“Of course not.” Sage rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, using her thumb to scratch her arm. She hated resorting to what was essentially the Kunbriat’s secret handshake.
“Oh.” He exhaled, visibly relieved. “I didn’t know you were…”
“There’s a good reason for that,” Sage said, a hint of warning in her voice. “I’m sure you know how much we like our secrets.”
“Right.” He winced. “But I still can’t tell you where I’m taking you.”
You’ve got to be kidding.
“Not good enough.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “You
don’t seem to realize that I’m already a full member.”
“I know, but… you not knowing is part of the trial.”
Chills swept over Sage’s skin. Were the Kunbriat betraying her? Mr. Walsh had warned her about this, hadn’t he? There had to be a way to ensure her safety. After everything she’d done—she couldn’t believe this was how it was all going to end.
If this was one of Amos’s trials, he would do everything he could to ensure her cooperation. He had nothing to lose—and those were the kinds of fights she wanted to avoid at all costs.
“Fine,” she said eventually. “But I need your word that if I come with you, I won’t be harmed. Or any of my friends.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “I promise that none of my actions as a part of this trial will lead to your harm or the harm of any of your friends.”
Her stomach turned uneasily. She didn’t miss the fact that he’d tweaked her wording slightly, but she hoped it was only out of an instinct for self-preservation rather than deception. “Good.” She gave a curt nod, dismissing her reservations. “But Amos, you should know, if you’re lying… I haven’t used my one trial option yet, and I won’t hesitate to do so to ensure you do not become Kunbriat.”
He swallowed. “Of course.” Hesitating, he added, “But I really think you’ve gotten the wrong idea about all this.”
She said nothing, raising a skeptical eyebrow. She hoped that was true, but of course, there was only one way to find out, and she wasn’t looking forward to it.
Sweeping his arm in front of them, Amos pushed open the door. “After you.”
Sage gave him one last wary look before stepping into the hallway. Amos wasted no time leaving the room and nodded for her to follow him. For a moment, she considered darting down the hallway in the opposite direction, but she reminded herself that she had a sort of insurance against the possibility of his deception. With one trial request, she could completely destroy him.
That was a small comfort.
As they made their way through the halls, Sage quickly noticed the familiarity of her surroundings. She wasn’t at all surprised when they turned down the hall with a tapestry at the end.
She found herself fixated on the figures woven into the threads. They stared back at her with hollow, unfeeling eyes. These were the ones who’d started it all. The Original Five. The ones responsible for Eprah and for everything that had gone wrong in her life.
Anger burned inside her, but she tamped it down, allowing curiosity to flood into its place. She stole a sideways glance at her escort—or perhaps more aptly, her captor—but he was entirely focused on the task at hand and didn’t notice her questioning look.
“The roof?” She wouldn’t normally have mentioned it aloud, but she’d already gotten the impression that she’d be fixing some surveillance footage the next day again anyway—assuming, again, that Amos wasn’t lying about not intending to harm her.
“Yeah.” He frowned as he brushed aside the tapestry and pushed open the door. “How’d you—”
“Please.” She shot him a wry grin. “I’m graduating this year, and you think I haven’t been here before today?”
His eyebrows pinched together, but he didn’t say anything. He tilted his head slightly and motioned for her to start heading up the stairs.
They climbed together in silence. Sage spent the entire time running through possible scenarios, wondering what could lie behind the door. She wouldn’t put it past the Kunbriat to have set this whole thing up to shove her off the roof, maybe even make it look like a suicide or an accident. And Amos wouldn’t necessarily even know—she doubted they would have told him all the sordid details of his trial. They didn’t tell her she was setting up Mr. Walsh simply by handing over a bracelet.
She ground her jaw painfully, wincing. Indulging a mindset of guilt would only distract her. If she was about to be forced to fight for her life, she couldn’t afford to split her attention.
On the other hand, she could be blowing the whole thing out of proportion. Maybe Amos was right, and she wasn’t walking to her doom or death. Maybe it was something completely innocent—just a meeting, possibly. A conversation. Simple.
Chills pricked the back of her neck and raced down her spine. She knew better. If it was just a Kunbriat meeting, they would be in their room underground, away from prying eyes. And they wouldn’t have sent an initiate to fetch her.
Focus.
A sliver of fading daylight fell at an angle across Amos’s face when he reached the top of the stairs, warping his grin into something closer to a sadistic smile. Sage shuddered, reminding herself it was just an illusion, a trick of the light.
“Ready?” he asked in a low voice, hand poised on the door.
Steeling herself for whatever lay beyond, she said, “Yes,” never once taking her eyes off the door.
Amos’s grin widened as he pushed open the door. “After you.”
Taking a deep breath to calm the throbbing pulse in her ears, Sage stepped onto the roof. Shock coursed through her system as she took in her surroundings and, more importantly, the person standing in front of her.
“You,” she whispered.
9. THE ROOF
“You did this.”
“I did.” Nic stood in front of her, grinning widely.
Sage’s body was trembling. Probably a result of the adrenaline rush she’d just gone through and was now trying to reign in. This was definitely not the nightmare scenario she’d imagined.
The door creaked closed behind her. Amos had left the two of them alone on the roof.
“You like it?” He swept his hands around him, a hint of nervousness in his voice.
“It’s… incredible,” she breathed. “You did all this?”
Scattered all around them were flowers and petals and candles. Tiny flames cast dancing shadows as the sunset let out a burst of fuchsia and oranges in the distance. Gorgeous, rich tones of fabrics draped in ripples along the rooftop, piled atop with blankets and pillows. It was beautiful. Perfect.
“Yes.” Nic’s smile broadened as he took a few steps toward her.
“But… how…”
He took her hands in his, sending an electric charge skittering along her entire body. His lips swept softly against her ear. “You still haven’t realized how great it is to be Kunbriat, have you?”
Her head suddenly felt lighter, like she could float right off the roof as long as Nic stayed by her side. Delightful chills tingled down her neck, putting her in a near-trance. “Apparently not,” she murmured dreamily, not wanting the blissful moment to end.
But it was about to.
Maybe it was because she was used to things going wrong or maybe she was too scared to allow herself to actually be happy for a moment, but a thought occurred to her and her eyes snapped to his in a panic. “You didn’t use your one trial option for this, did you?”
Worry crowded her features. If he had used it, he’d forfeited the only bargaining chip he had with the Kunbriat. For her. She didn’t want that to happen.
He brought her hand to his mouth, brushing his lips against her knuckles. “Why? Would you think it was wasted?”
Sage swallowed and forced herself to take a half step back, searching his eyes. For once, she was worried about someone else more than herself. “Nic,” she said solemnly. “Did you?”
“No.” He sighed. “I didn’t need to. There are enough other ways to get things done if you have the right connections, which I do.” Pulling her closer, he lowered his voice and added, “But if I had, it definitely would’ve been worth it to see the look on your face.”
She relaxed into his arms. “I definitely wasn’t expecting this.”
“You looked surprised.”
“That’s an understatement,” she said, neglecting to mention how terrified she’d been that she was being betrayed by the Kunbriat.
Pulling back, Nic grabbed her hand and led her to the center of one of the puddles of fabric. Motioning toward a couple pillo
ws, he pulled them down to the roof together. They sank into more luxury than she’d ever seen inside the Institution. Sage ran her fingers over the smooth satin surrounding her, almost in disbelief. He’d done this for her.
“I can’t believe you did all this,” she whispered, as if afraid the sound of her voice would break the spell she was enjoying so much.
“How else am I ever going to convince you that I meant what I said?” Her stomach fluttered as he ran his fingers lightly over her cheek, pausing to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ve wanted to be paired with you for so long.”
Nic leaned back a little, just enough for Sage to glimpse the flecks of gold in his gorgeous eyes. They were captivating.
“I thought for sure you’d have guessed I was up to something. Especially since it’s your birthday.”
“Oh. Right.” Sage’s eyes widened. Her classes had been so crazy lately that she’d completely forgotten what day it was.
Seventeen. She was seventeen. This was her last birthday in a cage. She sucked in a sharp breath. Would it be her last birthday ever? Gritting her teeth, she pushed the thought aside and refocused on Nic.
“…so you can consider this your exclusive, private birthday party. Penelope said it would be ok.” Nic grinned, then quirked an eyebrow. “Why else would you think Amos was bringing you somewhere so secretly?”
Dropping her eyes, Sage debated how to answer. She and Nic were going to be paired, and he’d always been a friend, but it was hard to know exactly how much trust she could place in him. And if his loyalty to the Kunbriat was greater than his feelings for her, she wasn’t sure she should say what she’d been thinking as she’d been walking up those stairs, convinced she was about to have to fight for her life against the very same people who were supposed to protect her.
“Sage?”
She felt his fingers under her jaw, gently lifting her eyes to his. Only when she saw the alarm on his face did she realize she’d been holding back tears.
“What’s wrong?” He looked at her helplessly.
A single tear escaped without her permission. She wiped it away hastily. “I figured out it was a trial.” The explanation began tumbling out before she realized it had.