Sunken Eyes (Cruel and Beautiful World Book 2)

by L. Stoddard Hancock

  "Don't cut down your pain by comparing it to Xander's, Luka. You were both wounded and I will be applying this salve until you are both healed. Now, shirts off," she ordered, already pulling Xander's over his head.

  She was silently scolding herself for accidentally breaking one of his wounds back open in a moment of passion the previous night. As spectacular as medicine in Utopia was it still had its limits, which was why she had officially called off all sexual endeavors until Xander was healed.

  She meant it this time and he knew it, practically throwing a fit that morning when she avoided all of his playful attempts to get her in the tub while she bathed him and then dressed his wounds.

  Deryn peeled off the bandages now, sighing as she looked at the damage done to his beautiful skin. Apparently, cuts and bruises got better before they got worse and it certainly seemed like his were at their peak. She hoped, anyway.

  "Looking at that, don't you dare try and tell me my gashes are just as relevant," said Luka.

  Deryn glared at him. "They are. You both matter to me and I hate seeing either of you hurt." She returned her gaze to Xander and began applying the salve. "I expect your shirt to be off by the time I'm finished, Luka."

  Luka grunted but obeyed, taking off his shirt and watching Xander's face closely as he tried to mask the pain he felt.

  When Deryn was finished, she gently kissed each of Xander's shoulders before moving on to Luka.

  "Do I get a kiss?" he asked.

  "I imagine you'll get several tonight," she answered with a smirk.

  While she worked on Luka, Xander pressed his wristband to check the time. "We need to leave in ten minutes if we're going to make the tram."

  Since Deryn had forbidden him from riding his hover-bike in his current condition, it was his only means of getting to the Guardian meeting in Inner City, and Luka had graciously offered to ride with him. After she pinched him until he agreed, of course. They had done the same thing the previous day with Fiona in tow and it had been one hell of a ride. She certainly was vocal for a slave who was supposed to fear Guardians.

  "I'll run up to get your bandages and coats," said Deryn, applying the last of the salve on Luka's most painful gash and hurrying upstairs before either man could protest. When she returned, she bandaged them both up and helped them into their shirts and coats.

  Deryn walked them to the building's exit, Xander pausing to say goodbye to her properly. Ever since his punishment had been administered, she had a hard time believing that letting him return to that place was the safest thing for either of them. She wanted to run and she wanted to do it now. But he was adamant.

  "I'll be back in a few hours, Deryn. You really don't have to worry."

  She whimpered but nodded, holding his face in her hands and kissing him tenderly. Then she looked at Luka over his shoulder. "Take care of each other. I love you both and I expect you to walk back through this door in one piece."

  Xander smiled and kissed her cheek. "You love me more though, right?"

  She rolled her eyes and shoved him towards the door.

  Of course he was right. She loved him more than anyone. With a laugh, he gave her one last kiss before walking out the door with Luka. They got a good block away before he finally showed the pain he was feeling.

  "I don't know why you try to hide it," said Luka as they reached the tram stop. "She's not an idiot. She knows you still feel like hell."

  "She doesn't need to know how extreme that hell is," said Xander, leaning against the closest building for support.

  The tram arrived and the two of them road it to the gate to Inner City. Once they were through, they took another tram towards the president's towering home in the dead center of the city. But no public transportation went directly to it and they had to walk the last bit.

  By the time they arrived, Xander was incredibly pale. Luka offered his arm as support but Xander refused it, not wanting to look weak in front of the president, though his pain was becoming significantly harder to hide.

  When they got inside, Soren was the only Guardian already in his seat, looking almost as terrible as Xander. He had received twenty lashes for his betrayal. Elvira was standing beside him, looking mildly concerned, but she pulled it back quickly the moment her father entered the room.

  Everyone took their seats and, despite Xander's protests, Luka helped him into his. The meeting was quick, nothing especially serious for them to discuss. The Resistance had gone quiet after the attack. Elvira wanted to use Xander as bait but President Saevus insisted that he heal properly first. Xander was mildly grateful for his concern.

  When the meeting ended, Luka was the first one up and helped Xander stand.

  "Xander, I would like you to stay behind. We have matters to discuss," said the president.

  Every last Guardian looked at Xander curiously, but his guess was as good as theirs. They all slowly began to trickle out, with the exception of Luka.

  "Why aren't you leaving?" asked Xander.

  "I can wait for you."

  "No. You have plans," he said under his breath.

  "I think Bronson will underst -"

  "Luka. Go."

  Luka looked at him hesitantly and sighed.

  "I will get home just fine on my own. I'm sure the president will lend me his car to get to the gate, and then it's just a short walk to the tram. I'll be fine."

  He frowned but nodded. "If you need me to come back for any reason -"

  "Yeah, yeah. I'll call you if I do. Now get out of here."

  Luka left then, though he wasn't the last out of the room. Elvira was still in there, looking skeptically at her father.

  "Elvira, this doesn't concern you," said the president. "Leave."

  "But, Father -"

  "Don't make me tell you again," he said, his eyes as sharp as his words.

  She took a deep breath before stomping out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

  "If you can control it, never have a daughter," said the president the moment she was gone. "They're far too dramatic."

  "I believe yours is more dramatic than most," said Xander.

  "Yes, she very well might be. Follow me."

  The president turned on his heel and led Xander through a door he had never seen open before.

  "How are your wounds healing?" the man asked as they walked.

  "Nicely," he lied.

  President Saevus glanced back at him and lifted an eyebrow.

  Xander smiled. "They may still hurt slightly."

  "I'll send you home with some stronger salve tonight. You may take one more day of rest but then I'm going to need you to return to your duties."

  "Of course, Mr. President. Thank you."

  They arrived at an elevator, a green light scanning the president from head to foot upon arrival. The doors slid open and Saevus motioned for Xander to step in first.

  "Where are we going, sir?" asked Xander as the doors shut behind them.

  "I told you the other day that I have deemed you loyal enough to keep my secrets, and today you will learn one of them. A secret kept in my family for generations, since our ancestors first left the underground and created Utopia."

  Xander watched him curiously but the president didn't give anything away. He wasn't sure what kind of secret could have been kept for nearly two centuries, but whatever it was it couldn't be good.

  The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. President Saevus stepped out first, leading Xander down a dark hallway until they reached another door. Another green light scanned the president as he walked, the door sliding upward by the time they arrived, not even having to slow their stride.

  They entered a large, cool room filled with loud machines performing some task that caused air to blow Xander's hair back.

  "These machines were created nearly two centuries ago as a means to pump air throughout Utopia. Without them, we would suffocate inside of our shield," explained the president, walking through the machines and towards a narrower, glas
s elevator in the center of the room. "When the air underground began to grow thin, the idea of Utopia first formed. While the city was being built, our ancestors' top scientists went to work testing the air, poisoned after a nuclear war in the twenty-two hundreds."

  The glass elevator opened and they both stepped inside. The moment the door closed they shot upward at an incredible speed.

  "Their goal was to find a way to purify the air, removing the toxins and making it breathable within our shields. But, upon inspection, they discovered something else."

  A bright light blinded Xander as the elevator came to a halt, the glass door sliding open and a soft breeze hitting his cheeks. He blinked several times before he noticed the bright blue sky shining down on him, speckled with fluffy, white clouds. He gasped and backed up as far as he could into the elevator.

  "Xander."

  Xander's breathing grew erratic as he looked at the president, who was unconcerned that they were standing outside in the open air.

  "The air was clean," the man said, slowly stepping out of the elevator.

  "W-what?" asked Xander, his feet glued in place.

  "No one could explain it. Research showed that the air shouldn't have been breathable for another few centuries. But, against all odds, it was." President Saevus turned and looked back at Xander. "Step out here, son. The air can't hurt you."

  Xander's legs were shaking as he slowly moved forward and out of the elevator. He looked around, for the first time noticing the lush garden growing atop the high tower that was never visible through the foggy shield of Utopia. "Mr. President ... why ..."

  "Have we kept this a secret?" the man finished.

  Xander nodded slowly.

  "It was a decision made by my great-great-great-grandfather. He asked the scientists to keep quiet about it and build the machines downstairs. He still wanted a shield to protect his citizens from future wars and they agreed it was for the best."

  "Future wars with who?"

  Saevus continued like he hadn't even heard him. "And then, once the city was built and the machines were functional, he had the scientists executed. Every last one of them." He plucked a red rose from a nearby bush and handed it to Xander. "He understood the importance of keeping Utopians protected. If they knew the air was clean then some of them would undoubtedly venture into the world. They would reestablish contact with other civilizations and repeat history."

  "Other civilizations?" asked Xander, his eyes fixed on the rose.

  "Of course. You didn't think we were the only ones to survive our ancestors' war, did you?"

  The truth was that Xander had never really thought about it. He'd just assumed they were the only ones. Why else would they not be in contact with the others?

  "There were four undergrounds created in America alone. In the north, the south, the east, and us, the west. But we cut off contact with them the moment we learned the air was clean. War destroyed our world, Xander, and I'll be damned if I let Godfrey Leon and his minions do it again. That is why the Outsiders must be stopped. Before they find others and real war is brought back upon us."

  Xander looked up from the rose, noticing a balcony in the distance. He walked straight for it, for the first time getting a clear view of the world around him. Green and lush, snow-capped mountains in one direction and ... the ocean in another. Tears built behind his eyes but he held them back. Saevus came up beside him.

  "For years my family kept Utopia safe by guarding this secret, but then my aunt Talitha married that dreadful Hayden Leon and told him everything. They chose to leave and brought others with them, ruining everything we had worked so hard for."

  "I'm not family," said Xander, his eyes fixed on the damn ocean, so close yet still unreachable. "Why are you sharing this with me?"

  A small smile curved onto the president's lips. "I have been aware for quite some time that Elvira is not up to the task of protecting Utopia when I'm gone. I had hoped marrying her off young would bring me a grandson I could raise properly, but I now have a hard time believing any child Soren produces would be worthy of such an important position. I had hoped when I offered to execute him she would agree but, alas, my daughter chose him for a reason. She's loved him since childhood, even looking past his obsession with that filthy slave if it meant she still got to call him husband. Really, I never should have offered him as an option, but when his parents volunteered Veli she was quick to ask for Soren instead. If only you were born a few years earlier." He glanced sideways at him and winked.

  "I think I'd be as successful as Soren in producing an heir with Elvira for you. She doesn't interest me."

  "Yes, and that's not what I'm asking. Marry whomever you please, produce whatever heir, I trust your judgment. What I want from you is a promise."

  "A promise," repeated Xander, his breath catching in his throat. He knew what was coming, but that didn't mean he was prepared for it.

  "A promise to keep this secret when I'm gone. To watch over Utopia and keep its citizens from ever venturing outside. For the greater good."

  Xander looked from the ocean to the rose he still held, breathing in the clean, outside air he'd been inhaling his whole life. His heart shattered as he nodded and said, "For the greater good."

  But how could keeping Utopia's citizens in a shielded prison ever be for the greater good?

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Luka walked up the stairs of their apartment building, pausing for a brief moment by Bronson's door on the third floor. He took a deep, nervous breath and continued on.

  When he got to the apartment he shared with Xander and Deryn, he unlocked and opened the door, scanning the place until he found Deryn sitting at the dining room table, making some adjustments to the unregistered Elements he and Xander had been carrying around lately.

  "Xander isn't with you," she said without looking up.

  "The president asked him to stay behind."

  "He didn't seem angry, did he?"

  "No. I'm pretty sure he's officially making Xander an equal to Elvira."

  Deryn sighed and put down the Element she was working on. "I don't even want to think about what that means." She glanced at him, her eyes sad for a moment before she attempted a smile. "You need to change for your date."

  "It's not a -"

  "Don't finish that sentence. It would be disrespectful to Bronson to go all wishy-washy on him again."

  Luka raised an eyebrow. "Wishy-washy?"

  "You know what I mean. You insisted that he pick you over someone who's actually willing to be seen holding his hand in public, so don't you dare change your mind on him again."

  Luka sighed and took off his Guardian coat. "I won't."

  "Good. I've laid out an outfit for you on your bed."

  He knitted his brow as he hung his coat in the closet.

  She smiled properly this time. "You should look nice tonight, Luka. While your options are limited, since the majority of what you grabbed from your father's house were shoes, I think I chose something Bronson will like on you."

  "I'm not just some piece of meat putting on a show for him."

  Deryn laughed. She stood and walked into Luka's bedroom with him at her heels.

  The outfit she'd laid out was actually quite nice. It was his go-to date shirt, a long-sleeved, navy-blue one that brought out some green specks in his dark eyes, and she'd paired it with charcoal-gray slacks he wore every other day anyway.

  "I also washed one of Xander's nicer coats so it doesn't smell like him."

  "What's wrong with my coat?"

  She raised her eyebrows. "You mean that old black trench coat with tears on the sleeves?"

  Luka shrugged. "It's comfy. Why fix what isn't broken?"

  "You're wearing Xander's coat. Now, hurry and get in the shower. I also plan to take a comb through your hair for once."

  "Okay, now you're crossing the line."

  Deryn laughed again and threw his clothes at him, which he caught. She then grabbed his shoulders and pushed
him all the way to the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind him.

  When she was alone, she finally had a moment to really think about what President Saevus was doing with Xander. He said he wanted to share secrets with him, but what secrets were there that they didn't already know about? Or at least have an idea about.

  Deryn went back to the dining room table, but the button she was currently adding to each of the Elements was very dangerous and required her complete focus, which she simply couldn't give. So she made a cup of tea instead.

  The bathroom door opened and she hurried to get a look at Luka in his date outfit. She smiled when she saw him.

  "You look very nice."

  "Yes, and I combed my own hair, thank you very much," he said with a roll of his eyes.

  "I suppose there's a first time for everything." She still stepped forward and ran her fingers through his towel-dried hair, fixing one small part.

  He swatted her hand away. "Stop it."

  There was a knock on the front door and he quickly went rigid, his breath hitching as his skin paled.

  Deryn chuckled. "Xander's coat is hanging in your closet. I'll get the door."

  Luka gulped and nodded. He walked stiffly to his room while Deryn headed for the door. When she opened it, Bronson was leaning casually against the doorframe, obviously trying to play it cool in a black pea coat and dark-blue slacks.

  "Evening, cupcake."

  She rolled her eyes. "Didn't I already veto that name?"

  "You veto all of them."

  "Yes, and I'll continue to do so until the end of time." She opened the door wider so he could step inside. "He's just putting on his coat."

  "Not my coat!" Luka called from the other room.

  Bronson looked at Deryn curiously.

  "His coat's no good so I'm making him wear Xander's. Don't worry, I washed it and spritzed it with that cologne Luka has in the bathroom.

  "Luka wears cologne?" asked Bronson.

  "Rarely," said Luka, coming out of his room wearing Xander's navy-blue coat, a perfect match to his shirt. Bronson and Deryn both smiled when they saw him.

  "Your hair looks different," said Bronson.

  Luka narrowed his eyes at Deryn. "She insisted I comb it."