by Chele Cooke
The shrill beep of her tsentyl dragged them from their silence, making Georgianna jump. She pulled the device from her bag, swiping it open while Alec and Wrench watched. The blue writing shone through the gloom. Georgianna groaned.
“It’s Edtroka. He wants me back right away.”
Wrench nodded, but Alec frowned deeply and looked away. His gesture annoyed her. She couldn’t see why a man who had faked his own death and suffered Maarqyn for two years was so angry about her agreeing to stay with Edtroka. From her perspective, Edtroka was ten times easier to deal with than Maarqyn had been. If it hadn’t been for them, he would still be in Maarqyn’s house with no way out. Then again, if what Alec had told her was true, he was as trapped in the tunnels as he had been under Maarqyn. Maybe he was just frustrated and looking for anything on which to vent his anger.
As she said her goodbyes and made for the exit, Georgianna wondered how long it would take for Alec to make his second break for freedom.
When she returned, Edtroka asked if the Belsa had believed her but demanded nothing more of her. He was in the apartment for bare moments before going out, leaving her wondering why he’d called her back in the first place if that was all he’d wanted to know. By the time he returned, he had forgotten why he called her back as well and seemed surprised to see her when he stumbled through his front door, bringing the strong stench of alcohol with him.
The next day his hangover was substantial. He emerged from his room late that morning and immediately slumped onto the sofa, tugging her blanket over his body. Georgianna wasn’t sure whether to be horrified at his proximity or not. The memory of Ehnisque telling her that it would only be a matter of time before Edtroka asked more of her came back to her, and she brought her legs up close to her body.
The first of the rain spotted against the window and Edtroka praised his day off in a voice as dreary as the weather. Georgianna sat with her knees against her chest at the other end of the sofa, watching him and wondering whether she should try questioning him again. He had asked her to lie to her friends. He had to know that she would want to know why.
Instead she rested her head against the cushions and watched him. He was taking up three quarters of the sofa, his feet pressed against her hip underneath the blanket. It was only as her gaze drifted across his dozing face that she realised that this was the first time she had seen him this way. Even when he’d had time off before, he’d still been impeccably dressed and smart. Now, his short hair was ruffled with sleep and he hadn’t even bothered to put on a shirt. She felt glad that he’d at least bothered with trousers.
Georgianna licked nervously across her bottom lip as her gaze wandered. Holding the blanket against her, she shifted in her seat, causing the material to slip from his shoulder and down his chest. Edtroka didn’t stir and she waited a few minutes before daring to move again. It hadn’t slid down far enough for what she wanted to see, but she didn’t want him to realise what she was doing. She tugged the blanket carefully, moving this way and that as if she were attempting nothing more than to find a comfortable position. Finally a design in varying shades of green crept into view.
She’d seen a number of Nsiloq marks, designs drawn into the flesh of the Adveni, but never Edtroka’s. Every Adveni had one; it was taken as a test of being ready for adulthood. She didn’t know why she was so curious about it, but knowing that he’d chosen the design made her want to see it. His arm draped over his body and blocked some of it. From what she could see, it was a circle, with curved barbs spiking from both the inner and outer edge. At the compass points, large branches curved outwards before driving into the centre, just missing each other. There were no distinct edges, not like the scarred and raw designs on Jacob Stone. The skin melted from a pale, tanned brown to bright green as if his body had been designed that way.
“Don’t want one, do you?”
Georgianna jumped in surprise to find that Edtroka was looking at her with a sleepy smile. He draped his arm along the back of the cushions to give her a better look. Without even thinking, she leaned over him and brushed her fingers along the green skin.
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured. “How painful is it?”
“Hurt like nothing I’ve ever experienced,” he admitted. “Like the bottom layers of skin are being ripped out through the upper layers, but it doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“How long did it hurt for?”
“Hours, if that.”
Georgianna remembered the pain that Jacob had been in when he’d come to the Way. His skin had been burning through the Nsiloq marks and he’d received them long before he made a break from his owner.
“What is it?” Edtroka asked.
“I… I don’t know if I should tell you.”
Pushing himself up, Edtroka gave her more space on the sofa, though he kept his legs along the cushions next to her. Georgianna stretched out more.
“I know about your connections, Georgianna. I think we’ve established that much. Let’s say that whatever is said in the next, uh… hour is free game.”
She wasn’t sure if she believed him. There was no way to tell whether he would pass on her secrets or not. Even if he wasn’t angry, there was no telling that he wouldn’t pass on the information. However, there was nothing to lose. She didn’t have to tell him Jacob’s name. He knew that she was a medic, anyway. It probably wouldn’t surprise him that she’d seen Veniche tortured in such a way.
“I know someone, a Veniche,” she said. “He has Nsiloqs, three of them, but they still hurt, even months after he received them. If yours stopped hurting hours after application, why is he still in pain?”
“The Nsiqo who applied them didn’t finish the job.”
There was no trace of suspicion in his voice. He didn’t push her for an explanation, nor look like he wanted to. He shrugged and absently scratched the design on his ribs.
“What do you need to do to finish it?”
“They go over the design with a device, it… uh… well, it sets it, I guess.”
Georgianna nodded absently. She had never known the exact story behind Jacob’s marks. He was so quiet and she hadn’t wanted to make him relive his torture. However, she was now relatively sure that whoever had placed the marks on Jacob had not used the device Edtroka spoke of. When the intention was torture, they wouldn’t have given him relief.
“Do you think it so barbaric?” he asked as he noticed the frown. “Surely our methods are no more barbaric than yours.”
“What are you talking about?”
Edtroka brushed his fingers over his collar bone.
“You forget that I’ve seen the people that go into that compound. The Veniche criminal marks are well known. At least the Nsiloqs are taken willingly. Tell me, how many does it take to pin a man down while you carve out his flesh?”
“But that’s different.”
“How?” he asked. “The Veniche condemn the compound and the Adveni for its use yet your own people will permanently disfigure a person for a single crime.”
“We look at the reason they did it,” Georgianna cried, a surge of protective pride bubbling up inside her.
“Does the reason matter?”
“Of course it does.”
“Why?”
“What if a woman and her children are starving? They steal to feed themselves. That’s completely different to a person stealing simply because they can.”
He was awake now. No more lounging and quietly waiting out his hangover. Edtroka sat upright, his eyes bright and alert as he leaned towards her.
“Not to the person they stole from.”
“What?”
“Say you steal some coins from me,” he suggested slowly. “It doesn’t matter to me whether your family are starving or not, I’m still out of those coins, more likely to starve myself. Therefore, to me, it is still a crime.”
Georgianna glared at him. She wanted to be angry at him for insulting her race’s beliefs. However, she felt even more furious becaus
e his logic actually made sense.
“What about a rapist or murderer?” he continued. “Does it matter whether they have some condition that means they cannot control themselves? Should that be counted by your laws? They still hurt someone else. They still inflicted that person with an event they will never be able to forget.”
“I…”
“There is little difference between our laws, Ven,” he said. “Your race punishes in the same way as ours. The only difference is that you claim your punishment in flesh; we, in freedom.”
“What about traitors?” Georgianna asked in a surge of defiant anger. “How do you punish those?”
Edtroka paused. His gaze flickered away from her.
“With death.”
“And yet it is only when they are traitors against you that you act. When the betrayal falls in your favour, the traitor is not punished, they’re given rewards.”
“I don’t…”
“Keiran!” Georgianna snapped. “You won’t tell me what he’s done, or what he’s doing now.”
“Because you don’t need to know.”
“You said it,” she replied triumphantly. “It doesn’t matter whether he does it to save himself or simply because he can. The victim still exists, therefore the crime does.”
“You’ve taken that at its base level.”
“Well, I’m the victim. According to you I can take it however I want.”
“That’s not…”
“I am the one who was captured, Edtroka. I was kept in that compound, my freedom taken.”
“You did commit a crime.”
“But you wouldn’t have known about it without Keiran’s crime, so I want to know his.”
“That’s not the way it works,” Edtroka grumbled.
Georgianna clambered over Edtroka’s legs, taking the blanket with her. Holding it around her shoulders, she stared out the window, watching the splattering rain. Keiran would be out there somewhere, fulfilling a job for Edtroka, but still free. Her family would be travelling, probably pressing on while the rain was still light. Alec would be down in the tunnels, still mourning his brother’s death, still questioning Keiran’s loyalty. If he found out that she had lied, he would question hers as well. She would be a traitor, all for Keiran’s crime. She rounded on Edtroka.
“Perhaps I should ask Maarqyn,” she suggested. “See who he thinks deserves the punishment?”
Edtroka laughed and crossed his arms over his chest. He gave her a look of such smug satisfaction that her blood boiled.
“You helped in the escape of his dreta,” he said. “What makes you think that he’d believe in your innocence simply because someone else is guilty?”
“I can turn my crime around,” she answered. “Keiran passed information to redeem his crime of being part of the escape. I can easily do the same. If I tell Maarqyn where Alec and Nyah are, or where another Belsa is… say, Keiran, my crime should be forgiven.”
Perched on the edge of the sofa, Edtroka surveyed her.
“What is it you’re after?”
“The truth. How did Keiran get away with being part of the escape?”
Edtroka rubbed his hands over his face and growled under his breath.
“You need to drop this.”
“No, not until you tell me.”
“I told you, stop.”
She stepped towards him, gritting her teeth as she glared down at him.
“I’m not bluffing, Edtroka.”
Edtroka was up from the sofa in a heartbeat.
“Do you think that vtensu will treat you well if you give him what he wants?” he demanded. “He won’t. He will assume you know more. He will never stop trying to get information from you, by any means necessary. You will die revealing your innermost secrets.”
Georgianna shuddered at the thought of the secrets Maarqyn could pull from her, but she couldn’t back down, not when she was so close.
“Says the man who handed over information on the escape, who meant I was caught.”
“Yes!” Edtroka snapped, though Georgianna was surprised to find that there was a hint of pain to his voice. “Yes, I told Maarqyn about the escape, I had no choice.”
He slipped back down onto the sofa and looked up at her.
“Zanetti told me about the escape, he told me who it was and how they would do it. I had to tell Maarqyn because if he found out I knew and did nothing, everything I’ve been working for would be lost. The lives of two dreta are nothing to…”
“And me?”
“I never wanted you involved. Zanetti and I agreed on that point. I suggested that he find a way to keep you away from it all and he agreed to ensure you that were at the compound. When you left that day, I couldn’t stop you, I couldn’t let anyone know that I knew you were involved. I could only hope that you wouldn’t go running after them.”
Georgianna perched on the edge of the table.
“Why couldn’t you have kept it quiet? Maarqyn never would have known that you knew.”
“Maarqyn is a powerful man, Georgianna. You know this. He suspects that I have more connections than he is aware of.”
“Keiran.”
“He is one of my contacts, yes.”
Georgianna ground her teeth, not wanting to ask the question that she knew she had to.
“For how long?”
Edtroka licked his lip. Funnily enough, it reminded her of Keiran, of the way he would lick his lips before answering a question when thinking of an answer that wouldn’t upset her. Maybe Edtroka was thinking of the best way to package his lie.
“How long has Keiran been a traitor to his own people?” Georgianna demanded loudly.
“You don’t understand. Zanetti isn’t the traitor here.” He stared past her, his gaze fixed on a blank, distant nothingness. “I am.”
Two days turned into three and there had still been no word from Keiran. Edtroka promised her that they would know everything as soon as Keiran returned, but the time when he was supposed to return to the city had come and gone without news. Georgianna was becoming more and more frustrated, especially when Edtroka outright refused to contact him to check if everything was alright. Apparently it was too dangerous, but actually, she figured, the danger had been in sending him in the first place.
She hadn’t been able to get Edtroka’s admission out of her head for a single waking minute. He was the traitor, but working against the Adveni. He’d not explained much, as he thought that the news would be better served once he had the information he needed from Keiran, but all that did was make her thoughts worse. Was he working towards removing the Adveni from Os-Veruh entirely, or did he simply want equal rights for the Veniche? Why did he even care?
Worst of all, she didn’t feel right returning to the Belsa. She had already lied to them enough. How could she continue the lie now that she knew so much? Keiran was helping them, but it was how Edtroka and he planned to go about it that worried her. They had kept it a secret. Alec already distrusted Keiran. She could only imagine how angry Alec would be if he found out that Keiran had been the one to sell them out, resulting in Landon’s death.
When Edtroka had to go on a shift at the compound, Georgianna grabbed her medic’s bag and headed out to the camps. She couldn’t help Keiran or the Belsa, but she could help others without such crushing guilt. She went to her family home, checked with Kadey that everything had been quiet and set about wandering in amongst the houses.
The ground was spongy after the rain. Grass that had been dry and fragile had regained its colour and beads of water clung to her leather boots. The cool air was refreshing and she wasn’t the only one out and about enjoying it.
“Gianna?”
Georgianna turned towards the voice, a smile bursting over her face at the sight of Nyah. She was standing in the doorway of a small home, looking better than she had in a long time. Like the grass, colour had returned to her face, reminding Georgianna of the brash and happy girl she had known before.
She gl
anced at the house with a smile of recognition. It was Tian’s home, Taye’s uncle. She’d not seen Taye since her capture, but she wondered whether he had finally given in to his father’s demands that if he wanted to be a part of their family, he leave the Carae. She wouldn’t have been surprised if the move had been under Nyah’s influence. Like Alec, she would have to keep herself hidden, and she’d never been as at home in the tunnels as Taye had.
“Nyah, how are you?” Georgianna asked, approaching.
Nyah grasped her hands, looking at her for a moment before the smile disappeared from her lips.
“Oh, Gianna, I’m so sorry!” she cried, enveloping Georgianna in a tight embrace. “I never meant for… I just couldn’t believe it when Keiran said.”
Shifting in the embrace so that she could still breathe, she patted Nyah’s back awkwardly.
“It’s fine,” she answered. “It was my fault. I should never have been there.”
“No, it wasn’t your fault at all. It was mine. I should never have gone along with it. I knew how dangerous it was.”
She took the opportunity to grasp Nyah’s shoulders and push the younger woman back. She gave her a stern stare.
“Nyah, you did nothing wrong. It was our choice to help get you out. You never deserved to be there, neither did Alec.”
She didn’t look convinced. Georgianna wondered whether she was about to burst into a new round of apologies for a whole other set of events. Instead, Nyah stared awkwardly past her, scuffing her foot against the doorstep.
“Are… are things alright?” she asked carefully.
“You mean with Edtroka?”
Nyah looked at her in surprise.
“That was the Adveni who bought you, the guard?”
Georgianna checked around them. She couldn’t see anyone close enough to overhear their conversation, but it made her nervous none the less.
“Do you mind if we go inside? Is Tian here?”
Stepping back and waving her inside, Nyah closed the door behind them, leading her through into the kitchen. She hadn’t seen Tian Raye’s home before. The last time she remembered Taye living in an actual house instead of in the tunnels, he’d been with his parents. She could see elements that reminded her of her childhood in everything. She stopped at a wood carving of a wolf, realising that her father had made it.