He arched a brow. “Desperate enough for food and housing? You’d be surprised what people will sacrifice for their loved ones.”
He had a point.
There was a knock on the door.
Magnus tore his gaze from my face. “Come in.”
Vala stepped into the room, a slip of paper in her hands.
It looked like I wasn’t the only desperate one, after all.
We gathered in the district square, huddled in coats, hats pulled down over ears, and scarves wrapped around our faces as we waited for the huge holoscreen to light up.
The sun had set an hour ago, and lanterns lit the night. The square had been salted for the occasion, leaving it free of ice and snow for a change. How thoughtful of the establishment.
The holoscreen was a silver and black monolith that rose up in the center of the market square, and was surrounded by silver posts that created an invisible barrier that could knock anyone on their ass if they ventured too close.
The shining ones were a technologically advanced race, but they kept their tech to themselves, making it available only to central district residents—the few humans and shining ones who lived there. Or as Killion called them, the Tuatha and the Danaan.
Only five humans from Middale would be picked. I needed to be one of them.
Baba gripped my hand tight as we stared at the screen. Ma had refused to come, refused to look at me or speak to me, but Baba was here. Even though I’d broken my promise to him, he was here to support me.
God, I loved him so much. I loved them both for taking me in and never once making me feel I wasn’t blood-related to them. They were my parents, and I was proud to be a Khatri.
The crowd held its breath as the screen bloomed to life, and Minimus Lowland’s impassive face filled it.
“The human champions have been chosen. These brave souls will offer their lives to maintain your way of life by protecting Winter’s rule. If they fall at the hands of the other courts, then you will be stripped of your homes, forced out of Middale to make way for the humans of the new Regency court. You will lose your place in the city and be relegated to the outer iron settlements. These human champions are your champions.”
A murmur of excitement skittered through the crowd.
What fucking bullshit. He was making it sound like this shit was an honor, like we were about to embark on a war to protect the city. It was a game, a fucking game they’d set up because they couldn’t decide who should rule like normal fucking people. Whatever happened to democracy? Or letting the people decide. Oh, yeah, we didn’t get a vote. Votes were a thing of the past, shit I shouldn’t know about, except I was a nosey cow who liked to dig up the past. I knew enough to recognize that we lived in a dictatorship, where the Regency was the dictator, and the council was a façade.
Baba squeezed my hand.
“And now the chosen champions…” Lowland continued.
Champions? Nah, we were desperate, not champions. But I was holding my breath because I needed to hear my name. I needed to be called. If there were more than five volunteers, I was fucked. They’d have a pick, and my spot wouldn’t be guaranteed.
“Vala Neilson, Guardhouse Sector B.” Vala’s face appeared on the screen.
It was the photograph they took for our guard badges. She looked pissed off in it, which made me smile, and then Karl’s face appeared on the screen. Wait…Had he volunteered?
“Karl Jaiga, Guardhouse Sector A,” Lowland said.
Magnus said only two of us had volunteered from Sector B. Had Karl volunteered to his Sector A commander? If not, then it meant he was a lottery pick.
“Timothy Wieland,” Lowland continued.
Timothy’s photo popped up on the screen. He looked like he’d just finished laughing. His sandy hair was mussed like he’d raked his hand through it a moment before the picture was taken.
Exclamations broke out to my far left, and I craned my neck to try and make out who was sobbing. The crowd parted for a moment, and I caught a glimpse of Timothy. He had his arms wrapped around his sobbing mother.
Shit. A lottery pick.
Only two more names to go.
“Helena Barant, Guardhouse Sector A.”
A woman with a square jaw and steely eyes appeared on the screen. She looked like she spent her spare time kicking the shit out of bleak, which she probably did. Damn.
My heart beat furiously in my chest. Please, fucking hell, please…
“Danika Khatri.”
My face was on the screen, and people were turning to look at me. Blood rushed in my ears, and triumph mingled with fear to make my legs tremble.
“Champions, report to central Middale gates at dawn.” Lowland blinked slowly. “Failure to comply will be punished.”
The screen winked out.
Ma had finally fallen asleep on the sofa after breaking her silence, raging at me, and then crying. A glass of water had calmed her down. Joti sat in the single-seater, feet tucked under her, expression pinched, watching me sharpen my daggers.
“You don’t think they’ll give you weapons?” she asked.
“I can’t take the risk.”
“I don’t want you to die.”
“I don’t want to die either.”
“Promise you won’t die.”
Fuck. “I can’t make that promise, but I can tell you, I intend to survive this.”
Her chin quivered. “You’re doing this for Nina, aren’t you? You always loved her more than me.”
It was true. I’d favored Nina. We’d gotten along better, but that didn’t mean I loved Joti any less. “Joti, that is not true.”
“Liar.” She wiped at her eyes.
I put down my daggers and moved to crouch by her. “If you were taken, I’d do everything in my power to see you, too.”
She sniffed. “I wouldn’t want you to risk your life. Nina wouldn’t want you to risk your life.”
“Joti,” Baba said from the doorway. “It’s time for bed.”
“But—”
“No. Bed now.”
She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight. “Please, don’t die.”
I wish that was a promise I could make.
Baba wouldn’t sleep tonight either. I’d left him staring at the flames in the hearth, checked on Joti, fast asleep now, and then hovered outside Rav’s door before heading up to sit on the roof.
This was my quiet place. My thinking place. My hopefully-meet-Killion place. I needed him. I needed his assurance. Would he come tonight?
A shadow leaped onto the roof—a cat, nimble and quick. Killion stared at me with neon blue eyes and then padded over and sat beside me before morphing into his humanoid form.
I shuffled closer to him, reveling in his heat. “I have to be at the central Middale gates at dawn.”
“I know.”
“You were in the square earlier?”
“Yes.”
I braced my forearms on my raised knees. “I wish I knew what to expect.”
“We’ll deal with whatever comes.”
“We?” I looked across at his profile, but then he was turning his head to lock gazes with me. “We?” I repeated.
“You didn’t think I’d let you do this alone, did you, Danika?” His breath was a warm exhalation that kissed my lips.
“I…I didn’t think…”
His gaze dropped to my mouth. “You’re mine, little raven.”
There was a drop in his tone, an intimacy that he usually held back. It teased spiral heat in my abdomen and trapped the breath in my throat.
Mine.
A word that had filled my mind more and more recently when it came to him. My mouth was suddenly dry, heart ricocheting off my ribs with anticipation.
He touched my cheek lightly with his fingers, grazing ever so softly down to my jaw where he pinched my chin between thumb and forefinger and lifted it so our lips were aligned.
“You’re mine, Danika, and I protect what belongs to me.”
/>
His voice was deliciously low and intimate as if he’d just imparted a secret. This was it, the moment that we tipped, the moment that everything changed, but the kiss that hovered between us never landed. Instead, he swept his thumb over my bottom lip. My stomach flipped hard, and heat pooled between my thighs. He traced my mouth with that thumb, chasing the contact with his hot breath.
That touch was more than a kiss. It was more than his tongue sweeping against mine. His thumb caressing my mouth was everything.
My eyes fluttered closed. “Killion…”
“You have a beautiful mouth, Danika.” He sounded almost wistful.
“Then kiss me.”
Fuck, had I just said that out loud?
“I can’t,” he said.
My stomach dipped with disappointment.
He released me and morphed back into a cat. “I’ll find you, Danika.”
“I know.”
He always did.
18
There were no goodbyes. No final farewells. I snuck out before dawn and made my way through the district to the rail that would take me into the center of the city. The night denizens had retired, eager to dive into their hidey-holes before the sun came up and rest in preparation for tomorrow night’s playtime. The evidence of their shenanigans was graffitied onto walls and smeared on the ground. They liked to shit everywhere, and they liked to tag places. At least I didn’t come across any dead humans. I couldn’t stomach it this morning.
The station was at the edge of the district, a small one-story building with a flat roof and two towers. In an hour, it would be crawling with citizens eager to get to work, but right now, it was as silent as a tomb. Val and Timothy stood on the platform, their faces pale smudges in the darkness. Karl lived closer to Central City. We’d see him there, and the other contestant, Helena something, too.
“Hey,” Timothy said, but his tone lacked luster.
“I’m sorry.” I couldn’t even bring myself to smile, and I didn’t have to elaborate on why I was sorry.
“Me too,” he said.
“We’ve got this,” Val said. “A bunch of shining ones who need us to keep them safe…how hard can it be?”
The last thing I wanted to do was argue, but I knew firsthand they weren’t as helpless as they made out. The Hunt had proven that. They were monsters, and in a few hours, they’d be hunting us.
“It’s a thirty-six-hour game,” Val said.
“How do you know that?” Timothy asked before I could.
“I made some inquiries.”
“Why did you volunteer?” Timothy looked from Val to me.
“For my family.” It was a simple answer and one that wasn’t a lie. I might not be doing this for the money and the move to the inner district, but I was still doing it for my family. To make us whole again and stop the shining ones if I could. “I’m doing this to make our lives better.”
Val lifted her chin but didn’t meet my eye. “Me too.”
“Do you think Karl volunteered?” Timothy said.
The rumble of the rail had us stepping back from the platform.
“You can ask him when we get to central,” Val said.
Central Middale was a mystery. A section of the city built like a stronghold with iron walls that rose up to kiss the clouds. Guards were stationed on top of those walls, monitoring the world beyond our world. We’d been told to be at the gates, but that didn’t mean we’d be getting in.
Karl and Helena had joined us a few minutes after we got there. Helena looked nothing like the fierce image in her picture. She looked small and frightened. Not what I’d expect a volunteer to look like.
Karl’s jaw was tense and ticking.
“You didn’t volunteer, did you?” Timothy said.
Karl shook his head. “No.”
Shit. “I’m sorry.”
“We can get through this,” he said. “If we stick together, we can survive this.”
“Yes, we can.”
“We can wait it out.” Helena spoke for the first time. “I heard it’s thirty-six hours. We just need to stay alive till then, right?”
“Except we have no idea what we’ll be up against,” Timothy said. “I mean, where are these games even taking place?”
A small door in the huge metal barrier opened, and a human guard strode out to meet us. He was older, probably early forties, with graying hair at the temples and eyes that were flat and emotionless. Unlike us, he wore the Regency colors.
A Regency guard. He was one of the humans who worked and served Central City. These guards were elite, plucked from the obscurity of the outer city and their sector posts, and promoted to serve the ancients.
“Follow me,” he said, then turned and walked back through the door.
Vala and I exchanged glances. We were being allowed in? Karl moved first, following the guard with long strides. I went after him, and the others followed.
I’d dreamed about central Middale, imagined what it might be like, but nothing prepared me for what lay beyond those gates. The first thing that hit me was the sweet tang to the air. It coated my mouth and hit my lungs, leaving me dizzy for a moment. A sparkling snow-laden landscape dipped down to the shimmering city of silver and glass far below us in a valley. Spires stretched up to the skies, winding roads curled between buildings like obsidian snakes, and sitting in the center of it all was the Keep—sleek, black, and circular, the shining ones’ mother ship was like a nesting beetle surrounded by silver spikes that slashed up toward the sky and cracked and fizzed with energy.
“What are those?” Helena asked, pointing toward the Keep below us.
“The Net,” the guard said. “Protection for the Keep and none of your concern. Come with me, we don’t have much time.”
I noticed the guard building for the first time. It was a two-story affair with metal shutters and a mini-tower with what looked like a mounted crossbow. Inside smelled of disinfectant and metal. A couple of guards sat in a lounge staring at a holoscreen. I caught a glimpse of cheering crowds before the image began to flip through faces: golden and tanned, to pale and slender, to dark-haired and pale-eyed.
“The shining ones’ champions.” The guard ushered us past the lounge. “Central is celebrating the games.”
Celebrating the fact that their champions were about to hunt a bunch of humans.
“Where are the other humans?” Vala asked.
“Already in the labyrinth. They left a half-hour ago. You’re the last batch.”
“Labyrinth?”
“It’s where you’ll play.”
Play? “Being hunted is hardly playing.”
The guard looked at me impassively. “We do what we must to survive. Winter is our home, and we must preserve it.”
I stared at him, looking for a chink, something in his expression, in his eyes that told me that he had doubts, that he was merely delivering a message he’d been taught, but there was nothing but icy conviction on his face.
He believed in them. He supported these games.
“Pick five items. Five only,” he said. “It’s all you’ll get to take. Packs are by the door.”
The room looked like a storage space. Loads of shelves and a window high up, open to let in a cool breeze. But what I assumed had once been a neatly organized space was now a mess of stuff strewn all over the floor. It looked like the room had been ransacked.
“What happened here?” Vala asked.
“Humans from the other courts picked their items.”
Wait a second. “We get to pick last. How is that fair?”
“No one said anything about fair,” the guard snapped. “The courts picked lots, and Winter came last. Now, hurry up. The transport will be here any moment.”
Karl’s hands curled into fists, and I grabbed his bicep. “Not worth it. We need to select stuff.”
I picked up a pack and tied it around my waist, then scanned the floor and the shelves. “We’re a team, so let’s work on that premise and try not to
duplicate unless necessary.”
Helena picked up a water canteen. “Water.”
“Good. Everyone, grab water.”
But there were only three full canteens left. Fuck.
I found an empty flask. “I’ll use this.”
“Me too.” Vala picked the other empty flask.
“You can have mine.” Karl held his full canteen out to me, but I shook my head.
“No. I’ll be fine.” My gaze fell on a small tube with an image of a white fizzing tablet on it. “Purifier pills…” I pocketed them.
“First aid kit.” Timothy grabbed the small kit.
“Crackers.” Vala grabbed the almost-crushed bag.
I found some cereal bars and added them to my pack. Two more items left to pick. I spotted a coil of rope and a compass and made a grab for the rope because my sense of direction was pretty spot-on, but Helena beat me to it, a smug smile on her face.
Seriously? “You do realize we’re on the same team, right?”
When she didn’t reply, I shook my head and picked up the compass instead. The guard had mentioned a labyrinth. Maybe the compass would be useful after all?
“I found some matches,” Karl said.
“Hold on to them,” Vala added. “I got some too.”
Yeah, duplicates of matches were a good thing.
I had one more item left to pick. I scanned what was left, and my gaze snagged on a red, shiny item almost hidden by the bottom shelf. I crouched and retrieved it. A penknife. I flipped it open and studied the many tools. Magnifying glass, corkscrew, blade, file, nice.
I pocketed it and noted the hungry look in Helena’s eyes. “We’re a team.” I smiled. “We’ll all benefit.”
She swallowed and nodded.
We had our items.
The rumble of an engine drifted into the room through the open window.
“Time to go,” the guard said.
A huge black van waited outside the guardhouse. A guard hopped out of the driver’s side and strode to the back, where he yanked open the doors to reveal the clinically white interior. Five white coffin-like pods were nestled inside. One on the floor and two on each wall balanced and bolted to metal shelves.
Taste My Wrath (The Iron Fae Book 1) Page 11