by V. K. Ludwig
“Same, with a scientific twist to it I guess.”
She gave me a polite smile, and I racked up some courage for my next question. The one that had burned at the tip of my tongue ever since we left. One that, at times, made my stomach turn into a puddle of pure acid. “Is he really as big and frightening as they all say?”
“Who?”
Autumn shoved around on my chest, and I waited for a moment until she settled back into a deep sleep. “Rowan, their chieftain.”
She pushed her feet across the floor like on stilts, her lips parting and pressing back together in a struggle for the right words. My own legs turned weak at the sight. What if he wouldn’t approve?
“I’m not going to lie, he can come across as harsh and intimidating,” she said. “But I believe he has his heart in the right place. All he cares about is for his sister to be happy and safe.”
Happy I could do. But safe?
The tires of the truck wobbled over the ledge of a rocky rise, shaking Autumn from her cat nap. She stretched her arms in a single wide motion and tugged on the soaked fabric knotted around my thigh. “The bleeding stopped, but we will need Hazel to look at it once we get there. She’s our doctor.”
“You have female doctors?” I asked.
She tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. “Why wouldn’t we?”
“No, I mean… it’s just… whenever the Districts talk about one of the clans, they paint that picture of an ultra-masculine society that subjugates their women.”
“That’s ridiculous.” She grabbed the red bag and got busy changing my bandage, her fingers working along my wound with delicate movements. “Maybe among other clans, but certainly not under my brother’s rule. His wife worked. So do I.”
I pointed at Ayanna. “She fell in love with someone from your clan.”
“Really?” Autumn turned toward her, wrapping the soaked bandage into a ball. “Who’s the lucky guy?”
“River,” she said, the night not dark enough to hide her crimson cheeks.
“Huh, would you look at that,” Autumn said. “He’s a sweet guy. Capable. He saved my brother’s life once. He’ll make you a good husband.”
“Not much longer now,” Clark said, pointing at a bunch of evergreens, the mountains rising behind them. “That tree line over there is where your territory starts little Miss.”
“Stop the car,” Autumn mumbled, her complexion three nuances lighter than the usual. She dug her fingers into Clark’s headrest, placing on hand onto her tummy.
Mama Bear turned around and slowed the car, but didn’t stop right away. “What did she say?”
I placed my hands onto her shoulders, supporting her limp and going limper by the second body.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Her arms darted for the door, frantically pulling the handle. “Stop… stop…”
The sudden stop made us all swing forward a bit. Except for Autumn. She all but rolled out of the car, landing on her side in the grass where she pushed herself on all fours.
Gulps sounded into the early morning, the outline of her body tense. I jumped out of the vehicle and quickly gathered her hair, twirling it into a rope behind her back. And then we waited until whatever she ate last went through her throat for a second time.
Chapter 26
Autumn
“Throw it out the window once ‘ya got cleaned up. Will ‘ya?” Mama Bear pulled a rag out of the glove compartment and handed it to me. “Want a cookie?”
“Please.” I sunk back into the seat, wiping the black-stained and acrid smelling rag over my mouth and chin. As upset as my stomach was less than a minute ago, it now rested calm but hungry. “I’m sure it’s just the excitement and that disgusting stuff Svea had me eat.”
“Yup, it’s that alright,” she said, stepping on the gas once more as if sacks of grain tied to her laces. “Or something entirely different. Either way, we gotta keep going or Clark and I ain’t gonna make it back before nightfall.”
Max grabbed the rag from me and let it fly out the window, leaving it open just a tad for apparent reasons. Concerned and eager to help, he took the cookie from between Clark’s index and middle finger and handed it to me. “If we switch spots you can lie down and rest your head on my other thigh if you want.”
I carefully nestled myself against his shoulder, making sure not to touch his wound, and dug the raisin out of the cookie. Flinging it out of the window, I leaned my head against his neck and began nibbling on the stale treat.
“I’ll be fine… husband,” I whispered in his ear, tiny crumbles falling onto his love-stained shirt. A simple word with such a punch. My heart pounded against my spine the moment it left my lips, leaving me hot, wet and ready to consummate our union. Or him. Or both. After I brushed my teeth.
Rose fussed behind me in Ayanna’s arms, first with steamy gurgles which turned into full-blown screams within seconds.
“She is hungry,” Ayanna said.
“Sorry folks,” Clark said. “Got ‘ya booze, a cookie, bandages, and my oil rag. But I ain’t got no milk in this rig.”
Mama Bear knocked her fingers against the window. “Look right there, hun. See that smoke coming from between those pines? You’ll be out of here in less than ten.”
“Why is she pouting her lips like that?” Max asked.
I turned around, gazing over to Rose’s red-cheeked face. It only lasted a couple of seconds, followed by a loud blast that made us all scrunch up our faces, embracing for nasal impact.
“I think she might need a diaper change too,” Ayanna said jokingly.
Clark punched down a bunch of buttons in a frenzy, lowering all four windows at once.
The stench never came, but once the baby gave a satisfied coo, we all had a good laugh about it.
“This is terrible,” Max said, “I had no idea they could be so loud when they have to go. Or so happy about it.”
“You better get used to it,” Ayanna said, something teasing in the undertone of her voice.
“Oh, we might still have some time,” Max said confidently. “I heard it can sometimes take a while until it works.”
His voice faded out, my brain entirely focused on the people who gathered around the truck. Mama Bear stepped on the brakes and dust twirled up from underneath the tires, clouding my view.
“Maybe not as much time as you think,” Ayanna said. At that, she gave the door a hearty push and stepped out of the car, leaving me behind breathless and unable to swallow.
“What… what did she mean?” Max asked, all blood drawn from his face and pushed into his fiery earlobes.
Clark mumbled an “oh boy” and left the car, as did Mama Bear. Rowan stood in front of the longhouse, flapping his hands up and down, gesturing everyone to calm down while being out of it himself.
I turned to Max and placed my hands on his shoulders. “It was just a joke. Even if it happened in the basement, you don’t develop morning sickness less than twenty-four hours later.”
His face had a puppy-dog look to it. “You don’t?”
“Uh-uh…”
Shoulders slouched and eyes droopy, he released a deep sigh. Not the kind I expected with a sound of relief to it. Instead, it carried something like pity. Perhaps disappointment?
I lightly cupped his face between my hands. “We talked about this, didn’t we? There are other options for us.”
“No, it's not that.” He combed his hand through my hair, twirling a tendril around his finger and making my stomach flutter. “What Ayanna said kinda got my hopes up. And I was shocked at that. But now that you said it can’t be morning sickness, I’m actually kinda sad. And that shocks me even more. Remember the hologram of that baby at the clinic?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
He placed his hand behind my head and pressed his forehead against mine. “I want that child with you, Autumn. I’ve known that for a while, but I now realized just how badly I want it.”
My heart skipped several
beats, taking its sweet time to find back into a regular rhythm. All pressure around me dropped, sucking me into this vacuum that consisted of nothing but us. The concept of time lost meaning. And at that very moment, I realized I had everything I ever wanted, exactly where I wanted it.
A tear ripped at my voice. “I love you Max, and what you said means the world to me.”
“And I love you.” He placed a long, soft kiss on my lips, fumbling for something in the pocket of his pants. “Close your eyes and pick up your hair.”
Coldness spread across the skin between my collarbones, followed by Max’s warm fingers at the back of my neck. They brushed against my spine, sending one shiver chasing the other.
“You can open them now.”
One quaking finger darted for the object, and I looked down at myself. The cross rested atop my chest, gleaming against my skin in a warm hue of bright gold. It dangled on a chain which shoved around each time I moved or breathed.
“It was Nathalie’s.” Max placed his hand across the heirloom, saying a silent goodbye. “And I know she would have wanted you to have it.”
My heart rode a rollercoaster of sadness and joy, throwing a looping of hopefulness into the mix. No diamond in this world could ever outshine this simple cross.
He faced me straight on, his face severe and with lines of concern woven across his forehead. “Are you ready to introduce me to your brother?”
I pressed my hands onto my stomach pushing those giggles back in. “I don’t think that is something a little sister is ever ready for. Don’t worry. He will like you.” Eventually.
We got out of the truck and climbed the stairs to the longhouse, the villagers waving at me and pointing at Max.
Rowan waited with open arms, dark circles under his eyes and what appeared to be some sort of dried batter stains on his shirt. He swung his arms around me, picked me up and whirled me around until my hair tangled and my brain spun. “Has it already been a year, sister?”
I hammered my fist against his chest a few times. “I missed you too.”
Rowan put me back on the ground and pointed his finger straight at Max. “Who is he?”
A cold grip choking my throat. No matter how many times I daydreamed about bringing Max to the clan with me, somehow my brain always skipped this part.
“Um, this is Max. He used to work as a scientist for the council. His dad is the one who helped us escape, and we are —”
“Max.” Rowan held his hand out and gave him an overly-manly, potentially painful handshake. “Please tell your father he has my thanks. And so do you, for bringing my sister back. Oriel will make sure you get rewarded just like Clark and Mama Bear here.”
“No, Rowan. Listen!” I said.
I walked over to Max and took his hand into mine. Together we gazed up at my brother, sharing one freaking rapid heartbeat. Rowan’s eyes darted to our intertwined hands. The hairs of his beard brushed against each other whenever his jaw clenched a bit more, his lips twitching like a goat’s hide in summer.
“Oriel,” he shouted. “Make sure Clark and Mama Bear get their reward and don’t make us look stingy.”
He lowered himself down a bit and stared straight into my eyes, almost making my knees give away. “You three and Adair. Come with me to the backroom. Right. Fucking. Now.”
I squeezed Max’s hand a bit harder, our sweaty palms clinging together for dear life. We followed Rowan’s stomps through the longhouse and into the backroom.
Nobody dared to sit on one of the chairs which stood arranged around a wooden table. I could have sworn nobody dared to breathe either. Except for Rowan, whose breath sucked in sharp through his flared nostrils, and came out a throaty snarl from a thin line of gritted teeth.
I looked at Adair who stood next to him.
His eyes should have been empty.
They weren’t.
Disappointment blazed around his pupils, and anger waited somewhere deeper behind all things visible.
“I have at least a dozen questions for you, sister.” Rowan leaned over the table, grinding his fists into the grain of the wood. “But let’s start with this one: what the fuck is this guy to you?”
My vocal cords hung loose and lazy at the back of my throat, swinging my voice in an ever-changing tone. “Max saved my life, not only by helping me escape. I love him and… we want to marry.”
He pushed himself away from the table in a belly-deep laugh that rocked the walls of the room, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “You love this… man, or whatever you wanna call it? I had farts more amusing than this bullshit.”
Max dropped my hand and stepped forward, making my stomach heave into my mouth. I wanted to step up and face this for him, but I knew Rowan would never respect him if I did.
“Chieftain Rowan,” Max said. “I used to have a sister myself —”
“Shut the fuck up,” Rowan shouted. “Since when do shaved pussies talk, anyway? It’s not going to happen, and you’re going straight back to where you came from tonight.”
The moment Rowan pressed his lips back together, Rose’s mouth gaped open like the beak of an upset nestling, screaming and shouting from a face that went from red to purple within seconds.
“She needs food,” Ayanna said. “There’s no way I can calm her back down from this without someone to nurse her, or a bottle.”
Rowan rubbed his palms over his face and down, stretching his lower lids until they would no more, revealing white, and red and general unhappiness about this shit show.
“Adair, go find this babe a bottle and formula as quickly as you can, and I think a diaper might help as well.”
Adair nodded and left the room, a storm of whispers and mumbles blowing through the gap of the door. Before he closed the door behind him, Rowan added, “And head over to the jail and get River.”
“Jail?” Ayanna shrieked, the tip of her nose turning white like dipped in milk.
“Jail, sweetheart,” Rowan said. “He knew the laws and the consequences if he breaks’em. But since you’re here I take it you came to stay?”
Her head bobbed up and down unchecked. “If I agree to marry River, will you spare him?”
Rowan eyed her intensely but eventually responded with a nod. Then he clapped his hands together. “Now that we know Max will go back to the Districts, and River won’t die today… next question: who is this baby?”
Our heads dropped all at once, each of us evading the question. Panic slammed into me and bounced against my voice. He sure as hell wasn’t ready for that blow.
“Councilwoman Svea gave this to me.” I pulled the memory stick out of my pocket and presented it on my outstretched palm. “We don’t know what’s on it, but we have a feeling it’s bad news.”
“That’s the classified information you stole?”
“I didn’t steal anything,” I said. “Councilwoman Svea stole it, and the council turned it into a witch-hunt for me.”
He grabbed the memory stick and flung it onto the table. “What you’re saying makes no sense. Why would a councilwoman steal information and provide it to us?”
“It's true,” Ayanna said, by now desperately swinging the restless infant. “She helped me come back here after the other council members didn’t want me to leave. I don’t know anything about the information on that stick, but I agree with Autumn. It seems to be bad news.”
A knock on the door had us all turn around. Oriel poked his head through the gap. “River is on his way here.”
Chapter 27
Max
The floorboards still shook underneath my soles from how Rowan had slammed the side-door shut behind him. His words continued to resound from the walls. “I don’t want to see her. I don’t want to hear her and whoever speaks my wife’s name again will be executed and thrown into the fire. Do with her whatever you want, but leave me out.”
Filled with electrified air, the longhouse stood now empty and with room to spare for each one of us. But the particles of rage and fury
left behind choked my throat.
Autumn walked over to me and leaned her head against his shoulder. “You need to help him, River. Rowan will never accept him unless he can prove himself around here. There is so much we wanted to tell him, about the council and some horrifying shit they’re working on, but he won’t have any of it. Please?”
I wrapped my hand around her waist and pulled her into a hug, blood rushing through my ears and drowning the voices around me into mumbles. River shouldn’t have to help me. In fact, I shouldn’t need anybody’s help.
What the hell. I was the son of the most badass rebel in the Districts. I realized that now. And I had this.
“Stay here,” I said in a dead-serious tone.
I marched straight at the side door, each stomp fueling me up. Nobody would keep me from Autumn. Not the Districts. Not the council. And sure as spit not her brother.
I stepped through the door and slammed it behind me like he did. My hands shook, wrapped around the aluminum rail. I took three steps at once letting the dry leaves crunch underneath my feet.
Sun rays and fresh air replaced the dark and musty longhouse, and I followed the narrow trample path, weaving around thick and slender tree trunks.
The unrelenting stomp, stomp, stomp of my boots across the dried mud barely overpowered how my heart detonated in my chest. I would find him. I would tell him that I will marry Autumn, and nothing and nobody can stop me.
Pictures popped into my mind, making adrenaline shoot up my spine.
Him hammering me into the ground like a crooked nail.
Him tossing me over a branch like a sack of flour.
Him burying me deep in the forest, telling Autumn he never saw me.
The blood in my ears turned thick and gooey, the pressure of it pressing against my temples. He might be big and bulky, but I might be able to outsmart him. At the very least, I could outrun him. Yeah, I could definitely do that.
There he stood, proud and… no. Not proud. Not proud at all.
Not standing either. Autumn’s brother sat leaned against a tree, palms in front of his face, miserable sobs, grunts and piggy-squeals coming from the gaps between his fingers.