by Kate L. Mary
Like so many times before, I’d been wrong.
Lysander’s gray eyes narrowed when I said nothing, moving a second later to focus on Greer. “You. Fortis. What do you know about this man and the Outlier?”
Greer stepped forward. “He helped her get out of the city. Helped her get out of your mother’s house without being searched.”
His mouth scrunched up, giving me only a second’s warning before he spit on me for the second time tonight. The glob of saliva landed right below my eye this time before sliding down my cheek. I had to clench every muscle in my body to keep from flinching.
“Dirty traitor,” Greer sneered. “He was always helping her.”
I’d succeeded in not reacting to him spitting on me, but it was impossible to stop myself from flinching when the memories of everything Indra and the other Outliers had endured came rushing back. The abuse, being stripped. The injustice of it all made my body burn with rage.
After Ronan was caught stealing from Saffron’s house, the Sovereign had decreed that all Outliers would be stripped and searched before leaving the city. At the time, I’d known nothing of Indra except she was kind, but even then I’d been drawn to her. After the new law was passed, I stuck my neck out for her. I had known what I was risking. Had known I would be looked at as a traitor by my own people and probably put to death if the Sovereign discovered what I was doing, but something had told me it would all be worth it.
I’d been right, at least up to this point.
Every day I’d made sure she and Mira got out of the city unscathed, but fate had other plans. One day, after being beaten by another Fortis man, I didn’t make it to my post. That day changed everything. It had set us on a course that at times had seemed like the end of everything, but had somehow managed, against all odds, to bring us together.
Lysander’s gaze was back on me, his eyes narrowed until they looked tiny in his plump face. “You care for this woman,” he said slowly, his mouth turning up. “An Outlier and a Fortis guard. I never thought I’d see such a thing.” He took a step closer to me, leaning down so his face nearly pressed against mine. “Not that I can blame you. I wanted her from the first moment I saw her. You know I had her, don’t you? More than once.”
I jerked against my restraints and tried to stand, but was forced back down when rough hands grabbed my shoulders and held me.
“You do know!” Lysander threw his head back and laughed, and the sound bounced off the surrounding buildings before coming back to taunt me. “She fought, but it only made the moment sweeter.” He leaned even closer, this time pressing his face against mine, his lips touching my ear when he hissed, “And she felt so good.”
I growled and tried to lurch at him, but was stopped short when he pressed the electroprod against my stomach. My body jerked, and like Nyko, my mouth opened in a silent scream. This second shock was ten times more painful than the first one had been. It sent me to the ground, made my limbs jerk until the restraints cut into my wrists. It seemed to go on and on, making it impossible to focus on anything happening around me.
The pain began to fade enough that I was able to hear the voices of the people around me, but it still took a while for the groans to come into focus. When they did, I rolled my head toward the sounds, only to find Nyko on the ground, restrained as the two Fortis men—Dag and the one I didn’t know—took turns kicking him.
How much more could one man take?
“No,” I groaned.
The word was barely louder than a whisper.
“Here.” Lysander stood on the other side of me, and it wasn’t until he said, “Put her here,” that I tore my gaze from the beating my friend was taking.
Greer forced a woman to her knees at my side, grinning.
There was something about her that my brain registered as familiar. High cheekbones and full lips, she was thin, but sturdier than most of her people, with broad, strong-looking shoulders. I could tell she was an Outlier by the passage markings on her face. Darker spots that had nothing to do with the passing of time dotted her light brown skin, burns and bruises it looked like, and her black hair had been cut to the scalp, which was ripped and scabbed over in places.
When she turned her brown eyes on me, everything fell into place. This was Indra’s friend.
“Xandra,” I muttered.
“You know each other,” Lysander said. “Good. That will make things so much easier.”
He nodded to Greer when he turned his back on Xandra, and the Fortis guard stepped forward. Her eyes were closed when he slammed his fist into her face.
She went down, barely making a sound. Her restraint amazed me even as I screamed out for them to stop. Greer only paused long enough to shoot me a smile before kicking her in the stomach. Xandra grunted and curled into the impact, but she didn’t react in any other way. She kept her eyes shut, and she didn’t try to move away or fight back. I wasn’t sure if it meant she had given up, or if it was because she refused to let them see how much she was hurting.
“Enough.” Lysander waved his hand to indicate Greer should stop.
The Fortis man frowned and delivered one final kick to Xandra’s stomach before stepping back.
Lysander focused on me when he said, “I want to know what’s going on outside the city.”
I was on the ground, the aftershocks of the electroprod still sizzling through my veins, but I met his gaze straight on. He had me by the balls, and we both knew it, but I wouldn’t give in. Not even if it meant leaving this earth today and being sent straight to the underworld to receive my eternal torture.
The plump man’s face scrunched up, and he turned away without saying anything else. He moved slowly, his round body seeming to sway on his too-short legs as he walked toward the stocks. The woman imprisoned there was still unconscious, and now that I was closer, I was beginning to suspect she was dead, but both men were awake and watched with a terror in their eyes as he approached. They looked at him as if he was the ruler of the underworld and not simply a man.
“I know the Outliers have united,” Lysander said, his gaze still on me when he stopped in front of the stocks. He grabbed the man, the one I had earlier identified as an Outlier, by the chin and forced him to turn his face in my direction. “Everyone thinks they can withstand torture, but few can. Especially when you discover a person’s weakness. See, sometimes it’s not your own pain that makes you crumble, but the pain of those around you.” Lysander didn’t let go of the man’s face when he looked at me once again. “Did you know all four of the Outlier tribes have different customs? I doubt it—most of the Fortis are ignorant—but inside the walls, we make it a priority to know everything about the people who serve us. It makes it easier to exploit their weaknesses when necessary.
“Take Bowie, here, for example. He’s Trelite, and an interesting thing about their tribe is that the men look down on women. They see them as weaker. They obviously haven’t met my mother.” Lysander chuckled and shook his head. “But that’s beside the point. The point is, the men from this tribe see it as their duty to look out for the weaker sex. They even believe they won’t find peace in the afterlife if they fail.” The Sovereign man rolled his eyes and finally released Bowie’s chin, allowing the Outlier’s head to drop. “Stupid, I know, but useful nonetheless.” He left the man behind and crossed the stage, stopping in front of Xandra. “Get her up. Now. On her knees.”
Greer didn’t blink before grabbing her arm and jerking her up so she was kneeling in front of Lysander. She trembled but kept her head down, and I got the feeling she was focusing on something else. Or perhaps even pretending she was somewhere else altogether.
Lysander ran his hand down the side of her head, and she flinched, which only made him smile. “It was easy getting him to talk.” His hand moved down her face to her neck, stopping at the top of her dress—the same uniform all the Outlier women in the city wore. “All I had to do was focus my attention on Xandra, here.” Lysander gripped the fabric and pulled, and a
ripping sound cut through the silence.
On the other side of the stage, Bowie let out a noise that reminded me of wounded animal.
“See?” Lysander was still holding the fabric between his fingers, but he was focused on me, not Xandra’s freshly exposed flesh. “It was easy. I barely got to have any fun.” The corner of his mouth turned up. “You’re a Fortis guard, not an Outlier, but I’m guessing you have similar weaknesses. Not because you see women as weak, though, but because you have sympathy for the pathetic people living in the wilds. You stopped Indra from being stripped. You watched out for her.” Lysander nodded slowly before pulling on the fabric again, ripping it even more. “That tells me it bothered you when women in the city were abused.”
Xandra closed her eyes when he let go of her dress. The rip now went down to her stomach, exposing both of her breasts for everyone to see. I knew what was coming, and so did she. She had probably already been through it. That didn’t make it easier for either of us.
He looked toward me. “You know what I’ll do to her.”
I swallowed but said nothing.
“You can stop it,” he said, smiling. “All you have to do is tell me what’s going on outside the walls, and she’ll go back to her cell.”
I pressed my lips together harder. The words were on my tongue, desperate to break free even as the thought of them bursting out made my stomach convulse. My focus was on Xandra, on her face. The pain when she opened her eyes and met my gaze made me want to rip Lysander’s head off, but there was something else there, too. Determination. Strength.
She didn’t have to shake her head for me to know she wanted me to keep my mouth shut, but she did it anyway.
I swallowed and turned my eyes to the ground.
Lysander sighed like he was disappointed in the turn of events. “Very well.”
The ripping of more fabric followed, and I watched out of the corner of my eye as Xandra was forced to the ground. All I could do was turn my head away and work to block out the sounds.
4
Asa
“Stop.” Nyko’s voice sounded ragged when he called out to Lysander, almost like he had barely been able to muster the strength to get out the single word.
My eyes flew open, my head shooting up. “No. Nyko, no!”
“I have to.” My friend didn’t look at me, instead focusing on Xandra.
His eyes were so swollen now that I couldn’t even see the blue of his irises. Still, the pain on his haggard face was impossible to miss.
I didn’t want to look at the woman, but that didn’t stop me from getting a glimpse of what was happening out of the corner of my eye. It sickened me. Even worse, it wasn’t Xandra I saw lying there, but Indra. It was her face I saw, and when Lysander moved, in my mind it was her body he rolled off of.
I clenched my hands, still tied behind my back, into fists, wishing I were free. Wishing I could pull this man apart with my bare hands.
“There’s more than one Fortis man with a heart.” Lysander crossed the stage, pulling his pants up and leaving a trembling Xandra behind without another glance in her direction. “I never would have guessed.”
He stopped in front of Nyko, who glared up at the plump man with anger in his eyes that matched my own fury. I knew where it originated from, knew what had happened to Nyko’s daughter, and I understood why he felt like he couldn’t stand back and do nothing.
“Everyone has a heart,” Nyko said, “but not everyone understands it’s an asset.”
Lysander rolled his eyes. “Weakness, my friend, is never an asset. Trust me.”
He motioned toward Greer, and seconds later Nyko was dragged to his knees.
“Now,” Lysander said, “I want to know what’s happening out there.”
Nyko, to his credit, hesitated.
He didn’t want to betray our new people, but he was in a position where he felt like he had no choice. I understood, even if I hadn’t yet reached that point, and I also knew there was nothing I could say to stop him from doing this.
Not that it stopped me from saying, “Don’t, Nyko.”
“I have to.” Once again, he didn’t look at me, and when he started talking, his gaze was focused on the ground. “There’s an army outside the city, waiting for us to open the gates.”
“How many?” Lysander asked.
My friend lifted his shoulders in a shrug, and when they dropped, they were noticeably lower. “Over a thousand. I don’t know the exact numbers, but I know they can crush you.” He ventured a look up. “I also know you’ll lose this city eventually.”
Lysander let out a snort, reminding me of the sound a pig made. “The Outliers are stupid if they think we don’t have ways of stopping an army of a thousand. We have technology they know nothing about. Technology we haven’t used in centuries.”
Fear gripped me at his words. What were we up against?
The plump man turned his back on Nyko so he could address the Fortis guards. “Take the Outlier back to her cell, and kill the one in the stocks. He’s of no use to me now.”
Greer turned his focus on me, hatred blazing in his eyes. “What about them? What do we do with the Fortis traitors?”
“I need to go to my mother’s house so I can tell her what I’ve learned. Lock them in a cell.” Lysander pressed his lips together thoughtfully as he stared at me. “I’m not done with him yet. I won’t be until I find out where that bitch is hiding. It will have to wait, though. There are more important things to worry about at the moment.” He started to walk away, calling over his shoulder, “And block off the tunnel so no one else can get into the city. I have what I wanted. A link to Indra.”
Fortis guards grabbed Xandra and dragged her to her feet, then off toward the government building. She barely reacted, and she didn’t fight at all, and I couldn’t help wondering if she was close to giving up. I didn’t know exactly what she’d been through over the last few days, but I could guess.
Dag jerked Nyko to his feet, and then Greer had my arms and was pulling me up as well. The waves of electricity had subsided, but the memory hadn’t. Still, I fought against the man holding me, struggling to break free. If I could get away, maybe I could hide. The city was big, and they were short on manpower. If I could escape, I could buy myself some time. Maybe get my hands free and still get the gates open. If nothing else, I might be able to get back out through this side of the tunnel and flee the city. Then I could warn the Outlier army.
Greer knocked the thoughts from my head when he slammed his elbow into my temple. Black clouded my vision even as a bright light burst across the darkness. My legs wobbled, my body slumped. I fought it, but didn’t succeed. The last thing that went through my head before I dropped to the ground was that life might be better for Indra if I never woke up.
I did wake, though. In darkness, lying on a cold, stone floor that did almost nothing to combat the stuffy air. My body was sore, my muscles stiff and my head throbbing from the multiple hits I’d received before passing out.
Something on the other side of the room moved, and I jerked away from it seconds before a hand touched my face.
“Easy,” Nyko said. “It’s only me.”
“How long have I been out?” I asked as I pushed myself up so I was sitting, pressing my back against the stone wall.
“Impossible to know,” he said. “Not long, though. The bastards threw you in here and left.”
“They’ll be back.” I let out a groan when I rubbed my head.
“They will,” Nyko agreed.
“You shouldn’t have told them anything,” I said.
“Do you really think I would ever be able to sit back and do nothing while something like that happened?” Nyko snorted, but the pain in his voice was stark and loud, and I knew it had nothing to do with the beating he’d received. “You know me better than that.”
“I know,” I said, wishing yet again that I hadn’t brought him.
“It doesn’t make me weak,” he said.
&n
bsp; “I know,” I repeated.
“It just means I can’t stomach that happening in front of me. Not again.” He sucked in a deep breath. “Not after Aria.”
Silence settled over us at the mention of his daughter’s name.
Nyko was older than I was, in his thirties, and he’d married young, something few Fortis men did. They’d been barely older than kids when Nyko and his wife got married, and she’d been young when she died. I hadn’t known her, but I knew the story.
After delivering their daughter, Nyko’s wife had bled a lot, so much that the village healer was too preoccupied to notice the defect in the baby. The healer had done everything he could to save the woman, but she’d died anyway, and in his grief, Nyko had concealed the fact that his new daughter was an untouchable. For thirteen years he managed to keep it hidden before his luck finally ran out.
They were in the wilds with a hunting party from our village when Aria was injured, and as Nyko was tending to her wounds, the other men and women in the group learned their secret. They were furious at Nyko for betraying them, and to get back at both him and the girl, they’d raped her, forcing her father to watch.
Aria didn’t make it out of the woods alive, and Nyko was only kept alive so he would have to live with the memory of what had happened.
“I should have come alone,” I said when my friend remained quiet.
“No.” In the darkness, he shifted. “I should have come alone. I have nothing to lose. You have a sister, and a woman who loves you. You can still have a life. You deserve to have a life.”
“We all deserve to have a life,” I said. “That’s the point.”
Silence fell over us again, and this time I didn’t break it. My head pounded, both where it had slammed against the road and where Greer’s elbow had smashed into it. I massaged it with my fingers, wincing when it throbbed even though it seemed to help ease some of my discomfort.
