The Skin Hunter Series Box Set

by Tania Hutley

  Her frown deepens. “In New Triton?” She sounds as though I’ve suggested she relocate to Deiterra.

  “It gets the sun,” I say. “And your account has been filled with credits. You won’t need to work, and if you have friends you’d like to see, you can go down to Old Triton any time you like. I mean, if you want to…”

  My voice trails off. I’m the most powerful woman in Triton, but somehow I still feel like a girl trying to please her mother. I’d been looking forward to this meeting, to giving Ma a place of her own, but her confusion and fear is sapping all the pleasure out of it.

  “Milla is safe,” I say on impulse.

  Her mouth drops open and her eyes light up. “What? Where is she?” Her voice finally strengthens to a normal volume.

  “She’s safe,” I repeat. “She’s helping me with something important, and agreed to go away for a while. I’m sorry I can’t tell you any more than that. But you should see her again soon.”

  Ma draws in a breath and looks like she wants to press me with more questions, but caution wins out. After a moment she nods. “Thank you.”

  I nod back. Though I’d imagined how great it would feel to make Ma happy, I clearly haven’t, and her gratitude doesn’t feel good at all. It feels all wrong.

  When I drop my gaze to the floor, searching for something to say to make this interview less painful for both of us, she takes it as a dismissal and starts backing toward the door.

  I jerk my head up. “Wait. I need to ask you something.”

  She freezes, and her nervous expression makes me feel worse than ever.

  “Your son, William,” I say. “He knocked you out and left you for dead.”

  She nods, and her expression becomes pleading. “Do you know where he is?”

  “He’s here, in the building. I discharged him from the army.”

  “May I see him?”

  “You’ve forgiven him?” My chest feels like something heavy is pressing down on it.

  “Of course. He’s my son.”

  The simplicity of her statement takes my breath away. Maybe I still have some love left for William too, but forgiveness won’t come so easily.

  “I’m going to issue him with new orders. I’ll tell him to protect you, take care of you, and never hurt you again.”

  Her eyes widen. “Please don’t do that.”

  “Why not?”

  She swallows, clearly regretting speaking up. But after a moment, her chin lifts and her voice firms. “Loving someone and wanting to take care of them isn’t something he should be commanded to do. I hope he doesn’t want to hurt me anymore, but it needs to be up to him.”

  I press my lips together, tempted to give William the order anyway. If he hurts Ma again, I’ll feel responsible. But after a moment, I give a reluctant nod. “All right. If you don’t mind waiting for a few minutes, I’ll send for him and you can both go.”

  I touch my band to summon Cassandra, and she leads Ma into the next room to wait.

  Now comes the interview I’ve been dreading. I move behind my big desk and sink into the chair before letting Cassandra know I’m ready. “Bring him in,” I tell her.

  William marches into my private office like the obedient soldier he is. He stands to attention, his eyes fixed straight ahead. His eyes look hollow, as though he hasn’t been sleeping.

  With him in front of me, all I can think of is the way he murdered Doctor Gregory, then left me strapped to a chair to be examined and dissected.

  Bile rises in my throat.

  Though my brother isn’t tweaked, he’s naturally handsome enough that he could almost pass for a New Tritoner. Ma used to be beautiful once, before all the hard work wore her down, and William has her generous lips and high cheekbones. But I’m struggling not to see him as a monster.

  He stands stiffly in front of my desk, waiting for me to say something. If I don’t talk, he’ll probably stand there forever. He thinks I’m President Morelle, the person who tricked Ma into sending him to one of her academies, turned him against his family, and taught him to kill. The irony is how much he loves Morelle, and how much he’d hate me if he knew I were the one really sitting in front of him.

  “At ease, soldier.” My muscles are tight and I need to force myself to lean back in my chair so I don’t look as tense as I feel.

  William puts his arms behind his back at the command, but still stands ramrod straight. I could invite him to sit down, but I don’t want to drag this out.

  “The Knight Skins are no longer needed,” I tell him. “I’m planning to wipe every soldier’s chip and scrap the Skins.”

  William’s eyes widen and he opens his mouth to protest. His feelings are plain, written into his face. Shock. Dismay. Loss. But he closes his mouth before speaking, his loyalty to Morelle keeping him silent. He stares at the wall above my head. Maybe he was taught to keep his chin up, or not to stare a superior in the eyes. It’s a little disconcerting talking to him when he won’t look at me, but it’s making this meeting a little easier.

  “I know that isn’t what you want,” I say. “Believe me, I understand how difficult it is to lose your Skin and go back to being what you were before. Weaker and slower, and less in every way. After you’ve been a knight, how can you bear to be only human again?”

  His eyes finally flick to me, surprise overcoming his training. I guess he didn’t expect me to express what he was feeling. But losing my Leopard Skin after the contest was so devastating, it left a mark I’ll never forget.

  “I taught you that the army was your family,” I go on. “I told you your own family abandoned you. But that was a lie. I’m releasing you from service, so you can go back to them.”

  His jaw tightens and a sullen expression crosses his face.

  “Speak,” I order. “Tell me what’s on your mind. And be honest.”

  “Please don’t take away the knights, Madam President.” His voice is strained. “They’re all we have.”

  “You have families.”

  “We don’t, ma’am.” His gaze drops to me properly now, gauging my reaction to his outburst. He studies me for a moment, then softens his tone. “I mean, like you said, Madam President. The army is our family. Knights are who we are.”

  “Not any more.”

  “You said my family didn’t deserve—”

  “I told you things that weren’t true, so I could break your connection to them and gain your loyalty. Your family only want the best for you.”

  “You sound like her. Like my sister.” For a moment I’m sure he’s guessed everything and knows who I am. But he lets out a sigh. “You sent me to kill her, Madam President, and I was ready to obey.”

  “I shouldn’t have given that order.”

  “I wanted to kill her. I wanted to make her suffer, the way I suffered when I first went to the academy.” He bows his head, his fists clenched by his side. But his eyes are still defiant. Still conflicted.

  The words, ‘I’m sorry’, are on the tip of my tongue. But President Morelle wouldn’t apologise to one of her soldiers.

  “Your mother is here,” I say instead, the announcement more abrupt than I’d intended.

  He stiffens back into soldier stance, his back straight and his eyes snapping to the wall above my head. “Excuse me, Madam President?”

  “I had your mother brought here. She’s in the next room, waiting to see you.”

  “I don’t want—” He breaks off, flushing. “I’m sorry, Madam President, I mean, yes ma’am. I’ll obey any command you give me, ma’am.”

  In spite of what Ma said, I can barely stop myself from ordering him to forgive her and love her again. Though it wouldn’t be real, at least I’d be able to rest a little easier if I could be sure he wasn’t going to hurt her.

  “From now on, your choices are your own,” I say instead, my tone harsh. Then I activate my band to talk to Cassandra. “Take Private Scully to see his mother.”

  She leads my brother to the room where Ma is waiting. The
room has its windows and doors screened off so their meeting seems private, but I’ve already discovered that Edward Morelle hid cameras everywhere. When I activate the holo function on my band, it’s like being in there with them.

  Ma is sitting at the large table in the middle of the room when William walks in. Her 3-D holograph is so sharp, I catch every detail of her expression as it transforms with joy. She jumps out of her chair so quickly that she knocks it over and doesn’t notice.

  William’s image is just as clear, but his expression is a lot harder to read. As Ma throws her arms around him, he stands stiffly with his arms by his sides, so she ends up hugging them against his body. She’s shorter than he is, and when he looks down at her head crushed against his chest, he pulls his shoulder up until they’re around his ears.

  She hugs him so hard and for so long, I keep expecting William to react. To do something. But he just stands there, letting her hug him, until my throat is so tight it aches. I want to stride into the room and knock some sense into William’s stubborn head. If only I could force him to understand how much Ma has given up for him.

  Ma keeps hugging him for so long I can’t bear it.

  Slowly, painfully, William’s shoulders drop, and his arms inch their way up until his hands settle on Ma’s lower back. He lowers his head so his face is beside her hair. Then he’s actually hugging her, and his face contorts. His eyes brim with tears.

  The lump in my throat expands until it’s so big it’s choking me.

  I switch off the holo, and the two figures vanish. Then I walk over to the opaque window and take a few deep breaths. I’ve done all I can. What happens next is up to them.

  My band vibrates, and when I look down, I see Cassandra is calling. “Madam President, I’m sorry to disturb you. You have an urgent call. It’s Hendrick.”

  “Hendrick?” I ask.

  She hesitates, and I can hear her confusion in the length of her silence. Hendrick must be someone Morelle knows well.

  “The Beast,” she says eventually.

  “Ah.” I blink at my barely-there reflection in the opaque glass. I wonder if he’s anything like the stories people tell about him. “Connect us,” I tell Cassandra.

  A man’s face materializes from my band’s holo display. He must be from New Triton, but he doesn’t look like any floater I’ve ever seen. He’s a lot bigger than most, with a meaty face and not a single hair on his head. Some sinkers are bald, but for a tweaked New Tritoner to have a shiny head means he must have designed it that way. He has no eyebrows either, and such a thick neck that his head seems to flow straight into his shoulders. He’s the biggest meat-sack I’ve ever seen. Somebody who clearly doesn’t want to look like other floaters.

  The Beast is one of the powerful industrialists Sentin was talking about, a billionaire who owns factories in Old Triton. He’s a recluse who stays out of the public eye, and there are a lot of rumors about him. One of those rumors is that he really does look like a beast. That one seems mostly true. He’s a huge, hairless beast who happens to wear a suit.

  “Ed,” he says, his voice deep and gravelly.

  My heart stops. I jerk my face away from his image, faking a cough to cover my shock.

  The Beast thinks I’m Edward Morelle? That means he knows this is a Skin.

  He must have been a very good friend of Edward’s if he knows his secrets. I’ll need to be extra careful not to give myself away.

  My instinct when I look back at him is to say the man’s name or give him some kind of greeting, but whatever I say could be wrong. Instead I nod, trying to pretend I haven’t quite recovered from my coughing fit.

  “What the hell is going on?” he demands. “You want to raise the minimum wage?”

  I nod again. “That’s right.”

  “Is this some kind of joke?” When he frowns, his eyes sink into the fleshiness of his face. Without eyebrows, the expression looks odd.

  “No joke.”

  “You think I still owe you something? I don’t. So cut the shit, Ed, because I won’t stand for it. Tell me what’s going on.”

  “Wages in Old Triton are too low. The workers are suffering.”

  “So?” His frown deepens.

  “It needs to change.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Triton needs to change.”

  “You’ve lost your mind.” His wide nostrils flare. “I won’t let you ruin what I’ve built. If you carry on this way, our history is over. You hear me? You break our agreement, we’ll come down hard. Are you ready to go to war with us? Is that what you want?” Spit flies from his mouth, vanishing as it reaches the edge of the hologram display.

  I drag in a breath, fighting to keep my face expressionless. The rage in his voice makes me want to shift the projection away. His fury is so intense, it’s like a physical attack. If I were really standing in front of him, I’d be bracing for him to take a swing at me.

  “I don’t want war, and I have no quarrel with you.” With an effort, I keep my tone calm. “But I’m going to improve the conditions in Old Triton.”

  “Then you’re starting a war.”

  “It’s time the citizens of Old Triton had some—”

  “I don’t know what you’re playing at, but believe me, we’re not going to take it.”

  “We?”

  “The others are with me on this, as you must have known they would be. This is your only warning, Ed. You just signed up for more trouble than you can handle.” His face vanishes, the line disconnected.

  I stare at the shimmer of my reflection in the window’s opaque glass, and a woman I barely recognise stares back. I guess this was what Sentin meant about unintended consequences. Could this Skin have made me so overconfident, I’ve managed to stumble into serious danger? Problem is, I’m feeling my way through the dark, living a stranger’s life, doing a job I know nothing about.

  In fact, there’s only one thing I’m feeling certain about right now, and it’s that a war with the Beast is the last thing I need.

  Chapter Five

  “Do you want to see Ginger beg?” asks Felicity. “Watch this.”

  She makes a hand gesture and her dog gets on its haunches, waving its front paws in the air. It cocks its head and its tongue lolls out of its partly-open mouth. It always looks like it’s smiling. Maybe real dogs do too, I’m not sure. I’ve only seen them on the holo.

  “Clever,” I say, trying to sound enthusiastic.

  I’m in Felicity’s toy room, sitting next to her on the floor with my high heels kicked off and my legs tucked under me. Morelle’s business suits mostly have fitted skirts, but they’ve been annoying me so much, I’ve only been wearing the few that have trousers. Cassandra’s organising some casual clothes and flat shoes. Maybe my change in wardrobe will make people suspicious, but I’ve been too uncomfortable to care.

  “Ginger can talk.” Felicity’s eyes are bright. “Talk, Ginger.”

  The dog barks, wagging its tail.

  Felicity beams at me proudly, as though she taught the dog the trick instead of activating a pre-programmed command.

  “Good dog.” I force a distracted smile. I’ve been trying to spend as much time as I can with Felicity, but I can’t stop worrying about the Beast, and Ma, and, well, everything.

  “Hey.” Cale appears at the door.

  I asked him to meet me here, and I knew he was on his way up, because I had to activate the elevator for him. Still, my heart leaps to see him, and my forced smile turns into a real one.

  “I like your dog,” Cale says to Felicity. “What’s his name?”

  “Ginger. She’s a girl. Want to see her talk? Talk, Ginger.” Felicity looks delighted to see Cale. As old as she is, she’d probably never met anyone new before Cale and Sentin started showing up. I can’t imagine how lonely it’s been for her with just a bunch of robots to talk to.

  If I weren’t so busy, I’d spend more time with her. Sentin’s been helping run the Morelle Corporation, but it
’s an enormous company. Cassandra’s managed to shoulder me with a ton of small decisions about things I don’t really understand, like production targets and supply chains. And there always seem to be dozens of people who want meetings I have to bluff my way through.

  I push myself up off the floor. “I’m sorry, Felicity, but I need to talk to Cale now. I’ll come back later, if I get time.” Leaving my shoes off, I follow Cale to the living room where we sit together on the couch.

  “Maybe I can find a better place for Felicity,” I muse aloud. “A real home with real people.”

  “When I suggested it the other day, she seemed terrified of the idea. Moving her might cause more harm than good.”

  I let out a sigh. “All I’ve been hearing for the last few days are reasons why I shouldn’t change things. When I became President Morelle, I thought I’d be able to do anything. But nothing’s that simple.”

  Cale shoots me a sympathetic look. “Has Sentin been holding you back? Where is he?”

  “Organizing our trip to Deiterra.” I raise my eyebrows at him. “Actually he’s almost as busy as you,” I say pointedly, because when I called Cale earlier, he was in a meeting with some other high-up Fist members, and couldn’t talk to me. “Sounds like you’re a big shot in the Fist now? Not that I’m surprised. You and Tori are cut from the same cloth.”

  Cale is probably the only member from New Triton the Fist has ever had. The fact he’s made it to the top says a lot.

  “Talking about Tori, I wanted to tell you the news in person.” His expression has turned serious. “She went through the breach in the wall, and crossed into Deiterra.”

  “What?” A cold chill runs down my back. “Is she okay? Why would she do that?”

  “You know some Fist members tried to get through and were killed? Well, after we managed to destroy so many Knight Skins, the breach wasn’t so well guarded and she must have seen an opportunity to make it through. Instead of asking someone else to risk their life, she wanted to try for herself.”

  “Did she make it?” I turn my head to the large feature window, as though I’ll somehow be able to spot her running through the distant green fields of Deiterra.