by Emily Shore
“And how do you want my help?”
He taps my nose with the powder and then pauses. “Children from the Glass Districts or orphanages are simple to secure. But I want the children themselves to feel safe. What better way than to have the Swan as my main attraction? And children as young as twelve may make the choice to enlist in a Museum without their parents’ consent. With you at my side, every girl and boy will jump at the chance to—”
“Boy?” I question, allowing the word to roll around on my tongue.
“Do you think Museums only house girls? Yes, they are few and far between. And, of course, over ninety-eight percent of those placed in any facility are girls, but we are foolish to not consider the desires of women and men with other desires. After all, male strip clubs have always existed. But again, client needs will not be a factor. I will charge a simple exhibit fee and that is all.”
I drum my fingers on the table. “So, how will your Museum/medical center function? Where does the money come from?”
“I have some international sponsors. They are eager to find a solution to this virus just as much as I am.”
“Where does this virus come from?”
Neil raises a wineglass and swirls the liquid, eyeing me through its scarlet lens. “It mutated from an ancient strain as many viruses do. It’s already rampant in the Glass Districts. And while girls are tested at every turn, clients are not. And may I remind you how low our birth rate is?”
“Forced sterilization in the Glass Districts doesn’t help.” I practically spit out the words.
“Yes. When the first District required sterilization, girls gave their consent in return for working there.”
I scratch at a dried crust of frosting on the table. “Thanks to recruiters.”
“Yes, they are very convincing. Trained for that. After the economic crisis of last century, most girls would have agreed to anything for the chance to provide for their families—what with the elderly boom. Pity all those voices with any trace of hindsight were silenced or ignored.”
My fingers go still. Scraping off the last of the frosting, I thread my brows together and demand, “What will your medical center offer?”
“With time, a vaccination. The Centre prides itself on damage control and rebuilding the population through healthy child-bearers. I am focused on prevention. These carriers will not only receive protection and advanced medical care in my Museum, but they could also very well be the key to creating a vaccine. And once the vaccine occurs, it will be an incentive for any woman and man in the world. In exchange, women will become surrogates and men will become sperm donors. Any girl who signs up as a surrogate in my program will not only receive a stipend, but if she also recruits another to do the same, her family will receive a stipend as well. My goal is to raise the birth rate to a stable replacement growth and to eliminate this virus to the best of my ability.”
Tired of sitting, I scoot the chair away from the table and wander toward the window to stare at the glowing lights around the courtyard lake. “Seems like an intelligent goal. So, why doesn’t Force share your dream?”
Neil grumbles but ends his sentence with a grin. “Force is a believer in totalitarian control. He does not tolerate competition on any level when it comes to the Temple, especially regarding the Centre. And that is precisely what I am. The rumors of my endeavor are making him sweat, and I am relishing that.”
“Tell me, Neil…” I add, crumbling bits of the frosting between my fingers, staining them pink. “What’s in it for you personally? Having me at your Fantasy Museum?”
With that beguiling smile I’ve come to recognize, Neil rises to retort, “Revenge.”
I suck the frosting from one of my fingers. “You really don’t like Force, do you?”
“No.” Neil arrives on the left side of the window, just opposite me. “Our feeling of hatred is mutual. One can say it binds us together.” He reaches out to capture my hand, then slips my frosted finger into his mouth, sucking away the pink stain while I do my best not to shiver.
“And you can get me out of here…and anyone else?” I confirm as he rubs his lips along the inside of my wrist.
“Anyone. That little white Snowdrop and even that pathetic sap obsessed with you.” Neil tugs me by the arm, bringing me closer. “So, Serenity…I’ve been patient with you. Are you interested in my proposal?”
I deadpan. “Very interested.”
I’m not above accepting help. If this is what it takes to get us all out of here, then I’ll accept and gladly. Especially considering Neil’s promised no clients even if he does take a keen interest himself.
Neil smirks and doesn’t release my wrist, though he doesn’t grip it like Luc. No, the tips of Neil’s fingers linger like petals on the surface of a lake. “But…” He tilts his head to eye me.
“If you’re as good as you say you are, does that mean you can get my sister to your Fantasy House?”
Neil kisses my knuckles once before raising his other index finger. “No…but I can arrange an introduction.”
“What about my mother?”
“One thing at a time, Serenity.” He taps my nose again, smile deepening.
“One more thing.”
Neil shrugs, waiting for my question.
“Why would Jade agree to anything you’ve said? If she’s independent and owns this entire Key, why would she let you take me or anyone from here?”
“Well, that’s simple, really. I’m her son.”
As soon as my mouth opens, Neil kisses me, tasting of sugar and decadence. Rich and ripe as gold-plated summer fruit, Neil weaves his tongue into my mouth. The sudden action yanks a moan from my lips just before my lightning rears its head. Like a cornered cat, I pounce and stab my hands into his chest, pushing him away. Not offended in the slightest, Neil simply rights himself, tugging at the corners of his collared shirt before adjusting his tie.
“Just a sample to satisfy my curiosity.” He winks and leans against the window while spreading the fingers of one hand. “Consider it a compliment. Your sister never tasted so sweet.”
“You still haven’t told me how you know her.” I point an accusing finger at him.
“I don’t think we’re on that level of trust yet.”
“But enough for you to jab your tongue down my throat?”
Neil sniggers. “A risk I will gladly take.”
“Consider this warning—I’ll bite it off if you ever try anything like that again,” I threaten while narrowing my eyes.
“Hmm…some men pay extra for kink.”
Before I can consider a feral response, the knock at the door takes us both by surprise. Magnolia’s presence surprises us even more.
“Serenity…” Her blank eyes settle nowhere even if her voice targets me. “Mother doesn’t want me interrupting your session, but given our earlier encounter, I wanted to let you know that Luc Aldaine is in the infirmary.”
I force out the next word, strained to a whimper. “What?”
“He’s in a coma.”
21
N e I l’ s I d e n T i t y
Luc’s body arrests him. Ambushed by whatever darkness worms its way through his veins and roams his mind like a dark horse.
“I wonder if he can hear you,” Magnolia ponders, but I don’t move toward the infirmary bed. Can’t picture him like this. Like one of Mockingbird’s victims in the Aviary.
Neil touches the small of my back, murmurs in my ear, “Go on, Serenity. Your pathetic sap awaits.” I can hear his grin.
Just as I step forward, a female doctor opens the door to Luc’s room and demands of me, “What are you doing here? This man is stipulated no visitors.”
Before I can object, Neil interjects with a cough, “Oh, Doctor, thank goodness you’re here.” He imitates a raspy voice. “I’m a client. I think I could be showing some symptoms.”
He coughs again, wheezes a few times, and takes the doctor by the arm as I try to contain the laughter bubbling inside me.
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“I need some tests immediately in case this is an epidemic. Feeling feverish and dizzy and—” The closing of the door muffles the rest of his words. I’ll have to thank him for that later. And I’ll make sure Luc does, too. If he recovers…
No, I won’t think like that.
“What happened?” I ask Magnolia, approaching the bed. Just one step forward, but it’s progress from the door.
“Mother must have installed a fail safe.”
I take a few more steps. Halfway to the bed now, I almost want to turn and run out, but Luc would make me regret it later. Even if coma patients have no recollection, it would be just like Luc to remember everything. Maybe I’ll tell him how ironic it is, considering our first meeting when I was in a hospital bed. More of our meetings after that took place in the infirmary—after I’d done something stupid. As soon as I connect with his eyelids, I almost imagine the corners of his mouth easing into a smile. Imagine curlicues of frost meandering into my skin from his own when I set my palm on the back of his hand.
“How bad is it?” I bite my lower lip, smoothing my hand up to his arm.
“We’ll know in another twenty-four hours or so. If he wakes, he’ll be out of the woods.”
I turn to her. “Why did you tell me? After what happened earlier…”
“It’s business, Serenity. Luc has been my client for a couple of years now. There is nothing else. Luc pays me to model so he may sketch. Sometimes, it’s more. Sometimes, it’s not. This time, it was a means to an end. I suggested the appointment to him because Mother agreed to raise the adrenaline level in the inhibitor for our appointment. And once you left, I gave him a knife so he could try to dig it out of his arm.” Magnolia motions to his left arm, bandaged just under his elbow. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work. This was Mother’s fail safe.”
“Does she know you’re involved?”
Magnolia shakes her head and approaches the bedside. “No. She believes Luc acted alone.”
I thumb the birthmark around his elbow. “Why would you want to help us escape?”
“Because I know why my mother has been training you. She has no intention of ever allowing you to leave here. She wants you to take her place as the director of the Garden.”
In the morning, I wake with the stickiness of nectar-like dreams on my skin that feels like Jade’s poison, but all I can smell is Luc’s spiced cologne on my clothes from where I’m still curled up in the bed next to him. Finally, the last thing I feel is his hand smoothing the curls away from my face. Immediately, I sit straight up to see his eyes cross mine like a blue whirlwind, taking me captive. Of course it wouldn’t take him long to wake up.
He cups my cheek, toys with a curl or two of my hair. “I tried.”
“Stop trying,” I threaten.
He hisses back, teasing, “Never.”
Before we can say anything else, the door opens. Magnolia enters with a warning on her lips. “My mother wishes to speak with you, Serenity. After doctors performed a series of medical tests on Neil, which turned out to be negative, and with what happened to Luc, she wants a word with you. I can’t imagine they will be pleasant.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll stay with him,” she volunteers, and I try to anchor the wave of jealousy rolling around in my stomach. Just as she’d said—it’s business. Why should I care anyway? Why should I care if he sleeps with anyone? Especially when I think of Sky.
“Go,” Luc urges just as his finger drops from my cheek.
Before I make the trek to Jade’s room, I slip down one of the adjoining infirmary hallways. She can stew a little longer, and I need to see Neil. It’s quiet, and I only bump into a nurse or two. A few other Flowers wander the infirmary halls. Many come for supplement or contraceptive patches or replacement filters.
Finding the door marked with the patient name Bloode, I check to make sure no one sees me just before issuing inside. He’s awake and watching a news bulletin when I enter, but he flips the remote switch and welcomes me with open arms.
“Well, hello there! I’ll wager by your presence the pathetic sap pulled through.”
I nod and approach the bed, try not to stare at the loose hospital gown betraying his chest hair. The gown manages to make his muscular frame look unflattering. Remembering my first experience with a hospital gown, I do my best to incinerate the image, but it hangs around like a plague. There are times I still rub the tattoo on my shoulder, wondering if Luc’s brand will always haunt me. But then again, it’s Jade’s brand now.
“He pulled through.”
“So…tell me then, why are you bestowing your magnanimous presence on me?”
“When can you get us out?”
Neil adjusts a pillow behind his back. “I’ll take it up with Jade. I know she’s arranged for a new wave of international clients, so, patience is required. You and Luc, then?”
“And Snowdrop. And the man Jade has locked in the Shed,” I manage to breathe out.
Pivoting his head, Neil inquires, “Friend of yours?”
“No.” I will never call Sky just a friend.
“Ahh…” Neil adds knowingly before raising a finger. “Another pathetic sap?”
“Something like that.”
“You have been a busy little femme fatale, haven’t you? Hmm…I’ll need a distinction. What should I call this one? Chump? Dupe? Sucker, I like that one.”
“And what does that make you? A fool?”
Neil chuckles at that and reaches for the remote, pausing before he clicks anything. “No strings attached, remember? You are a means to an end just as I am to you. Don’t try to deny it. Even if I admit you fascinate me, and I may help myself to a sample every now and then, let’s not pretend either of us has any sort of predilection to one another. Mutual respect and an enemy will do fine for now. Throw in a morsel of magnetism, and we’re a match made in heaven.”
“How long, Neil?”
“Patience, my darling. All things come to those who…” Neil trails off, and I take it as a signal to depart. No need to keep Jade fuming.
Despite everything, the Museum still goes on like it always does. During the week, exhibits open later, so I still have some time. Even if we only came here a little over two weeks ago, it feels more like two months with everything that has happened. Magnolia still hasn’t discovered who is behind my attacks. Fortunately, they’ve stopped. Hopefully, they won’t start again. Otherwise, Neil might have to speed up getting us out of here. If he can’t get Sky out, I’ll never leave. Somehow, I’ll find a way to get to the Shed today.
Judging from the bags under her eyes and the way her hands tremble as she tries to brush her hair when I enter her room, I can tell Jade’s spent time visiting Sky this morning. More blood. More torn flesh. Just as long as she doesn’t hand me the whip again. As is the norm, all the drapes are drawn to spill darkness into every corner of the room apart from the white patch that is Jade’s naked form as she faces the vanity mirror. Her nakedness unhinges me, and Jade knows it. It’s her battle gear.
“You spent the night with Luc,” she states with an undertone bordering on ferocity.
“I did.”
“Mr. Bloode paid a good deal for you. And it’s the second time in a row that you spat in his face.”
“We had a conversation. He’s not interested.”
Not more than a second after my words, Jade chucks her lipstick holder, toppling other makeup products and causing me to flinch as she stands and advances toward me. “I am growing tired of your wasted opportunities, Skeleton Flower. You keep forgetting the first rule—he is a man.”
Jade tearing my dress strap is like the thwack of her whip for the first time. Sudden, unexpected, and painful as she jerks it down to expose me. She needles her fingers into my bare shoulder while winding my hair around her fist to hold me still.
“This is what he’s interested in! This is what all men are interested in! This is your first weapon!” She twists closer, bare chest pressing again
st mine, her eyes harnessing mine. “It preoccupies all their thoughts. It stirs their blood and loosens their tongues. It is the only way to succeed in this world. If you don’t, they will devour you. And I’ll be damned if I let that happen to someone with so much potential!”
With that last statement, Jade shoves me so hard I stumble to the floor, landing on my side but catching myself with my hands. I spread them on the floor, lingering for a few moments, feeling my breath journey across my bare collarbone. Jade continues to stand over me, her pale, dominant legs only inches from mine. A fleeting thought has me considering tripping her, but there’s another undertone to every word she spoke. I recognize it. Because it’s the same undertone my mother used when she talked about her time in the Temple. With Force. It’s melancholy but on a far deeper scale. My mother’s is only as deep as the inside of her dreams. Jade’s is deeper than demon lies. Jade wears her hurt like cold ash on her skin. Like she doesn’t care. But I wager there’s hell in her heart. Every thrust of her whip, every come-hither glance, every measure of control reflects the fire there.
“Who devoured you, Jade?” I murmur, remaining on the floor so she won’t view my words as a confrontation.
Jade’s voice breaks. “It doesn’t matter. I devoured him in the end.”
“It matters.”
“Serenity…” Jade breaks from my Garden name, lowers herself to the ground alongside me, and cups my cheeks. With tears glistening in her turquoise eyes, she bows her head to mine. “Don’t waste what you have. Devour them before they devour you.”
“Neil doesn’t want—”
Jade’s spine turns rigid, and her bony fingers press into my flesh when she interrupts, “Neil is a man. He lies like every man.”
“No faith in your own flesh?”
She rises, unsurprised by my knowledge. “No. He may be my son, but he still has the flesh of his father. Force.”
Ruptured. Every single butterfly inside me. Nothing but wings slit into pieces. Burnt traces of antennae and thoraxes from where my lightning seared them. That familiar smile. Those eyes—wrong color but right shape. Different mouth but tongue no less deceptive.
