Harvest: Faction 1: (The Isa Fae Collection)

by Conner Kressley

  “Stop right there,” one of them said, holding out a scanner for me to place my palm atop. “What’s your business here?”

  Uneasily, I put my hand on the flat machine. It read my identity as well as my pathetically low atern levels.

  “Orphan,” the guard muttered, shaking his head.

  Pushing down the urge to deck the man, I swallowed hard and said, “I’m here to see the prisoner before his execution.”

  “The murderer?” The guard looked up, a bit of naughty glee in his eyes. “You going to give him something to miss on the other side, hot stuff?”

  Bile rose in my throat, but I wouldn’t give the guard the satisfaction of knowing he’d gotten under my skin. “What I decide to give him is my business. Now, I know my rights. The prisoner can receive visitors any time up to the date of his death. So, unless you’re planning to kill him before the sun changes direction, why don’t you just let me in?”

  A smile spread across the guard’s face. “Don’t get your undergarments all twisted, hot stuff. It was just a question.”

  “Now,” I said firmly, keeping my eyes on the pad and blinking hard.

  “Whatever you say,” the guard answered with a cockiness in his voice that set my teeth on edge. “You heard the lady.”

  Looking up, I saw the other guard coming toward me quickly. There was something in his hand, a needle of some kind. Before I could react, he jabbed it into my neck.

  “No!” I shrieked, but it was too late. He pressed the contents into my neck, and I felt warm and sleepy.

  “Don’t worry,” the other guard said. “It’s for your own good.”

  The world felt fuzzy and comfortable as I fell to the ground below, the guard’s effort to catch me on the way down half-assed… probably on purpose. My eyes went heavy and my lips parted peacefully.

  The entire faction, sprawled out around and over me, faded off into nothing.

  When I woke up sometime later, my head was swimming and my body ached.

  My surroundings slowly came into focus. As they did, I realized I was no longer in the spot where I’d fallen. No. I was on a bed. A horribly uncomfortable bed. Being raised in House One, I was used to uncomfortable things, but this was on a whole other level.

  I leaned forward, my palm going to my forehead. Rubbing soothing circles into my temples, I tried to take in where I was.

  Glass surrounded me. Taking a deep breath, I shivered. This place was cold, almost institutional.

  “I was beginning to think you’d never wake up,” a voice said from beside me.

  Startled, I jumped. My head jerked toward the source of the noise, and my body tensed even more as I took everything in.

  There, beside me, leaning against the glass like he didn’t have a care in the world, was Karr.

  He pursed his lips as he looked me over. I was here, inside the cell with him. There was nothing but air separating me from one of the most dangerous people I had ever met.

  “I was really hoping you’d come,” he said, staring at me with those gorgeous eyes. “There’s a lot we need to talk about.”

  Chapter 12

  I sprang to my feet, readying the ridiculously small amount of atern in my band and bracing for an attack. Looking at Karr now was like an act of betrayal. As much as I wished I could have taken Arbor’s place in death, what I truly wished was for Karr to do it.

  He was the person responsible for this. It was his magic, his hands, which had ended her life. He didn’t deserve to see another day. The fact that his mornings were numbered did little to ease the hurt building inside me.

  I readied my stance, as well as my expression, and Karr flinched. Was he pained now, seeing me act this way in front of him? Did he have the gall to believe I was being irrational to protect myself?

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said softly. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to—and believe me, I don’t.” His hand extended, motioning toward the glass. “You can’t hurt me, either. There are power dampeners in place. Part of the allure of the faction prison system, I guess,” he said, and a smile graced his perfect features.

  “Don’t do that,” I sneered, backing away from him as far as I could. I continued going until I felt the cool metal wall at my back.

  “Don’t do what?” he asked, his mouth turning to a frown.

  “Don’t try to be cute. This isn’t a joke. You don’t get to be nice to me. You lost that right when you threw Arbor out of a window.”

  His face dropped, his skin growing paler by the second. “I—I’m sorry that happened.”

  “You’re sorry that happened?” I asked, my stomach churning in disgust as I took in his words. “You’ve got a lot of nerve to say something like that to me. She was the only family I had, Karr. She was all I had in the world, and you took her from me.”

  “She was my family, too,” he muttered, brushing a tear from his cheek. Was he serious right now? Was he seriously going to stand there and pretend to feel bad about Arbor’s death… after he’d been the one to kill her?

  “You don’t get to say that,” I barked back, not wanting to look at him but also completely powerless to pull my gaze away.

  How could he be the same person I knew, the same boy I’d grown up with? How could I look at him and reconcile who he’d been my whole life and who he’d become that day? Save for the scar across his face, he was the same Karr on the outside. Yet, somehow, he was completely different. I wanted him to know I was a changed person, too. He had made me that way by his horrible actions.

  “She was a good person, Karr,” I said, steeling myself against my warring emotions. “She was a kind soul with a heart big enough to swallow the sun, and you snuffed her out like she didn’t mean anything. So don’t you dare call her family. You have no family left.”

  “You’re right,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said that. I know how devastated you must feel. I know because that’s how I feel, too.” He shook his head. “This might be hard for you to believe, it might be impossible to understand right now, but I didn’t do what I did.”

  The mind boggled at the sheer nonsense of his words. “I don’t know what that means, and I don’t care. You’re trash, Karr. I thought you were different. I thought you were special. I thought we…” The words caught in my throat, and I was unable to finish. “You’re just like the rest, though. But worse, somehow. It wasn’t bad enough to kill her. You had to take her body, too? You couldn’t even let her rest?”

  “What are you talking about?” he asked in a hurry, moving toward me.

  “Stay where you are,” I shouted, throwing my hand back up and readying magic I knew I wouldn’t be able to use in here. And not just because of the prison’s block on magic, but because using my last thread of energy could kill me, though part of me wondered if I really cared anymore. “And then you have me brought in here? What? Am I going to be your next victim?”

  “I didn’t have you brought in here, Lara,” Karr said, sounding a lot less patient than he had just seconds ago. “Do you really think the guards out there would listen to anything I had to say? They knocked you out because it’s protocol. It’s customary. It’s so you don’t see or hear anything you’re not supposed to.” He folded his arms over his chest and stopped short. “Though I suppose, in your case, we’re a little late for that. Tell me, what did you say about Arbor’s body being missing?”

  “Don’t pretend you don’t know,” I said, still unable to pull my eyes off him. “I went to see her, and she was gone. Someone had broken in and stolen her body. I know you had something to do with it. It can’t be a coincidence.”

  “You’re right about half that. This can’t be a coincidence,” he said. As he looked at the floor, I could see the wheels in his head turning. I knew that look. He was trying to piece this together. But why? He obviously knew something about what was going on. He had to. “I know you’re not going to want to hear this, but I don’t remember anything about the night Arbor died. Nothing before the guards came in a
nd grabbed me.”

  How convenient.

  I seethed as his gaze fluttered back to mine. In his eyes, I saw complete and utter vulnerability. Something inside me ached to believe him. I wanted him to be telling the truth. But I watched him kill her. I’d seen her die at his hands.

  I couldn’t let my emotions get in the way of logic. This was just an attempt to save his own skin.

  “I have absolutely nothing to do with whoever took her,” he added. “At least, I don’t think I do. Have my whereabouts been accounted for since I got here? It’s hard to keep track of time in this cell, and I’m not sure I’d know if I lost any.”

  “Stop this, Karr,” I said, breathing as evenly as I could and trying to keep myself from losing my mind. “I don’t care about these lies or you trying to clear your name where I’m concerned. You want me to think better of you? Then tell me where my friend is. Tell me where I can find her body so she can be laid to rest and her spirit can have some peace.” I crossed my arms. “Do that, and maybe I’ll hate you just a little bit less. Probably not, but maybe.”

  Karr let out a heavy and heartbroken sigh. “You don’t believe me,” he said. It wasn’t a question. “It’s strange. I remember a time I could have told you the night had come back and you’d have rushed outside to greet it, but now you don’t even believe the truth. What changed, Lara?”

  “You did,” I said. “When you killed our best friend.”

  “Is that it, though?” he asked, running a hand through his hair. “Is that really the reason? Because I know you. I know you don’t give up on people, and I know at least a piece of you believes what I’m saying. It might be small, and it might be hidden so deep in there that you’re not even aware it exists, but it does. You believe me, and you’re going to help me.”

  I huffed as I looked at him. It seemed insane that I would ever see anything other than the liar and coward who stood before me. How could I have ever loved a monster? Was I so naïve, so misguided, so without a moral compass?

  “There is no help for you, Karr,” I answered, finally closing my eyes and pulling my attention from him. “You’ve done what you’ve done, and now you’ll pay the price for that. But you know what? You’re not the only one who will.”

  He opened his mouth, but I put up a hand to stop him.

  “I’m ruined now, you know. I have no job, no atern, and nowhere to live after tonight. And it might not be all your fault. I may have spiraled in your absence, and even more so when you came back and killed my best friend, but you were the match that lit the fuse.” I leveled my gaze at him, unleashing fury in the only way I could now—with the way I looked at him. “The explosion is on you.”

  I knocked on the glass, hoping to let the guards know I was done here.

  “I thought I loved you, you know,” I added as I waited for my escort out of here. “I thought we were made for each other. I don’t even know who that girl is anymore, and that’s your fault. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

  And with that, the guards rushed in and put me to sleep again.

  Chapter 13

  I had dreaded today ever since I decided to go see Karr in the Sphere. He had no information about where Arbor’s body might be, and seeing him meant I was also on the hook to be there during his execution. I hadn’t thought it through then. I was so full of anger and determination. To be fair, if I had stopped to consider what I was signing up for in speaking to him, I might not have done it at all.

  Certainly, in retrospect, it seemed like a horrible idea. Though, on the upside, when I told Mr. Renner about my friend’s body going missing, he didn’t have the heart to kick me out, once he’d verified it wasn’t just a story I was shoveling.

  In fact, in the days since it happened, the old man had been bringing me food. It wasn’t much, just some scraps he had left from his own meager dinner, but it was certainly more than I could purchase with the atern I had left.

  It was as though, even in the face of horrible humiliation after death, Arbor was still helping me.

  A knock on my door made my heart sink. Rushing toward it, I pulled the door open to find Mr. Renner standing there, his hands clasped together at his waist.

  “I’m afraid they’re here for you, Lara,” he said mournfully. He had taken to talking to me while I ate his secondhand dinners. He didn’t have enough plates, so we chatted while he waited for me to finish up. He knew I was dreading this day, and he knew why. “Are you sure you want to go alone? I don’t have much, but I have a suit that I think will work for this occasion and a shoulder that I’m told is good for leaning on.”

  “I wouldn’t put you through that, Mr. Renner,” I said, swallowing hard and smiling at the man. “You’ve done more than enough for me already. Would you thank your daughter again for letting me borrow her dress?”

  “Not at all, Lara,” he answered. “I’m just glad the two of you wear the same size. It’s a stroke of luck in an otherwise very unlucky circumstance.”

  “Unlucky,” I murmured. “That’s one word for it.”

  “You better get going, then,” he answered. “But listen to me. You don’t stay there one more moment then you have to. Watch the dreadful thing happen, as is your duty, and then get back home to us. The missus is having pot roast tonight, and I can’t imagine you’ll want to miss that.”

  I glanced down at the man, at his own atern. It was low, lower than it would be if he didn’t have to deal with a freeloader like me. It broke my heart. For me, the choice was this or starving to death on the outskirts of the faction. But I couldn’t rely on his kindness and sacrifice forever. I needed to find a solution—soon.

  “I’ll be back promptly, sir,” I said, nodding firmly.

  He grabbed my hand and gave it a firm squeeze. “Be strong. And good luck.”

  The center square was packed solid. It seemed that, for every person who was sickened by the idea of a public execution, there were three who couldn’t wait to see this brand of justice done.

  Of course, I was the only person in the entire faction who was made to sit in the family box. As I marched up the staircase leading to a perch where I would get a view of my friend being set on fire on a stage in the center of the crowd, I started to shake a little.

  I didn’t want this. I certainly didn’t want to be touted as being in league with someone who could do something like this to someone as innocent as Arbor.

  It was happening though, and there was nothing I could do to stop it or change my proximity at this point. I had sealed my fate on that issue when I visited him that day.

  I looked down at my hands as I sat, noticing the way Mr. Renner’s daughter’s dress seemed to drape my body perfectly. In the back of my mind, I wondered if the old man had bought it for me for today. It was strange how much my tragedy had done to soften his heart. He must have had experience with it himself. It was the only thing that made sense.

  Below me, the crowds whispered to each other. They were talking about Karr, no doubt. Or maybe they were talking about Arbor, his victim. Or me, his ‘family.’

  The entire sordid mess made me sick, and all I could do was hope that, after today, the feeling would leave me. Perhaps I could set it down here, leave it in this box for the next ‘family’ member to pick up.

  Soon, I found myself humming a tune Arbor used to sing at night when we were children. It helped her be brave back then in the face of the shadows that the nighttime sun would send dancing across our walls.

  Today, it served as a kind of anthem for me, a wall of sound to block the musings of those who had come to see Karr’s end.

  In a strange way, it brought me some comfort. But that was short lived. Because as soon as I had finished the second verse, Karr was marched out into the square.

  A loud applause met the man I used to love. As he was pulled toward the stage where he’d be killed, I heard the crowds chanting, “Light him up! Light him up!”

  Just like back in the cell, I couldn’t help but look at him. His hair was
disheveled and his clothes looked as if they had been placed on him by other people, all mismanaged and ill fitting.

  Still, his face held no signs of anguish. There seemed to be a calm over him as the guards settled him in the center of the stage.

  He turned toward me. When his eyes met mine, he smiled.

  I did not smile in return. He might have gotten my presence, but he certainly wasn’t getting my forgiveness. That would come in neither this life nor the next.

  The guards circled him, chanting their ancient words as magic lit the tips of the swords on fire.

  Looking at the blaze, at the way it reflected in the sun, a strange sensation fell over me.

  For the first time since everything happened, since Arbor’s death, I felt something odd.

  Doubt.

  There, deep inside me, where Karr told me it would be, were the seeds of a growing uncertainty. I scrutinized him, dissecting the way he looked at me now, and a very dangerous thought occurred to me. I knew this man. I knew him like I knew Arbor, like I knew myself.

  He wasn’t capable of something like this. He was a good person who had loved Arbor. He loved me. He’d never hurt anyone, let alone either of us.

  But, if that was true, it meant he was about to die for nothing. He was going to be burned thinking the entire faction, myself included, considered him a murderer. Suddenly, I was overcome by a deep-rooted fear that the man about to be executed was innocent. If there was even a chance that was true—

  Against my better judgment, I found myself standing.

  His eyes widened as he looked at me. I wasn’t sure what I was doing. I wasn’t even sure if I believed he was innocent, but my mouth opened all the same. Before I could say anything, the nearest guard thrust the tip of the sword into Karr’s gut.

  “No!” I screamed, watching him fall to his knees as the flames began to overtake him.

  Half the crowd turned to me, looking upon me like some sick sideshow, the lovelorn spouse who didn’t know better than to disavow a killer.