by Chele Cooke
“Will you be serious with me for one second? You’re making me want to punch you,” she snapped back.
She was impressed with herself when his eyes widened in surprise. Lifting his hand, he waved to a chair that stood against the wall. Georgianna grit her teeth and approached the plush chair, perching on the edge and resting her bound hands in her lap.
“Why did you buy me?”
He shrugged.
“I was compensated quite well for your purchase.”
“Was it Maarqyn?”
Edtroka moved closer to her, sliding a small device from his pocket. He nodded to her wrists and held his hand out. She moved closer and rested her hands in his.
The binding snapped open after a moment of fiddling the device around in the lock. Placing the binding and the device on the table, he got to his feet.
“Look, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been up all night,” he told her. “Can you cook?”
“Moderately.”
“Great. Make something out of whatever you can find in there.”
“Will you just…”
“Med!” he snapped. “Will you just listen to what I’m telling you? That’s Lesson Number One. You have quite a few to learn before I even consider introducing you to your benefactor.”
His mood changed so suddenly that Georgianna didn’t dare speak. She wondered whether she’d been too familiar with him. After all, Edtroka was still an Adveni. He was still a guard of Lyndbury Compound and a Tsevstakre to boot. Whether he treated her well or not, Edtroka Grystch was no longer the guard who would sometimes be nice to her. He was not an almost-friend anymore.
He was her owner.
The sofa in Edtroka’s living room was comfortable. Softer than Georgianna was used to—a flimsy mattress atop the metal bunks within the compound—it gave her the feeling she was sinking into it, almost as if caught in a bog, but it was still such an improvement that she didn’t mind the sinking sensation too much.
However, she was worried that Edtroka didn’t have anywhere permanent for her to stay. While he had an extra room, the door remained locked, and Georgianna had not gathered the courage to ask whether she would always be sleeping on his sofa. This only added to her fear that Edtroka was housing her temporarily before she was moved to her real owner. Though Edtroka had signed the paperwork, he’d already told her that he had been compensated for her purchase.
Having taken a few days off work to help her settle into her place as a drysta, Edtroka was expected to be back at the compound that afternoon. Georgianna sat in the corner of the sofa, still wrapped in a blanket despite the heat the sun sent in through the large windows. She wondered what she would be expected to do with her time while he was at work. He might want her to clean and cook, but in this small apartment, that wouldn’t take much time. Edtroka’s shifts were long, spanning two counts at the compound. Would he leave her locked in the apartment every time he went to work? So far, he had not mentioned putting a cinystalq collar on her, but she was beginning to consider the collar as a preferable alternative to being locked within the apartment all day and night, itching to speak to someone other than the Adveni. When she had tried to ask him of his plans, he reminded her that his plans were not her business, and then changed the subject.
Everything set her on edge. Edtroka’s mood swings were more pronounced now that she saw him all day. It was just the two of them in the small apartment and Edtroka oscillated in a seemingly aimless manner between cheerful and eager to teach her Adveni culture, to furious at her when she asked the wrong question. He’d walked away from more questions than she could remember and he gave her no warning of which topics were off limits.
He’d taught her a few more of her lessons, as he called them. She was to be polite at all times. She wasn’t to speak to another Adveni unless specifically asked to do so. She was to do as he asked without question or delay.
When Edtroka appeared from his bedroom, already impeccably dressed, he walked straight past her into the kitchen. Georgianna untangled herself from the blanket and leaned to the side to watch his back. The uniform could not be comfortable in the heat. It was flexible enough, but it was clear that plating was hidden within it for protection, and she doubted it would allow for air flow.
“Get up,” Edtroka called over his shoulder, startling her. “We’re going out.”
Georgianna folded the blanket and placed the pillow on top of it. She hurried into the bathroom to wash and dress, selecting some clothes that Edtroka had picked out for her. She was quite surprised to find that they fitted rather well. Taking a little more time with her hair in an attempt to look respectable, another of his requests, she braided it over her shoulder.
There was a trace of a frown when she looked at herself in the mirror. Looking clean and tidy like this, she could see her mother in her own face. No matter the weather, or what she’d been doing, her mother had always looked neat and well put together. Her hair was always braided, and she had spent hours showing Georgianna how to do it herself. Braids that circled from temple to the nape of her neck, swoops of hair that caught the eye. Georgianna’s nimble fingers, trained for medicine, were quite good at it, but she hardly ever used it any more.
She hurried back to Edtroka, hoping that he would be kept in a reasonable mood by her attention to his lessons.
He led her from the building, walking down the street with brisk steps while Georgianna hurried a step behind.
“Where are we going?”
“Javeknell.”
He didn’t answer any further, lulling them both into silence. She chewed on her lip, wondering why he was bothering to take her to the square if he would be delivering her back to the apartment before his shift. That was, if he planned on taking her back there. Perhaps he was planning on handing her over to another Adveni, the one who had compensated him.
“Edtroka?”
“Hmm?”
Georgianna hurried a few steps to catch up to him again. If he was going to hand her over to someone else, she doubted he would talk about it. He’d been cagey about the reason behind her purchase since the first day.
“What should I do while you’re at the compound?”
Edtroka glanced over his shoulder. He pushed out his bottom lip and looked away.
“We’ll think of something.”
“Stay quiet and remember what I told you.”
Edtroka spoke before Georgianna realised there was anything amiss. She glanced at him, and he nodded ahead of them, a cautious furrow to his brow.
Up ahead, two Adveni were approaching. Not entirely sure what to do, Georgianna remembered the rules and slowed her own steps to walk a half step behind him, the submissive drysta.
It was another dozen steps before she could make out the Adveni approaching them. One was a woman, with dark hair and the same calculating stare that Edtroka adopted when he was angry. For her, it seemed to be a natural expression and Georgianna hoped that she never had to see this woman angry. The man with her, however, Georgianna recognised immediately. Maarqyn Guinnyr stepped forwards and when he noticed Georgianna watching him, he smirked.
“Commander,” Edtroka greeted formally with the side of his fist to his chest. “Ehnisque.”
The woman stared unabashed at Georgianna, even as she nodded towards Edtroka.
“E'Troke.”
Georgianna shrank back further. Maarqyn advanced.
“E'Troke,” he greeted. “Your drysta sure does walk slowly. I’d teach her to keep up if I were you.”
“I have errands,” Edtroka replied, lifting his bag momentarily from his shoulder. “Nothing that I cannot take my time over.”
“You have not put a collar on her.”
They were speaking in Veuric for her benefit, she realised. It was a chance for Maarqyn to taunt her, even if he was here for another reason. The bottom dropped out of her stomach as she wondered whether he was here to collect her.
“Well, it would have made this easier,” Maarqyn mused wh
en Edtroka didn’t answer him.
“Less fun,” the woman named Ehnisque added. Maarqyn smiled in approval.
“What is it you’d like, Commander?”
“I would like to speak to the medic. I would have done so before if you hadn’t gone behind backs to reward yourself.”
“Well, speak then.”
Maarqyn was not a difficult man to read. His annoyance at Edtroka’s dismissal of his insult was plastered over his face. He gritted his teeth, his nostrils flared, and he glared at Edtroka for a moment longer before rounding on Georgianna.
“You know my dreta, Alec and Nyah,” he began. “I want to know where they are. They belong to me and I want them returned.”
Georgianna faltered. Edtroka kept his gaze resolutely forward, staring at a spot of nothingness between Maarqyn and the woman. Up until his escape, everyone—including Alec’s brother, Landon—had believed Alec Cartwright dead, executed for connections with the Belsa. With the help of Si Oakes, another Belsa, Alec had lived as a drysta in secret, spying on Maarqyn and passing information back to the Belsa marshall, Beck Casey. Since learning that he was alive, Georgianna had discovered that Alec believed he had a way to disable the pillars surrounding Adlai, part of a device called the mykahnol, which could wipe their city off the face of Os-Veruh.
“I know them,” she answered, turning back to Maarqyn. There was no point in lying. Maarqyn had forced her connection to Alec and Nyah out of her on the day of the escape.
“You know their location?”
“No.”
“Liar. Vtensu Ven,” the woman hissed.
“Tsev,” Maarqyn warned without taking his gaze off Georgianna.
The woman fell silent.
“Medic,” he continued. “We both know that you had more to do with the escape than you let on and we also both know that I will not give up.”
Georgianna scuffed one foot against the ground.
“Why don’t you tell me where I can find Alec? Or, I may decide that your pain is a far more motivating reason for honesty.”
“Commander…”
“Quiet, E'Troke.”
Edtroka’s hands tightened into fists, but he stayed silent.
“Medic.”
“I don’t know.”
Maarqyn reached into the pocket of his coat so casually that for a moment, she thought he was reaching for a tsentyl or some other inconspicuous object. Instead, he withdrew a collar. Georgianna blanched and took a step back.
“You know something, I know you do.”
“I promise…”
“Be careful with the lies that follow that promise, Medic.”
Maarqyn was not bluffing. He would carry out his threat of putting a collar on her, he had done so before. She would have to convince him, but she couldn’t sell out Alec and Nyah, not when she had lost so much to secure their freedom.
Watching him tap the collar against his palm, Georgianna reached up and rubbed the side of her neck. She remembered the lightning pain that had shot through her body. She could feel the way it made everything else irrelevant, how it made you want to do anything to make it stop.
“They were supposed to run south,” Georgianna said in a flurry. “Nyah’s family had already moved south. We planned for them to meet further down the trail.”
“LIAR!”
The baton came out of nowhere, smacking into the side of her knee and knocking her to the ground. Maarqyn towered over her, collar in one hand and baton in the other. Crouching before her, he dropped the collar and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her from the ground.
“Commander, release her,” Edtroka ordered sharply. Maarqyn ignored him.
“Do you know what I do to those who lie to me?”
Georgianna gasped, scrabbling at his wrist.
“Alec was seen. He was spotted in the theft of some electrical equipment.”
“He was meant to run,” Georgianna screeched in return, not breaking her panicked gaze from Maarqyn’s furious glare. “I was in the compound, I don’t know if the plan changed.”
Searing pain shot through her head as the baton was brought down against her cheek. Georgianna squealed and shielded her face. The baton smacked into her knuckles twice before Maarqyn released her neck. She collapsed on the ground. Looking up, she saw Edtroka wrestling with the commander, his own glare a murderous match to Maarqyn’s. Edtroka finally shoved the commander away.
“I would remind you that this girl belongs to me!” Edtroka snarled. “And you are beyond your station to touch her.”
“I will do as I choose, Grystch,” Maarqyn hissed back. “You may have bought the girl under the table, but I could take her whenever I wish. Do you really think you would fare well against my allies?”
Edtroka’s glare became a smirk as he glanced at Ehnisque.
“I suppose that includes you, am I right?”
“Yes, dessiq, you are,” she nodded.
Georgianna was surprised to find that there was little venom in the woman’s voice, despite the Adtvenis word that she had to assume was an insult. The Adveni woman was calm and collected. Perhaps she found the altercation amusing. Peeling herself from the ground, Georgianna cradled her battered hand and retreated a few steps behind Edtroka.
“Well, I suggest that you make your move, Maarqyn. We shall see who regrets their actions.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” the woman hissed, her calm demeanour cracking. “Not over a Ven.”
“Try me,” Edtroka answered.
Maarqyn was sizing Edtroka up, and when the younger man didn’t falter under the scrutinising stare, he stepped back. He didn’t say anything more, except for a brief order in Adtvenis to the woman. They both walked away, the woman throwing a look over her shoulder before hurrying after the commander.
Edtroka was still for a few moments. When the two Adveni turned a corner further down the street, he looked at Georgianna.
“Come here.”
Georgianna took a tentative step forwards, wincing as Edtroka brushed his fingers against her bruised cheek.
“Are you okay?”
“It hurts, but I’m alright.”
Edtroka nodded.
“Good,” he said absently. “Then let’s get going, or we’ll be late.”
Georgianna kept a wary watch as they walked into the centre of the city. The people on the streets were about their daily business and Maarqyn was nowhere to be seen. She stayed a step behind Edtroka the entire journey, though he occasionally looked back at her and chuckled.
“What are you laughing at?” she asked.
Edtroka glanced over his shoulder, his amusement evident.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look respectable before.”
“Excuse me?”
He slowed his step so that she could catch up to him, but she stayed behind. He shook his head.
“Your hair is neat, you’re clean. Apart from that mark on your cheek, I might call you an ideal drysta,” he said, grinning.
“I’m glad I’m pleasing,” Georgianna replied, touching her cheek tentatively.
“So pleasing it’s unnerving. You can walk next to me, you know.”
Despite his mockery, Georgianna kept her position behind him, not daring to step forwards to join him with other Adveni around.
Javeknell Square was busy when they arrived. Veniche who dared venture further into Adveni territory received a better price on wares, and had set up stalls. Adveni moved to and fro, some using the square as a shortcut to another district, others milling around stalls and shop windows.
Edtroka led them over to a stall of spices, though he barely looked at the items before he moved on to the next. Georgianna followed and watched him with narrowed eyes. He only had a short time before he was expected to be at the compound, and he didn’t seem particularly interested in the items he was looking at. He ambled from one to another without a noticeable care in the world.
“You know, if you’re looking for something, I know the Oprust Dist
rict. I could get a better…”
“No,” he answered. “We stay.”
She fell silent immediately, not about to push her point. Edtroka had made it very clear that she was not to disagree with him in public. While voicing a suggestion may not have been out of place, arguing his decision would certainly raise eyebrows amongst the other Adveni. Clasping her hands together, Georgianna followed him, but her effort to remain calm vanished as a hand latched onto her elbow, making her squeal in surprise.
Whirling around on her heel, the man before her brought another cry to her lips. He shouldn’t be here.
Too late, she glanced over her shoulder. Edtroka was already moving towards them. Her breath caught in her chest as she stared up at her brother. He shouldn’t have made himself known. Edtroka wouldn’t appreciate her being grabbed in public, making him look like he didn’t have control of her. It wouldn’t matter that Halden was her sibling.
She wanted to fling her arms around Halden’s shoulders and hold on until he hugged her so tight that she couldn’t breathe. She wanted to hear him say that it was alright. Instead, she stood rooted to the spot, terrified even to blink in case he should disappear in a haze of fantasy.
“You took your time,” Edtroka greeted emotionlessly.
“My apologies,” Halden replied, a hard edge to his voice that Georgianna rarely heard. He bowed his head.
Georgianna glanced between them. Her owner and her brother were talking as if they’d been expecting each other and yet she couldn’t remember whether Halden had even known that Edtroka existed. She didn’t speak about the compound with her family, and certainly never about Edtroka. Her father had already disliked that she went there; he would have hated knowing that his only daughter was on friendly terms with an Adveni.
“What’s…?”
“You know the arrangement?” Edtroka cut her off. “She is to be back here when I finish my shift. Sunrise. Are we clear?”
“What is…?”
“Perfectly,” Halden agreed. “I will make sure of it.”
“Hal…”
Edtroka glanced at her, his expression cold and distant. Even when he was angry, Georgianna could always see recognition in his eyes. It was as if the memory of happier times were still fighting to get through. Here, there was nothing, just the cold glare of an Adveni. He turned and walked away without another word.
