Once

by Anna Carey

Page 34

  The King snorted. “You don’t know. Well, you’re going to have to figure it out. You could’ve been kidnapped, held for ransom—do you have any idea how dangerous that was? There are people in this City who want me dead, who believe I’m ruining this country. You’re lucky you weren’t killed. ”

  I stared out the window. I couldn’t see the City. Beyond the glass the world was all sky, a gray expanse that stretched on forever. “Where is he?” I asked. “Where are they taking him?”

  “That’s not your business anymore,” the King said. “I want to know how you got out, where you were last night, what you were doing, and who you were with. I want the names of the people who helped you. You have to understand, he was just using you to get to me. ”

  “You have it wrong. ” I shook my head. I stared into the carpet, at the neat, vacuumed lines crushed by footprints. “You don’t know him. You have no idea what you’re talking about. ”

  At this he exploded, his face turning a deep pink. “Do not tell me what I know,” he yelled. “That boy has been living in the wild for years now, with no respect for the law. Do you know that these aren’t the first soldiers he’s attacked? When he escaped the labor camps he nearly killed one of the guards. ”

  “I don’t believe that,” I said.

  “You have to understand, Genevieve. People who live outside the regime have been perpetuating the chaos. We are trying to build, and they are trying to destroy. ”

  “Build at what cost?” I asked, unable to stand it anymore. I twisted the cap in my hands, bending the brim until it nearly folded in half. “Isn’t that always the question? When will you be satisfied? When every person in this country is under your control? My friends have given their lives. Arden and Pip and Ruby are still in there. ” The King turned away at the mention of their names.

  The silence swelled around us. I stared at his back, the answer becoming clear before I even asked the question. “You aren’t going to let them go, are you? You were never going to. ” He still wouldn’t look at me.

  He took measured breaths, each one slow, drawn out, keeping horrible time. “I can’t,” he said finally. “I can’t make an exception for them. So many young women have given their service. It wouldn’t be right. ”

  “You made an exception for me,” I tried.

  He shook his head. “You are my daughter. ”

  I felt like I was choking. I remembered Pip’s face as she curled up beside me, her cheek pressed against my pillow. The lights had already gone out at School. Ruby was asleep. We stayed there, our hands clasped together, moonlight streaming in from the window. Promise me as soon as we get to the City we’ll find a dress store. She pinched her collar, the same starched white nightgown everyone else wore. I hope I never see another one of these again.

  “By blood,” I muttered now. “I’m your daughter by blood. I don’t belong here, in this place. Not with you. ”

  Finally, he met my gaze. Something in his face changed. His eyes were small and calculating, looking at me as if it were the first time. “Where do you belong then? With him?”

  I nodded, tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.

  The King rubbed his temple, letting out a small, sad laugh. “That cannot happen. People expect you to be with someone like Charles—not some escapee from the labor camps. Charles is the type of man you’re supposed to marry. ”

  “Who are you to say what I’m supposed to do? Who I’m supposed to be with?” I shot back. “You’ve known me for less than a week. Where were you when I was alone in that house with my mother, when I was listening to her die?”

  “I told you,” the King said, an edge to his voice. “I would’ve been there if I could have. ”

  “Right,” I said. “And you would’ve told your wife about her—it just wasn’t the right time. And you’ll get to restoring the Outlands, to giving the workers proper housing, just as soon as you put up zoos and museums and amusement parks and restore the three colonies in the east. ”

  The King held up his hand to silence me. “That is quite enough. Whatever they told you, Genevieve, whatever they said about me—they have an agenda that you cannot begin to know. They want to turn you against me. ”

  “It isn’t like that. ” I shook my head, hating how the certainty in his voice created so much doubt in mine. “Caleb would’ve died in that labor camp if he hadn’t escaped. You don’t know him. ”

  “I don’t need to,” the King said, stalking toward me. “I know enough. Now, I’m going to ask you one more time. I need to know if he was working with anyone, if you heard anything about any plans to attack the Palace. Did anyone threaten you?”

  I fixed Caleb’s words in my mind, all the things he’d said that first night below ground, when he’d told me of the dissidents who’d been tortured. “He wasn’t working with anyone,” I said quietly, wishing the King would look away. “He was only in the City because of me. ”

  “How’d you get out of your suite?” he asked. “Did Beatrice help you?”

  “No—she had no idea,” I said, my palms pressed together. “I figured out the code. A door in the east stairwell was unlocked. I stole the uniform from an apartment in the Outlands. ” I thought of the airplane sitting abandoned in the hangar, the blankets crumpled, the lanterns dark. They would change the code now, have soldiers stationed at my door. The Palace would be impossible to leave. This would’ve been unbearable, had Caleb still been in the Outlands. Had I any reason left to escape.

  “Whatever he told you, Genevieve, whatever he said—he is using you. There are hundreds of dissidents in the City. Some of them are working with Strays on the outside. It’s possible he knew you were my daughter before you did. ”

  “You don’t know anything about us. ” I stepped back, hating how easily all the warnings from School returned, filling my head, coloring everything past and present. Caleb had had that picture of me when we met. He’d stayed with me by the river, helping me hide, even though the troops were close behind us. It wasn’t true, I knew it couldn’t be, but the accusations hung in the air.

  “You’re no longer associated with him,” the King said. “There is no ‘us. ’ You are the Princess of The New America. It’s bad enough citizens saw you apprehended outside the Palace the same time he was. He’s committed a crime against the state. ”

  “I told you, he didn’t do it,” I said. “He can’t be punished for this. ”

  “Two soldiers were killed at a government checkpoint. Someone has to be held responsible,” the King said, his voice flat.

  “I could explain what happened, how it was in self-defense. ”

  “These laws exist for a reason—anyone who threatens one New American threatens all. ” He looked at me. “You can’t defend him, Genevieve. You are not to speak to anyone about this. ”

  “The people don’t have to know,” I tried. “You could release him. What does it matter to you if he’s outside the City? Everyone will believe he’s dead. ”