Kade pulled the door open and stepped out.
“You’re welcome,” Elizabeth called, forcing Kade to turn around.
He laughed once, peering around the edge of the door. “Let’s not pretend. We both know it was I that did you the favour.”
She opened her mouth and Kade shut the door before she could speak her retort. That would keep her up tonight. Elizabeth never could handle someone else getting the last word in.
∞
Master Kade strolled up the wide hallway, ignoring all of the paintings on the wall. He’d been wandering these halls since he was a kid and he knew every detail of every painting. He was sick of it, sick of this house. He wanted to be right in the city, with his father. Kade’s father lived in the Sario building in the middle of the city. Coincidently, it was the tallest building. Only the figurehead of a main house could live there. He didn’t envy his father too badly, not when he thought about all of the bullshit his dad had to deal with. In the new world, there wasn’t much work for the Fortunates. The Unfortunates took care of everything. They did the farming, they ran the shops, and they served the Fortunates. Every Unfortunate was born with a number and every slave had a place. If the slave wasn’t where it was meant to be, then it was located and killed. Fortunates didn’t have the time for renegade slaves. It was rare that anyone escaped Freeport. Those that did were either tracked and killed or left to die out in the wild. The moderators were half Fortunate, half Unfortunate, and although birth control was compulsory for all Unfortunates, sometimes things slipped by. It wasn’t right to treat the offspring like Fortunates and it wasn’t right to treat them like Unfortunates, either, so they created a medium. That medium turned out to be very helpful. Fortunates didn’t have to degrade themselves and slum it in Unfortunate camps or on work stations while the Unfortunates picked the food or sewed the clothes, the moderators did instead, and they were paid well for it.
Kade’s shoes scuffed against untiled flooring and the noise brought him back to reality. He glanced around the dark room and heard a sleepy sigh. He took a step back, at first, when he realised his unfocused state had brought him to Nine’s quarters. She had her own room, his father had apparently sorted that out for her. Most personal slaves shared a room connected to their master’s room, but Kade wasn’t open to the option of having someone so close to his personal space.
It was his animalistic nature that forced him forward again. He kept going until his shins pressed against the low, thin mattress. If he listened closely, he could hear the slow, relaxed pattern of her breathing. It was the first time since her arrival that he’d heard her breathe at a normal pace. He decided he liked it quicker… he liked affecting her. He stuffed his hands into his pockets to prevent from touching her. He wondered how she’d react if he stroked her between her legs or played with one of her nipples. He recalled earlier when he released her from her dress that she attempted to cover her breasts. She wouldn’t like to be touched against her will at all—that was obvious—so Kade didn’t touch her, but she’d have to learn to like it. If she was going to help him and his family, she was going to have to like being touched whenever and wherever a Fortunate saw fit, and in order to make her like it, he was going to have to gain her trust. He had to pick the right moments to seduce her, to break her down and put her back together again. Kade was certain that when he was finished with her, she was going to trust, love, and fear him.
Kade turned on his heel and left Nine’s room. Behind him, he heard her shuffle on the bed, and he hunched a little as his weariness began to take over. He ran his hand over his face and thought about his large bed as he climbed the wide staircase to the second floor. He loved night time—to be specific—he loved the time when he could climb into bed and forget about all the shit he had to deal with. The only time he could rest was alone in the dark. He didn’t like company in those times. He didn’t like light, either. The darkness was his ally. It allowed him to be still and content. It was only in darkness that he found himself truly at peace, and when the light began to seep through the curtains in the morning, he put his face back on and hid his peaceful nature behind his assertive front. It became apparent to him as a teenager, after his mother was murdered, that he needed to be hard in order to survive. The weak fall… the strong prosper, and that was the way the new world went.
Chapter Five
Nine
Two weeks. I’ve gone two weeks without being summoned by Master Kade. I spend most of my day in my room, waiting around just in case he calls me. He hasn’t yet. By lunch time, I step out into the garden just to touch things. I like the feel of the dirt between my toes and the smell of the leaves. I can’t describe the scent that emanates from a torn leaf… it smells green—no—earthy. Earthy is a much better word. And the flowers, the flowers smell amazing, like nothing I’ve ever smelt before. We hardly saw flowers in the Unfortunate camp… we hardly saw anything except mud and dirt. I push my tongue against the roof of my mouth. I can still taste the mud in the back of my throat.