The Unfortunates(23)

They told me this would happen… my teachers. They said we’ll be drawn to our Fortunates. They taught us to want to please them, to make them happy… and that’s exactly what happened. Deep down, underneath all of my nervousness and fear, I wanted to do it for him. My stomach churns. The realisation is sickening. Imagine wanting to put a stranger’s penis in your mouth. A stranger that owns you, threatens you, and wants to give your body to others… you can’t, because it’s not normal.

“Nine?” I flinch as Kade’s voice pulls me back to reality.

I look to him. He’s standing next to me, his eyes flaring like he caught me doing something I’m not supposed to. Others are watching me too—two of them I recognize as Henry and Kade’s father, Michael. I clear my throat and Kade’s eyes flare again. It makes my already sensitive stomach roll.

“Yes?”

He arches an eyebrow.

“Master Kade,” I add quickly, and thankfully, no one other than Kade seemed to notice the lag in my response.

“Daydreaming?”

My blood cools. I don’t know how many drinks he’s had, but he’s doing it on purpose. He knows exactly what I’m thinking about and he’s trying to make me as uncomfortable as he possibly can, knowing very well I can’t utter a single word about it.

“I’m fixated on the party,” I say, staring back at him, refusing to play his game. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”

Keeping his eyes locked on mine, he draws his glass to his mouth and takes a long, slow sip. I look away, my cheeks growing hotter. To think I almost let him kiss me… I should have let him. Perhaps then the penis-mouth situation could have been avoided.

“Of course you haven’t.” Henry chuckles, drawing my attention to his large, jiggling stomach. “You’re an Unfortunate.”

The way he says it, as if it’s the dirtiest thing in the world, makes me clench my jaw and it takes all my strength to stop looking at him. I drop my stare to the grass. It feels damp against my feet.

“You’re my Unfortunate,” Kade says, forcing me to look up again. There’s a strange look in his eyes—comfort? No. He wouldn’t comfort me. He didn’t comfort me at the branding ceremony, why would he do it now? I search deeper, trying to pinpoint the emotion in his uncharacteristically soft eyes, but in a blink, it’s gone. “Not like the others in the camps. Not anymore.”

Henry and Michael exchanged a glance between themselves before Michael spoke. “You sound just like your mother, Kaden.” Master Kade flinches at the reference to his full name. Kaden? I like Kaden. It’s much softer than Kade. “And just like I told her, you cannot lower yourself to their level. They’re different than us—a whole new species, almost.”

I survey Kade’s fingers. They tighten around his glass and his knuckles turn white, draining of blood. “And if I were to cut her open?” he says casually, so casually it sends chills down my spine. “Would she not bleed the same blood?”

“Indeed she wou—”

“Would she not bleed the same amount of blood as you? Would her bones not match ours?”

“Sure, they wou—”

Henry’s laugh cuts off Kade’s father and he offers him no apology. Kade frowns because of it. “You really do sound like your mother, only she knew when to stop.” He flicks his head in my direction. “Developing a soft spot for this one, are you?”

Kade shrugs. “I don’t care for Unfortunates—not in the slightest—but let’s not claim they’re a whole new species entirely just to make yourself feel better about degrading human life. If you’re going to be an asshole, you might as well be proud of it.”

I think it’s a total ass move of him to stand up for human rights. He doesn’t care and the serious intensity in his eyes that suggests otherwise is fake.

“Like me,” a voice chimes in.

Vince.

I feel a hand creep along my shoulder before resting heavily. I want to shrug it off, to step away from it, but only Master Kade can tell me to move. To disrespect a Fortunate—any Fortunate—would mean god knows what. I keep my eyes on Kade, who glares at the fingers that curl around my shoulder.

“You’re wasting your time, Vincent,” Henry announces. His white cane chair creaks as he shifts his large body. “Kade is keeping her for something special.”

I don’t have to look at Vince to hear him smile. “Is my big brother finally ready to lose his virginity?”

Henry and Michael snicker like children, but Kade seems unfazed by the insult to his manhood. “I might find that insulting, if it hadn’t come from a child,” Kade replied, seemingly bored.