His eyebrows creased into each other as though the conflicting emotions were colliding inside his head.
“She didn’t hold me hostage,” he whispered. “No matter what you might have read, she didn’t. She was trying to protect me. My mom yelled at Janice and me to run. She yelled out to go and protect each other. It was the last thing I heard her say before I heard her body hit the floor. Janice was just trying to do what Mom told her and protect me from them. She would never have hurt me. She wouldn’t have hurt anyone.”
Janice.
The name he’d cried out when we’d been together in that house.
I opened my mouth to offer him sympathy—something that might take the ache from his voice, but the door burst open.
Tag’s hand released mine with a shove. I scooted back into the darkness under the desk, my heart thudding hard against my chest.
Tag stayed on the desk, but I could tell from the way his feet shifted that he’d swiveled to see who’d come in.
There was a thin gap between the lip of the desk and the backing that hid me. I peeked out the gap to see what Tag saw.
A soldier with his weapon drawn and trained on Tag stood next to Eddie. Both Eddie and the soldier looked confused as their eyes roved over the room. With them backed away by the door, I had a clear view.
Tag’s voice sounded calm. “Does the professor know you’ve got your weapon drawn around one of his pets? He won’t like that, Rhett.”
The soldier’s look went from confusion to dismay. He pointed to Eddie. “He said there was a soldier in here fraternizing with one of the New Youths. Raik wouldn’t like
that
, either. How was I supposed to know he wasn’t playing straight with me?”
The soldier, Rhett, turned a lever on his gun that made a slight hiss as he powered down. “Sorry, Tag. We didn’t mean to—”
“Where is she?” Eddie’s interruption made Rhett grumble about New Youth stupidity.
“Give me a name, and I might be able to help you.” Tag’s even tone and casual unconcern carried over to his soldier friend. Rhett allowed himself to chuckle at Eddie, too.
“You know very well who! She’s not with everyone else!”
“Did you lose your date?” Tag asked. “It’s hardly a compliment to yourself to think she ditched you to make it with a soldier.”
“Where is she?”
“You still haven’t told me who we’re talking about. Regent Amber was in here a few moments ago. So was Mrs. Thornburg. But I don’t know where they went, so I don’t know where they are.”
“I’m talking about Summer!”
I flinched at the mention of my name. Eddie had stormed right up to the desk so that all I could see of him were the pressed creases of his pants.
“You mean the girl with Professor Raik?”
“Don’t play stupid with me!” Eddie’s manic voice had taken on a dangerous edge.
Tag laughed and slid off the desk. His legs moved away from the desk, and he wandered over to the bookshelf, where I had a better view of him. “Play stupid? With you? I hate to play games with people who clearly have the advantage.”
Eddie must not have realized he’d been slammed, but Rhett hid a chuckle in a cough. “Everyone’s watching you. You kept her away for almost a week all alone. No one trusts you. You just stay away from her. She’s my fiancée, and I won’t tolerate her being damaged by a lowlife, diseased-ridden—”
“That’s enough!” Rhett cut in. “You’ve seen for yourself. Your girlfriend’s not here. Go look somewhere else.”
Eddie stomped out of the library.
Tag waited until the door whispered closed. “Saving that guy was the biggest mistake I ever made. His blood might be fine, but his intelligence is . . . lacking.”
Lunch meat
, I thought to myself.
“I’m sorry I came in here loaded,” Rhett said. “He seemed so certain. And the rules—”
“Must be obeyed.” Tag finished the sentence for him.
“I’m glad she’s not in here. You know our orders. The gun wasn’t set to tase.”
“Yes. I noticed that.”
“I wouldn’t have ex-ed you, though.” Rhett looked uncertain.
Tag smiled and shook his head. He looked tired. “Yes, you would’ve.”
Rhett shuffled his feet a moment before brightening. “No, really! You owe me money! I can’t ex you until you pay up!”
Tag laughed outright. “If that’s all it takes, I’m going to borrow money from all the guys.”
“You stumbled during drill when you saw the girl Raik’s pet is searching for. That’s why I believed him. There
is
something there, isn’t there? You care about her, don’t you?”
Tag’s eyes slid to my hiding place. “Of course not,” he said, his voice still casual. He settled himself on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table.
He lied. I knew he lied by the panic that raced over his features in his easy denial.
“I don’t love her. I don’t even know her. How could I?”
“I didn’t say anything about love.” Rhett grinned knowingly and dropped himself on the couch next to Tag.
Tag’s face froze in that half smile, the panic shouting from every frozen muscle. He laughed. “Well, you implied. But be realistic, I haven’t seen her for almost a year.”
More lies. They were my same lies, the ones I told Professor Raik. And yet, they hurt to hear, each denial a dagger paring off slices of my hope.
“Four days of life-threatening accidents are enough to bond any two people. Anyway, it’s not like I care,” Rhett said, yet he looked like the entire conversation interested him more than anything in the world.
Don’t trust him. Keep lying
. And yet I wanted to hear something different. I wanted him to confess that he cared for me the way I cared for him. I needed to hear it like I needed air.
“Four life-threatening days that were a lot more trouble than they were worth.” Tag stood up. “We ought to get back to the party. I’m obviously not going to get any reading done with people coming in with thoughts of ex-ing me.” Tag laughed to show he was joking, but Rhett stiffened anyway. Tag held the door for Rhett and shot me a meaningful look. Only I had no idea what the look actually meant.
Did he want me to stay? Did he want me to leave? I counted to sixty, preparing to do it nine more times when I realized Tag wasn’t coming back. The danger he’d face by returning would simply be too great. I crawled out from under the desk, straightened my skirt, and raked my fingers through my hair so I wouldn’t look suspicious. I hesitated at the door, worried about what might be on the other side.
With a deep breath, I cracked the door open and peeked out. The hallway seemed empty. I hurried out of the room, down the hall, and to the bathroom.
The bathroom was a good place to hide out since, when I finally came out, no one would question what I had been doing. Anything done in a bathroom was an off-limit topic for polite conversation.
I stayed there for a long time. The knock on the door startled me. “Summer? Summer are you in there?” It was Brianna’s voice. I’d seen her earlier on the arm of Jeremy. They were likely to be the next set of marrieds from our group.
“Yeah, I’m in here.”
She made a noise that could have been either relief or exasperation. I couldn’t tell which. “Everyone’s been looking for you. You’ve got all those soldiers on edge and looking like they might start tasing people.”
I pinched my cheeks to make me look flushed and opened the door. “I’m sorry. I don’t feel very good, and that stupid Eddie wouldn’t stop following me around. This was the only place I could think of to hide out.”
Brianna felt my forehead. “Well, you don’t feel hot . . . maybe you’re coming down with something, though. Sorry about Eddie. You can ride home with us if you want.”
“I’d like that.”
She put an arm around me and led me back down the stairs to the party. Worried faces watched me descend the stairs, but many more faces never turned my way to look. Most seemed not to be looking for me or to even care that I’d been missing. That made me feel better. Not nearly as many people cared as Brianna had made it sound, so the disturbance upon my entrance remained slight. Tag cast a hasty glance my way, rolled his eyes, and went back to the soldier he’d been talking to.
His apathy felt like a blow to my stomach, but I couldn’t blame him. He had to act like I’d been an inconvenient part of his day. I turned my eyes away from him. Professor Raik finally swiveled from where he’d stood in heated discussion with Eddie. Eddie looked physically ill to have been receiving a tongue lashing from the professor.
Good. Serves the little punk right.
I could feel nothing but loathing toward Eddie. He’d stolen precious time away from Tag and me—time I didn’t know if we’d ever get another chance at. Brianna walked me straight to Professor Raik and Eddie.
“She was in the bathroom. She’s obviously sick so I’m going to see her home. Thank you, Professor, for a wonderful evening.”
I was grateful for her explanation. She shook the professor’s hand. Jeremy held out a wrap to put over her shoulders and during that distraction, Professor Raik said softly, “No interest in him at all?” His head inclined in Eddie’s direction slightly.
“Would
you
be interested in someone like that?” I asked.
He didn’t respond, and I didn’t continue the conversation, simply feeling grateful to be led away to the car waiting for Jeremy and Brianna. It took every ounce of will not to turn once more and look at Tag. My neck muscles were caught in a battle between what my heart wanted and what my brain knew to be stupid.
“One moment.” Professor Raik’s voice called out. “I brought you here. I should see to it that you return home safely.”
Brianna released my arm and smiled at Professor Raik with utter adoration. “Why, that is very kind of you, sir.” Brianna gushed and fawned over the professor a moment more before Jeremy dragged her off.
They were gone before I could think of anything to say to keep them with me.
Professor Raik made hurried good-byes to a few select guests and took me by the elbow, leading me back to the front of his house where his car waited.
His driver was already seated in the front, appearing to have not left in the few hours we’d been inside. Professor Raik looked at the driver and an opaque divider went up between the front and the back.
Panic.
The car took off into the air. Professor Raik sat across from me, his eyes sharp and hungry like a hawk staring at a small rabbit. After several minutes, I almost relaxed, thinking he only meant to intimidate me—which he had. But surely he couldn’t touch me. I was a New Youth. He was diseased. It was his own law. Of course he wouldn’t break his own law.
I told myself these lies until he moved from sitting across from me to sitting next to me.
“You have no intentions of marrying,” he said.
“Of course I do. I’m still really young. I have lots of time to decide on stuff like that.” The tremor in my voice revealed my fear.
He smiled and reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “I make you nervous.” A statement—not a question. I didn’t respond but automatically inched away toward the window. Really, if I jumped, would it kill me? Maybe I’d only break my legs. Or maybe I’d fall on something soft.
His arm wrapped around my shoulder while his other hand went to my leg.
I kept my knees locked together, wishing I’d worn jeans instead of a skirt.
He used my leg to pull me away from the door and closer to him. “I won’t hurt you,” he whispered.
I wished desperately for that to be true.
Don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me.
I wished Aunt Theresa was here in this time with me. She’d kill any man who even allowed the thought of anything inappropriate to cross his mind. And if anyone ever had hurt me, she’d have hunted him down and killed him a hundred different ways.
But Aunt Theresa was dead a hundred years ago. And Tag was too far away and entirely helpless when it came to the professor. I had no protectors.
Professor Raik’s lips fell upon mine. My teeth ground together hard—my entire body clenched tight like a fist. His hand moved up my thigh, demanding, claiming.
NO!
I screamed inside my head.
Please No!
Winter and I protected each other from this sort of thing. And yet here was the very man who had managed to separate us. He’d managed to get me alone where I had no protection, where no one would save me.
No one could save me but me.
I bit down on his lip, hard enough that when he yanked his head back in reaction to the pain, his lip tore in my teeth. I spit and almost threw up at the metallic taste of blood—like I’d been sucking on a dirty penny. I tried to scoot back toward the window, but his hand on my leg prevented me from moving. “No!” I said.
“I promised not to hurt you,” he said, pressing a clean white handkerchief at his mouth. He lowered his face to mine again, his breath hot against my cheek. “I should’ve made you promise not to hurt me.”
My breath stuttered out in spurts; my eyes tracked his every move so that I was prepared to block any further advance.
Professor Raik smiled, the blood giving his teeth a pink shine. “Of course, you can’t hurt me. Not really. I am powerful, Miss Rae. You need to understand that. I hold the nations by a chain. They all want what I have to offer them in the New Youth. I have wealth greater than anyone in all the nations because of my arrangements with the regents. Why should I not get for myself what I’ve given them? I gave them futures in the New Youth; why deny myself a future?” His eyes searched over me as if I was a possession. “But I won’t force you, Summer.”
He called me by my first name, stripping me of the politeness in referring to me as Miss Rae.
“Just remember the power I have—the world and future I could offer you.” He breathed in deeply at my neck before straightening. “But I won’t force you. Someday—someday soon I’d imagine, you will come and ask me. You want to save this people. To save them, you’ll need power. Power I have. You’ll need me. You will desire me. All you have to do is ask.”
He removed his hand.
I scooted back as soon as he released me. He smiled, taking note of the blood staining his handkerchief. He folded it neatly and put it back in his pocket before straightening his tie. He moved to sit across from me again.