CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
OUR brEATHS WERE THE ONLY SOUND AS WE HEADED toward whatever made forgiveness unobtainable.
My heart ricocheted off my ribs, leaving me breathless.
The heavy scent of lilies was overpowering as we made our way into an identical hall that led to two double doors, guarded by two soldiers in dark green uniforms, one impossibly tall.
I tried not to cringe away from them. The masks made it impossible to tell whether they had been at the Parting.
They bowed to us as Collin captured my clammy palm in his steady hand.
The doors opened, and we entered the room beyond.
It was a tremendous dining room, double the size of my birth parents’. There had to be at least thirty members of the Elite standing around the table, waiting for us.
My stomach hit the floor. Vincent stood at the table directly before me.
I lifted my chin as Collin led me to the far end of the room.
Countless tiny chandeliers hung from the ceiling, like falling stars hanging over the length of the dark table.
The walls were paneled, and there were two obsidian heating hearths.
The décor couldn’t distract me from the faces I recognized. William and Nora. Phillip, Richard. I didn’t see Gregory or Helen. Very few women sat among the Elite. I wondered briefly what they had done to have a seat at this table.
We reached the head of the table. Collin pulled out the chair to his right for me.
“Be seated,” Collin stated. Chairs scraped across the floor. I took my seat, my spine painfully straight, the beaded gown too tight.
Halfway down the table, a man with long blond hair tied at the nape of his neck stood. Edward, the one who had approached us in the Garden—Nora’s first Mate.
He held a glass of bubbles. “On behalf of all of the Elite here, I wanted to raise a glass to the Illum and to this peculiar mating. We know you have your reasons.” Edward cast me a slimy smile, and several men chuckled around the table. “Many fertile blessings to the Illum.”
People raised their glasses to toast us. Collin didn’t. His hands remained folded on the table, staring at Edward.
Glasses hung in the air, waiting.
Collin finally grabbed his glass lazily, tilting his head at Edward like he was sizing up his prey. The contents threatened to spill at any moment. Collin flashed a dangerous smile before downing the contents and placing his empty glass on the table.
I reached for my drink, but without looking at me Collin shook his head just a fraction.
I withdrew my hand. Phillip across from me hadn’t touched his either.
A few glasses sat on the table untouched.
When everyone had replaced their glasses, Collin’s eyes swept over every person who drank, marking them.
“Perhaps I misheard you. Peculiar mating?” The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. “Is that what you called this?”
Edward wrung his hands. “Yes, surely you understand. A member of the Illum stooping to a Minor contract.”
“So I am stooping now?” Collin drawled, shaking his empty glass. A man in dark gray rushed over, refilling it. Collin took a long sip, then turned toward Edward, that viciousness in his eyes. “Was it stooping when you ogled my Mate so thoroughly in the Garden?”
“I—I meant no disrespect,” Edward stuttered.
Nora took a sip of her drink like she enjoyed watching her first Mate squirm. Edward was clearly older than she was. How old was he when they had been Mated? He had been Gregory’s best friend, so at least five years . . .
Collin sighed. “No disrespect? What did you mean then when you said I was forced to socialize with their kind?” Edward opened his mouth, but Collin continued.
“You said it was barbaric. But if they look like this”—he gestured to me, my body going rigid as Collin’s eyes lingered—“why not bring them out in public for some”—Collin tore his eyes from me as he stared down Edward with such intensity that it made me want to fidget—“entertainment.”
Collin had remembered every insult Edward had given me. Was the anger radiating from Collin real? Was this work?
Collin leaned back in his chair. Edward again opened his mouth to speak but Collin interrupted. “You insult her, you insult the Illum. I do not forgive, nor do I forget the mistreatment of my things. Unless it is elimination you are after.”
My head whipped toward Collin at his nonchalant suggestion. It was murder he was talking about.
Edward swallowed as he bowed. “I accept any judgment the Illum see fit.”
“Be seated,” Collin ordered, dismissing him. “Speaking of judgment, Gregory, did you receive the Illum’s gift for the evening?”
“I did.” Gregory strolled into the room from a separate entrance, a bored expression on his face. Shocked gasps rang out at the dark blue suit he wore, the same color my gown had been.
“Thank you for joining, so I can remind everyone here that every single thing the Elite at this table have is by the grace of the Illum.” Collin’s voice rang out.
“With all the rumors circulating, perhaps this is the only thing that will silence you all. Failing to uphold the Greater Good is a punishable offense.”
My eyes met Gregory’s in sympathy, but he smirked at me. The family disappointment club, he had called us. Vincent and Richard refused to look at him, and Phillip only looked at Collin.
“All the rumors flying about the Illum’s choices, yet not a whisper of the Elite’s choices.
My Mate went to dinner with her birth family last week.
Someone impersonated the Illum. Sending a black box to the preparation appointment.
” Collin looked around the table. “People were hurt in the process. Perhaps it was just for someone here’s entertainment.
” Collin stared at Vincent. “I didn’t find it entertaining. Neither did Tabitha.”
Everyone shifted uncomfortably as murmurs broke out along the table.
“Gregory, how does it feel to be the entertainment?”
“Honestly,” Gregory started, dusting off a sleeve of the jacket. He glanced down the table, eyes gleaming as they lingered on our birth father. “You really wasted a great color on the trash of our society. I think it brings out the blue in my eyes.”
My eyes volleyed between Collin and Gregory. I heard a glass break. Two men rushed over to clean up William’s glass, its contents spilling onto the table. William grabbed the offered new glass, looking at Nora, who stared straight ahead.
“When I find the person responsible, they will find blue to be their permanent color. Am I understood?” A collective agreement rang out. “Be seated.” Collin dismissed him.
Gregory spread his arms wide, giving an elaborate bow. “As you command.”
A man brought in a white orb, like the one on Collin’s desk, and placed it in the middle of the table.
“Which brings me to my next form of entertainment for this evening.” Everyone sat up straighter, the room holding its breath. “There have been attacks. I am sure everyone here is aware of the man you all call the Reaper. My fellow Illum members have devised a plan to draw this pest out.”
Around the table, approving chatter broke out. Collin held up his hand and silence fell instantaneously. “But before we discuss our plan forward, some entertainment for you all and a message to the ones foolish enough to doubt us. Tabitha?”
No one breathed in the room as the man in gray tapped the orb. A hologram projected above the table. Like my HI, the woman looked too solid, too real in the room.
Tabitha had short silver hair and a delicate face that seemed ageless. She wore a sweeping white gown. She didn’t even stand in the room with us, and yet everyone stood at perfect attention. The woman they all feared. The woman who ran our city.
“Hello, loyal Elites,” Tabitha began. Everyone bowed deeply. I followed suit. “I have joined this meeting to serve justice. Thanks to the help of Collin and his Mate, Emeline.”
My stomach twisted, and I plastered a smile onto my face as everyone looked at me.
I glanced at Collin for one furious heartbeat, but he stared straight ahead, his jaw tight.
“We were able to apprehend a sympathizer with the Reaper’s desire to destroy our peace and upend our prosperity and sacred way of life.
His only goal is to spread discord among those with defects.
Not all Defects are swayed by his empty promises.
Emeline and many like her understand his threat to our life and have come to the Illum for help, as allies, as fervent supporters—seeking protection and justice.
” The woman turned to me like she could see me and smiled. “Bring him in.”
I turned toward the doors as two men in dark green armor dragged in a man with hateful eyes, the same man who had whistled at me. My heart pounded painfully in my throat, suffocating me.
He had a cut above his left eye, and there was bruising along his jaw, which he held at an odd angle. The men in green dropped him to the ground.
“This Minor Defect insulted Emeline. Insulting an Illum’s Mate is an insult to the Illum. Upon our investigation he was found guilty of passing information from the Capitol to the Reaper.”
No. This couldn’t be real. My pulse hammered in my ears. He had just whistled. I found those hateful eyes. I didn’t do it. Cold sweat coated every inch of me. It will be okay. This was like Gregory. They were just sending a message. That was all.
“You would all do well to follow her example. Thank you, Emeline. The Illum are with you. Collin, you chose well. Proceed.” Tabitha disappeared.
Collin would have the man taken away. He was going to threaten everyone and that was it. He didn’t believe in eliminating Defects. He had told me he didn’t believe in it.
Collin stood, the epitome of grace, that power and viciousness surrounding him. If there was an internal battle, he didn’t show it.
Whatever is required of me. Everything I do is for the Greater Good.
“Eliminate him,” Collin’s voice rang out.
My pulse roared in my ears. I couldn’t breathe.