36. Ash
Chapter 36
Ash
Asshole. He socked me right in the mouth and disappeared without a trace of remorse. Granted, it was my fault, but his cold, calculating heart hadn’t even flinched. At least he apologized…I guess. I held his shirt to my dripping nose, and there was no escaping his scent.
Jerek glowered at the door after it slammed shut. “Come on,” he snipped, and he marched toward the underground exit. I followed. When we made it to the door to medical, he paused and peeked inside, grumbling to himself.
My nose had stopped bleeding, but I was sure my face still looked a mess. Jerek turned back to me and pursed his lips. I stared down at my shoes as we moved across the room, past the front desk, and into one of the evaluation rooms in the back. Jerek deposited me in the room and slammed the door, leaving me alone. What was he so upset about?
I sighed and chucked Kane’s shirt into the corner of the room. I sat down in the chair, awaiting the doctor’s arrival, picking at my non-existent fingernails.
A short minute later, the door swung open, and Jerek tugged Dr. Jones in by the arm.
“I don’t understand what your rush is, son.” Dr. Jones brushed Jerek’s hand off and looked up. “Oh.”
Oh… Obviously, he wasn’t looking forward to speaking to me like I was to him.
“Fix her face. I’ll leave a guard outside the door. Both of you escort her back to her room when you’re done,” Jerek grumbled and slammed the door on his way out, leaving us in silence.
Dr. Jones sighed and turned toward me. “What have you gotten yourself into this time, Princess Asha?”
“Just Ash, please,” I reminded him. “We were only sparing, and my face got in the way of Kane’s fist.”
His eyes widened in surprise. “Kane did this to you?”
“Yeah…not really that surprising, is it?”
He pursed his lips. “No, I suppose not. Let me get you cleaned up and have a look.”
He pulled out gauze and cleaning supplies from the cabinets and started wiping the blood off my face.
“About the other day…” I murmured.
He shook his head fervently. “That was a mistake, and I will not discuss it any further.”
“Please,” I whispered.
“I put Emma at risk with every word I tell you.”
I sighed—he was right. “How is Emma? ”
“She’s well. She spends most of her time inside our apartment with her mother.”
“Does she ever get out?”
“No. Unfortunately not. I allow her to come with me when I work night shifts when no one is around. She mostly stays in my office and reads, but it’s still out of the apartment.” I felt for her—being locked up was the worst kind of torture.
“Has she ever helped you with a patient before?”
His eyes flashed. “A few times, but only when I trust the patient beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
“You trusted me?”
“No…but I trusted you would want to protect someone like you.”
I nodded, and the room went back to silence for a short moment. Jones continued to wipe the blood off my face. “How long have you been a doctor here?”
“I have been the King’s head doctor for eighteen years.”
I turned sharply to look at him, and he tsked and turned my head back so he could continue working.
“Did you know my father? My mother? Did you know me?”
He sighed again, and I didn’t think he would answer. “Yes,” he finally said. “I knew your father and his wife, but I did not know you. I did not know you even existed until you came here.”
“Do you have any idea where my father is?”
“Rumors are that he is in the South somewhere, hiding out with blonde sympathizers—rebels, as the King calls them.”
“But no one has been able to find him?”
“The rumors are shoddy at best. The King doesn’t share any information about it with anyone. Some people think Liam died years ago, and King Maximus is chasing a ghost.” The hope that Dr. Jones could provide some information about my father crashed inside my chest.
“Why don’t you take Emma there…to the South?” I whispered.
He stopped working and stepped back. His shoulders were hunched, and he looked ten years older.
“My wife…Cecelia…she has a degenerative disease. It’s not curable; she gets worse every year. It’s why we were never able to have children. She can’t walk very well, and the only medicine that helps…the King keeps under lock and key. If I do not comply, then he withholds the medicine. There is nothing I can do but stay here and do as he wishes. At least he allowed me the chance to have a child. I was so grateful to him when he told me that we could adopt her after her parents abandoned her, but now I’m afraid it’s only more ammunition he has against me to force me to carry out his wishes. If I don’t do as he commands he will take away my daughter.”
I felt immeasurably sad for him at that moment, and I wanted to rage against the King and the unfairness of the world.
“Do you ever go to the Pit? You said you know more about blondes than anyone.”
“Ash, these are very dangerous questions,” he whispered.
“Why?”
“Maximus hates blondes because of their power, but he is also jealous of it. He keeps them contained rather than killing them to utilize it.”
“Utilize what?”
He shook his head and ducked his face as if he were ashamed.
“What is it, Jones?”
He leaned against the counter and slouched. “Several years ago, when I was younger, I was trying to impress the King. I researched day and night under some fellow doctors. We studied the blood and the DNA of the blondes. We studied how the virus altered their brain pathways and ways of thinking. We identified that the source of their powers was that the virus had expanded their brain function. They have more brain activity and more use of their brains, giving them access to stronger senses. This ability is dormant in all of us, but for some reason the virus exposed it in the blondes because of the mutated gene. In my research, I found a way to extract the DNA from the blondes’ blood and inject it into people without the mutated gene. This would make them stronger and faster, but I could never figure out how to tap into the stronger abilities based on the senses. The King was impressed with my findings, and he chose me for his head doctor. I was ambitious, and I suggested injecting all the boys in the academy with this DNA to enhance his foot soldiers.”
My mouth fell agape. It suddenly was all so clear. Why the king kept the blondes under lock and key. Why the soldiers were all so large and intimidating. “He’s injecting the soldiers with the blonde DNA?”
He nodded slowly. “No one knows about this but Maximus and myself.”
“How are you injecting them if they don’t know?”
“Under the guise that it’s only a vaccine in case the virus ever returns.”
“That’s why all the soldiers are so large?”
“Yes. I was only able to isolate some of the traits. I never figured out how blondes access more parts of their brain to give them superior senses like Emma. That remains a mystery, and it always will because I will never do any more for him than what is necessary to keep my family alive. ”
“Dies—uh… Gabe said that there was a test that they do on people when they are unsure of their hair color. Everyone’s hair isn’t as light as mine, and only the test knows who has the mutated gene. Is that true?”
He winced. “Another one of my mistakes,” he murmured quietly. “Yes. The King came to me with a problem and expected me to fix it and…I had to.” His voice broke.
I looked at him with compassion in my gaze. “It’s okay. I understand why you did it.” I didn’t even want to think about the unspeakable things that I would’ve done to save Nan. The unspeakable things that I was currently doing to get revenge for her death.
“The test is relatively new. We first began to implement it a few years back. The King found that far too many people have darker blonde hair or dyed hair, and abilities were flying under the radar. He didn’t like the threat they posed. The test involves a simple blood draw or, in many of the soldiers’ cases, extracting the blood with brute force.” He appeared ashamed again. “The blood is combined with a mixture of substances, and if it clumps, then they have the mutated gene. Every blonde whose blood I have researched has the same blood type. Most of the blondes died from the original wave of the virus. I think the blondes who are alive today had the perfect storm of mutated DNA and blood type for the virus to give them stronger abilities.”
“So, what happens if a blonde and a dark-haired person without the mutation have a child?”
He stared at me quizzically.
“That is the other problem. The King wants to keep the blondes together so they will keep having children together, because then the blood type and the mutation remain the same, giving the prodigy the same abilities. If they have mixed parents, in some cases the child does not get abilities, and in some cases they do. Which, may I ask, are you? Obviously, you have the mutation, but the question is: do you have an ability?”
I didn’t hesitate for even a moment. “No.”
He nodded. “Very rare indeed.”
I shook my head, thinking it over. “So, the King could essentially end this anytime he wanted. If he released the blondes, they would begin to have children with others, and the abilities would die away with time.” My brows furrowed with the realization. He caused the segregation—the hatred and poison that ran through the hearts of the people. It was all Maximus.
He nodded. “The problem is not the hatred of the people; the problem is the thirst for power and control and the fear that has been planted in the hearts of the people toward something that they do not understand.”
“Are there more doctors like you?” I asked suddenly, my brain stirring with ideas.
“No. Well…there are other doctors, but none of them have access to the information that I possess. Though…” He paused, thrumming his fingers on the side of his jaw.
“What?” I asked.
He stepped closer. “I think the King is hiding something. There is a building in the Pit. I’ve been to it hundreds of times. It’s were they store the blonde blood and where I do some of my work, but—there’s a section that is locked and even I’m not allowed in. I know the King has other doctors that work for him there but they are very tight lipped about any happenings in the Pit. I think there is something more going on there, but then again…I may just be being superstitious. ”
A plan began to formulate in the back of my mind. The King’s downfall would be his own arrogance.
“If I could get the medicine for your wife…would you leave? Would you stop doing the DNA injections for him?”
“In a heartbeat,” he breathed.
He moved forward and finished dabbing my face. “Nothing is broken, and I don’t even think your bruising will be that extensive. It looks as if he caught your nose at just the right angle to give you a nasty nosebleed and split your lip.”
“Thank you, Dr Jones.”
“I don’t want to see you back here. Don’t throw yourself into any more punches only to interrogate me again.” His lip quirked up, and I think he meant to joke, but I couldn’t help but wonder if he knew how right he was.