51. Chapter 51
Maryn
Iinhaled the sweet smell of fresh air as I stepped into the next room.
Elias rushed forward, covering my face with kisses. He wasn’t supposed to be here. These rooms were reserved for family, our quiet moment to compose ourselves before we stepped out into the flashing lights and waiting friends and neighbors.
“Elias.” I laughed, holding up my hands to shield myself from his barrage of sloppy pecks. “Elias.”
He released me, but leaned in again, wrapping his arms around me and spinning me in a circle. He set me down, and I stumbled forward woozily.
A new set of arms wrapped around me, the familiar scent of jasmine tea rushing my senses. “Mama!”
I buried my face in her shoulder, squeezing until she tapped me lightly, and I released her.
Dad stepped forward, tucking his hands behind his back. “How’s my angel?”
I smiled, throwing my arms around him. “I missed you.”
He unclasped his hands from behind him and wrapped me in a tentative hug. I released him, searching for any sign of the shakes. He was steady, clear-eyed.
He glanced over my shoulder, and I followed it to Elias.
Elias stepped forward once more, holding out a hand.
Dad took it, shaking firmly, and Elias nodded in approval. He straightened, standing a little taller. Dad stepped back, tucking Mama into his side, and Elias grabbed my hands, squeezing.
“I knew it would be you.”
I searched his face. “Was it ever going to be fair?”
His cheeks flushed, and he looked over his shoulder at my parents. “I would never cheat.” He tipped his head toward me, breath hot against my ear. “Okay, I had her stylist give her something to make her a little less clear-headed.”
He backed up, releasing my hands. “I’m sorry.”
Seven, I thought. But it wasn’t her lack of focus that killed her, so could I truly count this murder against Elias? Someone else wanted me to win.
I stepped forward, brushing a kiss along his jaw. “You really love me.”
He nodded. “For better or worse.”
I reached for his hand again, lacing our fingers together. “Can I have a moment with my parents?” I squeezed his hand. “Just a moment and then… forever.”
He smiled, his lips stretching wide. “Forever.”
Dipping his chin to my parents, he stepped out of the room. Outside, Elias’s name erupted, but I couldn’t think about that now.
I searched my parents’ faces, but before I could say anything, Mama turned to Joel. “Honey, can I speak to our daughter alone for a moment?”
He nodded, looking relieved, and slipped out behind Elias.
Then it was just the two of us.
She rushed forward, wrapping her arms around me. Her hug was tight, crushing, and she pressed her lips to my ear. “Nowhere is safe.”
“What?” I struggled in her hold.
“Don’t believe them. Just because they say there are no cameras doesn’t mean there aren’t.”
I wriggled in her grip, but she only held tighter.
“The mission has changed.”
I stilled, ice racing down my spine.
“You’ll marry him, and together… we’ll change the world.” She released me, patting my sleeve and smoothing the fabric where she’d wrinkled it.
“But…” I glanced around. “Did Lucen…” I mouthed the words.
“He has no part in this. Not after what happened.”
My heart raced as I stumbled over the meaning behind her words, searching her face.
She wrapped her arms around me once more and leaned close. “I didn’t raise you to be blind to the atrocities of this world. You know how they treat us. But we’re worth more than wombs.”
The rebel slogan, whispered fiercely in my mother’s voice, had never sounded more natural.
I tried to pull away, but her fingers dug into my back.
“We deserve better.”
Her grip loosened, and I jerked free. I blinked rapidly, trying and failing to clear the tears.
“But… I’m your daughter.” I tried to bury the hurt. She saw it anyway.
“They took something precious from me.”
I laced my hands together to still their trembling. Her gaze was critical, searching for the cracks. They were glaring under the eye of the woman who had made me what I was.
“More precious than a daughter?”
She barked a dry laugh, and it was nothing like the soft one she’d pretended with all my life.
“What is a daughter in a world that only wants sons?”
The words were a slap, and I stiffened, lifting my chin.
“Why not let me die then?”
Elaine smiled, and a chill slid down my spine as the coldness she’d always reserved for strangers crept over her face. “You’ll help me get my friend back. Now that you’re in her home.”
She leaned close, pretending to kiss my cheek. “When you move inside, so do we.”
I backed up, eyes widening.
“Elias’s mom?”
She nodded. The blood drained from my face.
“That can’t be what this is about.”
“I’m not doing this for one woman. I’m doing this for all of us.”
She smoothed my hair. As she drew back, something cold slid against my palm. Her fingers folded mine around it.
I glanced down.
Venom.
“Keep this close.” Her voice was calm. “You’ll need it soon.”
She touched my cheek once, pride shining in her eyes.
“Collect yourself. You’re about to marry the president.”
She spun, wrenching open the door and stepping through, leaving me alone.
The door clicked shut.
For a moment, I heard nothing. Just the blank void of my silent mind.
My knees gave. I caught the wall, pressing my palm flat against it until the room stopped spinning. One breath. Two.
Mom’s words the day Lucen had paid her a visit, came to mind:
“Promise me she’ll be okay.”
I had turned them over a hundred times, pressed against the wall in my towel, heart hammering. I’d thought they were the words of a scared mother about to lose her daughter to a Rite. Justifiable for any parent.
But she hadn’t meant that at all. She was a general asking her field agent to protect the asset. He’d always been taking orders.
I stood, staring at the wall, rearranging every memory from my entire life.
The way her fingers had stilled on my friendship necklace. I had thought she was afraid Ruth would take my chance. It had never been about my friendship at all.
The morning she watched my match with Elias on the Monday recap. The fear on her face when she saw who had chosen me. Not fear for me. Fear for the mission.
She’d run from the room when Paul arrived with his cameras. She was gone every time Paul came. Every time a camera was present.
And my dad. Had he known? Had any of it been real? Or had I been the only one in that apartment who believed we were a family?
My grip tightened around the poison in my hand.
She had spent years positioning herself. An Elite husband. A daughter trained in secret. Waiting for a son that never came, until she found another way inside. Two decades of patience, and she had finally done it. The rebel leader was inside the wall.
I looked down at my closed fist.
The scent reached me before the thought did. Jasmine. A scent that meant Monday mornings and the black bamboo teapot.
I thought of the snakes. The ones I’d caught and carried to the kitchen, heart still hammering.
She always had the knife ready before I asked.
We used the bodies for soup. Nothing was wasted in our house.
But the heads. The heads disappeared while I washed my hands, and when I came back, they were always gone.
The vials in my bedside drawer had always just been there.
I had been wrong about everything.
Years of killing serpents, never knowing the real snake had always been under my roof.
I stood in that small, bright room and didn’t recognize a single thing about my life.
The door swung open, and Elias stepped inside. His grin was wide, eyes sparkling. “You don’t have cold feet, do you?”
His laugh died on his lips as he searched my face. “What’s wrong?”
On the outside, I was still, frozen, the perfect daughter. Inside, I screamed, tore at my hair, ripped my clothes. Was Lucen even my real father? Or was he recruited to feed me her carefully constructed lie?
I was tired of being a pawn. Done playing their game—her game. My mother had handed me a president and called it a mission.
I had a different plan.
I blinked, coming out of my daze, tucking the vial in my pocket, and stared at Elias.
“Maryn?”
I reached for his hand, lacing our fingers together and straightened. “I was the spy. I let the rebels in.”
“What?” He laughed, trying to tug his hand free from mine.
My fingers tightened around his, squeezing the way he had squeezed me all night.
“They killed your father, and they’ll kill you next.” My broken nails pierced the fabric of my glove as I squeezed harder, tiny flecks of red soaking the tips. “Unless you walk through that door and marry me.”
Elias stopped struggling, doing his own mental calculations.
He dropped my hand.
This time, I let him.
Hurt crossed his face, and he spun around quickly, giving me his back.
I didn’t breathe as I watched his rigid shoulders rise and fall. The silence stretched.
When he turned around, he was the calm, collected man I’d watched on television all my life. His mask was firmly in place.
My blood went cold.
He took my hand, fingers wrapping tight around mine, and yanked the door wide.
The moment we stepped into the light, his grip loosened.
I stiffened, lengthening my stride as we stepped up onto the stage and the whole world screamed.
His fingers were gentle, light, as if he finally understood I couldn’t escape him even if I wanted to.
Drones attacked, spinning around us in a dizzying circle.
I glanced at Elias. His easy smile was back, the face he wore for the cameras. I inhaled through my nose, lifting my chin as we turned together and faced a steward.
The steward smiled broadly, eyes sparkling.
“Aaron?” I whispered.
Elias darted a quick glance between us. This time, he did squeeze my hand. A warning.
I looked away from Aaron.
He cleared his throat, and the cheers and shouts died.
“Good day, Elias Hale.”
“Good day, steward.”
“Good day, Maryn Veil, daughter of Joel Veil.”
I stared at the floor. “Good day, steward.”
Aaron turned to face the crowd of gathered witnesses. “Good day, Covenant States!”
They shouted their reply. Normally, the greeting was reserved for a congregation or, if you were wealthy, a section of the city. But the president’s wedding was witnessed by the entire nation. A binding contract.
Unbreakable.
“Do you applaud the match?”
They cheered once more, clapping and whistling.
Elias and I stared at the side of the steward’s face.
He turned back to us. “I think they approve.”
Elias chuckled lightly. “I should hope so; they voted for her.”
Aaron cleared his throat again. “Right. Elias Hale, do you promise to guard your wife, to make the best decisions for her, your family, and to do your best to produce sons?”
He nodded. “With my whole heart.”
“Excellent.”
He smiled at me warmly.
“And, Elias, will you now and for as long as Maryn shall live, promise to do so with the love of the Covenant States in mind?”
For the first time, something dangerous flashed in Elias’s eyes.
My stomach sank.
“With my whole heart.”
My fingers ached from how tight he was squeezing now, but I couldn’t move. Frozen beneath his menacing stare.
I’d known Elias was more like his father than he wanted to believe. But I’d never truly feared him until now.
“Very good,” Aaron said. “You may face your witnesses.”
We spun. The crowd cheered again, and my knees nearly gave, but Elias held me firmly in place.
“I submit to you all, Elias and Maryn Hale.”
Screams and a roar so loud I nearly missed the words as he tipped his mouth to my ear. “I hope you’re ready for what you bought.”
He pressed his lips to my temple, lifting our hands overhead, and the haze of voices rose in pitch.
My stomach twisted so tight, I had to snap my teeth together to keep the contents of my breakfast from spilling out.
I stared out at a nation of witnesses, complicit in every report on a neighbor or blind eye turned, and for the first time, dared them to look back.
The End