Chapter 5
Maryn
Islid my glove up as Ruth locked arms with me and dragged me into the ballroom.
Her father remained by the entry, an unobtrusive observer.
It wasn't grand or themed as the first ball of the season had been, but the quiet touches were there.
Friday balls were always less formal, designed to give young couples a bit of breathing room to get to know one another.
"Do you think he'll be here?"
I stifled the urge to roll my eyes. "At a Middle ball? An Elite would never be seen at one of these."
Ruth searched my face. "But you'd like it if he were, wouldn't you?"
I had let my guard slip a little when Elias considered letting Joe go. It was easy to say only the man was being punished, but when I went back to check on his widow, she could barely string sentences together. The girls hadn't come back. I didn't let myself wonder where they'd gone.
Men like Joe didn't have money saved up. They scraped enough together to feed their families every week. His wife and girls would survive a month if they were lucky. After that, they'd be on the streets, cast down to the Lower where women could work when no man was present to do it for them.
Joe got off easy compared to his family. A quick end for a crime the system forced him to commit.
I shook my head. I was no less complicit. I filed the report. I requested the field audit. Sure, I hadn't expected the president's son to be the man who came to dole out the punishment, but I hadn't stood in his way when he marched the man to his fate.
The pressure behind my ribs expanded.
The truth was more complicated than Ruth needed it to be. I tucked it away with all the other things I couldn't afford to explain.
"Of course."
Ruth nodded, but shuffled her feet, biting her lip.
She hugged me tighter, dropping her voice. "Oh! Execution day is Thursday. Will you come with me?"
I stared at her.
"I haven't been in a while. It makes me feel safer knowing they're doing something about the rebel insurrection."
"Miss Finch?"
Ruth’s nails stabbed my arm even through her gloves as she turned us slowly.
“Mr. Silva.”
Josh dipped his chin, and we both curtseyed. “May I?” He looked between us. “Steal you away?”
Her cheeks went pink, but her hold on my arm loosened, and she held out a hand.
Then she was gone, swallowed by the crowd, and I was left standing with my thoughts.
I scanned the room, thinking again of those girls. Joe’s girls. Sunday was my day off. I would take the day to comb the streets. I would force my mother to come with me if I had to.
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled, and I turned.
A man I didn't recognize watched me from the shadow in the corner, dark eyes almost lost in the pitch. Around him, citizens moved and preened. He was the only thing that didn't.
I should have looked away.
I stared back a moment too long, my feet shifting toward him.
A murmur rose through the crowd, and I spun around, my stomach dropping. Swaths of white fabric parted like a tide, a golden head of hair bisected the room, moving confidently. His midnight coat was swallowed by the low lighting, making his hair stand out even more than usual.
Light eyes struck their mark, pinning me in place.
Before I could move, think, he was in front of me.
I glanced back toward the corner.
Empty.
“Maryn.”
I swallowed.
“Mr. Hale.”
His jaw ticked. “Elias. Remember?”
I lifted my chin, but the room was watching. The world was watching. I felt the cold eyes of the camera. Now it made sense why they were filming this ball when so many others were happening around our sector.
They had known he was coming.
“Elias.”
His mouth quirked up at the corner as though he’d just won this round.
“May I have this dance?”
His formality only reminded me of how strictly he’d stuck to the rules the last time we met. But I couldn’t say no even if I wanted to.
I nodded, placing my hand in his.
His grip was loose, relaxed, as though he knew I was performing as much as he was. That thought sent a chill down my spine.
He led us into the dance, his steps quickening until I was dizzy. Sick. I squeezed his hand, and he missed the next beat, slowing dramatically. His piercing eyes searched my face, and the concern I saw there only made the nausea rise higher.
We were in the middle of the dance floor, far from its edges and the onlookers now. Gently, he tugged me closer. My sensitive stomach rioted.
“I’m sorry,” he breathed against my hair.
I leaned back, looking up to take him in.
He watched me. “I didn’t have a choice.”
Barren woman, I nearly spat, but I bit the inside of my cheek to stop it. The president’s son didn’t have a choice? I wanted to tell him to peddle his lies somewhere else.
I straightened, truly looking at him. He let me, and I saw it then: the dark circles under his eyes, his unwashed hair. Did it eat at him? Did he have a conscience?
“That may be, but the family whose daughters are still missing can’t do anything with an apology now.”
He nodded. “I found the girls. Micah, my aide, is helping me find them a place to live.”
I missed the next step and nearly tripped. “You… what?”
He pulled me closer, leading so I didn’t falter again. Lips pressed against the side of my head, he whispered, “When it's safe, I’ll bring their mother to them.”
My pulse drummed in my chest.
“Forgive me, Maryn. I couldn’t bear it if you didn’t.”
My tongue scraped the roof of my mouth, but I didn’t have a response for Elias Hale, the most powerful bachelor in the Covenant States, who was asking me to forgive him.
The song ended, but he didn’t release me.
A new song began, and we moved.
“Maryn, choose me.”
The blood in my veins ran cold.
Finally, he stepped back, putting space between us. I glanced around, remembering our audience, the inappropriateness of his lips against my head.
He stopped in the middle of the song, and dancers stopped around us, making space.
He reached into his pocket, and my heart beat so hard I couldn’t breathe.
A strand of blue silk dripped from his fingers.
He searched my face again. Waiting.
The room pressed closer, every eye on me.
I exhaled a shaky breath… and nodded.
The light I’d seen that first night returned to his eyes, as if I had the power to alter his whole world.
I steadied my arm, holding it out in front of me, and he dipped down on one knee.
Gasps erupted around the room. A click sounded, then another.
“Eyes on me,” he whispered.
My gaze met his and locked on.
“Maryn Veil, I select you as my twelfth and final match for my Rite of Unity.”
Cheers rose, drowning out the sound of my pounding heart.
I smiled.
***
The night air was cool against my flushed cheeks. Ahead, the street was empty and dark, the noise from all the well-wishers already swallowed behind us. Ruth had linked her arm through mine, chattering softly about the look on Josh’s face when Elias went down on one knee.
I heard none of it, turning my wrist and rubbing the ribbon between my fingers.
Mr. Finch walked several paces behind us, giving us the illusion of privacy.
A woman burst from the darkness between two buildings.
She moved fast, hands already outstretched, and I halted as she grabbed Ruth’s father’s lapels. "Please." Her voice was raw, scraped hollow. "I have nothing. We're starving."
His hands shot up, gripping her wrists as his eyes cut left, then right. "Let go."
She didn't. “I'll do anything. Try again. Please—”
He knocked her hands away and shoved hard enough that she went down.
I was already moving.
He caught my arm before I'd taken a full step, fingers digging in through the fabric. He pulled me close, and when he spoke, his voice was low and even, meant only for me.
"Touch her and even your new match won’t be able to keep you out of the Lower."
I looked down, vision blurring. She hadn't gotten up.
His grip tightened, but he never spared the woman a second glance. “Everything you just earned. Gone.”
I stilled, looking away.
He released me and I backed into Ruth. Her arm locked around mine, and we walked.
I didn’t look back, running the silk between my fingers all the way home.