Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 91775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“Bah, the rebels.” My father rolls his eyes and waves his hand again as if it were batting away a troubling bit of ash in the air. “Spoiled brats, all of them. Their rebellion will die down when they mature. No, I have a solution for our family. To protecting our line.”
Now I am the one that wants to roll my eyes. Ever since I turned of age, my father has had great interest in me resonating. When I turned into a warrior, he made me walk past the wall multiple times a day, certain that I would find my mate, impregnate her, and then we could begin to rebuild our line once more. But as ten turns have passed and my khui has remained silent, he has given up on me.
Today, however, my father’s eyes have a maniacal light in them as he regards me. “If I show you something, Rem’eb, you must swear not to tell a single person.”
I hold back my frown. “I swear.”
“Not even So’ran the Bitter.”
That makes me pause. So’ran was my childhood friend…but he is also the leader of the rebels now. “I no longer speak to So’ran. He is opposed to everything our house stands for.”
“This information will make him angry.” Bel’eb the Mighty leans forward on his seat. “For we have found something we will not share.”
They went to the forbidden gardens again. I am certain of it. Biting back my disappointment, I keep my expression neutral. “What is it?”
“We went to the garden of the strangers again.” His voice lowers to a whisper. “But this time, there were people in it.”
My brows go up. “People? People above? The blue ones? I thought they all died out long ago. How can they survive in such cold?”
“The exile finds treasures they leave in caves,” my father continues. “Foodstuffs. Furs. Carvings. He steals bits here and there. Nothing they will miss.”
The exile again. I hate that he speaks to my father. No good can come of Kin’far and the poison he drips in my father’s ear. I cannot help but think that Kin’far will be the first to cry about the curses the above-grounders have, and yet he is the one that steals from them. If there is a curse, he is not afraid of it. “I see. So he mocks the rules that we have established to keep our people safe.”
“Bah,” my father says. “It is not mockery.”
“We are not to provoke those that live above. That is an old, old rule. As Chief’s Fist, I must point this out.”
“You fuss too much. He is simply keeping me entertained. If it becomes a problem, I will tell him to stop. That is not why I called you here, anyhow.” My father waves a beringed hand, annoyed that I point out the rules to him.
“What, then?”
He leans forward, eyes gleaming. “Kin’far the Exile enlisted Set’nef the Wanderer to assist him in his last raid at my command.”
I do not like this, either. Set’nef the Wanderer is a good male and a fine warrior, if a quiet one. He keeps to himself, and I cannot imagine he likes working with the exile.
“They pulled a female from one of the caves from above. A strange female with no fur except atop her head, and no horns to grace her brow.”
“Sounds hideous,” I remark dryly. “Kin’far the Exile is welcome to her.”
Father shakes his head. “She resonated to another male we captured.”
“Another male?”
“Yes. He was lurking near the other female and they had no choice but to steal both.”
Oh, by the ancestor spirits. It takes everything I have not to press my hands to my face in frustration. “So you stole a mutant male and two mutant females from above? Why? Do you want to start a war with them?”
The old stories from many generations ago speak of the fierce blue ones. That they killed our people with darts that could incinerate a body in a heartbeat. We lost so many of our people that we closed off our tunnels to the surface and vowed never to go atop again. Yet here Kin’far the Exile has been raiding their gardens and stealing their ugly females.
Truly, my father listens to idiots. I look over at Cas’zor, and though he strives to remain impassive, I can feel the disapproval radiating off of him. “You should take them all back, Father.”
“We have not yet decided what to do with the female and male that resonated to each other. If we return them, they will certainly give away our presence to the strangers above. But the other female I have kept aside carefully. And I have plans for her.”
Father’s expression grows crafty. Oh no.
Chapter
Four
REM’EB
“You cannot keep one of the strangers,” I protest to my father. “It is against the laws. We are to leave the blue strangers alone.”