Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Why did you say that he’d waited? Waited for what?”
“He … waited for his people.” I hope my father didn’t notice my hesitation as I searched for something to say. “Some went away in other ships, and he waited for others to return, but none did. That’s when he set out for somewhere new.”
“So, then there could be others like him out there,” my father murmurs to himself.
Damnit. I should have come up with a better lie. I should have prepared my lies on the way out of the basement, but I was too busy longing to be back with Bothaki.
“Why does he keep saying that word?” he questions. “Zawla.”
“I think it was his wife’s name. He misses her. He lost her.”
He waves that away, making grief a wasted emotion. “What else can you tell me about his planet?”
“It was all dirt, a tan color. The sky was gray and bleak. It was quite … depressing.”
“And technology there?”
“There was nothing left there, but on his ship, yes. But it was failing as he crashed. And I would think the water destroyed anything that was left.”
“I did not ask you to think,” he snaps, releasing my neck by tossing me to the side.
I rub at where I’m sure my dress will hide the imprint of his fingers as he straightens his jacket, eyes still fixed on me.
“Why did you tell him that I am your father?” he asks through clenched teeth.
“He asked, and I don’t know if he can tell if I’m lying or not, so I thought it best not to. He might lash out and hurt me. And is there a plan in place for that, for if he hurts me?”
His lip curls. “You don’t need to concern yourself with what plans I have. For your transgressions, it would serve you well to suffer some.”
I know Bothaki would never hurt me. I never thought he would for even a second, but I’m even more sure of that now after what he’s shown me. In fact, I bet if I showed him my father’s treatment of me, he would do everything he could to protect me. But that would only mean putting Bothaki in a position to get hurt himself.
“You grabbed his hand when he asked about your mother.” He steps closer. “Can you show him things as well?”
“I have no idea if I even can. I just told him she was gone.”
“Yes, gone is a very good word for what happens to deceitful women in The New Order. They are gone until they can decide to correct themselves.”
“Can I …” I swallow. “Can I visit her?”
“For. What?”
“Him asking about her makes me realize how long it’s been since I last saw her.” I look down, genuine sadness filling me. My first real emotion since he cornered me. “I don’t want her to think she’s alone. She is still my mother.”
He’s silent for a moment and I see his fingers flex the way they do when he’s thinking. Considering every way I could be using this to my advantage, and every way he can use this against me.
“You may go. Perhaps it will be a reminder of where my mercy has kept you from. And where you will end up should you fail me.”
“When, father?”
“I will check on her … status first.”
He means if she’s had a treatment in the last few days. If she has, she won’t even be able to get out of bed, let alone come to the visiting room to sit with me.
“In the meantime, tonight, in fact, you will write down everything you remember from your time with the alien. And very soon, I will have a list of things for you to ask him.”
“Yes, father,” I murmur.
I go to my room and get out a pen and paper. But when I sit at my desk, it’s only to relive the feeling of Bothaki’s hands on me, and to let new fantasies about where else I want them fill my mind.
EIGHT
The next time my mate returns to the prison I call my new home, I know something is wrong right away. I only need to glance at her to tell. She comes quietly, with her head bent so I can’t see her eyes as she punches in the access needed to my cell and clenches a folded paper in her other hand, limp at her side.
Because she won’t look at me while she enters, I’m busy scanning her, and then the empty, shadowy library from which she came for the source of her cautious approach. There isn’t anything out of place. There is no blatantly obvious answer because no one follows her, the same as always, and nothing about the laboratory downstairs has changed since the general’s guards last left.
Again, just the same way they always do.