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“Gray will take you to your assignment this afternoon. We already received a warning because you didn’t show up yesterday. If you’re not there today, soldiers will come knocking on our door sooner or later. You won’t know your duty until you check in.” He takes one last giant bite of his apple and chucks the core into the woods, sending squirrels and various birds scattering. “My guess is dish duty.”
“Dish duty?” I take another bite and contemplate his words. So much has happened since I left Avren. I haven’t had time to think about the blue ring around my ankle and what it means. If I don’t arrive at my scheduled time, soldiers from Avren will come looking for me. “They have to recognize my skills as a seamstress.”
He quirks an eyebrow as he brushes his hands on his pants. “You sew?”
“Yes.” I stand and throw my apple core. It lands with a satisfying thump beside Bastian’s. “The official plan drawn out by my parents and approved by the Council was for me to open a shop when I turned eighteen.”
“Oh.” He tugs on the bottom of his shirt, exposing a gaping hole in the material. “Do you think you could help me out? You know, I give you a vamp ass-kicking lesson and you mend my shirts?”
“How about I teach you how to mend your own shirts? A Supe’s bound to kill me one of these days, and you’ll have to rely on yourself.” I kneel beside him and lift the material to inspect the hole. “The seam’s come undone. It won’t be difficult to fix if you can find me a needle and thread.”
He watches my fingers dance along the material. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Mari.”
I’m suddenly aware of how close we are, and my hands freeze. With one swipe of my finger, I could touch the bare skin of his stomach through the hole in his shirt.
He sucks in a breath and stands, leaving me alone on the ground and ashamed of my thoughts. “I mean, Levi seems to really like you, and I can’t have him moping about for days on end because a werewolf tore you to shreds.”
I stand and brush the dirt from my pants. “No, we wouldn’t want that.” The bow is resting against a tree, so I pick it up, ready to hit a target today. After being so close to him, I half-wish Rafe and his entourage would show up to distract me.
The angle of the sun tells me it’s later than when we stood in the meadow yesterday. Bastian’s not taking any chances. I take the stance he showed me, determined to demonstrate improvement.
He circles me, his gaze moving from the position of my feet to the angle of my arms, making my traitorous heart flutter. My dream was just a dream and nothing more. The Commander is only assessing my position like he would with any other recruit.
“Your spaghetti is a little firmer today.” He nods and holds out his hand, and I place the bow in it. “I want to show you a couple of things.” Bow and arrow in hand, he raises them to shoulder level, once again looking like a god. His piercing blue eyes never waver from his target as he releases the arrow and hits the center of a tree. “Keep your back as straight as your arm. Never let your eyes wander from your goal—hitting your enemy. Don’t drop your weapon until you hit your mark.” He hands me the bow and draws another arrow from the quiver.
I raise the weapon, notch the arrow, and pull back on the bowstring, setting my sights on Bastian’s arrow buried in the tree. Before doing anything else, I straighten my back and root my feet into the ground. I imagine the tree bark is the living, fluid being who killed Tanner. This is my one shot.
Keeping my body as stiff as Bastian’s, I release the arrow, only closing my eyes after it whizzes through the air.
“Why are your eyes closed?” he says, tapping me on the arm. “Look what you did.”
I open my eyes to find my arrow buried in the tree right next to Bastian’s. I smile, more out of a nervous shock than anything else.
He rubs his hands together and shoots me the first smile I’ve ever seen on his face, elevating his appearance tenfold. “She can be taught.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“You need to fib a bit here.” Grayson swipes a dab of the concoction Evie made under my eye to help mask the bruising. “As amazing as Evie’s abilities are with natural elements, the guards of Avren will still notice it. Your sole purpose as an Undesirable is to serve Citizens. If they know you’ve been in a fight, they might place you in solitary.”
The idea of safe alone time is tempting.
“You tripped when you arrived in the wilderness because you were unfamiliar with the rugged terrain—perfectly understandable for someone raised in the city.” Grayson provides one last swipe and smiles at me. “Our privilege is our downfall. The Council can track us. With those born in the wilderness, they can avoid work duty unless caught by Avren’s soldiers. Redeemed parents hide pregnancies all the time because the alternative is too devastating to think about.”
“So that’s why Levi, Bastian, and Evie don’t have to work? They don’t have anklets?” I glance at my reflection in a silver serving plate. I didn’t see my eye before, but I’m sure it looks better.
“They do work, but on the side of the Redeemed, not the Citizens. It’s how we earn credits to survive. You already know that Bastian is training resistance members. And it’s against three different forces, you could say—the dark and the light. On one hand, we have Avren, the tower of civility and perfection. On the other, we have Arazian and his counter-resistance—a city of darkness—snatching the Redeemed to join his army of mutants. Lady Raven is well aware of his plans but shields the city from the darkness’s very existence by lying to her people. As you know, in the city, fear leads to chaos. They value order above everything else. And then we have the Supes.”
No one ever mentioned Arazian in the city. And when people went to the wilderness instead of the Unseen, it was considered a death sentence. I didn’t know they were one and the same. The existence of a whole other city is mind blowing. “What is the other city called?”
“The First City.” His lip quirks, and he shoots me a sideways glance as he places a lid on the jar of makeup. “Ironic, really. Arazian really has it out for the people of Avren more than anyone else. He was a powerful member of the Council, and a rumor surfaced at the time that he was Lady Raven’s lover.”
Lady Raven never married, choosing to commit her life to the city. The Council had erected a statue of her in the city square, an example of purity for the rest of us to look up to. Grayson’s accusations seem sacrilegious. I no longer hold any loyalty to the leader, but denial flows through my veins. “You lie.”
“It’s only rumors. The further you’re removed from a situation, the clearer you’re able to see it. You’ll find this in time, especially when you start your assignment.” He covers my hand with his. “We are in a unique position. The others don’t understand what we’ve been through. I’m glad you’re here.”
I can’t yell at him after this. As much as I want to defend our leaders, Grayson has my best interests at heart—or at least I think he does. Changing the subject is my best course of action. “What’s Evie’s job?”
He rolls the jar of makeup between his hands. “She works at a Supe watering hole.”
