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He could have been referring to Harper but surely even she couldn’t have been chosen by that many prisoners during her time here.
He must have been referring to Kren.
“Yes,” I said. “He chose me yesterday.”
“Quite remarkable. Especially when one considers he’s never chosen any of the Prizes before. Why do you think he chose you?”
I’d been asking myself that same question ever since he peered at me with those golden eyes of his.
“I don’t know.”
“Besides the fact you’re beautiful and smart, of course,” the Supervisor said, smiling at me. “Seriously. Why do you think he chose you?”
I threw up my hands.
“I don’t know. Because I’m new?”
The Supervisor nodded as if he had been expecting that response but didn’t buy it.
“Did you know he’s the last of his kind?”
I blinked.
“He is?”
“He came to us when he was very young. His species was wiped out in a war and they never recovered. It’s not something he likes to talk about. His parents were crossing borders with weapons they meant to deliver to the rebellion but they got caught. They were sent here to serve their jail terms.
“His father was sent to the fighting pits and died during an unfortunate incident. His mother contracted a terrible disease and died a few weeks later. I had no idea what I was supposed to do with him, so I took him under my wing. I nurtured him, educated him… but he couldn’t take his eyes off the fighting pits.
“It’s what his species likes to do, traditionally. He turned out to have quite a knack for it. I discouraged him from following his baser instincts but there’s no talking to him when he gets an idea in his mind. He has a lot of aggression.
“I’ve tried talking with him about it but he prefers to release his stress with his fists. I don’t know what demons he has but they’re powerful. So, he went and he fought… and now he refuses to leave.
“This prison is all he’s ever known and until very recently, I never thought he would reach out to another person and try to make contact. He did. And that person turned out to be you.”
I had no idea of Kren’s painful past. I thought he was just a big dumb lug but there was so much more to him than that.
A tragic past.
My heart went out to him.
Given his story, it’s no surprise he liked talking with me. He never usually talked with anyone.
“Normally, I would let him do as he pleases,” the Supervisor said, although he didn’t look particularly happy about that. “It’s his life, after all. But then I think about how his father died. An unfortunate accident that ended his life. Kren is the last of his species and that’s why I thought…”
He looked at me and the words died on his lips.
He shook his head.
“You know, sometimes an idea sounds fine in your head but when you try to put it into words… it sounds ridiculous.”
He got to his feet.
“No. Forget it. It was a mistake to ask you to come here.”
He extended a spindly hand to me.
“I believe a handshake is how you say goodbye to your species?”
