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The General stops laughing and scornfully demands, “Do you forget who I am, son?”
“I am not your son,” Axel spits, his eyes blazing with hatred that takes my breath away. “And I think the issue here is that you don’t know who she is.” The General scoffs.
“Odi, show him.”
I shake my head. I can’t. Axel steps forward and drapes his left arm around my shoulders, the gun in his right hand still trained on Zie’s father.
I cringe. I know what he means for me to do, but I can’t. I can’t willingly expose my skin to the monster standing before me, and if Axel were even half as all-knowing as he claims to be, he’d know not to make me.
Delicate fingers pinch the neckline of my dress and carefully lower the material, exposing my tattoo to The General’s heated gaze. Goosebumps rise along my skin even though Axel is so careful not to actually touch me.
The General drops my arm like I burned him, when in actual fact, it’s the other way round.
The trembling starts again and my knees threaten to give out. Axel allows him a mere glimpse of The Doe before snapping the velvet back into place. All around the room guns are lowered, but Axel doesn’t move.
“You see, Odile here is The Doe. And any attempt on your part to touch, communicate or interfere with her, will be seen as an intention to disrupt the Hunting Grounds and could be construed as a declaration of war. Is that what you wish?”
The glare The General gives me could kill, but through gritted teeth he refutes Axel’s statement. “Of course not. My mistake, I apologise…It won’t happen again.”
His eyes meet mine and promise that his final words are a lie. He’s not going to let me go that easily. Why can’t Axel see the truth?
“Kaiden?” Axel calls without taking his eyes – or his gun – off The General.
“Here.”
“Take Odile home for me. To our home this time. And make sure she eats.”
“What about Zie?”
“Text him and tell him to stay in the banquet hall.”
“Why?”
“I don’t think he needs to come out and see what’s going on here.”
I gasp at his savage timbre but Axel doesn’t spare me a glance. “I’m just going to have a little chat with his daddy dearest and then I’ll be back to join him for the main course.”
I jump when I feel Kaiden’s hand on my arm, but the second he touches me, Axel releases me. It’s weird, like he’s handing me over but didn’t want me on my own for even a second in front of The General. Kaiden carefully takes my heels from my hand and guides me away from whatever standoff is going on behind me.
“What about my bag and…things?”
“Zie will pick it up. I’ll get it back to you tomorrow.”
In silence, we cross campus, Kaiden leading me around the back of my dorm block out of habit I expect, before opening the window and helping me climb through. He drops my shoes by the bottom of my bed and then looks at me expectantly.
“What?”
“Axel said to feed you. What do you want?”
“I’m not hungry. I just want a shower.”
“And Axel will kill me if I don’t feed you. Is pizza okay?”
“Whatever. He also said not to bring me here.”
“Don’t worry about Axel. Leave him to me. Go shower. I’ll sort it.”
I disappear into my ensuite without a word. Part of me does want to shower, but I know from experience that no amount of water can cleanse me of The General’s look or touch. The circumstances are less than ideal with Kaiden in the room, but I start up the shower anyway to give me some cover.
