Species Traitor: A Science Fiction Dystopian Novel by Kate Mary (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📗

nights a week. Of course, I’d assumed they were sleeping together. It had only made sense. Now, though, it seemed I’d been wrong.

“I don’t understand. You waited? Why?”

Ione shifted uncomfortably, her eyes still focused on the ground. “There were things I learned once Rye and I got serious, things Veilorians don’t want humans outside the District to know.”

“What kind of things?” I asked, not trying to rein in my impatience.

It was so typical of Ione to drag the story out, especially when she knew I was almost dying from impatience.

She looked around like she was afraid someone would be listening, then leaned closer to me. “About the conception rate between humans and Veilorians. It’s high. Very high.”

“What are you saying?”

Dread pooled in my stomach, and like Ione, I found myself looking around to make sure no one could hear us. We were surrounded mostly by Veilorians, and the few humans present wouldn’t be a threat, but with everything Veronica Waters had been screaming over the last few weeks, I couldn’t help worrying. Especially if my cousin was about to say what I thought she was going to say.

“When a human and a Veilorian have sex,” Ione said, her voice so low I had to lean closer, “there’s a ninety percent chance it will result in pregnancy.”

I was speechless. Ninety percent? It was crazy. Unheard of. I had no idea what the birth rate for humans these days was, but it was low. So low the hospital had closed the maternity ward years ago. Even back when Mom got pregnant with Lena it had been considered near miraculous. Now, though, maybe one in fifty women were able to conceive.

Unless they were with a Veilorian, apparently.

Ione grabbed my arm, and I winced when her fingers dug into my flesh. “You can’t tell anyone, understand? Imagine what would happen if the average human got hold of this information. Imagine what Veronica Waters would do.”

I nodded, still too shocked to speak.

“Rye made me wait until after we were married because he didn’t want me to feel trapped.” Ione sucked in a deep breath like she was trying to calm herself. “He wanted to be sure I understood the consequences.”

“It makes sense,” I said, finally finding my voice. “How does he feel about it now?”

“He’s scared.” She glanced toward her husband, who was still talking to Lena but watching us. “He says he wishes we’d waited until after the election to get married. But how could we have known? Veronica Waters had seemed like such a non-issue. We had no way of predicting things would change so drastically so fast.”

“She hasn’t been elected yet,” I said even though we both knew it was inevitable.

“Yeah,” Ione murmured.

The expression of fear on my cousin’s face made everything in me clench. I’d been terrified for her before, but now everything seemed twice as grave. Ione was pregnant, and a tyrant was about to be elected to the highest position in Polis. I couldn’t even pretend to guess what the future had in store for us.

Lena finally noticed our absence, and she and Rye headed over to join us. My sister had managed to get her cup refilled while I was distracted, so I snatched it from her hand. She gave me a dirty look that made her resemble our mother more than I would have liked, but I wasn’t about to back down. Not only did she not need any more rum, but I was also desperately in need of something to distract me.

I was in the middle of downing the contents when the perfect distraction slipped from the crowd only four feet in front of me.

Our eyes met, and Finn stopped, frozen for a moment as if he found my presence as confusing and intoxicating as I found his. I still had the cup to my lips but seemed to have forgotten how to drink under his gaze, and as a result ended up nearly choking on the liquid.

I started coughing, breaking the spell, and Ione patted my back.

“You forget how to drink?” Lena said, laughing.

She wasn’t far off.

Rye noticed his cousin’s presence and called out to him.

My cheeks hot, I forced myself to look away from the half-human chatting with his cousin. All around me, people danced and laughed. Lena and Ione were talking now that they were certain I wasn’t dying, but I suddenly felt as alone as a person lost in the wastelands.

Finn didn’t come over to talk to me.

A few other Veilorians showed up, and we were introduced. One of them was Kael, the guy I’d gone out with, but the others I couldn’t have put names to if I’d had a pulse rifle held to my head. All I could think about or focus on was Finn. He seemed to never take his eyes off me. He talked and laughed with his friends and cousin, drank cup after cup of rum, all the while watching me watch him.

It was enough to drive me to distraction.

Chapter Twelve

The sun had dipped low enough for the wall to obscure its rays, and lights had come on all around the city. The glow from candles and lanterns flickered across the crowd as the celebration continued, and the combined effects of that and the rum made my head spin. Or maybe it was Finn’s constant attention. Whatever the reason, I felt as if I was being tossed around by waves.

I’d done my best to distract myself from him by focusing on the crowd, watching Veilorians, half-humans, and humans celebrate the twenty-second anniversary of the landing, when a familiar face caught my eye. At first, I couldn’t figure out who the woman was or why I seemed to recognize her. She was human and older, probably in her fifties, and thin, with short silver hair and a kind face. But I was certain we’d never met…

Then it hit me. Kaitlin Murray. She was the spokesperson for the Veilorian Rights Party who’d been interviewed