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

“You don’t have a choice,” I whispered, too choked up to talk louder.

“Ava,” he said, like me his voice low and brimming with emotion, “please think about this.”

“There’s nothing to think about,” I replied.

I closed the distance between us and covered his lips with mine, cutting off whatever he’d been going to say. He didn’t resist, didn’t try to say anything else or convince me to save myself, but instead pulled me closer, his hands on my face, his mouth moving at a frenzied pace. As if he thought this kiss might be our last.

Through the haze of desire and swell of emotions clouding my brain, one thought managed to make it to the surface. It was the realization that every kiss from here on out could be our last, every moment we spent together was borrowed time, every glance we shared was one we’d managed to steal, because it could all come crashing down around us at any second, and when that happened, it was unlikely Mayor Waters would allow anyone living inside the District to escape unmarred.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Days passed, and not only did Mayor Waters refuse to negotiate with the Veilorian council for the release of the thirty-eight people captured, but there was also no trial. Even when she addressed the city to discuss the arrest, she said nothing about what would happen to the prisoners, focusing instead on the bills she’d presented to her own council and the progress she was making.

It didn’t take a genius to realize why. She was waiting for the laws to change.

Despite alluding to the coming changes, the mayor had revealed little about what the new laws would encompass or how they would affect those living inside the District, but the fact that she was holding on to the prisoners worried me. It was like she was planning something big that would only happen after these new laws had been passed. Like, perhaps, the group that had been captured would be made an example of.

While everyone in the District knew escape had been the ultimate goal of the thirty-eight people who’d snuck out in the middle of the night, not once did the mayor even indicate that was a possible motive. Instead, she acted like they’d left the District intending to destroy every human living in the city. Something that was beyond absurd, considering how many children had been in the group.

Seventeen, I learned only a few days after they’d been apprehended. There had been thirteen half-human children ages twelve and younger, as well as four of teenage half-humans, bringing the total number of children to seventeen. The rest of the group had consisted of their parents, both human and Veilorian.

“She can’t possibly be considering putting them to death,” Ione said. She sat on the couch in Finn’s living room, her hand moving over her very large stomach and her eyes glued to the viewing screen.

“I wouldn’t put anything past her,” I said, cringing when the words popped out. “Arch was just a kid.”

The idea of children being executed made me sick, but Waters had proven time and time again that she didn’t think of Veilorians as people, and therefore they had no rights. Even worse, to her, half-humans were an abomination. Unnatural. More disgusting than a human mating with one of the creatures living in the wastelands.

The fear in Ione’s eyes made me wish I’d said nothing or even lied.

“Don’t worry.” I took her hand the way a mother would with a scared child. “We’re going to be okay.”

“How?” she asked. “How will we be okay when everyone is so against us?”

I licked my lips, trying to buy myself time while I thought of something—anything—that might comfort her. There was nothing I could say, I realized. Ione was pregnant with a child whose very existence might end up being illegal before it was even born. How could I comfort her in the face of that knowledge?

“I don’t know,” I finally said. “I wish I did, but I don’t. What I do know is I’ll be with you. No matter what happens, I’ll be at your side. Okay?”

She swallowed and nodded, blinking back tears that refused to be held at bay. “I’m scared.”

“I am, too,” I said.

I held her hand, feeling helpless and hopeless and knowing there was nothing I could do to alter the course of things. Mayor Waters was in charge now, and she’d promised change. Whether we wanted it to or not, I knew it was coming. And soon.

The change I’d been expecting arrived only a few days later in the middle of the night. When we were the least prepared.

Finn and I were asleep, curled up together in his bed, when a bang jolted me awake. The room was dark, and while I couldn’t quite place the noise that had startled me from sleep, I instinctively knew something bad was happening. My heart pounded against my ribs as I held my breath, lying perfectly still while I waited to see what would happen next. I knew I should move, should wake Finn so we could get dressed and be ready for whatever came, but I couldn’t force my body to obey.

It was the second bang, this one louder and closer, that finally snapped me out of it. I knew the sound and what was coming, and I also knew I had a promise to keep.

I had to get to Ione.

“Finn.” His arm was draped across my waist, and I had to wiggle out from under it so I could stumble out of bed, my feet tripping over each other and our clothes, which were scattered across the floor. “Wake up.”

I could hear him shifting in the darkness, registered his grumble of protest as I felt for the matches we kept beside the bed. Even with my shaking hands, it took only a moment to get the match lit. I held