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

Finn gnawed on his lip. “I don’t know. They didn’t tell me anything, and I didn’t see them.”

In the aftermath of my branding, I’d forgotten all about the missing half-humans, but like Melora, I’d noticed their absence.

“What do you think they’re doing with them?” I asked.

Finn’s mother let out a long, exhausted-sounding breath. “I think they will study them.”

“Study them?” I couldn’t help shaking my head. “Why?”

“To see what they are up against. Mayor Waters sees us as the enemy, and it stands to reason that she would want to know as much as she can about the people she is trying to destroy.”

Melora was right. Holy shit.

“Finn!”

All three of us turned at the sound of Rye’s voice and found him and Ione headed our way. The sight of my cousin’s round stomach made my own roll.

“Don’t tell Ione what you learned,” I hissed while they were still out of earshot. “Not yet.”

Finn and his mother both nodded, although she looked a little uneasy about it. I wasn’t sure if keeping it from my cousin was wrong, but I did know I wanted to consider all options before making a decision. Not telling her might have been a betrayal, but telling her would only add stress to her life, and we didn’t even know if it was warranted. This was so much bigger than anything else Mayor Waters had done so far, and it was entirely possible she wouldn’t be able to get the council to agree to it.

“Are you okay?” Rye asked when he stopped in front of us, his focus on Finn.

“I am.”

He put his arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into him.

“He is stronger than the humans,” Melora said. “And thanks to the things he has learned, we have much to discuss with the council.”

“I’m sure you do.” Rye nodded even as he glanced toward Ione. “And I have to get my wife home so she can rest.”

“Yes, rest is very important,” Melora replied.

I extracted myself from Finn’s grasp and wrapped my arms around my cousin. “I’ll check on you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be okay.” She pulled back so she could look at my neck. “Will you?”

“Yes.” My gaze moved to Finn. “It’s small compared to what could have happened.”

Ione only sighed.

Rye led her toward the nearest staircase while Melora turned in the opposite direction.

“Come,” she said, waving for us to follow. “The council has gathered. They are waiting.”

Finn took my hand and headed after his mom.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Since the day Anara told me about her relationship with my father, I had only seen her in passing, but it had been by choice. There was so much going on already, and adding my guilt over misjudging him, as well as the sadness I felt when I thought about him dying all those years ago and me never getting a chance to mourn, was too much. A time would come, I knew, when I would be forced to face what had happened between the Veilorian leader and my father, but now wasn’t it.

That didn’t mean seeing her didn’t bring all those emotions to the surface, because the second I set eyes on the angelic-looking Veilorian, they welled up like a geyser ready to blow.

I stopped just inside the door when her gaze met mine, unable to make my legs obey. Thankfully, the small room was already crowded, which made it impossible to move deeper into the house, and since the council had much more pressing issues to worry about at the moment, I knew I wouldn’t be forced to confront my emotions.

Most of the Veilorians present were still strangers to me, but I recognized them from the last meeting Finn and I had interrupted. Like that day, they were speaking Veilorian when we walked in, but unlike before, the conversation didn’t stop.

The words were foreign to me, but the tone was an echo of my own feelings. Anger and pain, and even disbelief that things had actually gotten to this point pulsed through the air, matching the throbbing ache on my neck. I reached up without realizing it, and the pain grew when my fingers brushed the brand. I’d been there, had lived through the agony of the metal burning into my flesh, but it still didn’t feel real. How could one person do this to another? How could they be so happy about it?

Dean’s expression just before he’d pressed the branding iron against my skin flashed through my mind, and a shudder wracked my body. Evil. That was the perfect word to describe him. To describe the mayor, too. Only a person who was truly, deeply evil would do something like this.

When the other Veilorians gathered in the room didn’t stop talking, Melora stepped forward and said in a loud voice, “Finn has information that might be useful.”

The talking died down and people turned, and Finn stepped forward.

I stayed by the door as he cleared his throat, listening silently while he relayed everything that had happened, starting with us getting pulled from Rye and Ione’s house. When he got to the part about his torture, I winced. My own throbbing neck, aching wrists, and sore face seemed suddenly minor compared to what he’d endured. It also made me understand the things he said to me when we were finally reunited. I wanted the people who’d done this to him dead.

“They tried beating me first.” He grimaced at the memory. “When they realized how much pain I could withstand, they moved on to electricity.”

Without realizing I’d moved, I found myself at his side, my hand on his arm.

Finn paused to look at me, his eyes saying things he couldn’t voice at the moment, and I swallowed. I wanted to be alone in our house so I could inspect his injuries. So I could kiss the cuts and bruises. I wanted it to be just the two of us so we could comfort each other the way we hadn’t been able