Page 382 of Rage

“You have to tell me what happened,” I demand, keeping my voice low. I brush my thumb over her cheek, hating the way a muscle in her jaw ticks at the motion. “What did they do to you?”

She opens her mouth, and her lip wobbles. She’s trying hard to keep it together, and it doesn’t help when I bring my other hand to her face, gently holding her head between my palms.

“Lita,” I say, keeping my voice as gentle as possible despite the anger bubbling beneath my skin. “You can tell me.”

Finally, slowly, she speaks. Her words are hardly more than a whisper.

“The High Majesty…” She takes a deep, steadying breath. “He’s looking for a new wife and asked the Peace Officers to bring him girls who haven’t been bred. He… he used us,forcedus…” Her voice trails off as panic flashes behind her eyes.

I can’t imagine the things she’s seen,felt.

I don’t want to think about the things that vile creature did to her before sending her back looking like… this.

My heart sinks like an anchor, and I fight to keep my expression emotionless. Losing my temper isn’t going to help anything right now, and I need answers.

And Lita needs me…

“You’re safe now,” I say, leaning forward to press my forehead against hers. “You’re safe.”

I hardly believe the lie as it leaves my lips.

Truthfully, none of us are safe. We never have been, and we never will be.

The High Majesty may have sent Lita back in one piece, but in just over a month, she’ll be sent to the breeder house. There they’ll do whatever they want to her, however they want, until she conceives a child…

No, we are not safe from the cruel men who rule this world. They will never see us as anything other than inferior. They will never see us as people, asequals, only property that they can order around, rape, and kill.

Our only chance at safety is freedom.

The thought resonates so clearly in my mind that it sends a chill vibrating down my back. It’s what I’ve been thinking for the past week, the poisonous thought that’ll get me killed or worse. What I want more than anything is to escape from Merik with Lita and to run far, far away.

We could go anywhere, do anything… but no one has ever escaped the High Majesty’s rule.

Some have tried, and they’ve been killed in the square to show everyone what awaits them should they transgress.

Obedience or suffering. Those have always been our options.

But now, as the truth of our reality truly sinks in, I find myself longing more than ever to leave. Consequences be damned; this is no way for anyone to live.

I have to get Lita out of this place. I have to try.

Even if I die trying.

“Torri.” Lita’s voice drags me out of my daydream, and I blink at her. A fresh tear slips down her cheek and falls onto the silk gown clinging to her skin, sparking a bone-deep well of rage I’ve been harboring for a while, possibly forever.

“They’re going to pay,” I say through clenched teeth, even though I’m not really sure what I’m saying.

I’m just a gatherer; I’m no match for a single Peace Officer, much less an army of them, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I cling to the rage brewing in my blood, harnessing it and channeling it to exact my revenge. Its power gives me confidence I otherwise wouldn’t have, and my limbs move automatically as though they’ve made the decision for me.

I stand, not missing the way Lita’s eyes widen in horror.

“Every one of them will pay.” My voice vibrates with unholy anger, and I clench my fists. “Every. Last. One.”

This is the way, as it must be.

Chapter Six

"Get your things."

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