Page 91 of Taking Jenny
I struggled to keep my own laugh quiet. “Circumstances are everything.”
A shrill siren split the air ahead of our position, and I froze. I knew what it meant. The hunters had entered the hunting ground.
I swore beneath my breath. “That can’t be right…Justice said she had a twelve-hour head start. If they were fighting over who was to be her handler before you came and got me, that’s not twelve hours—”
“They went with the head start time Justice wanted,” Surge said, cutting me off, his tone furious at the realization. “Not the one you negotiated. It’s only been six hours since she started on the hunting ground. Not twelve. She should have had until the afternoon. Those cheating fucks!” he hissed.
My own rage filled my chest, and I didn’t speak anymore. I ran toward the hunting ground, still balancing Surge on my back. Our journey would take a sharp hook to the left shortly, or we would end up at the start of the mountain path in sight of anyone there. If we turned too early, though, we would be met by a cliff that ran along the backside of the mountain.
In my silence, an unfamiliar voice came from where the siren had sounded. “…as handler, Imustsound the siren for the avatar when the hunters enter the hunting ground, Ruler.”
I stepped through the veil of trees, just far enough to see everyone gathered there. The hunters held staffs and leather satchels, while a thin man pursed his lips and glared up at the ruler of Orhon.
“I told you not to sound the alarm, and yet you did it anyway,” Justice said to him. “I am not accustomed to such blatant disregard for my orders, Resaber. I won’t forget this, come next year’s Illiapol. Your daughter has the year to prepare herself.”
The older man gasped. “Sire, please—”
Justice looked down his nose at Resaber. “Normally, I enjoy a good grovel. But I have places to be. When I catch your daughternext year, I won’t kill her on the hunting ground. I’ll make sure to do it where you can watch.” He laughed cruelly at the man’s horrified expression, then turned to the council. “Come on, boys. We have a human to eviscerate.”
My entire body tensed, ready to leap out into the open and strike.
Surge, sensing my barely contained fury, whispered, “You cannot kill them now. You will seal our fates, if you do.”
I restrained myself and nodded once.
Justice chuckled, as if he hadn’t just threatened another man’s child. “Maybe she’ll try and bribe us with her body first, like the blue-haired girl from Yesanol. Remember that girl? What was it, eight years ago now?”
“Nine, I think,” Craven said. “I didn’t blame her for the attempt. She was awfully skilled in the art of pleasure. I imagine she thought we’d give her a pass after we had our turns with her.”
“Can’t believe you even remember that.” Justice scoffed. “Has sex been so rare for you over the years, that the memory of her sticks out?”
A lewd smile curved Craven’s lips. “Hard to forget a girl flexible enough to bite her own tail when she climaxed.”
The ruler sniggered. “Moons above, you let her climax with you, whenshewas the one trying to earnourfavor? Don’t you know how anything works?”
“What can I say? Women find their pleasure with me,” Craven drawled as they started up the mountain. “Not my fault they don’t find it with you.”
Justice thumped his shoulder with mock offense. “Dick.”
Craven laughed, and the others joined in, laughing and bragging about fucking and eating desperate girls as though it was the funniest thing in the world.
My entire being vibrated with the need for violence. I hated them. Every last one.
Surge leaned in and whispered, “You’re doing good, Mal. Just stay focused on the goal.”
“You don’t need to remind me, Surge. I know we’re not here to kill them.”As much as I wanted to.“Not unless we have to.”
We stayed around a hundred meters from the path to keep them from hearing or noticing us. The lemon oaks near the base of the mountain gave way to the blue cedar and olden pine as we climbed up. Closer to the top, there were shimmer woods and beast needles, but the path ended before we would ever see those trees. Bruneal bush thorns tried to scrape my legs and would have had Surge not given me a Melac bodysuit like his.
“Have I thanked you for the bodysuit enough?” I said to him gratefully.
He chuckled. “Melacs make a good suit. A shame about their planet, though.”
“Which part?” I mused as we kept our distance. “The part where it was overrun by barbed vines or the part where they ran out of water because of those vines?”
“I can still remember when my family vacationed there when I was a boy,” he sighed, but then his wistful tone became a grumble. “Back when my family still had money.”
“You’re doing everything you can to earn more for them, Surge,” I said sympathetically. “Hell, at this point, we all are.”
