“Most of them are. We’re the forgotten,” a boy murmurs.
“The forgotten?” Brazen muses.
He truly doesn’t know that much about me.
“It’s what we call ourselves,” I mutter in explanation with pain stinging my eyes. “As a child, you need a bond of some sort in order to make it through the day. All we had was each other. All forsaken hybrid children call themselves the forgotten.”
His eyes burn more, and he shakes his head in disbelief.
“I thought we had evolved to be better than all of this.”
“We will. I’m launching a hybrid program which will change the way hybrids are taught. The school will be meant for children instead of breathing weapons, and they will be installed in every compound under the order of the United. The living arrangements, the teaching, and the day to day life will change - leaving them with a better quality of life,” Hale boasts, and I smile affectionately as I stare into his eyes.
The children will still be the forgotten though.
I’d never say that to Hale though. He’d paint himself a target in order to find a way to make the laws change to allow hybrids to be adopted. He’d end up getting himself strung up for treason just to please me… to make my dreams come true. What he’s doing is far more than anyone else has ever done.
“I didn’t know about that,” Brazen mumbles, his eyes falling away from mine as though they’re weighed down with shame.
“I did,” I almost whisper, my eyes falling on the hybrid man who still astonishes me with his heart, and Hale’s lips softly graze mine in appreciation for my admiring tone.
“This is quite possibly the first time I’ve ever felt naïve,” Brazen sighs. “The captain of this compound, is he full blood, hybrid, or human?”
“Full blood,” the boy in my lap says with a shiver.
“Does he hurt you?” I ask compassionately.
I shouldn’t have asked that. I know the answer, and I know the laws won’t allow me to do a damn thing about it.
“He gives us lashings without blood if we don’t comply,” an older girl answers. “Please don’t tell him that we didn’t go when we heard the sirens.”
“He does what?” Brazen releases in disbelief, horror striking his face to taint his naïve notion of the way he believed the world worked.
It’s not just old world full bloods that hate hybrids, my sweet full blood.
“Lashings,” I answer with tears threatening to pour. “When hybrid children disobey, a whip with a uranium tip is used to slash through our skin until we bleed almost to death. They deny us blood until we can’t breathe any longer. It’s their way of exercising authority.”
“Not in my fucking compound,” Hale snarls.
“Can we come there?” a girl asks with hopeful tears.
“We’ll make sure no one else gives you lashings,” Brazen murmurs with pain etched in his tone.
I remove the sweet boy from my lap to lie him in the arms of a sweet, older girl, and then I go over to pull Brazen from the floor as all the kids gush in excitement over his empty, impossible-to-fill promise.
“Don’t give these children false hope. They can’t take it. You can’t force the compounds to run differently if they’re not breaking the law. Believe me, I would make it my fucking mission to free them all if I could, but we can’t do anything without risking them further harm.”
“I can,” Hale says as he joins the private conversation.
“No you can’t,” I huff out. “You know the damn law.”
“Araya, I’ll fucking do whatever I want to do. When we leave here, these kids will be safe.”
“I’ll get in on that action,” Brazen adds as he stares at the excited children who feel hope just within grasp for the first time in their lives.
My finger becomes a threatening weapon as I point at the both of them - my eyes narrowing to emphasize my cautionary tone.
“If you two lead these kids on, I swear I’ll never speak to either of you again.”
