Chapter Fourteen
Iawake to the morningsun spilling through the sheer white curtains in my bedroom. The beautiful sight is enough to make me gasp and sit up against the pillows, despite my lingering soreness from yesterday’s events. In the techno-cities, there is no gentle transition between night and day, or vice versa. Darkness falls in an instant at precisely nine every evening, and the entire dome is illuminated at seven in the morning. Sunsets, sunrises, and everything in between are still a brand-new wonder to me, even after over a week outside of Emerald.
Now that morning has come and the bedroom is better lighted, I glance around the room the savages say is mine. The bed is large, I note—large enough to accommodate several guests—and I can’t help but wonder if my mates will make a habit of visiting me in my bedroom.
Beneath the large window rests a long bench with padded seats and decorative pillows. There are several dressers and an open closet, in which I notice the dresses from Henrietta are already hanging. It seems the brothers have already unpacked for me. Curious, I crawl out of bed—very slowly, as I’m sore all over, every muscle in my body protesting as I stand up—and approach the nearest dresser. I open the top drawer and glimpse the undergarments and nightdresses they purchased from the innkeeper. There is also a nightstand that contains several books, as well as a strange-looking lantern.
I live in a cabin in the woods. In the wildlands.
My spirits soar.
And I have my very own bedroom.
I remember what Daddy Erik told me about passing messages to Rangers and I make a mental note to revisit that conversation with him soon. While I realize Sheena has many years before she has to worry about the poison filling her bedroom and ending her life prematurely, I decide she would benefit from hearing the truth about the techno-cities sooner rather than later. It would be easier for her to attempt leaving while she’s still young. She would have a chance at a real life.
But would she want a real life?
I honestly don’t know. It’s odd, knowing that I’ve lived with her for years but I have no idea if she would enjoy the wildlands as much as me. Of course, I never offered her any hints that I was unhappy in Emerald or that I questioned my manufacturing as a Manager. Still, she deserves to know the truth.
Dishes clatter and voices drift upstairs to my bedroom. I move closer to the door and crack it open, trying to decide whether or not to leave the safety of my room just yet. After all that happened yesterday, a sudden shyness descends upon me over the prospect of greeting my daddies.
They claimed me. In front of the village. They also gave me a very intimate bath and forced me to have an accident while they watched. I flush in remembrance. But I also smile when I recall how affectionate they were as they put me to bed.
Daddy Nash dressed me in the soft, flowing white nightgown I’m currently wearing. Daddy Erik removed the braids from my hair and brushed out my long locks. Daddy Axel pulled back the covers and tucked them around me, placing a kiss to my forehead after I got settled in bed. Daddy Gage sat next to me and started reading from one of the books on the nightstand.
Warmth flows through me as I remember more and more about last night. A bedtime story. Daddy Gage actually took the time to read me a bedtime story, a silly tale about a bunny rabbit getting lost. I started falling asleep just after the part in the story where the rabbit found his family again. Vaguely, I recall each of my mates pressing a firm kiss to my forehead or my cheek before leaving me alone to rest.
Cherished. I’d felt cherished as they got me ready for bed and tucked me in.
I open the door a bit more and slip out into the hallway. I’m not sure why I’m sneaking around so, but I creep downstairs and toward the kitchen, careful to keep my footfalls light.
A door slams and I freeze. Heavy boot-steps follow. A spasm of fear tightens in my stomach, but I don’t understand why until I hear Daddy Axel’s voice.
“Outcasts,” he says. “They struck the west side of the village in the early hours of the morning. They snuck past the guards and stole some chickens, a goat, and some grain.”
“Were any of our people hurt?” Daddy Nash asks.
“No, though the Connell brothers killed two of the outcasts. They saw more running away in the darkness. At least a dozen.”
“Why wasn’t the horn blown?”
