The Fortunates (Unfortunate #2) - Skyla Madi Page 0,38
of Nine.
From the top of the staircase, he watched in the shadows as she hugged her bare arms and crept across the foyer before slipping out the front door. Kade clenched his jaw and pattered down the steps, uncaring that his shoes made noise as they slapped angrily against the tiles.
How could she be so stupid? Sneaking out in the middle of the night! He was growing tired of being so lenient with her. How many times did he have to warn her? Soon, for her safety—and his sanity—he was going to have to lock her in a cage.
Kade followed Nine around town. They swirled buildings, jogged over flat pavement, and ducked under trees. After a while, he wondered if maybe she was exploring the places she couldn’t before, but that theory was squashed the moment she turned toward the field and ran across it.
“N—” He clamped his mouth shout, not wanting to alert anyone else.
What was she doing? Panic bubbled to the surface of Kade’s stomach as he stepped off the pavement and onto the grass. Would it be wrong to follow her? He wanted to trust her…he wanted to let her make her own mistakes and learn exactly how this world works, like he did as a boy.
But then he recalled the trauma of his past. The trauma he had to suffer through. He couldn’t sit back and allow her well-meaning spirit to be tarnished by that. She took Thirteen’s death hard…but to Kade that was nothing to bat an eyelid over. It was “humane” compared to the other things he’d seen.
Inhaling through his nose, Kade started across the field, following the white speck of Nine’s dress in the distance.
∞ Nine ∞
“Glad you could make it,” Oliver says, smiling as he hands me a glass bottle of water.
I take it and open the lid. As I drink, I glance at the gigantic fence. Like they promised, the moderator’s lights are pointed away from our small gathering of ten people. We’re safe and hidden in the shadows of the looming trees. I didn’t believe Oliver when he said he already had things in motion or that there are Fortunates and Moderators willing to fight for our cause, but it’s true and the small seed of hope in my stomach blossoms into a sapling.
Metal clinks against glass as I press the bottle of water against my chest to cool my skin. Frowning, I glance down at my neck as Oliver takes the bottle.
And there it is.
The lion necklace I hate so much. He must have put it on me while I was sleeping. I touch it and, well, it isn’t so bad.
“Aw, isn’t that sweet,” he deadpans, closing the lid and dropping the bottle to the ground. “You’re still owned by a Fortunate.”
“It’s a gift,” I say, defending Kade even though Oliver’s words mimic my thoughts. “And he isn’t the monster you think he is.”
Mostly.
Oliver tips his head and pouts his thin lips. “Naivety. How cute.”
“I’m not naïve,” I whisper so the others can’t hear.
“What did they used to call it?” He clicks his long fingers. “Stockholm syndrome.”
“What?”
“It’s when you sympathise with your captor. Or in your case, fall in love.”
Can he hear himself? He’s condemning me for loving Kade, but has his own Unfortunate on the side? That’s hypocrisy at its finest.
“You’re awfully judgmental for a guy who’s in love with an Unfortunate.”
Oliver shrugs his broad shoulders, raking his fingers through his blond hair. “We’re different.”
“How so?” I fold my arms over my chest.
“I’m not a Sario,” he simply says and I flinch. “Mark my words, Anna. He won’t give up this life. He’ll be your enemy soon enough.”
I shoot forward. “That’s not true. He—”
“Well, isn’t this…cosy?”
My blood runs cold, chilling me to the bone. Everyone freezes and the fear in the air is paralysing. Uh-oh.
He stalks out from behind a tree, his hands tucked into the pockets of his slacks.
Kaden.
His pants are crisp and straight, but there’s a crease in his button up shirt from the heap it lay in on my bedroom floor. His cold, dark glare is on me, no one else, and his anger and disappointment cuts at my skin like broken shards of glass.
“Kade…I…” I swallow hard, ending my stutter. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“That much is obvious. So, this is a super-secret meeting for that super-secret war you were talking about, huh?”
Oliver snaps his head in my direction, his eyes widening in fear and anger. Mostly anger. “You told him?”