head up. “You’re going to be an interesting one, I can tell.” Her voice was as sharp as a knife, and my skin broke out in shivers at the way she watched me.
She stared at me in silence, but my eyes drifted over her shoulder to check on Inessa. Inessa’s blue eyes were watching me, her bottom lip trembling. My stomach roiled at seeing her so upset. I wanted nothing more than to take her in my arms and tell her everything was going to be okay.
The woman followed my gaze; then as she snapped her head back to me she cracked her whip across my cheek. I staggered back as blistering pain sliced across my face. My hand lifted over my cheek, and when I pulled it back blood was on my palm.
I looked up at the woman, rage building in my veins. When my rage-filled eyes met hers, her eyes flared and her thin lips spread into a wide smile. Without turning to the male Wraith, she ordered, “Put them in the same cage! One last ride will not make a difference.” My shoulders sagged in relief as the male walked to a cage and put my sister inside. My heart squeezed as I looked at Inessa so small in the metal cage. Her dark hair fell down her back and her blue eyes were so big they almost appeared unreal.
The guard snapped his fingers and I rushed forward, but not before the woman gripped my arm bringing me to a halt. Her long fingers dug into my biceps as her mouth leaned down until it met my ear. I shivered again, something in my soul warning me to pull away.
“I see the fury in your eyes, little boy,” the woman said coolly. I saw her mouth break into a smile, and she added, “Good. Keep it. Fuel it. It will become essential for what I have planned…”—she looked over her shoulder to my sister, then turned back to finish—“for you and your little angel there.”
I wanted to argue, I wanted to hit her in the face, but my body was frozen to the spot. The female didn’t release my arm for several seconds, until she pushed me toward the cage. I stumbled but rushed into the cage with Inessa. As soon as I was in the cage, Inessa crawled onto my lap. She threaded her arms around my neck and whispered, “I am scared, Valentin. That woman scares me.”
“Shh,” I soothed, and held her close. “She won’t hurt you.”
Inessa exhaled and whispered, “Big Brother Promise?”
Tears pricked my eyes, and I nodded my head. “Big Brother Promise.”
“Then I’ll be safe,” she said softly.
As I glanced up, I heard the other children being loaded into the other cages. But as I did, I met the dark gaze of the woman, now standing before our cage. My body stilled when I saw the look on her face. My stomach turned in dread when I knew she’d heard everything I’d just promised Inessa.
A promise I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep, but one I would die trying to honor.
Days and days seemed to pass, the truck stinking of piss and shit. The Wraiths threw us bread and water but never stopped to give us fresh air or clean clothes. And they never once stopped to let us use a toilet. Instead we soiled ourselves. We had to sit and sleep in shit.
I’d stopped smelling the stench after a day or so.
Suddenly the truck pulled to a stop. Low voices sounded outside, but the sound of crying and fear clogged up the back of the truck.
The locks on the rolling door of the truck bed rattled, and in seconds the door rolled open, blinding light replacing darkness. I flinched as the light burned my eyes. I wrapped Inessa in my arms to shield her from the pain.
Male Wraiths dressed all in black flooded into the back of the truck, the metal batons in their hands slamming against the steel cages. The noise was deafening after days and days of painful silence.
A shadow reached our cage and snapped the lock. Tucking my nose into Inessa’s hair, I ordered, “Keep hold of me, dorogaya moya! I’ll keep you safe.”
I felt her little head nod and I crawled from the cage just as the male Wraith hit the cage again and ordered, “Get out!”
My legs were weak when I stood. I fought to keep hold of my sister. I gripped on tight, my heart