Twisted - Esme Devlin Page 0,1
fate for those still young enough to bear children. I like to think he was kind and handsome, and she is happy now. That would be nice. Denim, the man who told me of her fate, couldn’t reveal any more. Even though I pestered him relentlessly as a child. I don’t think he knew.
Denim, with his team of five other men, takes turns guarding the entrance of my dwelling. He is safe, like many of the men here. Maxim guarantees that by removing the parts of men that are the least safe to women.
He takes no chances with us.
We’re his livelihood. The thing keeping the lights somewhat switched on. The thing providing the silver dish in front of me, and its contents. The thing ensuring we survive in this new world.
It’s like an ecosystem. We provide for him; he provides for us.
Simple, really, when I put it like that.
I pick up the pills one at a time, from largest to smallest, and follow each with a mouthful of water. I like to get the worst ones—the ones that feel like they’re sticking in my voice box—out of the way first. Then I know it’s only going to get better. Until tomorrow, anyway.
Ruby pops her head through the curtain and does a double take at the sight of me. “No matter how many times I see that, I will never get used to seeing that,” she says.
She’s talking about my face, the same one Scout just called hideous. Denim came in an hour ago and briefed me on what Maxim wanted to do tonight. And so I’ve spent the last forty-five minutes painting my face with coal and chalk paints.
I look skeletal, but it suits me. Dark eyes, a dark nose, and a vicious smile. With my almost-black hair, the whole thing looks quite chilling.
“Speak for yourself,” I shoot back at her.
Ruby has done the same, except her brown skin is colored in red, and her arms are intricately painted with gold swirls. She’ll dance over hot coals tonight, or perhaps one of the men will do something with fire. The costume is much the same for either performance.
“You ready?” She crosses the room and makes herself quite at home on my pile of pillows.
“I just need to fix my hair, and then I’m good.” I stretch and roll my neck, suddenly feeling jealous of her comfort when I’ve been sitting on a stool for the last hour. “Have you seen the crowd tonight?”
Ruby shrugs her shoulders lazily and then slumps down on the pillows. “I had a quick glance. Much the same as usual.”
I turn back around to fix my hair into a neat ponytail and catch her sitting up in the reflection of my mirror. “Actually. I heard a rumor going around.”
I let out a breathy giggle. Ruby deals in rumors as if they’re currency. Always collecting and stowing things away for future use. She thrives on gossip. “Do tell?”
She smirks. “If I can borrow that robe I love. You know, the black one with the lotus flowers and the silver thread.”
I scoff at her. “You could have the cure stashed away inside that brain of yours, and I still wouldn’t let you have it. You’ll get it all covered in sex.”
Ruby giggles and gets up, crossing the few steps between us in a swirl of red gauze and sliding the hairbrush out of my hand. “You were about to make it off-center,” she says, tutting toward my hair. “And I won’t, I swear. I spotted that eyepatch guy out in the crowd. You remember the one with all the horses? He likes me completely stark naked.”
“You are utterly vile,” I tell her, though I’m only half joking. She only does this because she knows it gets a reaction from me. Teasing, but more like between sisters than anything else.
I think it’s just how Ruby deals with it. Everyone is different. Some girls try to make the best of it, some girls try to run away, some girls lose their minds, and some… well, they attempt to take the easy way out.
The latter is the most shameful of all. Who knows what camp I will fall into.
I try not to let her crass nature get to me. It’s not like I’m a prude or anything. It would be completely impossible to grow up in a place like this and not know the way of the world. I just don’t like to think about it too much.
“Last chance,” she says.