I ignore her and begin eating. Eventually, she lets out a huff of annoyance and drops into the seat across from me. Her movements are jerky and loud as she throws food onto a plate and slams it down in front of her. I cringe as the tines of her fork scrape across the bottom of her plate while she eats forcefully. Occasionally, her temper can take a juvenile turn, something I'm sure will smooth out as she matures.
"If you promise not make an escape attempt, I might consider taking you on a tour." It's more than I had planned on doing. I'd wanted her in the harem for at least a week before taking her to the city, but I despise watching her be caged up like an animal. She's meant to be free.
“First of all, I won’t be making an escape attempt, it will be a successful bid for freedom. Second of all, the moment you let me out of here, I'm leaving. I refuse to spend one minute more in this city with you than I have to." She shoves a piece of bread into her mouth and chews belligerently.
"Then you won't be leaving the harem." I watch her face fall as the words leave my mouth and almost regret them, though she's the one throwing down the gauntlet.
In an effort to change the subject, I ask her which Sanctuaries she’s visited since leaving Tucson. At first, she doesn't answer, ignoring the question. Then, as if unable to help herself, she starts to speak, telling me the story of her journey.
"We left Tucson shortly after the creation of the vaccine. The doc figured the faster we stopped Necrotitis Primeval from spreading the better. We put a team together out of the best soldiers from Tucson and the refugee camp. Well, you met them."
At my nod, she continues, “It took a long time to get from Tucson to Sacramento. There were still hordes of Primitives moving west, almost in a tidal wave. We kept coming across them and we kept having to fight. We lost two men in our first week out." She falls silent for a moment, the weight of her responsibility toward her team still heavy on her shoulders. Then she straightens in her seat and hardens her voice. "A few weeks in we began acting like more of a team, hitting the Primitives in a tactical sweep. It reached the point where we could attack a group five times the size of our little team without any casualties."
Skye continues outlining attack strategies and defensive techniques she picked up along the way. She sounds proud of herself, and I can understand why. Primitives are vicious relentless killing machines. They are driven to feed their never-ending hunger for flesh. I’m impressed, but not surprised by Skye’s ingenuity in fighting them. She's always had it in her to inspire loyalty in others.
"Sacramento was tough. It was our first Sanctuary out of Tucson. We didn’t have a strategy, just went in blind with the vaccine and the idea that they would just take it and let us leave." She shakes her head and rolls her eyes at her own naivety. "At first they didn't believe that we had a vaccine. When we explained how it worked, described the effects on Tucson Sanctuary, they became interested. Very interested. Then I made a big mistake."
So far I've remained silent throughout her story, but I know exactly what mistake she made. "You told them about your blood."
She nods. "It was a stupid mistake, one that nearly cost my team their lives and me my freedom. The idiots in Sacramento didn't have a proper doctor, someone that could explain to them how vaccinations work. The Warlord couldn’t get it through his thick head that they didn't actually need me there in order to re-create it. Luckily, Deacon figured out what was going on when I failed to meet the team at our scheduled departure time. He was able to bust me out. We left a box of vaccinations and the formula behind, but who knows if they were able to re-create it. I hope so. Despite the assholes running that place, there's plenty of innocent people living inside the walls."
That’s the difference between Skye and me. She gives a shit about the people living in Sanctuary. I don’t.
"Where did you go next?" I'm only vaguely interested, don't care much about the vaccine. But I want to hear her voice, want her to talk to me.
Skye opens up and tells me all about her journey with her team. My respect for Deacon grows as she speaks, and I feel slightly disappointed that I evicted him from the city without plumbing his full potential. The more she speaks the more I realize that there was nothing to be jealous about in their relationship. The two simply worked well together.
Finally, after over an hour and well past when our meal finished, she stops speaking. She falls abruptly silent as though she realizes she’s been dominating the conversation for over an hour. She blushes and turns her head away, masking her discomfort with her hair.
"What did you mean… when you said you wanted me for a wife?"
I stay silent and look at her. She knows exactly what I mean, and she wants me to give her a different answer. I won’t. I can’t. Maybe it isn’t fair, but we don’t live in a fair world.
"Fine, fall back on your usual thing. Nothing can induce me to marry you so you may as well forget about it."
Our evening has turned out better than I expected, so I'm disappointed that she's giving me attitude again. I sit back in my chair and cross my arms over my chest.
"You’ll marry me. You won’t have a choice."
She lets out a frustrated growl and swipes her hand at the table, catching the edge of one of the trays and sending it flying. I raise my eyebrow at her temper. She's not as controlled as I'd like her to be, as much as she's learned over the past year.
"I want you to leave." She points at the door.
This particular phrase of hers is beginning to grate, but I’ll give it to her one more time. Soon she’ll learn that I don’t do a damn thing I don’t want to. If I’m not ready to leave, then I won’t be leaving. I stand and turn away. I’m fine with giving her small doses of my presence as she acclimates herself to me. Silence follows me through the harem door as I leave and the guards close and lock it.
As I stride down the hall, I hear a loud crash and the sound of breaking dishes. She threw a tray at the door. My lip tugs upward as I think of my hellion bride. She's going to be a handful, exactly the way I want her.
Sixteen
Skye
I've had enough. Enough pacing. Enough staring at walls. Enough biding my time. I'm done waiting for fate to come find me.
It's been three weeks since I've arrived in the Santa Fe Sanctuary. Three weeks of being locked up in the harem with nothing to do but contemplate a shadowy and uncertain future. I've been mostly alone. Dr. Summers hasn't come back, though I've requested her presence more than once from the guards on the other side of the door. Likewise, when I ask for Hannah I'm ignored.
Even Wolfe has stayed away, but I don't demand his presence. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Except… I’m frustrated by his absence. What kind of future bridegroom who’s forcing his bride to marry him completely ignores her? I don’t understand him at all.
I bang angrily on the door and then step back, waiting for it to open.
The guards have learned since my last attack to treat me carefully. The door opens and two armed men stand facing me, prepared for anything. I smirk at them, glad that they learned a lesson at my hands. Too often, these big tough Sanctuary guards think they're undefeatable. They would never consider that a woman could take them down.