Millie tried to protest, but again, she couldn’t get her voice to work. Then she tried to think of a way to circumvent the order, but her mind blanked. She tried again, but failed. It took her a second to realize what had happened to her.
Shit. They’d dosed her with rowanberry juice.
Rowanberry juice was illegal amongst the Feiru, but that didn’t prevent some from using it. The juice would compel a Feiru to listen to your every order and instruction for about a day. More than one dose every two weeks would kill you.
The man walked toward her and Millie kept her face as expressionless as possible. This was a major obstacle, but she wasn’t giving up yet. Even if Jaxton answered this man’s demands and came to rescue her, she’d find a way to get everyone out of this situation alive.
Kiarra sat atop a metal examination table, dressed in a hospital gown, and swung her legs back and forth, trying not to smile. Ty would walk through the door any minute, and Kiarra could hardly wait for him to shut the door and kiss her. If he had enough time, maybe he’d make love to her again too. Even after a year, just thinking about his naked body over hers made her blush.
He’d made progress on his special formula, which was good news on so many levels. Maybe one day soon she would no longer be a prisoner, and she could spend the rest of her life with Ty. She could always make him laugh, and he’d taught her so much. Ty had also protected her, ensuring Kiarra received better treatment than the other AMT prisoners.
Kiarra was only eighteen, but some of the other eighteen-year-olds had already lost their sanity. Some adjusted easily to life inside the AMT compound, while others fell into despair. Kiarra understood how easy it was to do that, especially since she’d been in a dark place herself until Ty had entered her life a year ago.
She wished she could do more to help the other inmates who didn’t have someone as wonderful as Ty for their researcher, but at the end of the day, she knew there was nothing she could do to ease their pain. Ty’s work would eventually make all of their lives better; without elemental magic, all of the first-borns could go home to their families and start over.
The door opened and Kiarra stopped swinging her legs when she saw two of her least favorite guards standing in the doorway. She knew better than to ask them why they were here and waited to see what they would do. Maybe something had come up and Ty had rescheduled their session. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d had to do that.
But as the two guards stepped a
side and the head warden walked into the room, Kiarra sat up straight and wondered why the head warden was here. The only reason he came to see an inmate was if they’d broken at least half a dozen rules—or a major one—and he would issue their punishment.
Since Kiarra hadn’t caused any real trouble since she was fourteen, when she’d learned that the punishments here were harsh and painful, his sudden appearance made her uneasy.
The head warden reached her side, gripped her arm, and yanked her to her feet. He looked her in the eye, a sneer on his face, and said, “You have been charged and found guilty of seducing and seeking to manipulate an AMT employee for personal gain. The guards will mete out your punishment immediately.”
Kiarra’s heart stopped and she tried not to panic. There had to be some mistake.
She glanced at the door. Ty would come and clear up this misunderstanding. He would tell them the truth and save her from an unwarranted punishment. Ty had never failed her before, and she didn’t doubt him now.
The head warden noticed her glances toward the door and gave a cruel laugh. “Dr. Adams was not only your accuser, but he provided evidence. He won’t be coming to intervene on your behalf.”
Fear gripped her belly. “No!” she shouted, and tried to squirm free of the head warden’s grip. Ty would never betray her like that. He’d said he loved her. They’d made plans together.
There was no way Ty would abandon her.
They would throw her into solitary confinement for speaking out, but Kiarra couldn’t keep quiet. The head warden’s accusation was wrong and she had to make him see that. “This is some kind of misunderstanding. Talk to Dr. Adams again and he’ll clear it all up.”
The head warden said nothing, but started to drag her over to the outstretched hands of the two guards waiting at the door. She continued to struggle and hoped that Ty would find her in time. A charge of seduction was one of the highest offenses inside the AMT.
If no one intervened, they were going to whip her.
When the two guards took her upper arms in steel-like grips, she started to panic and tried her hardest to squirm free. But no matter how much she twisted or bucked, she was no match for the heavily muscled guards. They pulled her along as if she weighed no more than a feather, and as the seconds ticked by and Ty remained absent, tears started to stream down her cheeks. Why would he do this? Was there someone else? Had he just been using her all this time?
Didn’t the head warden know about her role in developing Ty’s precious formula?
The guards finally hauled her into an adjacent room and she let out a sob when she saw the instruments hanging on the wall. She pulled back with all of her weight, but they lifted her with barely a second of hesitation before they yanked her the final few feet to the metal table in the middle of the room. She was no match for the guards’ strength as they tossed her face down on the table and forced her hands into metal bands on either end. Even after the bands clicked closed, she wiggled and tried to pull her hands free until her wrists were slick with blood.
She stilled when she heard one of the guards take something from the wall and slap it against his palm. Reality set in as she realized that Ty wasn’t coming to save her. There was no way out.
They were truly going to whip her.
With her heart pounding in her chest, Kiarra closed her eyes, turned her head, and laid her cheek on the cool surface of the metal table. Maybe this would be it. Maybe the guards would kill her and end the pain in her heart.
First her parents, and now Ty. Everyone tossed her away when it was convenient. No one ever fought to protect her.
She was unwanted.
The guards ripped the back of her hospital gown and made taunting remarks, but she didn’t hear them over the frantic beat of her heart. She just hoped that they’d end it quickly. She’d already suffered more in five years than most people did in a lifetime.