Harper exclaims loudly behind me, "We are so sorry! That was completely our fault, and we just…panicked!"
"Brylee" heads back inside, safe and sound, to make her way back up to her wing of the palace and lock herself in for days due to sheer embarrassment…while I sprint through the woods toward Harper's car and the bodysuit hidden in the trunk.
33
BRYLEE
The cheersof the crowd and the constant calls from photographers to look their way blend into a cacophony of jumbled noise that jars me. From beneath the cap of my formal gray dress uniform, I stare out at the faces of hundreds of strangers, all well-wishers here to catch a glimpse of their future monarch before he heads off to victory or death.
Clouds scud across the sky overhead, blown by the wind right in the direction we’re heading, and I wish I could join them. Soar that quickly to my destination because I’ve been waiting for days to reunite with my mates.
But I’m stuck nodding and saluting, following the direction of a bodyguard who’s on his walkie-talkie more than any other I’ve ever met. It makes me wonder if it’s his first day on the job.
Well, that would make two of us.
My impersonations of my brother have only ever been at Eros before. The ball was going to be my big shining moment where I tested out my actual acting abilities.
That didn’t exactly work out.
Instead, I’m here amongst a throng of people, marching toward a bus filled with other soldiers as a brass band plays our national anthem somewhere in the distance and people wave tiny flags over their heads. I’m telling myself to smile, but not too wide because my brother’s smile is a tiny bit smaller than mine. To straighten my back. To stiffen my walk.
“Prince Theodore!” an omega woman shrieks like she’s seen a movie star and clasps her mother’s shoulder, shaking the poor woman.
That’s the kind of moment Teddie would have enjoyed.
Should enjoy.
But might not.
I bristle, because without this damned war, without the constant fucking senseless violence, it would be easy to obtain the medicine that Teddie needs.
Easy because Noth scientists are renowned the world over for their medicines.
Why does the world have to be so hateful?
Why is reconciliation so hard?
Stupidity.That’s what I conclude. Stupidity runs the world, and that includes my selfish, arrogant mother. My cowardly father gets lumped in together with her because he lets her overpower him and refuses to stand up for what’s right.
Mario, the guard with me, glances back as we reach the steps of the bus.
His pencil-thin mustache moves almost comically as he asks, “You sure?” with a head-jerk toward the bus. “I can call another car…”
He uses the same tempting voice parents try on toddlers.
I nod toward the bus without speaking. It feels like the more alpha thing to do. Besides, the less I speak, the better. I may look like my brother, but my voice is definitely more feminine than his, even when I attempt to lower it.
The security detail doesn’t want me to ride with the commoners. But Teddie would never abandon the rest of the soldiers for a posh, armored vehicle ride to the battlefield.
My throat clogs thinking of him, and this heavy bodysuit makes me clumsy as I mount the steps. My bodyguard has already claimed the front two seats on the bus for us, so I give a quick nod in greeting toward the rest of the soldiers before sliding into my seat.
Shortly, we’re trundling and bumping clumsily over a pothole-filled road on the outskirts of the city. Trees and rolling hills with distant farmhouses make the countryside seem idyllic for the first few hours.
But then the fire-ravaged fields start to encroach.
Abandoned cars dot the sides of the road, and I can’t help but think they look like crypts, the lives of their drivers forsaken.
Tank tracks create argyle patterns across the fields, flattening crops.
