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I jump back and to the side as a small burst of flame escapes his mouth.
“Stop that!” I snap, hand over my heart. “I’m trying to save your life!”
“It hurts!” he roars, head swinging my direction as fresh blood pours from his neck wound.
Now he’s just pissing me off. “Well, if you hadn’t kidnapped me, neither of us would be in this position. Now lie back and take it. This will sting, but you could die without it.”
I lift the bottle of peroxide and upend it again, pouring more on his open wound.
His entire body goes tense, huge, muscled arms flexing as I lean over him. His jaw is clenched so hard, I swear I can hear his teeth grinding.
I bring a clean washcloth I haven’t used yet and press it to his wound. He lets out another animalistic grunt but doesn’t say anything else, his eyes trained firmly on the ceiling.
And then, thank God, he passes out.
Eleven
FIRST
I stare out the window of the palace down at the avenue mobbed with Dragon trying to get to the Salvation Ships before it’s too late. And then I turn to my mother.
“Why aren’t you letting more in? We have thousands more stasis pods we could fit on the ships.” I glance back down at the horde on the road. It’s dark out. It’s always dark now except for a few hours of weak sunlight in the afternoon, the subzero temperatures leaving as many corpses on the roads as are still fighting their way to make it to the palace and the ships.
My mother looks at me drolly. “It would clutter the ships. And we have the castes that matter and just enough lower castes to support us for the journey.”
I don’t know how my mother still has the capacity to surprise me. Insomuch as I am the dutiful son. But this? I cannot stay silent on this. “No, Mother, we cannot—”
She slaps me.
She’s shorter than me by several inches but she threw her weight into the blow and I stagger back.
“Do you want to be left behind?” she spits.
“You wouldn’t. I am your only son.” But even as I say it, I wonder. It is not as if she has shown me much affection over the years. I’m not sure she even has the capacity for love. I give her political cachet, as one of the last babies to be born. And I am to be the next king.
But it would be an easy enough thing to say there was a mix-up in the confusion of the Exodus and I was left behind. She could probably spin it into a great act of heroism, all to reflect well upon herself and garner sympathy. And even more power.
But then her face transforms and she embraces me. “I am sorry, my son. These terrible times have put all of us on edge.”
She pulls back from me, holding my cheeks in her hands. The cheek that still stings from her blow. “You know I need you now more than ever. They plot against our family. You are the only one I can trust. Please. I need you by my side, not questioning me.”
She’s twisted things. She’s trying to manipulate me. It’s all she does.
Even knowing that, I lean into her touch.
She’s my mother. I still want her love even if I sometimes suspect she isn’t capable.
I search her eyes. “I’m not questioning you. But I am to be king one day, am I not? Should I see something I think to be an injustice and stay silent? I am not bringing this before the assembly. I am talking to you so that we can stand as a united front.”
My mother nods, her eyes softening. “You are right. I have just been your mother so long. It is hard for me to see that you are becoming a grown Dragon. And perhaps we can consider your proposal. Even bring it before your father.”
My heart lifts at her words. Maybe things can really start to be different.
She steps back and gestures me toward the door. “But come, first we are needed at the inspection of some of the stasis pods that have just been installed on the east wing.”
We walk in companionable silence out to the back of the palace and the huge fenced off area where the three Salvation Ships have been constructed. Blazing electric lights illuminate the huge yard and Dragon scurry this way and that. It’s a hive of activity.
Time is counting down quicker than we initially anticipated. The Long Winter came sooner than our scientists hoped and now we are scrambling to finish everything before it is too late. But the ships are almost finished and now we are in the final stages of preparation and packing them with supplies.
Soon we leave this planet behind for good in search of our new home many, many light-years away. Hundreds of years, they say the trip will take.
