Page 75 of Conform
“I want to know what it was to you.”
“Selfishness,” he told me. I stepped back. “Anything else?”
My nerves held me in a vise grip.
“You want to ask me about the Starlings, don’t you? You saw them tonight—I assumed you would have questions.”
Startled, my mouth dropped open. “I—I—” My eyes searched his.
“The Illum do not take lightly to anyone who spreads discord among the masses,” Collin said quietly. “I told you they will stop at nothing to silence it.”
My heart found my throat. “You questioned them. You’re the Enforcer.”
“I am.” His calculating gaze took me in, something brewing in those blue depths. I half expected him to demand to know how I had learned his true role, but he stayed silent.
“Did you . . .” I asked, unable to finish the question.Did you hurt them?There was talking plainly and then there was stupidity, but I wanted to know what he was capable of.
Collin shook his head.
“You didn’t?” I asked.
“It doesn’t matter if I did or didn’t,” Collin said, walking to the waiting Pod outside.
“It does.” It did. I had to know.
“It doesn’t,” he assured me as the Pod doors slid open. I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off. “You already believe I did. Good night, Emeline,” he told me, dismissing me.
I closed my mouth, staring at the man I was Mated to. Unsure of what to say or believe, I gathered my dress and entered the Pod.
“Everyone has a role to play, Emeline,” Collin whispered as I passed him, a shiver setting my skin on fire as his warm breath brushed my bare shoulder.
I placed my wrist under the scanner, turning to face him. “Do you enjoy your role, Collin?”
Sapphire eyes went wide as the doors shut before he could answer.
CHAPTER TWENTY
THE NEXT MORNING WAS MY FIRST DAY OFF EVER, BUT ATfour-thirty, Frida’s voice filled my room, jolting me awake from a restless sleep. What followed was a long morning of manners training for the upcoming ball. Eventually, she began to teach me a new dance that was faster than the one from the other day, and there were spins.
Exhaustion weighed on me—I had lain awake most of the night, repeating the events of the past few days—but I began to move in my oversize gray attire and bare feet. I lost myself to the sounds, the movements. My heart pounded, eager for each coming spin, arms extended toward an imaginary partner. The end of the dance was filled with even more turns.
For a moment, all the thoughts and fears emptied out of my head, and I relished the silence. Dripping with sweat, I lost track of how many times I practiced the dance, savoring each step and turn. But like all things I found comfort in, they took it from me before I could really enjoy it. The music stopped, the HI disappearing.
“Frida, play the song again, please,” I begged through ragged breaths. Nothing happened. “Hologram Instructor play the song again, please.”
Silence filled my room, and in the quiet all my thoughts began to come out of hiding.
“Dammit, play the song again,” I demanded, walking up to the black orb. I flipped it over, looking everywhere for a button, but nothing. I slammed it down on the counter, stomping off to the clear area between my bed and counter. I began to hum the song, but it wasn’t the same.
I gave up, throwing myself onto my bed, and checked my Comm Device to find two messages that I must have missed while I was dancing. The first was an official message from the Illum.
F13463233, your presence is required by M17292834 at 8:00 this evening following your preparation appointment at 4:30. All travel information has been loaded to your MIND chip. A Pod shall be sent now. Fertile Blessings.
The second was from Lo early this morning.
Gregory is your birth brother?! He’s so funny. When did you leave? Let’s talk soon.
I blew out a long breath. Gregory didn’t want Lo, that much was obvious. He was seeing someone else, someone it had sounded like he cared for.
