It was apparently a joke he was going to be keeping to himself. For the second time in less than an hour, the entire situation seemed to have gotten away from me and I was completely bewildered.

  “Forgive me, where are my manners? Please sit,” he said, motioning to the chair.

  I shook my head slowly but still made my way closer to him.

  “You did all of this?” I asked, motioning to the equipment set up.

  “Of course. You’ll want the whole nation to hear my surrender I am sure.”

  “And you are just going to give up, easy as that?” I said, a little heated now.

  Thinking of all the fighting and lives lost over the course of the day alone was making my blood boil. All the while, Reynolds had been pleasantly sitting here waiting to give up.

  “Yes, of course. I didn’t understand Theo’s reasonings at first. But now I think I get it. It’s not the path I would have chosen personally for succession, but I suppose at some point you must let your children make up their own minds on such things.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose in utter confusion. It was really starting to make my head hurt. We had claimed Reynolds was losing his cookies for the benefit of getting the Cream class on board with us. Now I was considering we weren’t so far from the truth.

  “What on earth are you talking about?” I said, exasperated.

  I turned at the sound of footsteps running on the hard marble floor just in time to see DJ and Theo enter the room. They looked between me and their father just as confused as I was.

  “Took you two long enough,” Reynolds said, now taking the seat in front of the camera and preparing himself for a speech.

  “What’s going…” Theo started.

  “Honestly, don’t ask me.” I retorted.

  “Really dear,” Reynolds said to me in a condescending tone.

  He gave out a long sigh before continuing.

  “Naturally I was furious when both of my children turned on me and made plans with my greatest enemy. But now, now I must say I’m very proud of you Theo.”

  Both Theo and DJ gave a resounding “What?” that echoed through the hall.

  “I am. I never thought you would ever carry on the family name. I actually considered you to be the weak link to destroy our chain. There was little I could do about it but push you harder. Still, you never did amount to much more than a soldier. But I see the beauty in your rebellion now. We all need our own way of unanimous acceptance from the people. Mine was the admiration of my grit and fatherly love despite the bum card I was supposedly dealt.”

  “Now I see the path you took was of adoring patriotism. No one will doubt you, fault you, now that you are the savior of the nation. You played the game well, and now your legacy will shine for it. No one will question you now. You have squashed the rebellion in the most ingenious way. They actually think they won,” he finished with a chuckle of amazement.

  “I wasn’t playing a game, Father,” Theo spat back. “I will never be the leader you were. I will destroy everything you built. You are a monster. You sacrificed the lives of thousands for your stupid science experiments and you will pay for your crimes.”

  “Oh stop being so dramatic,” Reynolds waved him off before smoothing his dark mustache. “Look how I have set you up for success. I have given you a great cure to boot.”

  “We destroyed it all,” DJ said flatly. “All your research, tests, results, all gone.”

  There was a slight tick at the side of Reynolds’s dark eyes but he hid it well enough.

  “That’s unfortunate,” he said after a few moments.

  “No more experiments, no more slavery and classes, no more fear of tyrants,” Theo continued. “That ends with you. That will be the only legacy you will have to leave behind.”

  “What? You are going to make a world of equals? Where servants overthrow their masters? If you think that will bring you peace, you are sorely mistaken. Not to mention that woman you are with, Ursula,” he added with a scoff.

  “At the very least I hope you are smart enough to kill her before the day is over,” he finished with the condescending tone of a father explaining mistakes to a petulant child.

  Theo had walked up to my side and I could sense more than see him clench his knuckles.

  “But it is your mistake to make,” Reynolds continued after seeing the anger in his son’s eyes.

  He threw his hands up in exasperation.

  “Well, let’s get this over with,” he added for good measure.

  I guessed Reynolds was reaching into his pocket for some sort of remote to turn on the broadcast equipment, but in that instant, a crack rang out across the hall. I didn’t see much. Theo instinctively wrapped his arms around me, shielding me from the noise.

  I heard the sputtering before I saw it. Reynolds was still in his chair, though now he was halfway hunched over. Theo relaxed his grip and I pushed his arms aside to see a stream of blood trickling out of Reynolds's mouth. A large darkened spot seemed to grow on his chest, making the black fabric of his military suit darken even more.

  Looking up at Theo I think he struggled to say something. Before a word could pass the bloodied lips, Reynolds’s eyes widened before his body laxed and fell out of the chair. We all stared at him in utter shock, the pool of blood now following gravity and soaking the ground around him.

  I looked up beyond Reynolds to follow the line of the gunfire. Standing at the far end of the hall was Ursula, gun pointed now directly at the three of us.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  “I KNEW IT all along,” Ursula said through gritted teeth as she made her way over to us.

  She had been holding the gun with just one hand, but now she steadied it with both.

  “You are all traitors. Manipulators looking to enslave us yet again,” she continued to accuse.

  “You know that’s not true,” I said, irritated.

  I was getting kind of tired of guns being pointed at me by people on our side and being complimented for our efforts by people who were supposed to be our enemy.

  “I know what I just heard. I know that you think you can use this coup to your own advantage to solidify your reign over us. You had your own ulterior motives all along.”

  She was looking down at Reynolds now that she was next to him. I supposed she gave him a little to kick to make sure he was dead, though the wide-eyed stare on his once solemn face was proof enough for me.

  The beast was even more frustrated that all this killing was happening around us and he hadn’t been a part of any of it. I was hitting the point of mental exhaustion and I wasn’t sure I could keep him in check much longer.

  “That’s interesting, coming from you,” DJ retorted. “You tried to keep the research for yourself and kill us.”

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t want to kill you,” she said with a wicked smile back. “I mean, you still have a use. These two, however,” she aimed her gun directly at me, “they have long outlived their use and don’t need the chance to enslave us all yet again.”

  “If you choose to stand with them,” she continued to DJ, “it will be a shame, but I don’t mind much. I can always find another computer nerd.”

  “You think people will follow you after what you just did? Reynolds will never stand trial for his crimes.”

  “It wasn’t my fault,” she shot back. “I had hoped to get here in time, to help our dear future leaders, our Venus Goddess and her steadfast soldier of a husband, but you see I was too late. President Reynolds wouldn’t go down without a fight. In a horrific struggle, Father killed son, Ella killed Reynolds, and then ended her own life out of grief. I step up to be the mother this nation always needed. The shoulder they can cry on after such a tragic ending.”

  “And me?” DJ asked.

  “I don’t care,” she said, exasperated that she had to tell us every little detail of her plans. “Where did you stash Jake? Clearly, if he didn’t end you two like I ordered, you killed him first. I’ll just put you with him and say you two hashed it out or something,” she added with a roll of her eyes.

  “Don’t you even care about your own son?” I shot back full of emotion.

  The monster crash was really starting to hit me hard. The fear of seeing Jake’s body turn blue in Theo’s grasp. The thought that I might never see my best friend again, no matter what he did, was too much.

  “Not much of a son,” Ursula said pointedly back at me. “He was too weak to kill his own love interest, even after she picked someone else. He was pathetic and weak. I’m almost glad he is gone. I can find someone better to give my nation to. I had six children in all, you know. Maybe the next one I track down will be better at listening to me.”

  I wanted to run at her and claw her eyes out. I didn’t care if she had a gun pointed at all of us. All my hate and disgust for this woman was boiling to the surface and nothing save death itself was going to stop me from getting at her.

  We had been so focused on Ursula none of us had noticed the other body that had slipped into the room.

  “Wow,” Jake’s voice echoed through the hall and we all spun around.

  “Jake! Jake, you're alive,” Ursula said with relief from behind us. “Quick, take Theo and DJ’s weapons,” she ordered.

  I was watching him in utter shock. How long had Jake been standing there? Had he just heard everything his mother had just said about him? How expendable he was to her? His face was completely stone cold, however.

  Walking forward he took both weapons with no resistance. Dropping one to the floor and kicking it away, he settled the other in his hand pointed at us. Now we had a gun at our back and our front.

  “You don’t want to do this Jake,” I pleaded, raising my hands to him.

  I may have been ready to kill Ursula but no matter what Jake did, who he became, I still had a small place in my heart for him.

  “Shut up!” Ursula snapped from behind me. “Do it, Jake! Kill them! Show me you are worthy to be my heir. Show me you love this nation, you love me, more than you care for her.”

  Jake’s eyes fell on mine for just a second. He did have every reason to kill me.

  “You got maybe one shot before I rip your throat out with my bare hands,” Theo said through gritted teeth.

  Jake’s cold blue eyes fluttered over to Theo, studying him. He moved the gun that was aimed at me back to him. I could feel Theo’s body tensing. He was ready to run right at him. I didn’t even think a bullet could stop him at that moment.

  “Then I guess I should make my shot count,” Jake said before squeezing the trigger.

  I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I just screamed and my heart leapt to my chest. DJ, on the other hand, ran forward and tackled Jake to the ground.

  I looked over at Theo, tears in my eyes blurring the scene before me. He was still standing, however. He was holding his ear and little drops of blood were squeezing between his fingers. I couldn’t believe that in such a close proximity Jake had missed.

  I heard the sound of a gun clattering to the ground. Turning just in time, I saw Ursula fall to her knees not far from where Reynolds lay.

  She looked up for just an instant. DJ had stopped attacking Jake when he realized Jake wasn’t fighting back. Instead, they both sat up on the marble and stared back at Ursula.

  “How could you?” was all she said before slumping on the ground next to Reynolds.

  It was ironic looking at them. Their heads were tilted towards one another almost as if Reynolds had been whispering a secret into Ursula’s ear. Both pairs of eyes were vacant of life, however, though shockingly no different than before the moment they had been shot.

  Jake scrambled up to his feet. We all faced him, no one really knowing what to say. In that same boyish fashion he had done so often as a kid, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged.

  “I hope I made the right choice,” he said finally, not really looking any of us in the eyes.

  Without another word he turned and started to walk away.

  “Jake,” I called out after him, moved by some force within myself.

  He didn’t turn back but he did stop. I could see the golden hair of the back of his head glittering in the filtering sunlight of noonday. His body was slightly heaving and I wondered if he was crying.

  “Thank you,” I said softly.

  He only turned his head around. I saw that charming boyish grin on his face.

  “Anything for you, Duchess,” he barely said above a whisper before turning and walking away.

  PROLOGUE

  IT’S BEEN SIX years since the battle that finished the Protectorate once and for all. In that six-year period, more had changed and developed than I had ever imagined possible for this nation.

  The landed now boasted thirteen Communities with plenty of space to house the entire population. Every day new areas were being surveyed and studied in hopes that one day the whole of the nation would be healed and no longer would we be confined below dome protections.

  Defectives were completely eradicated and now our citizens could travel from one settlement to the next without fear, and with no limitations. The country had never been so prosperous as all were free to be industrious, creative, and, most importantly, masters of their own future.

  Theo and I were finally finishing our term as Cincus, a term coined for the temporary pair leader of the nation. It was in honor of the great ancient Roman, Cincinnatus, who was called from his farm to rule in time of need and then returned to his field when his task was done.

  We had spent our six-year term as Cincus molding and forming our nation again into a pure democracy where every voice had its place. Each Community elected officials much as the city-states of Rome did. All officials still had the obligation to provide for their own means and were limited in terms. In that way, only those that truly had a passion for our nation stepped forward to aid in its recreation.

  Now our time was up and the seat of Cincus in the newly renamed Central Community, Cincinnati, was about to be transferred to another. I was happy to say it was someone I couldn’t have been more proud to hand over the reins of our country to.

  For the last two weeks, Theo and DJ had barely left the Cincus office as Theo prepared his younger brother for the arduous task in front of him. For my part, I had been happy to travel around the nation with Roxy, DJ’s wife, to show her all that her part in the partnership would entail.

  Over the last six years, I had built up an education program that gave equal opportunity to all members of society. More than that, I had developed safe places where newly-realized Natural borns could also receive an equal education as well as training in controlling their unique abilities.

  Of course, there were still a great many problems in our nation, ones that would take time to conquer and heal. There was still a large group of once First Generations that felt discontent at losing their elevated status. But as the ancient saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to lie down for a while first?” Roxy asked as we arrived at the Capitol building.

  “I’m fine,” I said, waddling and waving her worry off.

  I rested my hands on my swollen belly in front of me. I think that was what I was going to miss most about being pregnant. I had a built-in shelf everywhere I went.

  Tonight we would be broadcasting the official inauguration of the second Cincus of the newly formed United Verticordia. A land for the people with eyes looking forward to a future more fertile than in the past.

  “You are just so close to your due date. Really you could go any day now and it would be a healthy child,” Roxy continued. “DJ and I really meant what we said. You are more than welcome to stay here until the baby’s born. I don’t think traveling so far is wise this far along,” Roxy added in her nursing fashion.

  “I mean, I guess you could even be in labor now and you wouldn’t even know it, would you?” she added, eyeing my belly a little more skeptically.

  I was sure I wouldn’t feel that telling pain of contractions when our little baby decided to make its debut. But there were other signs. In fact, I had almost no apprehension about birthing my first child. I was filled with calm and peace. Even the beast inside me had seemed to be placated since the pregnancy began.

  “Thank you, but I want to be at home when I have the baby,” I said with a smile.

  Already I could picture my parents’ farm up in the Northwest. It was summer now and the sun would be shining all day long, warming the earth and growing the various crops. Once the fighting had ended, Charles had gone back to his ancestral home and split up large portions of the land to freely give to anyone once in his employment who wanted to stay in that area. The land he had left was still plentiful for his needs.

  After spending time inside the Freedom Fighter headquarters, Charles had gotten a hankering for trying to grow just about any and every type of produce that he could. My personal favorite was the apple orchard. Now the apples would still be small and green, but by fall the air would be filled with their sweet, ripe scent.

  The thought made my mouth water, and I decided I definitely didn’t need a rest, I needed food.

  Theo found me still in the kitchen munching on the food being prepared for the evening's events. I was wearing my long, navy sequined gown that went in an ombre to white as it traveled down my body. My hair had been pulled back into a tight updo with small red ringlets strategically framing my face. One thing I was super excited for was not having to get my hair and makeup done starting the next day. It was going to be all-natural and ponytails from here on out.

  “I should have known I would find you here,” his voice called, causing me to spin around in my chair mid-bite.

  Theo looked more than dashing. He was wearing the dark blue navy suit with the blue, white, and red flag pinned to it. Despite the fact of being married and seeing him almost every day for the last six years, the sight of him still took my breath away. I watched as he pulled on his cuffs, making sure everything was in place.

 

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