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“This is Xavier Hayes, one of our youngest and most talented Officials I’ve had the honor of overseeing,”
“We've met, but I don’t mind introducing myself again,” Xavier says, grabbing my hand and letting his lips meet the soft skin at the top of my hand. The brief touch warms me, filling my cheeks with heat, my pulse picking up rapidly. I wish his lips would explore more than just my hand. I silently whisper in my mind.
He watches me as if I am someone worth figuring out.
At that moment, for the first time in a long time, my defiant mind suddenly felt a little less lonely.
I hiss as my mark burns once again. It feels like a painful fire in my lower stomach, growing the longer I stand here. “Fuck!” Fallan curses, forcing my stare away from my birthmark. He clutches his chest, snapping his head in my direction. I have little time to push myself behind the wall. My body sinks to my knees, clutching my ears as an overwhelming sense of fear washes over me. Regardless of my grasp on my head, I hear their muffled tones. “What is it?” Valerie questions. “Nothing…. Let’s go,” Fallan says, pausing a great deal between the two statements.
the Cure-All is meant for all. That ideology is the very foundation on which my mother built her cure.
“Are you sure you’re trusting the right people?” he questions, only accelerating my heart rate.
“Tell me it's a bad idea to continue trying to figure you out,” he quickly whispers, lowering his head to avoid my dad’s ears. “I can't do that,” I say, pulling away from the study with a smile.
Every citizen of New Haven, Untouchable and Unfortunate, has one thing in common.
this scar. Every one of us is born with it to confirm our purity.
Ash still lines the ground beyond New Haven, dusting remnants of what used to be valiant cities before the wars.
Nothing can live for more than a few days beyond the ward. Or maybe that's just what we say to convince ourselves we aren’t in confinement.
But I need more than perfect. I need flaws. I need something to feel real for once in my life.
“Max is with his friends. I thought you had a blonde lap dog of your own. Shouldn't she be licking your face right now?” I question, seeing Fallan’s cocky smirk drop at the statement. “Sadly, she couldn’t join us. Maybe you can take her place since you’re so curious about her,” Fallan says.
But I loved it. I craved it. I craved the fear he fills me with. It's a fear to walk the line. Fallan moves closer to the window, looking over my expression with furrowed brows. “What?” he questions. “You know where to find me when you're tired of your lap dog,” I mutter, letting my smirk finally meet my mouth at the sight of his dazed expression. Hunter is wide-eyed, looking between the both of us.
“Enthralled is not the word I’d use to describe what I feel when I look at you,” Fallan says, lowering his eyes as that typical sense of hate passes over his expression.
“Shif-” she tries to say. Her cough that follows paints the grass in red. “Shif?” Kai questions. Fallan’s eyes are wide, watching the Officials all dial in on her words. “Shifter,” she screams in a voice nothing short of a nightmare.
“That’s not possible,” I whisper. Feeling my voice shake, I look up at Fallan for confirmation. Fallan’s eyes grow dark at the statement, finally filling with the one expression I have yet to see on him. Fear.
His finger traces below her collarbone, finding a blemish that makes my blood run cold. A mark. It's the exact mark I bear. “No wonder a Shifter attacked her…. She’s Tainted,”
“Why do you call me that? Little Dove?” I question, cutting off Hunter's justifiable line of questioning.
“When there was religion, the dove used to symbolize innocence and purity in a world scorched with floods and fire,” Hunter says, taking the words away from Fallan. “What Fallan won’t tell you is how you were the first Untouchable he had observed say sorry to someone like us-” “It was abnormal and clearly an act to assuage your own personal inner turmoil. I liked the irony in nicknaming you after something as gentle and innocent as a small dove,” Fallan says,
His scent engulfs my nose with notes of cinnamon and oak.
