로그인Five’s POVIt was not close.Eleven of them were for. Four was against. Two abstaining. The chamber exhaled like a single animal.And I felt my heart squeeze painfully in my chest. Eleven.Eleven people had looked at me, considered what was to be done with me, and decided that I could be handed over like a piece of property.Just like that.No questions about what I wanted. No consideration for what might happen to me once I was out of their sight. No acknowledgment that I was a person sitting in the middle of their chamber, listening to them decide where I would spend the next few days, or weeks.I was simply Five-Forty-Nine.A slave.A problem to be temporarily relocated."The motion carries," the council’s speaker declared. His voice was steady, almost bored, as though he had just concluded a discussion about the allocation of land. "The slave Five-Forty-Nine is remanded to the custody of Lord Elvis, effective at once, for the duration of the inquiry."Elvis turned to me slowly
Five's POVWe reached the citadel at dusk, and the vote was already waiting for us.Theron met the vehicles at the gate. He looked at Lucien, then at me, then at the ground, and I knew before he spoke that the six days had been shortened."They moved it up," he informed. "It's tonight. Elvis invoked the emergency clause.""On what grounds?" Lucien asked, his voice cold."That the King was absent from the citadel during an active inquiry." Theron's jaw worked. "He called your journey evasion."Lucien said nothing. His hand tightened on mine, once, and let go."Stay close," he murmured, so only I could hear. "Whatever they say, you do not do anything Five." "I promise." The words came out of me easily. And this time, I hoped I would be able to keep it. ***The council chamber was full when we got there. It wasn't just the inner seven, it was the lords in their territorial colors, elders, Castellan at the far end with his face carved from stone, the facility's outer council in their
Seven's POVI should have known the lie would come due.I was carrying a basket of linens through the east passage when a hand fisted in my hair and slammed me against the wall."You little rat."Corinne. She was dressed this time, wearing a riding coat the color of old wine, her amber eyes bright with the fury, and underneath it was satisfaction. As if she had waited days for this moment. Two of her father's guards stood at the passage mouth, blocking the light.Fuck. Two guards. One furious noblewoman. A corridor too narrow to run through without passing them.And me, with a sore scalp and a basket of laundry at my feet.Wonderful."I threw a vase at him," she hissed, giving my hair another sharp tug. "I embarrassed myself in front of half the barracks. Because of you."She said the you as if the word alons was an insult. Theron had told me what had happened, and I had heard the rumors from the other slaves. "I said he was busy," I countered, evenly, refusing to let her see how
Five’s POV I began to move—small, rolling motions of my hips that kept him deep. Lucien’s head tipped back against the coat. His throat worked. I leaned forward and kissed the place where his pulse beat hardest. We found a rhythm that was almost lazy. I rose and sank, rose and sank, never quite leaving him. His hands guided but never forced. When I leaned back he followed with his mouth, taking one nipple between his lips, sucking gently while I rode him. Pleasure built the way the moon climbed—steadily, without hurry. I felt it gather low in my belly, warm and inevitable. “Lucien—” “I have you.” He sat up, his arms wrapping around me, and the change of angle made me gasp. Now every roll of my hips dragged him against the place that made stars burst behind my eyes. I clung to his shoulders. His mouth found mine again. We kissed through the rising pleasure until it broke over me in long, quiet waves. I came with my face buried in his neck, breathing his name into his s
Five’s POV We did not go back at once. The message sat in Lucien’s pocket like a stone, but the house was quiet and the light was still soft, and when he looked at me in the hallway outside Mira’s room his eyes were not the King’s. They were only his. “One more hour,” he whispered. I nodded. We left by the back door, the one that opened onto the path down to the water. The air had turned cooler. Dusk was already folding itself over the trees, and the first thin silver of the moon hung low above the eastern ridge. The pond lay ahead of us, a dark mirror held in the hollow of the land. Reeds whispered along its edge. Somewhere an owl called once and then fell silent. Lucien’s hand never left mine. At the water’s edge he stopped. The ground was soft with moss and last year’s leaves. He turned to me, and for a long moment neither of us spoke. The drawing of the crescent and the circle was still in his other pocket; I could feel the faint weight of it when his coat brushed my
Five's POVI woke in a bed too small for the man beside me.His feet hung off the end. A carved wooden horse stood on the windowsill, one ear chipped, and the ceiling had a water stain shaped like a lopsided bird. Lucien slept on his stomach with one arm flung across my waist, his face pressed into a pillow that had been aired for the first time in years.I lay still and let myself have it.He woke an hour later and pretended he hadn't been watching me do the same."Come," he hummed, pulling on his shirt. "There's one more room."***It was at the end of the upper corridor, a door painted pale green, the paint flaking.He stood with his hand on the knob for a long moment."I haven't opened it," his voice was quiet. "Not since.""We don't have to.""I want to." He exhaled. "I want you to see her."He twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open, giving us space to step in. The room was small and bright. There was a narrow bed with a patchwork quilt. A shelf of lopsided clay animals.
549’s POV The forest swallowed me whole. Branches tore into my skin, as I moved, roots caught my feet—making me stumble. But I didn’t slow down, I couldn’t. The voices behind me were multiplying, flashlight beams cutting through the trees. I ran until my legs stopped working properly. Unti
549’s POV“What’re you doing?” I whispered. She didn’t respond, just kept the gun pointed at me with steady hand.Her eyes were fixed on me, cold and calculating. “Answer me!” I snapped, my throat feeling raw, my head starting to pound. “You can’t leave this place.” She finally responded, her vo
549’s POVIt was time. For the first time, I wasn’t clad in a white dress. I wore a black trouser and a black turtleneck top. It felt… thrilling, like my first real act of rebellion. I was getting out of here with my friends. We’ll find other humans, find that paradise I’d dreamed of. We’ll be
549’s POVI curled up in my bed, my head heavy, my throat sore from crying. The higher ups would punish me for not looking after myself. But I couldn’t bring myself to care. Not when everything was crumbling around me, not when my fate had been sealed. I hated it, hated the breeding facility, th







