The Sky Demons leader hadn’t returned in nearly seven days, the citrus scent having all but disappeared by the second day, confirming it was him and not the room that summoned it. It was odd, though. I missed it for some reason.
There was a tug on my chest, a calling, that grew every day he was gone. I’d never felt anything like it. It was easier to ignore the first few days, but by the sixth, it was a throbbing ache in my chest that never went away. Food didn’t ease it. Sleep was nearly impossible to catch. I’d grown uncomfortable for some reason, and the only way to confirm if it was caused by his absence was to wait for him to return.
Fingering through my long platinum hair, Iris braided it around a beautiful circlet she brought with her. She’d affixed several braids around my head with decorative beads she calledlapilli.
It was something her mother used to do for her when she was younger. She didn’t explain their importance, only that it was what females who cared for one another did for each other. A bonding ceremony of sorts, if I understood her correctly. I’d learn it so I could, in turn, do it for her and strengthen our bond.
I’d worn the dress she brought for me. The scarlet red fabric hugged my waist and dipped into a deep V, baring the valley of my breasts all the way to the top of my belly-button. It was layered with semi-translucent fabric but not see-through like my first dress, and it fell all around me in a flutter. A long slit ran the length of my right leg to my thigh, showing off well-trained muscles.
When I first put it on, Iris mentioned that I was stronger than most of the women she’d dressed from the sectors, and I had to spit excuses—my body type, my affinity for survival, my natural ability to tone with minimal exercise. I couldn’t be sure if she bought it, but she did make a little joke about me being more dragon than human and moved away from the topic.
Swirling a braid around the golden circlet circling my head, Iris asked, “Should we meet a few of my friends today? Are you open to talking with a few of my kind and their humans for a short while? I really want you to feel at home here. You deserve to make friends and feel like a person.”
Iris was rather insistent that I be at ease and “find myself” in the Sky Demons despite being sequestered to their leader’s room for the foreseeable future. She was on a war path to make it happen, and I didn’t see any reason to argue. The more I tied myself to the demons here, the easier I could make moves.
The trouble was that the more I got to know Iris, the less I wanted to hurt anyone she might protect. Starting a war between the factions was sure to put them all in danger no matter how I went about stoking it.
I blinked before turning to look at her. “Their humans?”
Her smile was gentle and warm, but it had an edge of envy to it. “Yes, Maze. Their humans. Maybe it’s time I shared some dragon secrets with you.”
My shoulder blades pulled together, a ripple of fear, confusion, and excitement zinging down my spine. “Secrets?”
“You’re so careful not to ask questions, I’ve noticed,” she said, her fingers weaving my hair into gorgeous braids to frame my face like she’d been born to do it. “You still have your guard up around me, and I don’t blame you. I know what humans in your sector are told about us. It’s one of the few sectors I’ve begged Onyx to let us intervene on, but he insists it's not our place to meddle in human affairs.”
Human affairs? Meddle?
“My sector?” I probed. I really shouldn’t. “You know about my sector?”
Iris huffed, her expression souring as she kneeled in front of me, dazzling me with her beauty. “Maze, tell me something. Did you know that every sector under Sky Demons rule receives an allotment for honoring their side of the treaty? More than protection, but food, materials, and access to trade. Your sector, among a few others, refuses to receive any dragon intervention. Meaning, very little protection and trade. They do, however, take the food and supplies offered with the allotment, and yet I’venever seen it distributed among your people. Not the way it is in other sectors.”
Confusion crept into my expression. “An allotment? I thought Tributes were merely in exchange for dem—uh, dragons not killing us.”
Her pretty silver eyes narrowed in disgust. “Yes, at one time that was the case. Under my father, Titus, and his father before him. But not since Onyx became our leader. Not for over a hundred years, little one.”
Over a hundred years? But that couldn’t be right. Even the Rebel leaders said we’d only received the promise not to be killed. With all their intel gathering, they wouldn’t miss something that important or reoccurring.
Most of our people were homeless, living in tents scattered across the desert stretches. Food and water were scarce, so we relied on jobs inside the sector to survive. The Rebel and gang leaders were the only ones with access to consistent food and water. Functional homes with heat and electricity were reserved for the influential gang members and their families running our sector. Rebels lived communally, though most of us frequented the gangs’ territory and homes on missions.
Women were either working for the gangs, of which there were three, or part of the rebellion. My sister had kept me out of it until she was taken, surviving on stealing, scavenging, or…selling herself. She never wanted me to suffer the way she had. She kept me hidden for six years after our mom died.
Until that night.
I’d never seen men as Rebels other than the leaders. They all joined the gangs. Jona was one of three leaders, our handlers. Each leader had a selection of Rebels they oversaw. We were trained young. I was versed in reading, writing, martial arts, weaponry, tactical execution, intel gathering, poisons and tonics, and honey-trapping among other things. Though, wemostly spied and rarely fought. Violence was reserved for demons.
Sex was our most important tool.
That was the way of our world. The gangs controlled our food, and being a Rebel afforded us protection we’d never get with the gangs running our sector. Being a Rebel meant we fought for something; being part of a gang meant we fought each other. And with so little food to go around, fighting was all we did.
It’d always been argued that the demons kept us from trade and the ability to grow our own crops or hunt our own food efficiently after the Nuclear Wars wiped out growth and half the world’s animal population, but I never once thought there might be another reason.
“You mentioned other sectors like mine?” I chanced another question, my desperation to know outweighing my fear of discovery.
Iris took my hands in hers, and another memory of Luna lived in my head when she did. “Most of the sectors in Sky Demons territory are thriving. Granted, Tribute enslavement is still an issue, but the difference between the sectors that care for each other and yours is…vast.” She canted her head, speaking softer. “Have you ever been outside your sector? Have you traveled at all?”
I didn’t want to answer, but I couldn’t help it. “No, we were never permitted to leave. Well, not the women at least.”
The leaders had said they couldn’t protect us from all the dangers lurking outside our sector, so for our safety, we couldn’t leave. Now I had to wonder if it was to keep us in line. But why give us the tools to fight back if they were deceiving us?
