I shook my head. “I didn’t know.”
His shoes were on the next minute and we were out of the building in two. The sun shone bright in the sky, making me squint my eyes. At least, the temperatures had cooled down from a scorching 120°F to a much more manageable 90°F, making this Hell’s asshole a bit more breathable.
“As you must have seen when you arrived and the few times you snuck out—”
“I didn’tseeanything when I arrived,” I reminded him. “I was too busy being beaten and trying not to choke with all the sand and dust getting under the pillowcase.”
The clearing of his throat was loud as he winced. “Right. Well, even from the inside, you must have watched the walls a few times, right?”
They were fifty feet high and circled the whole town, which made them pretty hard to miss.
“But what you can’t see from the inside, is that it’s actuallythreecircles.” He pointed to a side of the town, south-east of the main entrance. “Over there is another, slightly smaller,” he said, before showing another side, “and a third one here. South-east is where our farms are.”
“Farms?” I asked, eyebrows lifting in surprise.
“You didn’t think we imported everything, did you? We raise animals and grow crops in hundreds of greenhouses.”
My mouth opened and shut a few times. Ididthink they were mostly importing everything we could find around here. After all, this damn heat would make farming difficult…It was already a nightmare for any sane Immortal; I didn’t imagine for one second that animals other than lizards or insects could survive it.
“And in that area over there is where our soldiers train and where the different schools are located,” Marcus said, pointing to the opposite side. “Today, I’ll give you a tour of those places.”
The whole day walking under the heat instead of cozying up in the Archives with books older than me?Great. I could definitely try to be an outdoorsy person. No big deal.
My smile was only slightly forced as I answered, “Sure, sounds fun.”
He chuckled next to me. “Please, hide your enthusiasm. It’ll be great, I swear. You’ll get to meet people you’ve probably never seen before.” The pointed look I gave him said it all. “Oh come on,” he drawled. “Your pheromone’s level is perfectly fine, no one will try to fuck you in the street. And if they do, I promise I’ll slit their throat and report them.”
I reared back. “No need for such extreme measures.”
“Why not? It’s not like they’lldiefrom it.”
We stopped walking as he stared at me, confused. People kept walking by, ignoring us, the thrill of my arrival now old news.
“No need to punish someone so severely for something they have no control over.”
Oh no. Did I say something wrong? Anger pulled at his face, his hand flexing on the hilt of a dagger strapped to his hip.
“Why are you downplaying it?” he asked. “It doesn’t matter if they’re lured to you on a chemical level, any decent person would be able to refrain themselves from forcing you into having sex.”
My eyes widened as I frantically looked around us, searching for anyone who could hear us.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
“What do you mean what am I doing?” His voice grew louder and I couldn’t help the embarrassment at the few curious glances we got from the people walking by. “I’m setting things straight, that’s what. I know people haven’t taken you seriously most of your life—me included when you first got here. But what you’ve been through and forced to believe is not okay, Lola.”
Here I was, scolded again but this time in the middle of the street. My blood started to boil in my veins as anger and embarrassment simmered.
“Arc told me what happened that time. And what he did was right. As we’ve established last night, you’re myfriend, and I’ll do the same if I have to.”
“Ew!” I took a step back, eyes so wide that they could fall out of their sockets at any moment. “I’m not doingthatwith you!”
The mere thought of us tangled in a bed gave me the ick. Don’t get me wrong, Marcus was definitely an attractive man, butHell no. I’ve seen the man cut his toenails on the couch and dipping pickles in a peanut butter jar, that ship had no way of turning back.
Marcus mumbled, rolling his eyes in disbelief. “I’m not talking aboutthatpart. I’m talking about bringing consequences to people thinking it’s okay to fucking rape you because you smell like a good time.”
That was it. People’s stares said it all, and I was going to be labeled as the Succubus who’s making a big deal about sex.
“It’s not okay,” he repeated a tad more softly. “And I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen anymore.”
