Coming March 24, 2016
Genre: New Adult Dystopian Romance
In the 23rd century, war has ravaged the planet.
A biological weapon has decimated the population, and those who remain have been driven to desperate measures to survive. Over the course of a century, evolution delivers an answer -- the Xeno gene, which provides its bearers with immunity to disease. All adolescent girls are tested for the X-gene, and carriers are obligated to bear children for the good of the human race.
The promise of salvation comes at a terrible price.
Stone Emmerson, heir to a position of supreme power, is surprised to learn his best friend Kella is an X-gene carrier. He's quick to claim her as his own, but as a mere servant, Kella can't help but doubt his motives. Before he can offer the protection of his name, she escapes his household. Mourning her loss, Stone becomes the black sheep among his peers by focusing on the welfare of his people.
While survival and freedom hang in the balance...
Starting over under an assumed name, Kella is a founding member of the X-Diplomats, a radical group dedicated to stopping enforced X-gene testing and promoting equal rights for commoners. Years pass before she crosses paths with Stone again. As the web of deceit that has come between them unravels, their love begins to grow. But can Stone turn a blind eye to Kella's violent revolution and see the justice of her cause? Or will their differences prove too great to overcome?
What price would you pay to break the chains of oppression?
PROLOGUE
Life didn’t end in flames.
No climactic event for humanity’s
narcissism.
No nation was to blame.
A tiny, unseen germ fell mankind.
Pestilence claimed victory without
shame.
Man raced for a cure.
The world perished just the same.
~ Gracen Miller
August 8, 2274 A.E.E. (After Extinction Event)
Fear
gripped Kella like a new epidemic absent an antidote.
Her
breath emerged in gasps, but pride had her choking back the tears that’d display
her terror. Despite her approaching meltdown, the caretaker guiding her revealed
no sympathy. He tightened his grip on her arm, his fingers pinching into her
skin hard enough she knew she’d find bruises tomorrow. Most likely five oval
prints staining her skin.
Stone-faced,
he hauled her to the auction block. Merriment surfaced around her from the
crowd that’d arrived for her sale. A celebration of this magnitude required not
only champagne but also caviar and other fancy finger food. Voices tittered as
well-dressed men and women sipped from their flutes, their gaiety an unnatural
backdrop to her distress. Diamonds glittered in the lighting, a gaudy display
of wealth when so many low-class dregs perished from starvation.
Lightheaded
she stumbled, and her warden’s hold intensified, stinging. Kella winced and
reminded herself…just breathe.
In the
surreal moments as he towed her to the stage, she felt a little outside herself
with a weird buzzing in her ears, and was almost thankful for his support. On
that block, she’d lose all sense of self and identity, freedom would be lost to
her, to become some man’s breeding stock.
Bile
stung the back of her throat, but somehow she managed to force down the
digestive fluid. She prayed her best friend since she was six, Stone Emmerson, missed
this debacle. His presence would be the ultimate humiliation. But his duty as
the Regent’s son, and heir apparent, required he watch her auction. Sold to the
highest bidder, a stark reminder of her low-class birth.
“I don’t
want this,” she pleaded with the caretaker, praying someone would recognize the
injustice of this act and save her from indignity. But she was a dreg. Nothing
special. And in in her world, dregs held no voice, save the one their Regent
gave them.
Kella might
not be as bright as her betters—if she ever forgot, they all reminded her of
her lack of intelligence, so it was best not to forget her place in the world—but
as the daughter of a house servant to Regent Peter, she’d been educated alongside
prodigal sons and daughters. The best she could tell from history, no Regent or elitist had ever done anything for the good of a
dreg. At least not since the pestilence had ripped their world apart.
Humanitarian efforts had died in the wake of their near extinction. All
decisions handed down by Regents went in the favor of those in power and with
money.
The guardian
jerked her about, turning his back to the crowd, and hiding her from their eyes.
“Do your duty to the population, little girl, and don’t whine about it.”
Her
stomach churned, threatening to embarrass her worse. Even dreg-born, worthless
girls like her possessed dignity, and she really didn’t want to embarrass
herself further by spewing vomit all over the crowd. Mouth watering, a sure
signal she would blow any second, she swallowed several times in hopes of
keeping down the stomach acid.
I’m about to be sold and become
the property of some nameless stranger. All because of her freakin’ genetic makeup. Lucky me. Fate is a cruel bitch.
On
December 21, 2121, humanity became a significant extinction event thanks to one
disease manmade for genetic warfare. With a ninety percent mortality rate, the
pestilence had been deemed a success. Until the plague spread across the world
without care for enemy or ally. Scientists scrambled to find a cure, but fell
to the infection and died in their labs. Leaders around the world quarantined
the infected into hot zones and nuked them, hoping to not only kill the spread
of disease, but the virus too. Those hot zones remained, the disease still
active, and were so radioactive none but Xeno’s could enter those regions
without suffering ill effect.
The
original disease had altered women, seventy to eighty percent born sterile. Even
the healthy, reproductive women often gave birth to malformed, stillborn
infants. In the old days, those that’d been fertile had been auctioned off to
the highest bidder. The deformed infants that survived had been left to die in
the hot zones since they couldn’t breed into the populace. That period of
history had been about protecting humanity, surviving.
The
world moved on, times changed. More and more women could procreate, at least
half the population could propagate, and purchasing breeders had been outlawed.
Then a new gene emerged, called Xeno for the scientist that discovered it.
X-gene as it’d been christened, was as effective as a miracle drug. All girls
with the genetic factor produced female offspring with the same gene. Instead
of freeing humanity, those who possessed the genetic factor became slaves to
elitists desperate to save their line.
Mandates
by Regents forced all fourteen-year-old girls to submit to mandatory DNA
testing. Kella had gone yesterday. One in ten thousand tested positive. The
odds were against her. Her best friend, Stone, had promised they’d celebrate
her birthday with her favorite rainbow cake when she returned.
Instead
of celebrating, she’d been given the grave news that she possessed the X-gene.
The moment she tested positive, she’d become the property of the Regency to be
auctioned off to the highest bidder among the rich and spoiled. No commoner
could bid, and none of the rich who tested positive were forced to the auction
the way the dregs were.
Only us without a voice must
submit to the injustice.
The gene
passed only through the female line, and the affluent had turned it into a
game, racing to breed the first male with the rare DNA. Some scientists thought
no male would ever receive the marker.
Kella
didn’t care about male offspring or if any would ever be born Xeno. She just
wanted out of this freakin’ nightmare.
Her caretaker
led-dragged her to the stairs while she winced at his pinching grip. Once he presented
her to the steps, she couldn’t force her feet to climb them to the top of the
block to parade herself to her would-be buyers. Undeterred, her caretaker gave
off an irritated grunt, and bitched about whiny dregs right before he slung her
over his shoulder hard enough she lost her breath.
The
caretaker ascended the steps. Each bounce of his shoulder against Kella’s belly
elicited a squeak from her. At the top, he settled her on her feet. His hands
landed on her shoulders, and he roughly spun her around for the crowd’s
inspection, before turning her to face the audience.
“Behave,”
he said in harsh whisper, “Or I’ll personally see that your mother suffers for
your misbehavior.”
Kella
jerked as if he struck her, and her gaze slid to Regent Peter Emmerson. Stone’s
dad nodded at her guardian. Tears blurred her vision, and she made a futile
attempt to swipe them away. Murmurs filtered around her. All the comments she caught
were about her ‘breeding stock’ and how she’d make pretty children.
“Esteemed
ladies and gentlemen, I come before you today with one of the rarest offerings,
an X-gene. She’s been educated in the Regent’s home, so she’s less likely to
embarrass.” A twitter of laughter surfaced, and her cheeks burned with the ridicule
toward her class. “Mackella Starke is five-four, weighs one-ten, and is
fourteen years old. She has all her teeth and suffers no visible blemishes. The
X-gene is strong in her, showing up on an unheard of fifty-five of her fifty-six
chromosomes. As you can see, she’s a lovely creature with superior breeding
attributes. If you’ll check your devices, you’ll see close up pictures of her
for your inspection.”
Whispers
increased, sounding like a hive of buzzing bees, as they checked their
Regent-issued devices and perused her photos. Degrading snapshots she’d been
forced to endure, some of them naked, others with her lips pulled back so her
teeth would show. She’d borne the humiliation because what choice did she have?
“Lovely
girl,” a woman said. “She could breed us fine children, darling.”
“I don’t
know. She’s not to my tastes,” Kella surmised it was the husband that
responded.
None of
this was to her taste, but no one cared about her wants. Not even Momma. When
she’d voiced finding a way to run, her mother, Judy, warned her to follow the
law, and to do as she was told or they’d both endure the consequences of her
reckless actions. Fear for her parent was all that kept her in line at the
X-gene camp, and all that kept her from fleeing toward the door in this moment.
Not that’d she’d make it. Kella held no delusions. They’d capture her before
she traversed half the room.
“I want
her.” The woman’s voice grew petulant. “Please consider purchasing her for me.
You promised me anything for our anniversary. I want her.”
Shivers
racked Kella’s body at the coldness of the couple’s discussion. She’d always
been one to hang out on the fringe of a crowd. Being front and center and forced
to submit to their inspection shamed her to the point she kept her eyes
downcast. It was easier to face their derision if she didn’t look at their
faces.
How
could they think themselves better than her, but want to use her body to breed
a superior race?
“Does
anyone wish to submit a question before the auction begins?”
Dead
silence. That unnerved her more than the chatter.
Kella
swept her gaze about the room, spying Stone’s mom, Lucy. She talked to her
husband, her animation hinting at the woman’s annoyance. Mrs. Emmerson shook a
finger at Stone’s dad, but his glare at whatever she said had Lucy stalking
from the room. Thankfully, Stone was nowhere to be seen. Maybe his dad had
dismissed him from the auction. Thank God for that small favor.
Not that
she’d ever see Stone again after today, anyway. That reality caused her bottom
lip to tremble, and Kella clenched her teeth together to halt the betrayal of
emotion. She would miss him.
“Get on
with it,” someone in the crowd yelled. “I don’t care if she’s bucktoothed and
web footed. My boy wants her, and I’ll pay anything for him to have her.”
Notching
her chin a little higher, Kella squared her shoulders. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry, damnit!
At least
she’d been spared the humiliation of Stone watching her degradation. She would
face the crowd’s mockery with bravery, with the grace Stone asked of her in
everything and she rarely gave him because creating mayhem was more her style.
But when a dreg demanded justice of elitists, the result often ended in chaos
rather than fairness.
“Very
well.” The caretaker gripped her by her nape, and she took his hold as a
warning to behave. At this point, she feared her legs wouldn’t carry her even
if she tried to run. And she knew sticking her tongue out at the crowd, or
throwing a childish tantrum would only amuse those present. The end result
would be the same. She’d be bought and carted off to a stranger’s house to bear
his children against her will. Rape in the ancient’s language. That word held
no meaning for dregs in today’s society. Only elitists were afforded safety
from the vile act. “I’ll start the bidding at twenty frams.”
Prices
flew from the crowd, escalating to a ridiculously high nine thousand frams, and
the amount continued to climb. Kella zoned out, dismissing the throng and
retreating into herself while wishing her mortification would soon end.
My mortification will only
increase when I’m naked and defiled.
Maybe
she could find some inventive way to flee where her mother couldn’t be
reprimanded too. If that didn’t work, she wasn’t opposed to ending her life.
The idea of another man besides Stone touching her…she shuddered.
“Fifty
thousand frams!” The room silenced at his
bid.
Kella
came out of her trance at the shocking sum. She slid her gaze along the crowd,
looking for the auction-goer. Finding him at the back, near the windows, her
fingers began to tingle as Stone returned her stare. His father stood at his
side, neither of them showing a hint of emotion.
How can he betray me like this? He knew she wanted no part of
this system. She’d confided her dreams in him. Her hope of being infertile and X-gene
free, and becoming an archeologist.
All of a
sudden chatter boomed in the quiet of the room. Someone called out fifty-one
thousand frams.
“Sixty
thousand frams.” Staring her straight in the eyes, Stone said cool as ice, “No
price is too high for the mother of my children.”
“Sold!”
The caretaker boomed a few moments later when no further offers were given.
Her
breathing sounded loud in her ears, labored.
Stone
stepped forward, and his voice was loud enough for all to hear. “I take
Mackella Starke as my wife, with all protection afforded to her by my House.”
Patrons
congratulated him on his purchase and wished him many children with his ‘lovely
bride’.
Kella
wanted to vomit. I thought he cared about
me.
I’m so dumb. He’ll be Regent, and
like all of the privileged he feels entitled to my genes.
But this
was Stone! He’d been her best friend
for eight years. They’d planned their future together, not together-together, but as friends shared secrets with one another.
And now he owns me. His will is my will, my dreams forgotten.
Someone
emitted a high-pitched scream right before blackness consumed Kella.
***
Kella
woke to a sharp sting in her neck, and an even sharper retort. “Be still.”
Her
tears could no longer be halted, she wept as the tattooist marked her as
Stone’s chattel. Stone’s wife. Freedom gone, exploited at the hands of the crème
de le crème, she wept for the life she’d dreamed of, but would never have.
“I’m
finished.” The tattooist roughly smeared liquid onto Kella’s neck that stung so
bad she would’ve cried if she hadn’t gone numb.
Head
spinning, she was grateful Stone’s father helped her to sit up until Peter
said, “That sigil will keep a little slut like you honest while making it clear
you’re off limits to all but Stone.”
Kella
gasped at his slur. She had no idea why he thought so little of her.
“Don’t
pretend you’re shocked. I see through you. Your momma’s a whore, too. Why do
you think I keep her so close? All dregs are sluts, especially you Xenos,
willingly spreading your legs for the man who buys you.”
Just
when she thought she couldn’t cry more, tears burned her sinuses, but she
somehow managed to sniffle them back. Her momma wasn’t a whore. If she whored
herself to Regent Emmerson then it was because he forced her. And it wasn’t
like an X-gene had a choice other than to submit to their owner. That was the
law thanks to Regents like him.
“Stone’s
my friend, I’d never betray him that way.” He had to have a reason for buying her. Didn’t he? She would put her faith
in him because he’d had her back so many times, and trusting him was the only
right thing to do.
Peter
laughed. “You’re such a little fool. Hopefully, you can pop out a few babies
before you’re eighteen, and then Stone can find a woman more suited to his
station. Don’t you know how delighted he was to discover you are a Xeno. Now he
can fuck you without losing respect among his peers. The privileged do not slum with the dregs, not even for a
little pussy.”
Harsh
words that had her questioning everything, but didn’t they contradict the claim
he just made about her mother whoring herself to Peter?
“He told
you this?” Kella hated the pitiful sound of her voice, but to hear the truth,
that Stone thought so little of her when he’d been her world for eight years
ripped her soul apart. That he intended to take a second wife once he tired of
her, fractured all her belief in humanity. And if Stone’s genuineness wasn’t
trustworthy, then she could depend on no one. To discover the most honest
person she knew had deceived her for years—
“Of
course he told me that. He confides everything to me. He is having a rainbow
cake baked for you. You can celebrate a different way now by spreading your
legs for my son.” Kella flinched, and he leered at her. “Grow up, little girl.
You’ve believed the good lie for years. Stone never cared about you. You’re a
useless goddamn dreg. The only thing you’re good for now is a dirty fuck and
squirting out babies.” He dragged her toward a girl hovering near the door. She
appeared a little older than Kella, but not much. “Go with Christine. She’ll
deliver you to Stone, so you can thank him for buying you.”
Discovering
the truth of Stone’s lies, Kella lost her stomach in the hallway. Tears
streamed down her cheeks, and her breathing hitched as she attempted to reel in
her devastation. Stone wasn’t worth her anguish.
Christine
gave her a pitiful glance, and Kella hated the girl for her sympathy. But she
was caught in a sticky web with no way out, so she shadowed the woman. Thanks
to life’s cruel show of hands, nothing mattered in the face of Stone’s
betrayal.
Depression
threatened to carry her under. Eyes wide open, she trudged along behind Christine,
coming to the harsh reality that Stone wasn’t the friend she thought him to be.
Wasn’t the upstanding man he’d pretended to be. He probably laughed and laughed with James over his duplicity.
But why
the subterfuge? None of the other privileged hid their real feelings, so why
had Stone?
“My
mistress hates this law.” The girl stopped and faced her.
Kella
blinked at her, unable to process what the other girl was getting at. “We’ll
help you escape if that’s what you want. But you have to make the decision now.
Go or stay?”
Relief surged
through Kella so strong she would’ve gone to her knees if she hadn’t leaned
against the wall. “Go!”
Christine
led Kella down the hall to a couple of backpacks, and the other girl handed
Kella one of them. Much later, inside the pack she discovered a few days’ worth
of clothes, water, granola bars, a picture of Stone, and the wind-up dog toy
he’d given her for her birthday. She had no idea why the last two were in
there, but she would keep them to remind herself of what she’d lost.
That night
Kella cried herself to sleep, despondent by Stone’s betrayal. She’d thought
Stone different than other spooners, believed him to be trustworthy. It hurt to
realize she was wrong. It hurt worse that hope and freedom came not at the
hands of a friend, but a stranger. In this twisted, hate-filled world, Kella
shouldn’t have been surprised.
Thank you for hosting this, Kathryn, and for all your help!
ReplyDeleteHuggles,
Gracen