Page 61 of Serpent In White

“With what?”

“Is it your business?” He bites, and it’s then that I notice his lips… all pink and puffy. His hair looks run-through by fingers, too.

Maybe his own… or maybe someone else’s.

My brow lifts as I study the look on his face. He’s having trouble making eye contact, and it’s obvious he’s forcing himself not to think about something… to hide it from me.

“I’m sorry, I’m just…” he breathes, rubbing his jaw with his fingers. “I’m worried. This is the third body this year. Second who isn’t one of our own…”

“It’s the balance, Darian—”

“I told you to stop with that shit,” he barks at me, quietly. “I won’t accept that.”

“You have no choice,” I tell him with certainty. “I’ve been studying this for years. I think I know a little more than you.”

“We get it, Drake. You’re a genius,” he rumbles, and it makes me smirk. But my gut twists at the flush in his cheeks… It was like that when he got here.

He was with someone tonight.

Was it Abdiel?

Darian’s eyes dart to mine, and he gives me a severe look.Don’t.

“There’s something else.” I change the subject on an exhale. “Come.”

We walk the trail, a path leading to a secret spot between the lab and my cabin. I pull out my walkie. “Lorn. Burn the body.”

Lorn radios back theten-fouras Darian and I walk in silence. The chill in the air brushes my skin, telling me things.

The forest whispers on this mountain, and using the white trumpets is the only thing that helps me understand what it wants. Darian is in denial about it, but I know the truth.

There’s a gateway up here. An opening.

We keep walking for a half-mile to the small shack, and as I open the door for Darian, his eyes turn reprimanding. I sigh and give him a shrug, to which he shakes his head, stepping inside as I close the door behind us.

This hunting shack is really just a decoy. There isn’t much inside, extra tools and some farming equipment, but its actual purpose is beneath the false floorboards. I move them aside and take out my keys, opening the trapdoor and motioning for Darian to climb down first. He doesn’t look pleased as he descends the steep stone steps into our manmade dungeon, with me right behind.

It’s much colder down here, obviously, and I catch Darian tugging his coat tighter around himself as he walks toward the cells. There are only three of them. We’ve never needed more. Actually, we’ve only ever used two at a time.

Things work out well for us here on the Expanse, the reasoning two-fold. The surface reason is Darian. He’s a dedicated, kind, and diplomatic leader. The people love and respect him. They even idolize him in a sense, so we have few problems with the Regnum breaking any rules of our society.

But beneath all of thatposter for The Principalityshit is the real reason why things work out here, and that’s me.

Me and my guys, the Tribe, who work tirelessly to protect this place and these people at all costs, keeping any and all defectors out of public knowledge. I’m a big proponent of what the people don’t know won’t hurt them. Secrets are a part of life, and I’ve accumulated quite the collection.

I designed the dungeon a few months into us forming The Principality. I was convinced that at some point we might need to lock someone up, and as much as Darian hated the idea, and has continued to fight me on it for decades, I was right.

Case in point, the worthless sack of shit we’re staring at right now, lying in a puddle of his own blood and piss. Darian gives me the side-eye, though it’s nothing compared to the angry tone I’m getting from his thoughts.

Where did he come from?

I shrug.Not sure. But Xander caught him in the Field.

Darian’s face turns to mine.He was trying to steal the seedlings? They’re just babies.

I know, I chuckle in my mind, shaking my head.What a moron.

Darian faces the prisoner once more.Or maybe he planned to clone them.