Page 45 of Taking Jenny (Planet Orhon #4)

Jenny

M al’s words wore away at the last bit of my sense of self-preservation.

If he was found, he would be executed. Maybe even his friends would die for helping me train. And if I didn’t win? I’d die. Tiger might, too.

Illiapol, this wretched ritual, was no tradition. It was a curse. A weapon used by monsters to feed their own power. Forced on people who had no say. No choice. No mercy.

Every step I took from that point wasn’t for me. It was for everyone still trapped under Justice Bateen’s heel.

On Halla, people spoke of Justice like he was some monster out of nightmares. This unstoppable force of evil. I hadn’t believed it, because I thought of him the way I thought of any government official. Probably ruthless, but also somewhat ineffectual. A figurehead with an ego and a bad attitude.

That was before I’d learned about Illiapol and what had happened to Deacon’s father and Silence. What happened to humans on Orhon. All the atrocities Justice had committed. All the horrors…

I had been forced to kill two of his hunters. Their deaths would make a statement. But their deaths were nothing compared to winning Illiapol. That would make Justice angry. I had to win. Not for myself. Not anymore. I had to win to make him realize he was not invincible.

To make all Ladrians see that Justice was not unbeatable.

My boots crunched on the pebbly path as I trudged forward. Every step I took was full of aches and pains, but my body was so raw with abuse and fatigue, that I was strangely numb, too. It was like taking steps in a dream.

A light shone ahead, so I kept going. That’s what they say to do, right? Go to the light?

The illumination ahead was blaring, but as my eyes adjusted, I realized what I was seeing. My heart began to race as I registered a purple length of ribbon on the ground between two gnarly trees. Just beyond them, an onworlder with its engine running.

The darkness made the lights at the finish line even brighter.

Holy shit, this better not be a trap . I hurried my pace, and my legs shook under the weight of every person under Justice Bateen’s rule.

My entire body threatened to collapse as I tried to make it up the mountain.

I wished I could stop or slow down or pause to catch my breath, but if I stopped, I’d never get moving again, and so many people were counting on me, even if they didn’t know it.

I had thought fighting Arrow took the last of my energy. But seeing the finish line sparked something inside of me. Determination? Stubbornness? Purpose? Whatever it was, it drove me forward.

“You’ll never make it.”

The voice sliced through me like a blade, and I whirled around, swinging my staff defensively as a rush of adrenaline surged through me.

Justice Bateen emerged alone from the trees. Not a scratch on him. Regal and unbothered, dressed in his purple hunter’s garb, staff slung casually over his shoulder.

“You’ve been causing quite the bit of trouble with that bloody staff of yours,” he said, his tone amused.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry,” I drawled sarcastically. “Has it been inconvenient to hunt me down?”

He laughed, and I didn’t miss the cold and cruel inflection in the sound.

I was so close to winning, and I bolted around him for the finish line.

A sharp pain tore through the back of my knee as his staff made contact.

My leg crumpled, and I fell onto my back, coughing on the ground from the jarring impact.

Before I could regain my bearings, Justice stood over me, picking up his staff lying beside me on the ground that he had thrown toward at me with unerring accuracy.

His foot came down, heavy on my ribs, pressing the last of the air out of my lungs. He raised the staff, aiming its sharpened end at my left eye.

He is going to thrust it through my eye and kill me. At least it will be fast .

Justice’s gaze bored into mine. “Tell me why you are on my planet and asking about my family, Jenny Hollinger.”

I was out of breath and out of options. Good as dead. But Tiger was out there somewhere, and so was Mal. After Justice killed me, he would go after them next. I had to make my last words count for something. Protecting them with my last breath seemed like a worthy way to go out.

I remembered Tiger’s response to him when asked the same question, and managed to gasp, “You’re the most famous Ladrian ever. Why wouldn’t I ask about you?”

His gaze narrowed as he studied my face. Then he removed his staff and lifted his foot from my chest. “Huh. You’re actually telling the truth about that.”

He offered me a hand up. I wasn’t sure if I should take it, but I didn’t want to insult him and make things bad for anyone else after I died. As much as it repulsed me to touch him, I took his hand and stood.

“You’ve surprised me, Jenny,” he said, conversing with me like we were old friends. “Do you think I am easily surprised?”

I jutted my chin out, refusing to bow down to him in any way at all. “I would think the only things that surprise you are kindness and decency.”

He chuckled, as if I’d cracked a joke. “I enjoy surprises. There’s a novelty to them, especially in my line of work. You don’t know how unique a thing that is, until every day of your life is an imitation of the day before. It’s dreadful.”

Oh, boo-ho. “You have threatened me. Had me tortured. Hunted me. I don’t have it in me to feel sorry for you, Justice.”

He shrugged. “I suppose I don’t blame you.

But indulge me a moment longer. I made an error, in regard to you and your Orne boy.

I am, of course, infallible…so this presents quite the dilemma.

If I were to take back the charges against you, then I am publicly fallible, and that will cause havoc for my people. I will not take the charges back.”

At least I will die on my feet . But I wasn’t going down without a fight. I took a stance, facing him. Ready to swing my staff for all I was worth. “And since I’m the only person who heard you admit you’re fallible, I guess that means this is the end.”

“It is.” He stood tall, hands tightening on his staff. Then he slung it over his shoulders once more. “Cross the finish line, Jenny Hollinger.”

I stared at him for a long moment, certain I had to have misheard him. “Are you…what?”

But he nodded, his gaze shifting to the finish line. “Go on. Before I change my mind.”

I didn’t wait for clarification. I ran to the finish line as fast as I could, which was not particularly fast considering how battered my body was.

Each step was agony, but the moment my foot crossed over the purple ribbon, I had the thought that Justice was just toying with me.

I turned around fast, half-expecting him to be there, prepared to end my life just because he could.

Instead, he gradually walked toward me and clapped. “Congratulations, avatar.”

“Jenny Hollinger, you made it!” Frost said behind me.

I was baffled by what had just happened. “I did?”

“Yes, yes, this is very exciting! Come along.” He ushered me toward an onworlder.

This one was gold and purple and black, lush and majestic. I sat inside and before he shut the door, I asked Frost, “Am I dead?”

He laughed, patting my arm. “You are very much alive.”

Then, he shut the door for me. He seated himself in the driver’s seat, and we drove on rough dirt roads away from the hunting ground.

None of it felt real. After everything that had happened, it was so…anticlimactic. No big finish. No fanfare. No screaming crowd or epic declaration. Just… cross the finish line . At Justice’s command.

Justice just…let me go. What the actual fuck?

I stared down at my hands like they belonged to someone else. My fingers were raw, scraped. My knuckles bloodied. I needed proof that this wasn’t some cruel hallucination. I balled one hand into a fist and smacked my arm.

I winced. Yeah, that hurt a little.

I did it again.

“Stop that!” Frost insisted.

“I just…” My voice cracked with emotion. “I can’t believe this is happening. That I’m still alive. Where are we going?”

“The palace,” he said as he turned the vehicle in that direction. “You will be given the remainder of the day to rest and tonight, another ball.”

I was so exhausted, I wanted to cry. “Another ball?”

He nodded and beamed at me. “At this one, you will be given your Illiapol rewards.”

Illiapol rewards? I couldn’t even make sense of that, so I didn’t even try.

Once we arrived at the palace, all gleaming obsidian and violet banners, Frost escorted me to my room.

Tentatively, I followed him, feet sore, muscles aching. “I’m just supposed to trust that no one is going to attack me here?”

“I was only told to bring you here,” he said in a neutral tone. “I am not sure what happens after that.”

My yawn started, and I thought it would never stop. My body had clearly reached its limit and was officially shutting down.

“Sorry, um, oh, here.” Remembering the gift he’d given me at the start of the trial, I unclipped the bracelet and handed it to him. “Turns out, I didn’t need it.”

He took the bracelet. “Thank you. My daughter will need it next year, it would seem.”

Confusion rippled through me. “Wait, what do you mean?”

“Justice did not appreciate me sounding the siren when the hunters entered the hunting ground, even though it is my mandate to do so.” His gaze was filled with dismay.

“And now, your daughter will pay for that?”

Frost nodded once, his expression a mix of weariness and guilt. “Justice has a way of reminding us of our place.”

I set my hand on his forearm. A small comfort, maybe, but it was something. “Not if I have anything to say about it,” I said, my voice hoarse with emotion. “Though…I don’t know what that might be.”

He smiled kindly, despite the fear Justice had instilled in him. “I appreciate the sentiment, but there is nothing to be done when Justice makes up his mind.” He paused, then bowed slightly. “Pleasant dreams, Jenny Hollinger.”

I swallowed hard and let him go.

My room was much like the fancy onworlder that had brought me here—gold, black, and purple, lavish to the extreme—but all I cared about was the bed. It was enormous and inviting, so I collapsed on it, face first, not bothering to take my filthy clothes off.

I was asleep before I could finish exhaling.