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The Empire of Beasts is a cursed nation where beasts live.
But Elynn is only aware of the latter part, and yet not quite.
As Elynn discovers a solution to save her younger sister from the annual offering to the...
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HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE thronged the town hall—more than last year. I wondered if they had come to offer the emotional support for the offered or watch the show.
Gen was at home, handcuffed to the bed. Remorse nibbled at me, but it had to be done or else she'd have exposed me. Kristian and Mum stood beside me. Both were quiet, but Mum's silence was unlike her. I figured she didn't feel like talking when she was about to see one of her daughters vanishing into nowhere forever.
The ceremony hadn't begun yet. Nobody was on the dais: no pledgers and no outlandish portal.
Sixteen-year-olds were offered over forty years, and yet it felt like the ceremony we all dreaded had been around forever. But before that, the Summer Solstice had been a traditional holiday for humans to assemble and celebrate. It'd been one of few days when murdered animals were offered to our Almighty Gods. Afterwards there came drinking and dancing until feet hurt, as Dad once had told me. But the times had changed.
Now instead of offering dead animals to the Gods, we offered minors to the Empire of Beasts, and it wasn't merriment that followed, but buckets and buckets of endless tears.
Or before, as some people were already crying.
At least Mum hadn't shed a tear since we'd left the house or else I would have fallen into pieces I'd struggled so much to amass.
No one had ever returned from the empire before. None of us voiced, but we all knew. Today was the last time they saw me.
"I thought about something..." Mum inhaled deeply, as though she was about to cry. "When you told me what you were about to do."
"Don't cry, Mum." I placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "Please."
The corner of her lip quivered into a weak smile. "I'll be all right," she assured me, but I doubted it. "But I must tell you—"
"Mrs Startel."
My whole body strained at the sound of a too familiar voice, whereas Mum looked in the direction where it'd come from. No muscle on her face twitched once she saw a man who was still my fiancé.
"Greetings to you too, young man." He punched Kris's arm in greeting.
Kris rubbed the arm Chase had just touched as he composed a weak smile through a wince. "Yeah... hello to you, too... man."
"Chase," Mum greeted him coolly. I wasn't looking at him, nervous that he might recognise me even if I was a clone of Gen. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to support my fiancée," Chase declared. "Where is she, by the way?" He looked around, expecting to find me nearby.
No concern for my sister, nothing. As if he didn't care about Gen's offering. But I shouldn't be surprised. He had never shown any concern for Gen. Not once since we'd begun dating. He never cared to ask anything, being acutely aware she was going to be offered one day. As if she was no one, nothing. But what could I expect? Neither did he show any interest in me, not in the matters that didn't involve my body, at least.
