“What’s on the other side of the water?” I ask.
“Icarian.”
“Can’t you sail over to it if you wanted to? I mean if it’s just on the other side, there has to be an easier way of getting there other than The Litarian Battles.”
“It’s not that simple.” Frey quickly steps backwards, removing himself from the water as if it suddenly became acidic. “Icarian only appears when you’ve been selected to live there. If you travel by water, you’ll never find it.”
“Then how do you know it’s real? Have you ever actually seen it? Has anyone come back from there?”
“You think it doesn’t?” he asks, his tone turning harsh. “My father gets daily reports from the leader about Icarian. He’s one of the people tasked with sending the winners over there. How would he have a job if it didn’t exist?”
I let the moment pass, but still wonder if Icarian is real, regardless of what Frey says.
Clouds begin to swiftly move in from the east, followed by rumbling and lightening. We take cover in the house but not before the sky opens up. I’m soaked through, my feet leaving puddles in the doorway into the kitchen. Frey strips down to his underwear, tells me to stay put, and heads towards the bedrooms. A few minutes later, he returns wearing a robe and carrying a towel in one hand and a second robe for me in the other. I use the towel to wrap up my hair and then I begin to undress. Frey shies away, but I’m used to having to change in front of men, so it really doesn’t bother me. I do catch him looking, a concerned expression coming across his face.
“What happened to you?” he asks, noticing my damaged body.
“Oh, the scars? Aedox aren’t known to be kind when it comes to doling out punishments.”
“What could you have possibly done to warrant such abuse?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time,” he says, gesturing towards the common room.
He picks up our wet clothes, tosses them into a laundry room, heats up a kettle for tea, and turns on the fireplace next to a display along the far wall of the common room. He hands me a blanket, then goes and fetches our drinks when the kettle whistles. I’ve never told anyone about my indiscretions. No one ever asks in the Outer Limits, mainly because we all had them. I don’t think there’s a body in all of the Outer Limits that hasn’t been marked by the Aedox. I tuck the blanket around me just as Frey returns, handing me a cup. I take small sips, enjoying the cinnamon flavor. He sits down next to me, but not too close, which makes me happy.
“It took me several years to realize that I wasn’t in control of my life,” I start out. “When I was thirteen, I tried to sneak out of the orphanage. You see, no one is allowed to leave unless you reach the age of twenty-one and are moved to second-level housing, or die.” I take another sip of tea. Frey’s cup hasn’t been touched and is turning cold in his hands. “An Aedox was patrolling the outer wall and caught me. I was blindfolded, bound, and taken to a detention center. For two days, the Aedox put metal restraints around my ankles, making sure they were tight so they would rub my skin when I walked around the center’s courtyard for hours. Let’s just say I didn’t learn my lesson.”
I take a deep sigh and lean back further into the couch, my body almost going limp with relief. “A year later, I started a fight with one of the other residents. Again, I was blindfolded, bound, and taken to the detention center. This time I was strapped to a gurney and inflicted with knife wounds up and down my body. This lasted a week. When the Aedox saw the wounds were healing, they’d open them up again.”
“That’s horrible. Why would they do that?”
“I had used a knife to attack the girl, so it was my punishment to be tortured with the same weapon I was going to use on her.”
“Why did you attack her with a knife?”
“She called me a whore because I was rooming with several boys. It wasn’t my choice where I slept. That’s where the staff placed me. She wouldn’t stop mocking me, so I went after her with a steak knife.”
“Is everyone in the Outer Limits as violent as you are?”
“You should talk,” I say. “Tarsus has made a game out of killing, so you’re no different than us.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he says, placing his untouched drink onto the coffee table in front of us.
I try to do the same, but find myself drinking the rest of the concoction instead. My head is starting to feel light, almost as if it’ll detach from my shoulders. I look over at Frey noticing he has a funny look on his face. He’s smiling and his eyes are dancing with flames in their irises.
“What’s wrong with you?” I ask, almost slurring my words.
“Nothing.” He moves closer, pulling part of the blanket over himself. “What else did you do?”
I’m having a hard time focusing on what I was talking about. I try to respond, but I’m too distracted by Frey getting closer. His leg bumps into mine, then moves on top of it. He takes his hand and removes the towel from my head, causing my damp hair to fall.
“What are you doing?” I ask, but my voice sounds disconnected from my body.
“Nothing. I just thought you’d be more comfortable with that off your head. Besides, you shouldn’t hide such beautiful hair even if it is wet.” He runs his fingers through a couple of strands, letting them fall gently over my shoulder. “Why don’t you tell me more about the Outer Limits? It had to have been hell living there.”
“It had its moments. Once I learned that my life wasn’t my own, I adjusted. The
