Chapter 3
Olivia settled into her chair, her eyes never leaving her daughter’s face. “I still can’t quite believe you’re here. Every time I look at you, I want to pinch myself to make sure it’s not a dream.”
“You do?” Rogue asked, her cheeks flooding with hot blood.
“Of course. You’re my daughter. My family. I’ve been thinking of this moment forever,” Olivia replied.
Rogue squirmed beneath her mother’s ardent gaze. “I…I don’t know what to say. I mean… I’m happy to be here, of course.”
“As long as we’re together, that’s all that matters,” Olivia replied. She reached across the table and squeezed her daughter’s hand.
Rogue stared at their intertwined fingers, and a sudden lump formed in her throat. She wasn’t used to such open displays of emotion. Moran had taught her to be strong, and sentiment played little role in their lives. They loved each other, but it was something they felt rather than showed. Clearing her throat, she pulled her hand back into her lap.
A flash of disappointment crossed Olivia’s face, but she covered it with a broad smile. “Would you like some bread?”
“Yes, please,” Rogue said, taking a slice from the proffered basket. It was still warm with a thick, flaky crust. “You made it?”
“I baked it especially for you,” Olivia said with a nod. She pointed at a tray filled with little pots of all shapes and sizes. “There’s butter and jam if you’d like. Preserves too.”
Rogue stared at the tray in disbelief. She hadn’t seen such an array in years, and her mouth watered. She reached for a knife and slathered on a thick layer of the creamy butter. “Where did you get this all of this?”
Olivia grinned. “That, my dear, is made from camel’s milk.”
Rogue stared at her, the butter knife frozen mid-air. “Camel’s milk. Like, from a real camel?”
Olivia nodded. “When the Shift happened, the zoo animals came with it. The staff tried to keep them alive, but most died. Either from disease or because they couldn’t handle the climate. It’s a lot hotter here.”
Rogue winced, remembering the sweltering mid-summer heat that struck each year without fail. “Tell me about it.”
“Some had to be put down like the tigers and so on. They’d never survive in the wild, and feeding them was too difficult.”
“That’s too bad,” Rogue said, wishing she could have seen a tiger in real life. Sadly, she would never have the chance.
“Anyway,” Olivia said with a small wave of her hand. “Some of the animals survived, and a few even flourished.”
“Like the camels?” Rogue asked.
“Exactly. We breed them like cattle, and they provide us with milk, cream, butter, and occasionally meat,” Olivia said.
“Interesting,” Rogue said, reaching for a pot of jam. She eyed the ruby-colored concoction with a dubious frown. “What is this made from?”
“Berry jam made from native berries,” Olivia said.
“Native berries? I thought they were mostly poisonous,” Rogue mumbled, testing a bit of the jam with her finger. It was tart but also sweet at the same time.
“Not all of it. A lot of the indigenous plants can be eaten or used for medicine. You just have to know which and how,” Olivia said. “Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t know that.”
“I’d never even seen any of the local plants before I got kicked out of Prime,” Rogue replied. “Seth showed me a few of them, but I don’t know much about the different varieties.”
“If that’s true, how have you Primes survived all this time?” Olivia asked with an incredulous look.
Rogue shrugged, gazing at her mother. “We’ve been living off the stores that Douglas accumulated before and after the Shift.”
“Before?” Olivia said.
“Uh-huh,” Rogue said with a nod. “Moran says he must’ve known about the Shift before it happened. Probably because of his higher-up connections. She says he planned for it.”
“Who’s this Moran you talk about?” Olivia asked.
“Er, nobody. Just a friend,” Rogue said, dropping her gaze to the tray. She replaced the berry jam and pretended to look at the other preserves.
“So, that’s it?” Olivia said. “The whole city’s been scrounging off Douglas’ stores for the past twenty years?”
“Well, he sent out a bunch of raiding parties after the Shift to strip the city and nearby farms of supplies. We also grow some of our food, and we have a few farm animals. Then there are the hunting parties. We get meat and hides from that,” Rogue said. “Even so, there’s never enough to go around, and Douglas takes the lion’s share.”
“It’s no wonder you’re so skinny—poor child. Growing up in a place like that,” Olivia said with a shake of her head. “We Exiles haven’t always had it easy either, but we live off the land. We have much to be thankful for.”
“I can see that,” Rogue said, taking a bite of the buttered bread. Then her eyes fell to her plate, and she froze. Her hands began to shake, and her fingers closed around the crust of bread until crumbs littered the table. “Are those…eggs?”
“Yes, I bartered an extra loaf of bread for them,” Olivia said with a broad grin. “I wanted to give you a proper welcome this morning.
Rogue stared at the two eggs, fried to perfection, and nestled within a bed of onions. A slice of smoked meat rounded out the meal, and her stomach cramped with eager hunger. But the only thing she could think of was that day in the market. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t forget. It haunted her dreams, and many a night, she woke up in a cold sweat with the sour taste of guilt in her mouth.
Her mind flashed back to that afternoon, and she relived it all once more: The heat, the press of unwashed bodies, and the basket with its cargo of precious eggs. The screams, and the terror followed by the smell of fresh blood. The bodies. So
