Epsilon

Chapter 23

"Princess?"

"I'm here to join the army."

The clerk cringed. "I don't think your brother-"

"Cares if I live or die? I agree. I don't even care that much at this point."

"Are you sure this is wise?"

Adelina paused. The small office was freezing, but she hardly noticed the goosebumps form on her arms. "If you could please put my name on the sheet, I would be much obliged. It's Adelina, A-D-E-"

"I know what your name is. But I will not write it down."

"Why not?"

"Because we need you alive! You're royalty, second in line to the throne!"

Adelina snorted. "I was disowned a few weeks back, actually."

A general came storming in. "Kidnapping babies, tracking down princesses. This is not the sort of thing a general should be doing."

"I'm right here, mister."

He did a double take. "Your Highness, I did not see you there."

"Hit me."

The general took a sudden step back. "I'm sorry?"

"I ordered you to hit me."

He shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't follow..."

"If that's what it takes for you to treat me like any other soldier, then do it."

"I think you misunderstand. We don't hit-"

"HIT ME!"

The general stared at her, eyes narrowed and head tilted.

"I'm not going to break. Everyone thinks I'm some fragile little flower." She practically spit out the words. "I can take it, general." She widened her stance and tapped her cheek. "Come on, now. I order you."

The general seemed unsettled at the steel in her eyes.

Adelina stiffened as she felt an arm tighten around her neck from behind.

A voice rumbled against her back, making her flinch. "Should we bring her to the king, sir?"

"And why would we do that?" He eyes studied every inch of her face. She defiantly stared back.

The man holding her reflexively tightened his arm around her. She clutched onto it, her air supply obstructed. "She seems a bit overwhelmed, sir."

"Overwhelmed? She's gone mad," he muttered. The general circled the pair, and her captor loosened his grip on her a bit when he realized she couldn't breathe. The general looked into her face. "Just what are you trying to prove?"

"I'm enlisting."

"Is that so? What, are you going to give bread to the needy with one hand and shoot the crap out of the ones who stole it with the other?"

His hot breath on her face made her concentrate on not recoiling, or at least not letting him see her do so.

"The boy," Adelina whispered. "He took the boy to hurt me."

He froze. "So you're going to kill him with kindness and fight in his army? Help us take down Alpha on what we all know is a suicide mission?"

Adelina mentally kicked herself for digging herself in such a hole. Did she even know why she was here?

"My office. Now." The one constraining her pushed her through the hallway. The general stayed back, and she heard his faint words echo past her. "Put her name down, Alexandra. My squadron."

She was shoved into a nondescript room and onto a folding chair before she could hear the woman's response. The general strode in and sat across from her.

"So now that you can drop that idiotic story you somehow thought would work, tell me what's really going on."

"Your clerk would not let me enlist."

"Okay, I'm not talking about that little stunt you just  pulled because you're insecure.."

"I am not insecure," she protested.

"Yeah, because ordering army generals to punch you is normal." He leaned forward, elbows on his desk. "You seem to think courage is the same thing as stupidity. Is that why you're joining? To prove something to your brother? To prove something to yourself? Because princess, there are other ways."

"My brother is a tyrant."

"You realize I work for him, right?"

"So go ahead, take me to him. You said he was looking for me."

"First of all, I didn't say he wasn't a tyrant, just that I'm not in a position to say he is. Second, we are currently searching for Felicity. Sorry to disappoint."

"Felicity?" Adelina's voice came out weak. She hesitated before continuing. "Look, you said yourself a war with Alpha was a suicide mission. They will have seen us coming from miles away. If you think I've gone mad, you should see James."

He cracked his knuckles. "He's our king."

"Well, I'm not going to sit back and watch him take Epsilon down with him."

"What are you proposing we do?"

"We fight."