UNWANTED

CHAPTER 1 - J6.62 - LIZAVETA

"No."

Ly wouldn't meet my eyes. He was still crouched down on one knee, looking at the wood-paneled floor. Even Jazzy was silent. "King Solomon, the second, was flying over North Africa when his vehicle, the King George was hit by an unmanned drone. The North African rebels, who call themselves the White Ravens have claimed responsibility."

2:34 PM. I should have died two minutes ago and left the throne empty.

I was still not processing it. My hands were cold. The blanket was itchy. Ly was not looking at me. My tank top was wet from melted ice. My mind was a mush of scattered thoughts. Tears were still in my eyes, making everything blurry- I never cry. No. No. No. No. Not today. I blinked them away, but they rolled down my cheeks.

There was a kaleidoscope of tragedies playing out in my head.

I felt time cut itself in two.

Changes are usually painless. They take ages to come to fruition, and by the time they're done, you don't realize how much the things you knew so well have become no longer what they were. But after he said what he said I saw my life break. I felt the fear creep in, colder than the snow now, preserving the old me like a corpse.

I wish I was a corpse.

But Ly just kept talking.

My thoughts for once stopped attacking each other... for once, they were silent, as if in their terrified stupor, they simply left my mind.

"-heading for Eurasia after a brief visit regarding classified matters, the King, his betrothed consort, two pilots, and the King's senior advisers were dead upon impact." His voice faded in and out of earshot, like he was at the end of the tunnel, and I was buried under concrete in the tunnel somewhere... I don't know.

Two parts. Broken.

My grandfather was dead. I am his only heir.

I tried opening my mouth, but nothing came out.

"We are under Protocol X, continuance of government. Nobody knew where you were. You're good at erasing your tracks. You, however, are not good at erasing Jazzy's. I found her transponder active, and you already brought me here once, so I figured..."

I found myself staring at the fire, yearning for warmth, hoping Ly was just making an awful joke.

"Lesya..." A hand came to touch mine. "I figured you would want to hear the news from me rather than some rattled prime minister "

I didn't respond. I tried to but I couldn't. Mouth was shut, dry, like his hand- calloused and rough.

He slapped me.

"ILYAAS!" I yelled as pain bloomed in my cheek.

"Good, you're conscious. You can run... or if you've changed your mind, we can go back before they figure out, you're not missing. They can take over the whole continent and... you can run, and I can cover. I don't know how long an empire will last without a sovereign..." He sighed, holding my hands. "But I think you should give it a try, you owe Eurasia that at least... and I mean, you don't have to run away anymore. "

Ly always talked too much when he panicked. Despite his size, he was only twenty years old, he was just a boy underneath all that. I knew he was glad my grandfather was dead. I would have been too if it didn't mean my life sentence as a prisoner of his throne.

"Ly." A tear slid down my cheek. I was remembering all the fantasies of living beyond the mercury walls. I used to be ready for this sacrifice... but that was when I didn't know how much I was missing, before I realized there was a world.