The Bell of Freedom (King and human romance)✔

Chapter Thirty-Four

When my feet finally leave that room, I don't trust it. I knew that the outside world still existed but it became a part of my imagination for the last two weeks. Now Cain can taste me again he is keeping his distance. Even though he can control himself around me, he won't risk it. I'm not sure exactly when it will happen but Marina said the hunger will make him insane after a few weeks. Cain's expecting it to last years so what will happen when he starts to look at me like food again? I can't let him feed from me but if he looks at me with starvation then I don't know how to justify rejecting it.

I wear a loose grey sweater today with a black skirt and tights. I brushed my hair for the first time in two days and I keep it tucked behind my ears so I can see the hallways clearly. I wasn't ready for seeing Jackson yet but I feel ready now. He'll have so many questions and I don't know what Cain has told him.

The palace is fairly quiet until we reach the bottom. The familiar sight of creatures feeding on their humans on couches makes me cringe but I lock the disturbing images away. It's always the same room, that must be their feeding room. There's a whole new batch of humans that I've never seen before scattered around. Just like jobs in the old world, there is a turnover. I wonder sadly how many have died in the three weeks that I've been isolated, I wonder if Bella and the pure souls have been sold yet, if they're even still here.

The creatures can only own two humans a month but the slaves are free for anyone to take. That's one thing that never made sense to me. Cain said his kind hate having to consume split souls, that they hate sharing, so do the creatures have an agreement on which slaves are theirs?

Because Cain owns the slaves in a way, they have to be bought from him for true ownership. Though Christian said that was rare, he said that slaves generally die here as slaves. The guards will probably take the chance with consuming split souls if it means avoiding a bid. Maybe they transfer the other parts into each other.

A young boy around fourteen smiles at me from the top of a ladder as he twists a new lightbulb into the ceiling of a hallway. Christian explained electricity to me too. That Cain has 'workers' among his species that operate the world as closely as we did. He has creatures at power stations, creatures at reservoirs that monitor the water source, he even has creatures placed in factories and chemical labs—those that consumed the knowledge—to constantly keep medicine current. Some human slaves are placed at those factories to learn from them, like Christian did at the farming centre. Keeping us alive is just as important as killing us.

We walk into the back of the palace and he opens a door to the bright outside world. The light is blinding. I squint for a while until my eyes find Jackson across the golden decking. He sits at a table with others but I don't look at them, he is the only thing I see as I break out into a funny kind of limp-run.

"Aurora!" he shouts.

He runs right into my arms and I almost lift him from the floor. I cry as I touch his cheeks, as I place a firm kiss to the top of his forehead.

"Are you okay?" he says. "I tried to see you but they wouldn't let me."

"I was hurt really badly for a while but I'm okay," I say. "Are you okay?"

He nods. "The head guard brought us here, he said he's making us lunch."

Cain smiles as he walks around us with his hands entwined at his legs. "I don't think he'll be as good as Christian but I did hear his soup was delicious when the humans were ill."

I rise up slowly as Jackson walks back to the table, I look at Christian first who is standing in front of his chair. Beside him is Gianna, followed by Natalie. I smile at them before my eyes turn to the young man on the other side.