EIDER: Chapter 1
339 Words
EIDER: Chapter 1
by Jaina Jacen (September)
Planet Eider, steeped in archaic protocol, had long forgotten the lessons of the Dead Planet.
For Illyria—a Class I highborn facing a future where her preselected husband would assume her father’s esteemed place in government—the delights that suited her fellow citizens did nothing to inspire.
But when an old friend tiptoes back into her life, he reminds her heart what it feels like to beat again.
“Illyria!” A pound on my chamber door. “Time to rise. The collectors are here.”
Of course they are.
Today is my Twelvemonth. The collectors seek yet another blood sample to store in the archives. Same day, every year, for every citizen of Eider, the procedure duplicates. The collector’s needle stabs are softer, though, given my station. My father would not tolerate anything less than a deep bow, utterance of thanks for allowing them to breathe the same air as me, followed by a gentle withdrawal of my blood.
Taisa, my handmaiden, tidies my hair and feeds me a thick, nutrient-rich drink to ensure a satisfactory harvest of my red cells. “Mind yourself, Illyria.”
“What ever do you mean? I’m not allowed to pinch this one?”
She snorts and ushers in the collector.
Upon his first step into the chamber, my senses are lost.
A hint of a distant past whispers in my ear—I know this face. Don’t I?
I scan his uniform, as drab and common as all other members of his station, a high collar hiding evidence of stubble his shaver missed. The black coat offers only one clue: II, with a red circle next to it that indicates his job. Class II Collector from the Wellness Bureau. His hair, slicked against his head, dark under the low chamber light, but an errant curl has shimmied itself loose and bounces against his forehead. Funny—I understand that curl’s desire for autonomy.
The collector’s eyes, downcast, remain a mystery—until he rises from his bow and we make first contact.
I’ve seen those eyes before, a thousand times, in my slumber.
Before his bow is finished, I am undone.
- Writer
