This excerpt is from the first chapters of ONCE. After
spending several months in Califia, Eve has been kidnapped by one of the King’s
soldiers. She’s taken to the City of Sand, a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. Here
she sees the Palace for the first time and discovers the fate that awaits
her...
The
Jeep was turning left, cutting up a long road that snaked toward a massive
white building. Rows of government Jeeps sat out front. Soldiers were stationed
along a strip of narrow trees, machine guns slung across their backs. I stared
up at the expansive structure. The main entrance was lined with
sculptures—winged horses, angels, women with their heads cut off. After driving
so many miles we were here. The Palace.
The King was waiting for me.
Stark took me from the Jeep, his
hand clamping down on my arm. I could barely breathe as we entered the circular
marble lobby. The King’s face had haunted me for months. I thought of the photo
I’d grown up with in School. His thin grey hair hung over his forehead. His
skin was loose around his jowls and his beady eyes were always watching,
following you wherever you went.
Soldiers milled about the lobby,
some talking, others pacing in front of a fountain. Stark took me through a set
of gold doors and into a small mirrored elevator. He punched a code into the
keypad inside. The doors slid shut and then we were moving, up, up, my stomach
rocking as the floors flew past—fifty gone, then fifty more.
“You’re going to regret this,” I
said, straining against the plastic rope around my wrists. “I’ll tell him what
you did. How your men threw me to the ground in that parking lot. You
threatened to kill me.” I looked down at the gash in my arm, where the blood
was crusted black.
Stark shook his head. “Whatever it
takes,” he said, his voice flat. “Those were my orders. Do whatever it takes to
bring you here.” Then he turned to me, his eyes bloodshot. He clutched the
collar of my shirt and pulled me toward him so my face was just inches from
his. “Those men you killed were like brothers to me. They served with me every
day for three years. The King will never punish you for what you did, but I
will make sure you never forget what happened that day.”
The doors opened before us with a
terrifying bing! Stark’s nails dug into my arm as he led me to a room across
the carpeted hall. “You’ll wait for him here.” Then he pulled a knife from his
belt and sliced the plastic restraints in two. My hands tingled from the sudden
rush of blood to my fingers.
The door closed. I leapt up and
grabbed the handle, knowing before I even tried it that it would be locked. A
long mahogany table sat in the center of the room, surrounded by a few heavy
chairs. A massive window looked out onto the City, a two-foot ledge just a few
inches below. I went to the glass, wedging my fingers beneath the pane,
straining against it. “Please,” I muttered under my breath. “Please just open.”
“They’re sealed shut,” a voice said.
I turned. Standing in the doorway was a man of about sixty. He had gray hair
and thin, papery skin.
I stepped away from the window, my
hands dropping to my sides. He wore a deep-blue suit and a silk tie, the New
American crest embroidered on his lapel. He stalked forward, taking one slow
lap around me, his eyes scanning my tangled auburn hair, the linen shirt soaked
through with sweat, the scrapes around my wrists from where I’d been bound. He
studied the wound on my arm. When he finally finished his survey he stood
before me, then reached out and stroked my cheek. “My beautiful girl,” he said,
running his thumb over my brow. “You’re here.”
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