Resist (The Harvest Saga Book 2) by Casey L. Bond Read Free Book Online

remain safely in Orchard, you will go through with this wedding. You will smile and act genuinely happy. If you fail to do so, even in the slightest, she will be eliminated. I will not have her distracting you from your duty to Olympus or the duty you will have to your wife and future heirs. Do I make myself clear, Crew?”
    I fixed my eyes on his. “Crystal.”
    “Good. Your tie is crooked. Fix it. We will meet downstairs in half an hour.”
    The slamming of the white wooden door behind him signaled the end of the conversation, as per usual, with my father.
    Thirty minutes later, I was escorted from my room by two Olympian guards. Their eyes darted left and right, scanning for threats. As if anyone would dare threaten the King. My father had publicly beheaded too many people. No one overtly challenged him anymore. I was led to a station where two women attacked me with facial powder, to “lessen the shine” of my skin and to make me “more handsome for the cameras.” Those cameras would carry my betrayal straight to Abigail.
    Servants buzzed in and out of a room just down the hallway, which I assumed was Marian’s. She and I had spoken a lot in the past few days, even staying up all night to do so. She was angry, almost bitter at my Father. She blamed him for stealing her fertility, her dreams for a family. While I agreed that my father did help cover it up and was still attempting to do so, he did not develop the vaccinations. Though, I supposed, he did make them mandatory. But in all honesty, he was trying to rid the Greaters of the threat of illness.
    Why was I trying to defend him? I raked my hand through my hair, upsetting the two stylists, who squawked like angry, wet hens and began trying to set my hair back into some form of perceived perfection.
    Nothing was perfect here. Leaving Olympus taught me that. When I boarded the train for the first time to head to Orchard Village, I had no idea what to expect. The Lesser section of Olympus was completely segregated. I’d only seen a Lesser twice in my life and had fantasized them to be monstrous. In reality, they were anything but. On that trip, I had learned who the real monsters were. And it had truly been eye-opening.
     

     
     
     
     
    I was bent over a washtub, scrubbing the Dutch oven when loud pounding sounded at the door of Ky’s cabin. I stood up and ran over. It was early, way too early to report for work. The sun hadn’t even risen above the horizon. Gray and Ardis stood at the door. Ardis’s hand was poised, ready to beat the wood again. I wiped my wet, sudsy hands on a hand towel. “Can I help you?”
    Ardis smiled. “May we come inside?”
    “Do I have a choice?” I stiffened.
    “No.”
    “Then, please, come in.” I waved my hand dramatically.
    Ardis stepped into the kitchen and began sniffing. He undoubtedly smelled the biscuits and bacon I’d made for breakfast. They were supposed to be for Kyan.
    Gray followed behind him, hands folded behind his back. He gave me a strange look, which he erased from his face as soon as Ardis turned around.
    “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”
    Ardis chuckled. “Your smart mouth is going to get you in trouble one day. Has anyone ever told you that, Abigail?”
    “Only every day, Ardis.”
    The smile was wiped from his face. He stomped quickly toward me and grabbed my arms. “You do not address me by my given name, Lesser.”
    “What should I call you then?”
    He loosened his grip. “Commander.”
    “Fine. Commander, can I please ask why you’re here?”
    Letting me go, he stepped back and straightened his coat. “You are no longer permitted to reside with Kyan Marks. You are not married. It is not appropriate. So, you need to pack your belongings.”
    I was speechless. They were making me move?
    “Lucky for you,” he continued. “You do not have to report for any work duty today. No one does. Olympus is giving all Lessers a day of rest in honor of the wedding of Prince Crew