Planet Eden: The Garden

Chapter 16. Kiss and Hit

Chapter 16.

I kept my hand rested on the desk, my head raking through all the information I had gathered. The room I was in immediately had me believe that this was Wynter's father's. It had clearly been abandoned, no longer used. It was interesting however that Wynter hadn't thought to remove the important documents from his father's study. My mind tried to come up with the reasons why but came up blank. I shrugged, grabbed the documents, and made my way out of the room. My hands shoved them deep into the backside of the waistband of my pants.

I was casually tying up my hair into a knot on my head as I walked through the main hall. My eyes landed on the courtesan who had given me the letter. Her eyes were dangerous, vibrant green that they nearly glowed. She was rubbing a man's shoulders, wishing him luck. She never once took her eyes off of me.

What had made Cursed suddenly so bloodthirsty? What was my kind like before that? What had changed in our evolution that had made us so distinctly different from the Blessed. Was it even evolution?

I shook my head, refusing to believe that some sort of divine other being was in control of how we came to be. However, my suspicion was raising. Evolution didn't happen in a three-year space trip from Earth to Eden, or however long it took. Cursed were just as advanced as Blessed at the time, but now it felt like we were just going backward in time. What had the Cursed brought back from Earth? Was whatever they brought the reason the human race turned on and kill each other? Was what happened to Earth about to happen to us?

I blinked up at the fluorescent lights at the ceiling, looking up at the cement walls. I let in a breath of the damp air around me, sighing with annoyance when I saw Wynter leave his office. He leaned over the metal railing in front of him, a look of discontent on his face. His eyes were slightly bloodshot, his breathing coming out quickly. If I didn't know better, I would believe he was tired and frustrated over whatever he had been doing. I couldn't find it in me to care in the slightest how he was feeling.

Wynter hadn't noticed I was watching him as I walked through the main hall, so I chose to stop and wait until he did. I tried to make it appear as if I was more invested in the card game the men were playing, but I wanted to wrap my head around who I now knew I was dealing with.

Wynter's father had started this whole Order of Eden. I was intrigued, to say the least. Fang was introduced to him around my current age just as Thorne. Wynter had grown up with this his whole life. He watched his father until he died, participating in a trial to continue his legacy. While I would much rather gauge his eyeballs with the utmost pleasure, I was starting to realize how much I was beginning to understand him. This was all he knew.

It didn't take long for Wynter to notice me, and when he did he only gave a curt nod before turning back to give his office a side-eye. I knew he was doing his best to avoid me, our new silent truce was as clear as day. In a normal situation, I probably would have stalked my way up to him and given him fun verbal sparring. Instead, I just watched him, intrigued by my newfound knowledge. He knew this information, yet he didn't push for me to join him based on it. An interesting way to lead.

I turned on my heel and stalked back over to the Warfare sector to go through what I knew I would have to go through. Once again, no one looked at me, nor did they want to socialize with me. I was their diamond in the rough when it came to finally reaching an end to the cause. They knew how important I was. The only person who didn't seem to care was Lance, who happily beat me every time I entered the training mat.

Every single person I passed had some sort of onyx on their body. Men had rings or necklaces while women and earrings or bracelets. The black stone glinted against the fluorescent lights from above. My curiosity was increasing, surprised at how dedicated each person was to this cause. What caught my eye, even more, was the lone people scattered across the hallway or in the sector, their bodies void of any onyx. My mind went back to the one courtesan I saw that didn't have any onyx. I knew that was my clearest indicator of who was on which side.