Reap (The Harvest Saga Book 1) Read online

“Do you love Kyan, his betrothal aside?”

  I shook my head. “No. He’s my best friend. I don’t see him in a romantic way.”

  “Then my son is the problem?”

  “I don’t think we would be a good match. I don’t love him.”

  Hearty laughter booms out from him. “Love? Oh, child. If only we were able to marry for love. We marry to procreate and produce more responsible citizens. To continue our traditions and values, but not for love.” His laughter trailed off. “Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes paired couples do find that after a time, love develops, along with respect. But, it’s rare. I wish it were possible for you to find love, but sometimes, you have to think with your head instead of your heart, dear.”

  I nodded, feeling like a scolded child. Unfortunately, I knew he was right.

  “I will try once again to persuade her. No doubt my effort will be in vain. It seems your Aunt values your opinion, Abigail. You’re lucky. Most young women aren’t so fortunate. Most aren’t even consulted on their matches, but are simply told who they will marry and when. But, I promised my son I would try again. I don’t break my promises, Miss Kelley.” He stood and extended his hand and I did the same. His hand was frigid, his handshake like steel.

  I nodded and stood to leave.

  ∞

  THE NEXT MORNING, LULU WOKE me before dawn. I tugged on a green and white plaid shirt, jeans and my worn, brown leather boots. My tennis shoes were still drying by the fire after I’d washed them the evening before. Lulu plaited my hair in an intricate braid, pulling it up and away from my face. She quickly pinned it into place and placed my burlap lunch sack in my hand. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. I was off to the orchard—for a couple of hours, at least.

  The morning air was chilly and the grass blades damp with dew. Patches of spider webs dotted the tall grass. The sun had not risen above the horizon yet, but the sky was beginning to turn from deep sapphire. It faded toward the east to a lighter blue, smeared with royal purples, and brilliantly lit oranges and gold, as if touched with the strokes of a painter’s delicate hand.

  I turned down the pathway toward the orchards, following the white wooden plank fence that lined the great fields of fruit-bearing trees. I could smell the ripe apples, the supple earth. The leaves even had a distinct scent. Crisp, like the fruit they bore. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. Sweet, succulent fruit, freshly cut grass, wood and the lingering acrid smell of smoke permeated the air. I was home—as free as I ever had been.

  “Hey!” Laney Adams raced up and paced her steps with mine. “It’s good to see you back!” She smiled sweetly, her spiraled blonde hair bouncing in time with our feet like little golden springs. Her milk chocolate eyes twinkled.

  “Thanks, Laney. It’s good to be back.”

  Laney and I had been friends since childhood. She was the closest female friend I had. The smile drifted off of her lips. “How do you feel about Kyan and Paige?” She slowed her pace and I follow suit.

  “If they’re happy, so am I.” I shrugged and looked back toward the orchard. Our entrance lay just up ahead. Laney was very petite. She could climb a tree faster than anyone in Orchard. Thus, her nickname: Sprite. “Have you set your eyes on any man candy, Sprite?” Her cheeks turned nearly as scarlet as the apples on the trees.

  She giggled and shook her head. “No, but some workers from other villages are supposed to arrive today. Maybe you and I will find someone worthy among all the fresh meat!”

  “Fresh meat?” We laughed together through the white fence’s entrance. “See you later, Lane!”

  “Enjoy your freedom while it lasts!” She waved before disappearing down another row into the dense blanket of fog that had settled into the valley, over the orchard itself.

  Each apple plucked had a tiny part of me inside. A tiny part of all of those from Orchard Village, prepared the soil, planted new seeds, nurtured the delicate saplings, a part of those who fertilized and watered, and who now climbed and harvested, packed and delivered. I wondered if the Greaters knew of the backbreaking work, and love that Lessers poured into the care of the food that nourished their bodies. I doubted it.

  I walked through the ghostly mist to the section of trees that I’d last worked in before the incident. It was a place to start. I had to find Kyan, my team leader, so that he could tell me where to begin and assign my position. I was surprised to see that the harvest hadn’t taken our team very far. Kyan was pouring his bucket into a large barrel several trees away, an apparition in this thick mist shrouding us. I kept walking toward him, and though I doubted he could hear me, he turned around, his eyes crashing into mine. I smiled. I’d missed him. Missed this. Soon he would no longer be my team leader. He would be placed as an overseer, manager of the team leaders. Everyone knew he was already being groomed for the position. He would still work alongside us, but would also guide the teams and would become responsible for a portion of the orchard. It would be his duty as a married male member of our village to accept the position offered to him. A way to grant him more responsibility and respect for his new status in society.

  “Ky.” Inwardly, I cringed a little, thinking about what I had said to Paige on the trail yesterday and how I’d been pushing him away.

  An angry look slid over his previously peaceful countenance. “What are you doing here, Abby?”

  “I spoke with Councilman Preston yesterday and he’s allowing me to work in the mornings for two hours before reporting to his residence for my chores. He wants to ease me into work in the orchards.” I looked at my feet. Last night when he stopped by, I asked Lulu to tell him I was already asleep.

  “You should still be resting.”

  “I’m fine. My back is almost completely healed.” I hated arguing with Kyan.

  He shook his head. “Paige said you ran into her yesterday.” I peeked up at him from beneath my lashes, expecting to see anger and betrayal, but was met with a crooked smile. Even his warm brown eyes smiled back at me.

  “What’s so funny?” I cocked my head.

  “You should’ve seen her. Heard her. She was madder than a hornet. Ranting and raving about how you were this and you were that and she was, well, her. You definitely ruffled her feathers.”

  “Well, you don’t seem too upset by it.”

  “Upset? No. I’m glad you finally stood up to her. I was glad to take the hit for you. Anything for you, Abby Blue.”

  I grinned at him. “Where do I start, boss?”

  He pulled me in for a hug, wrapped his big arm around my shoulders, and walked me to my first tree.

  I WAS UTTERLY EXHAUSTED. NOT that I was going to admit that to anyone. They would pull me out of the orchards so fast, I wouldn’t know what had hit me. Mrs. Preston’s list lengthened as my day at her house shortened. But I refused to let them win. I worked at breakneck speed and pushed hard to get everything done as thoroughly and quickly as I could. And my muscles screamed louder than the angry welts traversing my back. It was a good type of pain. My body was young and fit, and I had pushed it. And on some deep level, it was rewarding.

  I pushed the front door open only to nearly be tackled to the floor by Lulu. “Have you seen Kyan?”

  “Not since this morning. Why?” Even my voice sounded tired compared to her perky, hyper one.

  “He stopped here after work and said he needed to see you. You’re supposed to meet him at his house. He thought he might be able to meet you on your way home, but I guess that didn’t happen. So, off you go.” She attempted to shoo me back out the door, but I shouldered my way inside.

  “I don’t want to see him tonight. It’s late.”

  “No. He said it was urgent. You really need to go, dear.”

  I sighed. “Lulu, I smell. Really bad. I just want to head to the creek to wash off and then have supper and head to bed.”

  Her eyes narrowed and her index finger flicked toward me. “I knew it. It’s too much. You went back to the orchard too soon.”

  “No!” I chirped
quickly, trying to hide the weariness in my voice. “It’s not that. It’s just that it’s already dark, and I want to settle in because all of the workers from the other villages are coming tomorrow and I want to be ready.” It wasn’t a lie. The train was supposed to arrive overnight and the workers arriving were supposed to help in the orchards tomorrow. It was one of the reasons for Mrs. Preston’s oppressively long list of chores.

  Though some of those workers would be housed in the train cars themselves, others would be hosted by village families for the duration of their stay. Since the Preston’s had such abundant space in their home, only using two of their four bedrooms, their house was being prepared for guests. Lulu already mentioned that the two of us may have to share her room and offer mine if someone needed it.

  She narrowed her chameleon eyes. Tonight, they looked like the brown of an acorn freshly dropped from its tree. “You’re avoiding him.” It wasn’t a question.

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes. I’m avoiding him. Is that what you want to hear?”

  She pulled me in for a hug. “Abby, look at me. Don’t push him away, when you have so little time left with him. Enjoy it for all it’s worth. Don’t waste it.” Her eyes and slight smile lovingly implored me to listen to her closely—to listen with my heart and not my stubborn head.

  I sighed deeply. If only it were that simple. I wanted to scream out about how unfair it was to lose my best friend, especially to a woman like Paige Winters. “Okay. I’ll go wash up and then head over to Ky’s.” Lulu grabbed my cheeks and pulled me toward her, and then kissed my forehead. Then, she proceeded to shove a bag of clean clothes at me and turn me around, all the while pushing me out the door. The woman should herd cattle.

  Well, at least I was clean. I’d washed up at the creek behind our cabin and changed my clothes. My feet crunched the hay as I crossed the field to Kyan’s. Candles flickered in the window sills of his house, which was settled down in the valley below. It was beyond dark, but the sky was clear. Every star imaginable winked down at me. The moon was blue and rounded more with each passing night. It even appeared larger than normal somehow.

  A dark figure sat still on Kyan’s porch. “Hey, Ky.”

  “About time.”

  “No ‘thank goodness you made it dear,’ or ‘I was so worried. You could’ve been eaten by bears’?”

  “Bears? Is that the best you can do?” I settled in beside him, my outer thigh pressed against his.

  “Yes. At this time of night it is.” I sighed.

  He threw a piece of the grass he’d been picking at, his lips quirked up into a lop-sided grin. “It’s not that late. Besides, I want to show you something.” He stood and held out a hand, that mine automatically slipped into.

  I chastised myself internally. As I held on, I knew I needed to let him go. This familiarity could not go on. And soon, neither would our friendship. Paige would see to that, but propriety and village expectations would also dictate our actions as soon as they were wed.

  We walked through the darkness in comfortable silence. The air was crisp and the leaves were dipped in the signature colors of autumn. Smoke from the hearths of cabins dotted through this valley haunted the sky. When we passed by the familiar places from our childhood, I looked up and over at him. He just smiled and urged me on, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. He still hadn’t let it go.

  We left the heart of the village and headed quickly out on a very well-worn, wide trail–one that I only traveled under rare circumstances. The area was restricted. Lulu was our village’s supply coordinator. If someone needed something, anything, they would tell her and she would make sure that all requested items were on the next supply train from the cities.

  The city we dealt with the most frequently, most intimately was Olympus, the crown jewel of the southeast. I’d only seen the trains a handful of times. Lines of rusty rectangles would stretch from the depot as far as the eye could see. Though Lulu said that some trains were only six or seven cars long. Lulu coordinated with the Greaters as to the time of the supply drop-offs, as well as when they would pick up goods from our village. All of the interactions with the trains and the Greater City of Olympus were highly guarded and meticulously regulated.

  Kyan remained silent, but looked over at me, pressing a finger against his pursed lips. I nodded. We slipped off the trail and wound through the woods. Pine needles blanketed the forest floor muffling the sound of our steps. We startled a deer, which leapt away at breakneck speed crashing into the forest beyond. I stifled a laugh, as we stepped through the underbrush. Then, I saw it, and my breath fled my body. Kyan’s eyes widened as he took it in, as if for the first time.

  The railway was lit up. Bright lights cut sharply through the darkness illuminating the small wooden train depot and tracks that stretched out in front of it. I’d never seen electric lights before, though I’d heard of them. That wasn’t even what was so unbelievable.

  I’d seen train cars before. Rusted metal or wood, loud clanking and grating boxes that rumbled atop stressed wheels. But, this was different. This was amazing. My mouth gaped open. My hand flew to cover it on its own volition, as I sucked in a deep breath. On the track sat a sleek, silver metallic chain of train cars whose head was seated just beyond the depot and whose tail stretched off down the track and into the darkness as far as the eye could see. A sleek silver serpent lying in wait.

  I whispered. “It’s so shiny. Is it real?”

  Kyan nodded. It was real.

  “What is it?”

  “Passenger cars. It just rolled in. It’s from Olympus. I guess the Greaters are letting the villages use their train to transport all of the workers from the various villages. The harvest is important, but I’ve never seen this before. This is just...crazy.” He raised a brow.

  It was crazy. I’d never seen anything that looked so new and clean. Polished and sleek. Perfect. When I was a child, Lulu told me stories that her parents told her, about great sleek ships that took men to outer space, to the moon. Until now, I’d always believed that the stories had been made up—great tales to entertain children, wide-eyed and gullible.

  The windows of the train cars were lit from within, shadows occasionally moving in front of them, dimming their unnatural light momentarily. A few men stood along the wooden platform of the depot, barking orders to those still aboard. It was a buzz of activity.

  We watched the scene in front of us for several moments. The awestruck feeling I had upon seeing the train has morphed into a feeling of unease, an apprehension of things to come. I had a feeling that Olympus and the Greaters were making our business, our harvest, their own, and that could not be a good thing.

  I WALKED QUICKLY TOWARD THE orchard. It was a clear, cool morning. The air was wet and the grass saturated with cool dew. Crickets chirped happily. A deep blue-gray unfolded overhead. Only the eastern horizon hinted at the dawn to come. I didn’t even register the fact that someone had fallen into step beside me until he reached out and grabbed my elbow, roughly. I stopped and turned to face Zander Preston. Crap.

  “Zander.”

  “Do you think your aunt can stop me from getting what I want?” He stepped toward me.

  “Ever hear of personal space?” I backed up a few more paces into the dewy grass. Did that stop him? No. He kept moving forward, his face as hard as his icy blue eyes—eyes that almost glowed, even in the near darkness.

  “She won’t stop this. My father said that she refused our union. I will marry you, Abigail.”

  I shook my head. “Don’t you get it? I don’t want to marry you, Zander.” He kept moving toward me and I kept walking backward until my back made contact with the wooden fence behind me, preventing further retreat. I gripped the top post for support.

  “I don’t care what you want.” He grabbed my upper arm and squeezed tight.

  “Zander, you’re hurting me. Let go.” I tried to wrench my arm away from him, but he wouldn’t budge.

  “Tell her you’ve changed your mind.”


  “No.”

  His jaw clenched along with his grip on my arm. I shoved him hard on his chest with my free hand, but it barely moved him. He lowered his face toward mine, and I twisted as far away from him as I could go.

  “Get off her. Now,” a rich, deep voice ordered. Zander, with his eyes trained on mine, backed away slowly, finally releasing my arm, which ached in the wake of his grip. I wouldn’t rub it. He wouldn’t get the satisfaction of knowing that he’d hurt me.

  Zander pinned me with his eyes. “This isn’t over, Abby,” he said so low that only I could hear. He gave the stranger a hard stare and stomped away. I told him I didn’t want to marry him. Lulu told his father the same thing. Why couldn’t he just accept it? What the heck is he thinking?

  “Hello?” A hand waved in front of my face.

  “What?” I asked, still confused by Zander’s actions.

  “Are you okay?” That voice. It pulled me toward him. His eyes were the first thing I noticed. And, they were the most beautiful eyes that I’d ever seen. Honey-colored, and only outlined by a hint of warm, golden brown. Streaked gold radiated from the pupil outward. It was stunning. His sable hair was worn longer than what was considered proper in our village. It brushed his brow and curled around his ears, and at the nape of his neck, it flipped out. He was tall, at least as tall as Kyan. “Miss?”

  “Yes.” I finally breathed. “I’m okay.”

  He watched me for a moment and then relaxed. “Did he hurt you? I saw how he was holding your arm.”

  I rubbed it absentmindedly. “I’m fine. Thanks for helping, by the way.” I looked down.

  “No problem. Can I ask a favor from you? Two, actually.”

  I nodded, looking at those eyes again. “One. Try not to get caught alone with him again.” He ticked his head in the direction Zander had fled.

  “Easier said than done. I don’t see him alone often, but I am often alone, so if he’s determined to find me, he will. Two?”

  “Do you know where I can find Kyan Marks?”