End of the World, Start of My Empire novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Pay the Price

Nobody on the Yard wall made a sound.

Four hundred people stood below us with tin cups in their hands, and every one of them had heard.

I knelt on the iron walkway with Tova's head on my knee and her blood soaking into my jeans.

"Get her down," I said. "Hallie, get her down."

"Move your arm," Hallie said. "Your arm is the reason she's like this."

It was not cruel.

It was a medic's voice, and that made it worse.

I lifted Tova myself.

She weighed nothing, which scared me more than the blood.

At the bottom of the stairs the old gate captain stood with his tin badge and his hat crushed in both fists.

"Boss," he said quietly. "The Yard is almost dry. If it costs them, we'll pay it."

"They're not yours to spend."

"No," he said. "But somebody has to say it before the crowd does."

Behind him the crowd was saying it already, in a low rolling murmur, and not one voice sounded angry.

That was the part I could not bear.

We carried Tova into the well house back room and laid her on a table.

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