They Called My Father a Traitor, So I Learned Every Secret They Buried novel · Chapter 20 of 24
Chapter 20: The Kennels Name What She Is
Hadley pinned the torn harness strap to Errol's coat and pulled the leather tight enough to make him swear.
'Hold still. If you bleed on Wynn's clean board, I'll make you lick it dry.'
Errol looked down at the strap crossing his chest. 'The board is already stained.'
'Then you'll have less to complain about.'
The kennel yard had filled behind them. Patrol wolves stood near the dog runs, boots sunk into old snow. The kennel workers gathered beneath the eaves, carrying buckets, feed sacks, and the wary attention of people who had learned that every order came with a cost.
Hadley released Errol and faced them all.
'Name what she did,' she said. 'Before Oswin's clerk gets here and decides none of you were ever injured.'
No one moved at first.
I watched their hands instead of their faces. Jory kept his right hand near the seam of his coat. Senn's left shoulder hung lower than the other, but he had stopped protecting it. Errol reached inside his vest and touched the edge of a patrol token.
They were not waiting for permission.
They were measuring the danger of giving it to me in public.
Jory stepped forward. 'Wynn closed the cut under my ribs after the east run. The report called it a fall.'
A kennel boy carrying a pan of scraps stopped beside the nearest run.
Senn came next. He took the bone token from his pocket and held it where everyone could see the red wax pressed into its face.
'She kept the shoulder from rotting. The office called it a strain and charged me for linen.'
His voice dragged over the last sentence. He did not lower the token.
Errol rubbed one thumb across the patrol mark on his own token. 'The knife wound under my arm was entered as a torn fence wire. Wynn cleaned it. She wrote the blade length in her ledger.'
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of They Called My Father a Traitor, So I Learned Every Secret They Buried are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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