The Tyrant's Pet novel · Chapter 13 of 32

Chapter 13: Crates

I picked one vial out of the straw.

It was cold from the road.

The blood inside had gone almost black.

The label said Full moon, first summer, in the Alpha's careful hand.

The hand he used for the kitchen accounts.

"How long have you known?" I asked.

Corran didn't pretend not to understand.

"A year," he said. "Since last harvest."

Behind me the customs house door opened.

I didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

The whole street went quiet whenever he came outside.

Corran's eyes went past my shoulder and stayed there.

"Say it to her," the Emperor said. "Not to me."

Corran swallowed.

"A wagon comes up the valley road the morning after every full moon," he said. "Father counts the vials into it himself."

"How much does he get?"

"Enough to roof the long hall in copper. Enough for Lettice's silk."

"And Blaise?"

"Blaise gets a tenth. He asked Father for the knife so it would be his tenth, not mine."

"Not yours?"

Corran shut his eyes.

"Father gave me a tenth too," he said. "I bought you the shoes with the string."

A woman from the town had come up behind the cart to look.

She read the label on the nearest vial out loud to the woman next to her.

Then she looked at my wrist, and then at Corran.

She spat on his wheel.

He didn't wipe it off.

"Why bring them here?" I asked.

"Because they're yours." His voice cracked on it.

"And because the wells at home went black the week you left. The little ones are sick."

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