My Pet Sold Me novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: The Last Page

The hall came apart in noise.

Foxes shouted yes, and wolves shouted over them, and someone near the back hammered a boot on the floor.

Dane was on his feet before I saw him move.

"Sit down," I said, without turning my head.

"Lara."

"Not yet."

He stayed standing, and I heard him breathe.

The Elder lifted her cane and let it fall three times.

The room quieted by pieces.

"The claim is made," the clerk said unhappily. "Clause two does say it.

"If the beast offends against the Concord, the keeper pays."

"He offended!" Sable said. "He sold a keeper on the board!"

Tobin made a small sound at my elbow.

I did not look at him.

"Does the keeper answer?" said the Elder.

"I do," I said. "I never read the last page of what I signed.

"I'd like to read it now."

"The instrument is the property of the Concord," said the clerk.

"Any party may read the instrument they signed. That's in your own book."

He opened his mouth, shut it, and turned the ledger around on the lectern.

I walked up and put my hands on either side of it.

The paper was thick and yellow, and the ink was old.

At the bottom of the page I had signed, my nineteen-year-old signature leaned across the line in blue ballpoint.

It was round and careful, and I barely knew it.

Under the clauses I had been told about, there were three more, in a smaller hand.

I read the first one out loud.

"Clause four.

"Surety answers only for an offense against the Concord.

"A wrong done by a beast to his own keeper is not an offense against the Concord.

"It is the keeper's to answer or forgive, and no third party may claim upon it."

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