***
It was rare that Lucy and I were allowed to work together, but that day, the Old Spirit Nobles had no choice: at least ten people came in, exhibiting final-stage symptoms of the hemorrhagic fever.
“There is no way to save their lives.” Lucy told me as we dressed from head to toe in sterile clothes, and secured lightweight helmets that had face-covers over our heads. “We are merely containing at this point.”
“Well, shouldn’t we at least try Elixir, or…”
“It would be a waste of Elixir, which, as you know, is hard to find.”
So, we were up to our eyes in splattering blood. Much like Ebola, the “Red Fever,” which had killed hundreds upon hundreds of people on Earth, and other Earthean hemorrhagic fevers, Rossoeruttar, or the Blood Plague, inevitably ended up in a stage where the infected person bled out of every orifice in his or her body. It was more like Red Fever than Ebola, though, because when the person bled, he or she did so in an eruption; the blood could shoot out of the mouth and nose with enough force to send it splattering onto the walls and ceiling. After the tenth man of the day, yet another low-ranking Noble, convulsed for his final ten minutes of life—after he had spewed blood all over us and everything else in the room—and finally stopped moving, I sighed heavily and shook my head.
“They’re going to be pissed that so many of their people are dead. They are going to blame us.”
“Blame me,” She corrected, “And it would not be the first time.”
“I still don’t understand how it is humanly possible that this could spread here!” I told her, because the question of how the outbreak had occurred had been boggling me so severely that I had literally been losing sleep over it. “It’s not supposed to spread in cold temperatures! And how did a retrovirus known for existing only in humid areas even make it this far? It’s not like we have planes.”
“There are planes, but you are right. To my knowledge, no one in our village traveled here by plane.”
“And has anyone who has traveled here come from someplace like Estersea or from around Del Mar? From anywhere along the Southern Coast? No, probably not. The chances of that are slim, because most of the people who come through here come from the North. I mean, Savannah goes to Estersea to see the kids, but she hasn’t shown any signs of this. And besides her, I don’t think anyone else goes there!”
“Violet, we would have to trace the travel plans of every Nobleman and his family who has come into the city within the last six months. Which I asked Paul if I could do, and he said no, it was a waste of time.”
We were in the hose room, and even over the roar of the water, I continued to talk, and she continued to listen.
“Well, Paul is an idiot! This thing kills people too quickly. It takes a day and a half to reach the final stage. And the first victim was Caius Montellier, who hasn’t been out on a mission since he got married. And then his wife got it, which makes sense, because, you know, close proximity, breathing an infected person’s air, what have you… But they didn’t come into contact with anyone but you, and you’re not sick. You went to their house to treat them, right?”
“Of course. I did not want to virus to spread.”
“But how did it get to Montellier? Do you think someone is growing Blood Fern?”
“How could they?” She asked as we went into the changing room. “Humid temperatures, remember? And it’s bloody cold up here.”
“I know, but the whole thing doesn’t make sense, so maybe someone has a temperature-controlled greenhouse somewhere.”
She chuckled to herself, and I was shocked. She had been in such a stoic mood since the night before, and she was obviously quite exhausted, having come into work at least four hours before I had and only just then sitting down since the day began.
“Why are you laughing?”
She did not look at me, but merely continued to laugh softly as she began to change her clothes.
“It is this tenacious need to find answers that had me so impressed with you all those years ago when you first began attending lectures. I am merely entertained when this determined side of your naturally inquisitive mind comes out to play.”
I looked at her with narrowed eyes as I buttoned up my shirt.
“Can’t tell if it’s a compliment, or…”
“Oh, Violet, of course it’s a compliment,” She replied, “But unfortunately, this query for which you seek some miraculous solution has but a plain one: viruses grow and change and evolve, just like we do. They will always find a new host and reproduce. Sometimes, they will get stronger and more violent. And sometimes, they will quicken their haste between hosts.”
“But a new host in a climate that generally kills the virus…” I said, “It shows it’s not airborne, Lucy.”
“The hemorrhagic variety rarely are.”
“Yeah, well, still. For it to spread as it has…”
“Yes, it puzzles me as well that a virus could hit so many different families spread all throughout the city. I have asked myself how much contact they honestly could have had with one another, but what do I know? What do any of us know? Perhaps there are wild orgies amongst noble families, and therefore, one family’s virus is everyone’s virus.”
“Lucy!” I exclaimed in absolute shock, “I have never heard such scandalous and lewd talk from you!”
“Well, it is a plausible theory, don’t you think?” She asked, “How else could the virus have struck so many families?”
“So many Noble families.” I said, and we had just begun to leave the changing room, but I grabbed her arm to stop her. “Lucy!”
“What?” She asked me, somewhat impatiently, and somewhat incredulously.
“It’s hitting Noble families.”
“And?” She asked, actually confused as to what I was implying, though I felt that it could not have been more obvious.
“Lucy, this hasn’t been one continuous outbreak these past six months. It has been several small outbreaks that we mistakenly looked at as a huge outbreak. And do you know why? Because this isn’t nature. This is someone actually starting these outbreaks and making sure that they stay contained to the target!”
“Oh, Violet, that is ridiculous!” She said with a slight laugh, “Do you have any idea how hard it would be to synthesize something as unpredictable as Rossoeruttar into what? An injectable form? Are you picturing some little vials with a skull and crossbones on them, full to the brim with red liquid, which is this weaponized form of the virus? Oh, you have such a fanciful mind, I swear, you would have been a writer of science fiction on Earth!”
“Umm, excuse you, but this is the most valid theory that anyone has had in this town in a while, and that includes you and your theories! Look, the Higher Nobles are getting pissed off, Lucy, and if we don’t come up with an explanation for this, they’ll…” I stopped, because though she pretended (quite convincingly, I might add) that her random imprisonments were not a source of stress and anxiety for her, I knew she was lying when she said that. There were never any signs of that stress and anxiety on her face or in her heart, but I knew how good she was at hiding them.
“Yes.” She said coldly, “They will come bang down our front door and drag me into the village square where they will more than likely publicly shame me, and where most of the rotten people in this village will gladly watch them do it.”
“Yeah, if they don’t just kill you! You heard what he said back in the cells of the bunker! When Nobles die, the doctors who treated them are sometimes killed!”
“I heard what he said. But why don’t we take this theory to them, Violet? Then we can say that we single-handedly started a witch hunt, or if they don’t believe us, we can be carted off to the prison together so that they may teach us the consequences of spreading lies.”
“But if this is how it’s starting, then we have a medical responsibility to stop this! Because, if my theory is right, and it is someone administering some weaponized version of the virus to Nob
leman, I applaud the person for the ingenuity. I mean, it’s an assassination, but to the world, it looks natural. I mean, it’s kind of genius, if you think about it.”
“Well, I am sure the person responsible would love to hear your praise, because clearly, they have given this a fair amount of thought.”
“Oh, come on, Lucy, you have to admit that it is pretty impressive, if this theory is true.”
“It is not true.”
“But if it were…”
“Violet.” She snapped at me, “We will not discuss this while we walk through town. If someone overhears it, there will be a panic, and from that panic, there will be a witch-hunt, like I said, and I will not allow that to be on your conscience or mine. Now, let us drop this. The chances of someone synthesizing a virus in that way would be nearly impossible. I am not even sure that I could do it, and I was the head Medice of this world for two hundred years.”
“But Lucy…” I whined.
“Violet!” She snapped a little more firmly, “Drop this now. It is a dangerous theory to have, and right now, it is only that: a theory. Without verifiable proof, we have nothing, and if this theory is heard by the wrong ears, it will bring havoc. So drop it, and let’s go get our necks wrung for not being able to miraculously cure these old bastards.”
With a very emphatic, very frustrated “GRRRR!” I hurried in the wake of her quickened stride towards the looming building in the distance.
City Hall was a behemoth of white. Every other building in our village was made from gray and black granite, and over the years, the soot from the mines in the next city over had come to settle upon us like a viral plague all its own. And yet this one white building stood at the far end of town, adjacent to the prison, which, ironically (or perhaps not) was the blackest building of all. Say what you wanted about the Old Spirits, but they liked their light/dark symbolism: the jail was for the black of heart, and City Hall was run by the good and benevolent men of our city, with their pure, white hearts.
It was the white City Hall that gave our town its name: Blancstizia. A bastardized mixing of Earthean languages to make a bastardized phrase: White Justice, or so Macie had explained. After Lumiere, Blancstizia was the oldest city. Of course, Lumiere was gone, so now Blancstizia was the oldest standing city, but even while Lumiere had been standing, Blancstizia had been the site of all judiciary proceedings. As it turned out, we were very close to where Lumiere had been, which, Lucy told me gruffly, explained why Blancstizia smelled worse than normal.
The clouds always seemed to look sick, colored a pallid shade of gray by the heavy soot hanging in the air. The sunlight was always tinged with darkness in our city because of that soot. In the next city over, they were hard at work on a road that would travel through the old mines and underneath all the land of Pangaea, and so far, I had overheard them saying in one of the many cafes at which we regular people could never afford to eat, that it had been built through half the land.
We normal people didn’t care about it, though. It was their genius means to advance the war, to sneak up on the Rebel Reds, as they called them disdainfully, or on the Unallied, who, contrary to their name, were becoming a little more Allied in those days, and not with the Old Spirits.
As usual, there were soot-covered men and a few soot-covered women out in front of City Hall, scrubbing it down and polishing it so that it glimmered even in the darkened sunlight. It was supposed to be a beacon of hope and justice for all in our fair city, but even as we walked by, a boy no older than sixteen was being dragged through the front doors, towards the prison, proclaiming through his tears that he hadn’t done anything, that he was innocent, that it was so-and-so’s fault.
“Probably stole a loaf of bread.” Lucy told me quietly as we climbed the stairs, “His father was shipped out and died in the first day of the last battle, and his mother died of typhoid two weeks later.”
“Brothers and sisters?”
“A little sister, as old as Millie, but literally as well as physically. Three guesses where she is going now.”
“Don’t.” I said, because just then, a group of kids from the Joined Hands Academy passed us, their eyes straight ahead, their smiles looking painted on. All were dressed in the same outfits, and they were all standing in those perfectly regimented straight lines. Out of reflex, my hand reached out and grasped Lucy’s, because for some reason, the sight of them always triggered a minor but very unpleasant anxiety attack in me. As I watched them disappear around the corner, I could only ask myself, “What was done to them to make them like that?” and I could only very sadly think, “They were made, because they were normal before.”
Seeing them then reminded me of the last time I had seen them, and how Paul had appeared behind me and struck his deal with me. In response to that thought, I broke my grip on Lucy’s hand and looked at her to make sure that she did not suspect anything in regards to that topic. She was still staring ahead, where the children had disappeared, looking thoroughly disgusted.
“Sad.” She said, and I breathed a very discreet sigh of relief, because she had not seen the change come over my heart when I had thought about what Paul had asked me to do.
She had also not seen me tell myself that it would be for her, so he could not hurt her anymore. There would be no appreciation of that fact from Lucy. There would only be anger in her heart that I would endanger myself in that way for her sake. She would order me not to do it. She would confront Paul, and end up back in prison, right back in Caspar’s wanting hands.
“It is sad.” I agreed with her as we climbed the stairs, “But it’s more sick than anything.”
“Oh, look. It’s the idem whore and her bastard mongrel.” A man said snidely to his wife as they left the courthouse. From her expression, and from the fact that she was a good twenty years younger than he was, I could gather that it was yet another arranged marriage carried out against the bride’s will. Her eyes were downcast to the floor, her hands were clasped in front of her, and she was trembling ever so slightly. I don’t know why I was surprised. I had seen the same terrible things for twenty-five years, and not always with the woman keeping her eyes on the floor. I had seen sons of Noblemen separated from the common girls they truly loved, sometimes to wed widows of other Noblemen. I had seen common sons from common families separated from their wives they loved and sent to war, only to return either dead or maimed.
Say what you will about the Old Spirits, but at least their violence and their cruelty defied sex.
“Oh, look…” I started to say back to the man, but Lucy grasped my hand and said, “No,” very firmly.
“That’s it, idem. Put a muzzle on your little mutt. Then come over here, and sit down in my lap. I have something you need.”
“Let’s go.” Lucy told me, and she grasped my hand and led me away like I was a child which, in the face of the overgrown children in our village, and all their taunts and insults and sometimes physical violence, I was.
“Violet!” A voice whispered behind me, and I turned around to see a familiar face that I had not seen in quite a while.
“Savannah!” I exclaimed happily, and I rushed into her open arms and squeezed her, “You’re back!”
“Yes. Finally!” She replied, beaming brightly at me.
“How are they?”
“They are good, honey. They are so good. It is a little tamer over there in Estersea. Ellie is actually allowed to study for Medical, and Oli just plays football and surfs all day with the other guys.” Lucy had come over to us, and she and Savannah exchanged a quick kiss on both cheeks. “Hey, Luce.”
Literally the only person who could get away with calling her “Luce.”
“Hello, sweetheart.” She replied, and Savannah looked around quickly to ensure that no one was around to witness it before she planted a quick kiss on Lucy’s lips.
“Savannah!” We both exclaimed, and she beamed her perfect smile again and laughed at our paranoia. To her, the thrill of betraying he
r husband, and with a woman, no less, right there in the most frequented building in all of Blancstizia was worth the risk. I was well aware of hers and Lucy’s fling, and I approved because Macie was aware of and a participant in their relationship.
“Oh, you are still no fun.” Savannah told Lucy, “You know how much I hate change, so I’m glad.” Savannah looked at me and whispered, “Has she been insufferable?”
“Oh, God…” I rolled my eyes skyward, “The worst.”
“Oh, you two are just utterly hilarious.” Lucy replied with a genuinely irritated eye-roll. “Now, we have work to do, and your husband is lurking in this building, and if there is one thing that we can say about Paul, he is shrewd enough to decipher all secrets being kept, so you know that if he saw us together, he would know what we have done.”
“Oh, alright.” Savannah replied, “But just so you know, he is not that skilled at deciphering things. For instance, he has not deciphered yet that I find him repulsive.” She said it with such a gigantic grin and with so much sardonic joy in her voice that I laughed hysterically, and even Lucy’s mouth was twitching as she tried not to smile.
“Well, pray he does not find out.” Lucy replied, “Now, we must get back to our work. You should get back to yours, as well.”
“Alright, Captain.” Savannah saluted her, “I do need to get back to work. Those returning Nobleman will not counsel themselves after the ‘horrors’ they have seen from their tents while the nobodies fought and died around them.”
“Come by when you get a chance.” Lucy told her, and Savannah nodded.
“Of course I will.”
“And be aware that there is a rather violent fever spreading through this city like wildfire.”
“I will be aware.”
“Okay, then. Take care, Dr. Valz.”
“You do the same, Dr. Miletus.”
I turned away, giggling softly, and Lucy and I continued our trek.
“You love her!” I told her teasingly.
“Shh!” She shushed me, “I know how you love to tease me, but now is not the time.”
We had reached Paul’s office door, and she banged her knuckles against it hard.
“Come in, Dr. Miletus.”
The door creaked open, and the heaviness descended. Being in Paul’s presence had always been terrifying, but now, there was a new level of fear present because of the deal we had made.
“Oh, and Dr. Olivier is here, as well. What a pleasant surprise.” He said with what I perceived to be a knowing smile. If Lucy found out, she would kill him. I might not have been her daughter. I might not have been anything to her. But she would not take kindly to Paul ordering me to kill Caspar, because she would know that I would find the courage to do that by convincing myself that it was for her benefit, and her pride would be offended by my belief that she needed me to protect her from Caspar, when she was not afraid of him, and she would be equally offended by my stupidity in wanting to carry out the suicide mission.
“What brings you two stunning creatures into my office today?”
“Oh, we merely wanted to hear you compliment our beauty and refer to us as sub-human, Paul.” I replied before I could stop myself. In my peripheral vision, I watched Lucy’s head turn, and I could see that her eyes were bulging in shock and fury that I would allow myself to talk back to him in that way.
“I do apologize, Paul.” She told him, “I do not know what has gotten into Dr. Olivier today. She has been utterly insufferable since we arrived at work this morning. Perhaps it is the stress of the situation.”
“Oh, no, she gets her feisty nature honestly. We all do so fondly remember her older sister, who was the queen of feisty. Wasn’t she, Violet?”
It was emotional sabotage carried out with a pleasant smile on his face. To reprimand me for offering a sarcastic retort to him, which was a sign of disrespect, and a sign that I did not know my place as a woman, and a sign that I thought our relationship more cushy now that he had made his deal with me, he had referenced Brynna, because he knew, even after twenty-five years, I still ached for her every day. Lucy’s heart told me that she was still sufficiently outraged that I would be stupid enough to speak back to him in such a manner, but there was also new pity that had bloomed at his mention of Brynna, because she, too, knew how I ached for her, even then. From that pity for me bloomed a renewed hatred of him, and when she looked back at him, her eyes were red briefly, though thankfully, before he looked at her, they had changed back.
“So, what is it, ladies? While I do appreciate a visit from two sub-humans as beautiful as you,” He actually winked at me, “…I am a very busy man. What with running this city, ensuring that all citizens are living up to the standards of the One God in their duties, doling out punishments to the many rule-breakers, with regret, of course, and toiling endlessly over whether or not this new, mysterious outbreak of hemorrhagic fever is capable of being stopped by even your capable hands, Luciana, and preparing for Tyre’s visit next week, my time is stretched very thin. You understand.”
“Of course, Paul.” She replied.
“How are my poor brothers?” He asked, “You have stabilized them, I trust.”
Awkward… But as usual, Lucy kept her composure and answered the question without deflecting or trying to craft an excuse.
“They are gone.”
“All of them?” He asked, and his eyes widened and his jaw dropped almost comically.
“It moves quickly. They were brought to me too late.”
“Well, Tyre is going to be very upset. That is thirty of his most dedicated Nobles in the past six months. Surely, if this continues, he will wish to speak to you personally, and he will be most unhappy, Dr. Miletus.”
“I am aware, but there is nothing…”
“You were the head Medice before the Fall. You were King Adam’s personal physician. You are the best, to this day. Our greatest doctors do not come close to your expertise or your skill. If you will not serve your purpose, if you will not perform your duty…”
“This is not a matter of ‘will’ or ‘will not,’ Governor Valz. This is a matter of ‘can’ and ‘cannot.’ This illness is violent. The fact that it is even capable of spreading here, in these cold temperatures, with no humidity to carry it…”
“I do not want to hear excuses. I want to see results. People are beginning to panic, and do you honestly need another reason for people to want to cause you harm? Dr. Miletus, I would like to help you, but if you will not help yourself…”
“There is nothing that I can do!” She protested, a little more emphatically. “It is spreading like wildfire through these families, and I do not know how much contact they are having with one another, but once it gets into one, it will spread to all other members of the household within a few hours, and it is only capable of being cured if early blood tests show the virus and it can be eradicated with antibiotics before symptoms begin to show, and why would these men and women seek medical attention, or ask to have their blood tested, if they did not know they had come into contact with the virus?”
“So, shall I order mandatory blood testing?” He asked, “Or is that too much of a burden for you, as well?”
“Do whatever you feel is necessary.”
“Do we have an antidote?”
“If you allow me to travel into Shadow Forest to gather the materials I will need, then yes.”
“Well, no. A woman such as yourself should not be traipsing around Shadow Forest.”
“Then what do you want me to do, Governor Valz?” She snapped, losing a tiny fraction of her composure finally, “I have given you the options for stopping this pandemic before it can kill more people, and you will not allow me to take any actions to…”
The door opened behind us, and Lucy’s whole body tensed. She knew who it was before she had even turned around, before he had even spoken a word.
“You rang for me, Governor?” Caspar’s snide voice said, and I whipped around to face him, to
see him standing there, looking even taller in the small doorframe, and even more sinister in the dim light from the torches that lined the walls in the corridor behind him.
“No!” I shouted at Paul, “She hasn’t done anything!”
“Violet, that is enough.” Lucy told me.
“It isn’t her fault!” I continued, despite her protest, and despite feeling her harsh gaze piercing into me. “You’re just looking for any excuse to lock her up! And what good is she in there if more people get sick?!”
“Oh, Violet, you are more than capable of doing this old wench’s job.” Caspar replied, as he walked up, slowly, calculatedly, behind Lucy. He stood behind her, watching her tension grow, though she was trying so hard to hide it. When his hands ran up her arms and rested on her shoulders, her tension showed in her body, but not on her face. “Hello, my love.”
“Don’t touch her!” I barked at him, and he did not acknowledge me, but Lucy did.
“Do not try to hurt him, Violet.” She replied, her voice even, only trembling ever so slightly.
“Aren’t you going to say ‘hello’ to me?” He asked in her ear, as his hand came up to rest on her neck just beneath her chin. He pulled her head back so it was rested against his chest, and when his other hand began to run down her front, when it disappeared beneath the fabric of her dress and squeezed her left breast hard, she said, “Hello, Caspar,” in a voice that was barely a whisper.
“Please not here.” She said.
“Yes, not here.” Paul spat at him, and his distaste was plain, “Not in front of poor Violet. Not in front of me. She has not warranted a public shaming in this way. Her incompetence, willful or not, has not earned her this! Take her to the prison, and do what the One God warrants as punishment for her and her ilk, but you will not humiliate her in this way, Caspar Elohimson. Take her away.”
“NO!” I shouted, and I lunged forward and latched onto Lucy before Caspar could pull her onto her feet.
“Let go, Violet.” She told me, still so evenly, “There is nothing you can do. His mind is made.”
“Paul, don’t do this! It isn’t her fault!”
“Let go of me, Violet. Do not resist. They will hurt you, as well.”
“Yes, why should you resist, Violet?” Caspar asked snidely, “Your precious Dr. Lucy certainly does not.”
“Paul, please!” I begged, and tears were falling from my eyes now. I turned around, half-sitting in Lucy’s lap, with my arms spread across her, shielding her from Paul but unable to shield her from Caspar. “It’s my fault! I was no help to her today. I have been no help to her. I have been distracted. I have been…”
“Don’t you dare!” Lucy barked at me, so forcefully that I jumped, “You will not, do you understand me?!”
She never shouted. It only made me cry harder that she would shout for the first time in God knew how long at me, when I was trying to protect her, when I just wanted her to be alright.
Caspar’s hand wrapped around her head, pressed hard to her mouth, and pulled backwards so it was held to his chest, but then, he twisted her head around so she was looking at him.
“You will not, Luciana Miletus!” He hissed at her, his entire body trembling with rage, his eyes glowing red with it, “You will not speak to her in this way!”
“NO!” I shouted again, and I pushed Caspar hard with both hands and held onto Lucy again. “Don’t touch her!”
“Violet.” Lucy said, her voice softer. She was changing tactics now. “I will be alright, my darling. I have suffered at his hands many, many times, and I have survived. Now, go home to Macie and Millie. You take such good care of them while I am gone.”
“You didn’t do anything.” I sobbed, “It’s not your fault!”
“Perhaps it is, or perhaps it isn’t.” Paul replied, “But think of it this way, Violet: My people are growing restless, and they are looking for someone to blame. They already hate her because of her illness. They will gladly use this as an excuse to drag her from your home and stone her in the village square. Me enacting this punishment now prevents that for just a little longer. If there is one thing that our people value, it is seeing justice served. My justice is far more tame than theirs.”
“It is true.” Lucy told me softly. “Now, let me up.”
An alien creature was in control of my body. It forced me to stand up, to stand still while Caspar turned Lucy around and marched her from the room. But it did not stop my ears from listening as he said, “Oh, Dr. Lucy… Tears? How unlike you! And for me? I am honored,” and her replying, “Not for you. Never for you. And not for me, either. For her.”
“It’s not her fault!” I shouted at Paul as he sat, watching them go with an infuriating look of serenity on his face.
“Oh, I know it is not, Violet. What I said about the fair populace of our city wanting to lynch her is true, but that is only a tiny fraction of my motivation behind placing her in the capable disciplinary hands of the Prince.”
I was silent, still watching the hallway, and my tears of pleading had changed to tears of rage. In the corner of my eye, I watched a crystal letter opener glisten in the dim light from the torches in the office, and I assessed the devastating power of the paperweight holding down files on his desk if it were wielded by my hands. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to kill Caspar. I wanted Lucy back.
“Aren’t you going to ask me what the larger fraction of my motivation is?”
“No.” I replied coldly. “I will not.”
“Well, then, I will just tell you. Or rather, I will ask a question: Has watching him run his hands all over your dear Lucy motivated you? Has watching her body tense under his hands, and her eyes glaze over as she searched for some strength inside of her to remain impassive, has any of it motivated you to do what we agreed upon?”
I turned around to look at him as he rose onto his feet. For some reason, even though he was barely as tall as me, he seemed to be towering over me in that moment.
“I asked you to kill him, and you have not. We made a deal, Violet Olivier, and if there is one thing I loathe as a Dionysian, it is when my charges do not keep up their end of the bargain. So, I will ask again, has this motivated you?”
I did not reply, and he smiled, somehow able to look pleasant and serene even while his heart was bubbling with acidic impatience, frustration, and rage.
“Alright. I will be sure to tell Caspar to make this utterly brutal for her, and then to return her to you in pieces.”
“No!” I shouted, “It has motivated me!”
“Oh, well that is a relief!” He said with an exaggerated sigh and a hearty laugh, “I am a tad squeamish, and also, I do hold Dr. Miletus fondly in my heart. She is very strong, and she is a very capable physician. Not to mention, she’s quite easy on the eyes. It would be such a waste to have her killed and such a shame to ruin her pretty face. Alright. I will see that Caspar releases her soon. You are dismissed.”
I stood up, my body trembling so violently with the rage in my heart. That rage so strong that the flames in the room began to burn a little brighter and shoot up a little higher…
“Violet.” He said without looking up from the Detainment Form on which he was now writing Lucy’s name. “Macina and Millie need you at home, and I do not want to fill out two of these forms. Control yourself, if you please.”
“You promised me after I kill Caspar that you will set me free, but Paul…” I leaned forward, and he looked up at me, “You will be lucky if I do not kill you, too.”
“I will ignore that, my dear.” He replied, just as airily, with just as little concern. “But you are trying my very, very patient nature.” He smiled, “Now, go, but remember: Tick-tock.”