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“Are you all right?” I said.
“Yes. I’m okay.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks. Her face was beaten and bloody and swollen.
Not completely untouched…
I took her into my arms but knew the guards wouldn’t let me take her from here. Which meant they might leave her here with Dreth.
The guards’ footsteps rang up the gangway toward us, their boots growing louder each passing moment.
I held Ivy close and ran my hand over her face.
“Everything’s going to be all right now. Everything’s going to be okay.”
“Will you stay with me?”
So soft, so sweet.
Too good for this place. Too good for me.
“I can’t,” I said. “They’re going to take me away but I’ll be with you again soon.”
I kissed her on the lips and tasted her tears. Leaving her like this was the very last thing I wanted to do, but pretty soon, I was going to have no choice.
The boots thudded so loud, the guards were almost on us.
I turned to Dreth, who raised his hands.
“Hey. It was my turn to choose a Prize. It’s a free market, right?”
“Right,” I said.
Dreth looked relieved.
I snapped his metal cock off and jammed it in his surprised mouth. Then I smacked it hard with my palm. It pierced his throat and came out the back.
He had the ability to heal fast too—almost every prisoner in this godforsaken place did or else they wouldn’t have survived this long. But he would be taken to the infirmary. And that meant he couldn’t be in his cell with Ivy.
I spun around and placed my hands on my head, got to my knees, and crossed my ankles.
The guards burst into the room.
They carried Ivy out, checked her for injuries, and took her to the Prize Pool. She peered back at me and struggled against the guards but she was too weak to put up much resistance.
They were gentle with her.
They were a lot less gentle with me.
They pumped me full of electricity from their rifles. My body turned rigid and my head banged against the floor. My nose broke and my knees crunched.
It didn’t matter. None of it mattered.
I would heal.
But would Ivy?
9
