Page 89 of Condemned

He peered at her, frowned, then continued reciting. “Here is also a private message for Captain Takk Reubin. I am directed to burn this after it’s read.”

Takk took the offered envelope and read the enclosed letter. Though his eyebrows rose, he gave little else away of his emotions. Frustrating mauleon. She was dying to know.

Then he handed the letter and envelope to the officer who promptly set fire to it using a lighter. Once it had burned away to a corner of paper, he placed that on the landing floor, and watched it burn down to the tiniest fragments.

Having stomped on those and ground them into the floorboards, he smiled, saluted, spun on his heel, and strode down the steps and across the yard.

No one moved until he’d mounted, and he and his soldiers were riding away.

“Tell us everything,” Zo said, turning to Takk. “What the fucking hells was written on that?”

“Well—”

Before he could say another word, something else galloped from their yard after the disappearing cavalry, only to turn at a split in the road leading to the farm, and head in the opposite direction.

Nibbles and the love-bot?

“Why?” She knew she sounded forlorn. Ridiculous. She’d just been pardoned. They were, she was, free of all the horrible burdens they’d carried. The secrets, the guilt, gone. However...

“Why would he leave without any goodbye?”

Like a mousey wave of a paw? She ruefully smiled. As if.

“Was that your mouse-bot, Timin? And yours, Ava.” Kondio remembered at the last second that Nibbles had initially been hers. “Barely saw them this last month, except at your bench repairing stuff.”

“Ummm.” Timin looked unusually inscrutable.

“More important, we are now free to go about creating a future without fear of persecution.”

They all looked to Takk.