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My mind is whirling. Matthew Markham. Patrick and Aida’s son. He isn’t dead?
“Sione performed that trade with no fee, because it was a family member who wanted it. It was his wife’s sister. Her husband knew something was rotten in the Society. He wanted his child out. It was an extremely delicate, dangerous trade. ”
She looks past me, remembering Ky’s father, a man I never met. What was he like? I wonder. It’s impossible not to picture him as an older, more reckless version of Ky: bright, daring. “But,” Anna says, “Sione managed it. He thought that the Society would prefer word of a death getting around to news of an escape, and he was right. The Society made up a story to explain the boy’s disappearance. They didn’t want rumors to spread about the vanishings, as they were called. They didn’t want people to think they could escape. ”
“He risked a great deal for his nephew,” I say.
“No,” Anna says. “He did it for his son. ”
“For Ky?”
“Sione couldn’t change who he was. He couldn’t Reclassify himself. But he wanted a better life for his son than he could provide. ”
“But Ky’s father was a rebel,” I say. “He believed in the Rising. ”
“And in the end, I think he was also a realist,” Anna says. “He knew the chances of a rebellion succeeding were slim. What he did for Ky was an insurance policy. If something went wrong and Sione died, then Ky would have a place in the Society. He could go back to live with his aunt and uncle. ”
“And he did,” I say.
“Yes,” Anna says. “Ky was safe. ”
“No,” I say. “They sent him out to the work camps eventually. ” I sent him out to the work camps.
“But much later than they would have,” she says. “He likely lived longer where he was in the Society than he would have if he’d been trapped in the Outer Provinces. ”
“Where is that boy now?” I ask. “Matthew Markham?”
“I have no idea,” Anna says. “I never met him, you understand. I only knew of him from Sione. ”
“I knew Ky’s uncle,” I say. “Patrick. I can’t believe he would send his son out here to live where he knew nothing and no one. ”
“Parents will do strange things when they see a clear danger to their children,” she says.
“But Patrick didn’t do the same for Ky,” I say, angry.
“I suspect,” Anna says, “that he wanted to honor Ky’s parents’ request for their child, which was that he have a chance to leave the Outer Provinces. And eventually, I’m sure Ky’s aunt and uncle didn’t want to give him up. Sending one son out would have almost killed them. And then, when nothing terrible happened for years, they would have wondered if they’d done the right thing in sending him away. ” Anna takes a deep breath. “Hunter may have told you that I left him behind, along with his daughter. My granddaughter. Sarah. ”
“Yes,” I say. I saw Hunter bury Sarah. I saw the line on her grave—Suddenly across the June a wind with fingers goes.
“Hunter never blamed me,” Anna says. “He knew I had to take the people across. Time was short. The ones who stayed did die. I was right about that. ”
She looks up at me. Her eyes are very dark. “But I blame myself,” she says. Then she holds out her hand, flexing her fingers, and I think I see traces of blue marked on her skin, or perhaps it’s her veins underneath. In the dim light of the infirmary, it’s hard to tell.
She stands up. “When is your next break?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” I say.
“I’ll try to find out and bring Eli and Hunter to see you. ” Anna bends down and touches Ky’s shoulder. “And you,” she says.
After she leaves, I lean down to Ky. “Did you hear all that?” I ask him. “Did you hear how much your parents loved you?”
He doesn’t answer.
“And I love you,” I tell him. “We are still looking for your cure. ”
He doesn’t stir. I tell him poems, and I tell him that I love him. Over and over again. As I watch, I think the liquid dripping into his veins helps; there is a warming to his face, like sun on stone, when the light comes up.
CHAPTER 32
KY
Her voice comes back first. Beautiful and gentle. She’s still telling me poetry.
Then the pain comes back, but it’s different now. My muscles and bones used to hurt. But now I ache even deeper than that. Has the infection spread?
Cassia wants me to know that she loves me.
The pain wants to eat me away.
I wish I could have one without the other, but that’s the problem with being alive.
You don’t usually get to choose the measure of suffering or the degree of joy you have.
I don’t deserve either her love or this illness.
That’s a stupid thought. Things happen whether you deserve them or not.
For now, I’ll ride out the pain on the song of her voice. I won’t think about what will happen when she has to leave.
Right now, she’s here and she loves me. She says it over and over again.
CHAPTER 33
CASSIA
Xander finds me there next to Ky. “Leyna sent me to bring you back,” he says. “It’s time to get to work again. ”
“Ky’s drip was out,” I say. “I wanted to stay until he looked better. ”
