I turned back toward the crowd in the doorway before looking at my mother’s smug smile. The colonel turned in the doorway and waved some of the Guards forward. I gasped when Asante stepped through the door.
His sable eyes were sad when they met mine. “I’m sorry, River. I didn’t know this was going to happen when they ordered us to do the door to door inquiry,” he said.
“It’s okay, Asante. I know. I’ll go willingly—”
“No!” Gage shouted. The ragged tone of his voice caused tears to burn my throat.
Shifting my hold on Bailey, I seized hold of Gage’s arm when he took an angry step forward. His muscles bulged beneath my grip as he glared at the people across from us. If I let him go, I knew he would launch at them, and I didn’t want to think about what would happen then.
He couldn’t be locked away; there would be no one to care for Bailey, and I couldn’t stand to see Gage hurt in any way. Bailey lifted his head from my neck, and blinked sleepily at the group gathered across from us before shoving his hand into his mouth.
“There’s no choice here,” I hissed at Gage. “I havenochoice.” Turning back to the group, I focused on my mother. “I’ll come with you willingly,ifyou agree all she gets out of this is only enough food for her to survive. I want my brothers to be taken care of by someone else, andtheywill receive whatever other compensation you promised her.”
“That’s not the deal!” my mother shouted.
Bailey jumped, his body trembling against mine as he removed his hand and cuddled closer against me. “River,” he murmured.
“It’s okay,” I told him and patted his back.
“Miss, you really have no choice here,” the colonel said in a gruff tone.
“I know I don’t.” I finally looked at him again. “But I will either walk calmly out of here, or I will kick and scream and throw myself in ways that will be guaranteed to draw a crowd. There are already rumors running rampant about the wall, about the increased deaths and whatreallygoes on there. Would you prefer the people here to see you drag a cared for member of this community, who helps provide food to everyone, takes care of her brothers, never volunteered, and is twenty-two years old, from her house? You know it will only cause the unrest to increase.”
The colonel and the woman exchanged a look again.
“It won’t help you next year on Volunteer Day. We may be a remote community, but gossip always spreads,” I pressed.
“We will make sure your brothers are taken care of,” the man replied.
“Away fromher.”
Gage trembled in my grasp as he looked at me with tears shimmering in his brown eyes.Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry!I told myself fiercely. If I lost it now, I would turn into a blubbering mess they would have to carry from here anyway and that would do nothing to ensure my brothers avoided my mother’s clutches.
“Away from her,” the man promised.
“I’ll take them. They can live with me and Lisa,” Asante offered. “If that is permissible?” he asked of the colonel.
The colonel and woman studied me. “Would this be agreeable to you?” the colonel inquired.
Asante’s warm brown eyes were misty with tears when I looked to him. I bit my bottom lip to keep a sob suppressed. I’d never considered the possibility of losing my brothers; my future without them was a bleak pit of misery I couldn’t face, but if I couldn’t be here for them, then I trusted Asante and Lisa to keep them safe and protected. They would do far better than our mother. Unable to trust myself to speak, I gave a terse nod.
“They will be kept safe and your friend will receive enough rations to keep them well-fed,” the colonel said to me.
I blinked back the tears filling my eyes as my shoulders sagged.
“That’s not part of the deal!” my mother thundered.
“Take her outside,” the colonel ordered brusquely.
My mother thrashed against the two men who clasped her arms, but they easily succeeded in removing her from the house. Turning to Gage, I tried to hand Bailey over to him, but his arms locked around my neck. “No!” he yelled in my ear.
Tears choked my chest and throat. I turned my face into his neck, inhaling deeply of his caramel, baby scent. I’d never forget it, never forget the warmth and chubbiness of his tiny body or the happy giggles he emitted with such ease.
Please don’t let this take away his laughter,I pleaded as I struggled not to lock my arms around him and refuse to let go.
“It’s okay, B,” I murmured as the first tear slid down my face. “It’s okay. You have to go with Gage now.”
“No!” he shouted again.
