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“Don’t wallow. It doesn’t suit you.”
Dixon and the purplecoat chuckled.
Lila shot them both a look. “If I’m found guilty, what do you intend to do? Break me out of my holding cell?”
“We need you alive.”
“Slaves are alive.”
“Do you believe that you’ve earned a lifetime of slavery?”
“Scrubbing a few pots is the least of my problems.”
“Worse will happen if you’re condemned, Lila. I don’t know much, but I know that. Hanging, slavery, it’s all the same to me. I won’t let either happen.”
“What if I don’t go with your people?”
“You’d stay if they decided to hang you?” The oracle studied Lila’s face. “No, not hanging. You’re hoping for slavery, aren’t you? You’re wishing for it.”
“I’d rather be free, but that’s not going to happen.”
“It could,” the oracle said. “If I were in your shoes, I’d accept my offer. But if I felt that I couldn’t, then I’d wish for death. I know what your kind do to one another after you fall. Some rival of your mother will buy you and trot you out the same night as your auction, all for her amusement and the amusement of her dinner guests. You’ll be taken out at every highborn party after that, forced into the worst sorts of humiliation. You’ll bleed whenever she thinks she can get away with it, no matter what the law decrees. That’s not slavery. That’s torture.”
Lila knew the oracle spoke the truth, but it hardly mattered. “That depends on who buys me. The Randolphs have many allies.”
“And many enemies with deep pockets. The Holguíns, for instance.”
Dixon shifted uncomfortably.
“And what about your matron? One word from her, and it won’t matter if you’re bought by friend or foe. The outcome will be whatever she wishes. If she wishes pain, you’ll receive it.”
“It is what it is,” Lila said. “What happens if I don’t go with your people?”
“You will. You don’t want the empire inside my compound any more than I do.”
“You are not my primary concern. There are things I don’t want to see more.”
“I suppose there are. My vision didn’t tell me what those things are, nor did it tell me what will happen to you in that courtroom tomorrow. Perhaps you’ll be given a slave’s term. Perhaps you’ll be condemned to death. Too many who will decide your fate have not made their choices, I suppose. Everything is blurry surrounding you. It’s always blurry.”
The woman opened her driver’s-side door. “No matter what happens, Lila, we are going to save you, whether you want us to or not. Go with my people quietly and spare yourself the tranq hangover. I hear it’s quite vicious.”
“Don’t. People could die,” Lila said. “Bullstow will hang anyone who breaks me out.”
“That’s not your concern.”
“It damn sure is,” she snapped.
“Then go with them. I already know you’ll be at my gate soon, Lila. I just don’t know how it happens or how many lives it might cost.”
Lila looked back at her sedan, parked and waiting as if it wanted to go for a ride.
If the oracle’s vision was true, then perhaps the disciplinary committee would dismiss her charges with the first few moments of the meeting. Perhaps her father had figured out a way to save her.
Or perhaps he and Shaw would stand trial in her place. She had no idea what to expect, for her father hadn’t told her anything. He’d only sent a few lines each week, urging patience, telling her to stay away and give him time.
But time had run out.
The oracle let out a heavy sigh. “Don’t make me beg. We need your help, chief.”
