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“Give me a chance to start earning your trust back,” Matt said. “I’ll keep her safe until you return.”
Tor grunted and bent to pick up the stretcher from the bed.
“We will return soon.”
I followed them from the room and watched how they carefully maneuvered the stretcher down the stairs. Matt saw my concern as I shut the front door behind them.
“Cassie will be waiting on the other side. She’ll make sure he’s comfortable.” He exhaled heavily, and I could see the weary set to his shoulders. “I truly am sorry for what happened to you both. If there’s anything you can do to help convince the fey of that, you need to try. The relationship between our two communities is rocky enough.”
I moved to the island and sat on one of the stools.
“What I say isn’t going to matter much, Matt. There’s a bigger problem here. You’re trying to save people, but some people don’t want to be saved. They just want to hate until everyone is as angry and as hateful as they are. If you really want the communities to survive and mend the relationship between the two, everyone here needs to focus on the real enemy. The infected and the hellhounds, not the fey.”
“Mya and I are trying to make that happen. Pushing these people to fend for themselves isn’t doing any good. They’re only growing more resentful of the abundance over in Tolerance. Emily’s coming up with some great ideas to create small bridges between the two communities but is struggling to get people to participate. Like you said, there’s a lot of hate.”
“Then you need to weed out the haters before they destroy more than Adam’s leg.”
“And how do you propose to do that? We’d lose more than half our people if I kicked out everyone here with a fey-grudge.”
“I’m not saying you kick out everyone. We both know that half the people here don’t truly hate the fey. They’re afraid of them. And some have biases because of the fey’s past actions. Fear and bias can be overcome. But the people who hate solely for the sake of hating? They need to go, Matt. And you’re smart enough to know who they are.”
He gave a harsh laugh.
“I have hundreds of people here and am happy when I can remember all their names. On top of that, I need to show the fey that same respect. That’s a lot of people to know.
“I know you’re angry and want to hold someone responsible for what happened, but it’s not me, June. I’m doing my best to lead because no one else wanted the position. If you think you can do better, say the word, and Tenacity with all of its hate and problems is yours to fix however you see fit.”
He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
“When I took over, we still had some military left. Most of those men and women died defending the fences during the last Whiteman breach. The few who didn’t die helped build this place, exhausting themselves during countless guard rotations no one else wanted. Meanwhile, the majority of people here don’t lift a finger to help themselves. If I push, they’d push back twice as hard. I warned Adam not to push. I barely have any control here. What do you think will happen if I try sussing out the bad apples?”
I sighed and nodded. “Anarchy and chaos would ensue.”
“Exactly.”
He sat beside me, and I let the silence grow as I considered his situation. I wouldn’t want to be in charge of this place and did give him credit for trying. It was unreasonable to expect that he knew everyone. But I had a feeling he also knew more than he was letting on. More than likely, he could name at least one troublemaker. Removing one without visible cause, though, would likely incite more anger from the rest. This place needed a clean sweep, and it needed to be done on a subtle level.
“You’re right. It’s not fair to expect one person to have all the answers and make all the decisions. I’ll talk to Tor and try to get him to see it’s not your fault.”
“Thank you.”
We sat in silence until the door opened a while later. Tor strode in first, his gaze sweeping the space until landing on me. I could see the relief in his eyes and smiled reassuringly as I stood and put on my boots and jacket.
“Is Adam all right?” I asked.
“Adam is fine. We were very careful.”
Tor motioned Brog to the box of supplies and came to me.
“May I carry you, June?”
“Always,” I said.
A startled squeak ripped from me when he picked me up faster than I could blink.
“I hope things go better for you, June,” Matt said. “You’re welcome back here any time.”
I nodded and looped my arm around Tor’s neck as he started for the door.
