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“No, I mean—I couldn’t just leave you here. I’d have to—” He hesitated, as if hoping she’d fill in the blank for herself, but when she said nothing, he blew out his breath. “Tie you up.”
“Everything you say just inclines me to love you more.”
“Madeleine! This is not my fault! If you—”
“Don’t you dare try to blame me,” she said. On these shelves, a couple of empty jars and a bag of old beans. She couldn’t imagine how he ever made a meal here. Maybe when Tivol and his friends gathered here, all they did was drink liquor. And carouse.
“I’m notblamingyou.”
“But I don’t think you’ve thought it through,” she said, moving on to the next cupboard. Empty. “You know that my disappearance will trigger a series of events. Letters will be delivered across the city. By morning, everyone will know—everything. My role. Harlo’s role. And the fact that Corcannon is on the verge of destruction.”
“I know,” he said, his voice ragged. “But maybe—Harlo and your father are terrified of exposure, but I’m not so sure. Maybe it’s for the best. Once people get past their initial horror, they won’t be afraid. They’ll understand why the sacrifices have to be made, and they’ll honor the ritual.”
“You think they’ll rise upagainstme instead offorme. Well, maybe.” Ah, here it was. The drawer that held everything she needed. She sorted silently through the possibilities, trying to decide which one was best.
“They all want to live,” he said. “They want the city to survive. They’ll choose the greater good.”
She slipped the knife into her sleeve and turned to face him. “I’ve been thinking, Tivol. Ever since I learned the truth, thinking about what I should do. And I’ve come to my decision.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll have this baby. But I won’t allow it to be put to death.”
“Youhaveto, Madeleine.”
“No. I’ll have a child and then, when the god demands more blood,I’llgo. He can drainme.”
It was almost comical the way shock reshaped his face. “What?” he whispered.
“It’s the only way I’ll agree to any of this. This way, I’ll have a good life, just a short one. I can protect my childrenandprotect the city. It’s the only answer.”
“I don’t think I can agree. I can’t watch you die.”
Now her voice turned steely. “We all have to give up something we don’t want to lose. I do. You do. All of us.”
He shook his head. “You know Reese will never agree to such a plan. He’d spirit you out of the city so fast—no. You have to marry me. There’s no other choice.”
“People keep saying that to me,” she replied, “and it’s just not true.”
She whipped the knife out and held its sharp edge to the tender skin under her jaw. She thought she could feel her pulse, rapid but steady, fluttering against the lethal edge. “If you don’t take me home, I’ll end my own life, right now,” she said, her voice utterly calm. “I won’t bearanyone’schild. My blood will flow out here on your dirty floor and you won’t even be able to pour it down your god’s greedy throat. You’ll loseeverything,Tivol. And it will be your fault.”
Now he looked stricken, panicked, aghast, every satisfyingly devastating emotion she could have wished for. “No! No—no—Madeleine, I’m begging you—”
“I know I’m going to die, Tivol, one way or the other,” she said, still calmly. “Soyoudecide. Will my death mean something? Or will it condemn the city to annihilation?”
He took a hasty step forward and she pressed the blade deeper, feeling it bite. Tivol gasped and froze. A droplet burned down the cool column of her neck.
“Madeleine—”
He wasn’t going to back down. He wasn’t going to release her. She closed her eyes and willed herself the strength to make good her threat.
There was a violent commotion at the door.
Chapter Thirty-five:
Jayla
They formed a small, desperate group in front of the gate, Jayla and Reese and Pietro and Cody. Bracing themselves impatiently against the occasional sullen rocking of the street. Speaking rapidly, interjecting what bits of information they had, trying to understand, trying to plan.
“He took her,” Reese said furiously. “He’s going to force her—”
“We’ll find him,” Jayla said, though she had no idea how.
