Page 60 of Their Property
“Alright.” T-Bone put his palms together on top of the table and looked at me. “What’s the damage?”
“A whole fucking lot,” I said, with Grudge grunting in agreement. “The capitol building has been razed to the ground.”
Kyrie let out a soft gasp. “You mean it’s…gone?”
I nodded slowly. “There’s nothing left, just rubble where it once stood. What wasn’t burnable was likely destroyed by explosives. These people didn’t want to just take over the territory, they wanted to completely erase those who came before them.”
“A clean slate,” Kyrie muttered to herself.
“Was anything else destroyed?” T-Bone asked. “Homes or businesses? Construction sites?”
“See, that’s the thing,” I said. “We couldn’t get close enough to check. Every entry point into the city had an armed guard posted. They didn’t tell us who they were with, and obviously we didn’t have names of anyone who’d let us in. Best we could do was circle around, go offroad, and climb some hills, but we couldn’t see much beyond the smoking ruin where the capitol was.”
Grudge raised his arms in the air before lowering his hands slowly to eye level, then made a motion of brush off his shoulders and arms.
“Smoke and ash still pretty bad?” T-Bone asked, to which Grudge nodded.
“Visibility was shit,” I added. “The smoke started clearing when we left, but there’s ash falling everywhere for miles. Looked like fucking snow right outside of the city. If neighboring territories didn’t see the blaze last night, they’ll figure out what happened soon.”
“Kyrie.” T-Bone rubbed the beard on his jaw. “Did you ever find out what Sevier’s relationship was with neighboring territories? If they had allies or enemies nearby?”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head apologetically. “I was never given clearance to attend the foreign relations meetings. Aside from me, they also had ambassadors from Blakeworth, Cascadia, New Jerriton, Texahoma.” She pursed her lips. “I think that’s all. So it’s probably safe to assume relations with those territories were good.”
“If they’ve got guards controlling who comes in and out of the city,” Chris mused, “then this can’t be a simple uprising of the people, right? There’s gotta be a bigger power play here.”
“I think you’re right,” I said. “Those guards had nice, shiny rifles. Clean, matching uniforms, and armored cars. The regular folk of Sevier were struggling badly. They could scrape together an uprising, sure, but the guys we met today were professionals.”
“So someone is helping them out, either another territory or a group that’s hoping to make its own territory.” T-Bone rubbed his forehead. “Can’t we all just fuckin’ get along? Jesus.”
“There is another thing to consider,” Tiff said. “If we can’t get into Sevier, we can’t oversee the alcohol deliveries.” Her eyes slid to Kyrie. “I’m assuming you know about that little side business of ours?”
“Oh yeah,” Kyrie piped up. “They took me to an underground bar. I had a great time.”
“Aw, look at them.” Chris grabbed his wife’s hand and leaned back as he smiled at her. “They’re just like us when we were young.”
“If I had to guess, there will be no deliveries coming in and out at all,” T-Bone said, ignoring Chris’ remark. “Only what’s approved by whoever’s in charge, I guess.”
“So are there any other backward-ass territories that could use our services?”
“That’s for you two to find out.” T-Bone aimed a big grin at Chris and Tiff. “As for us.” His smile faded as his gaze swept to our side of the table. “We have to decide what’s safest for our little lady here.”
The fact that he called herourssent a delicious thrill through me.
“I don’t want to go back to Four Corners,” Kyrie announced. “At least, not permanently.”
“I understand—“
“No, you don’t.” She cut T-Bone off with a sharpness I’d never heard from her before. Grudge and I both stared at her. Fuck, the whole table stared. One thing we kept sacred about church was that the president’s word was final. No one had ever spoken to Bash like that, and certainly not to T-Bone. But he just looked at her, eyebrows raised imploringly as he waited for her to continue.
Now Kyrie seemed nervous at all the eyes on her and the silence that followed. She placed her hands on the table, gaze focused on her fingers.
“After the three of you saved me the first time,” she began softly, “I couldn’t go anywhere without a guard. My dad had eyes on me twenty-four seven. Do you have any idea how smothering that is? Never having a minute of privacy, not to eat, sleep, shit, or just… I don’t know, stare out a window. Or read a book, or pick at my nail polish. I literally never had a moment to myself. Every time I complained to my dad, he told me it was for my own safety.” She pulled in a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m an adult woman with a world-class education. I’m fluent in three languages. And he insisted on treating me like an unruly child because I made the mistake of trusting the wrong guy. You’d think I was the first woman in history to ever do that.”
Kyrie’s voice grew louder, stronger as she spoke. She looked up from her hands and stared directly at T-Bone. “It took four years before I could evensuggestleaving Four Corners. So what do you think he’ll do when he finds out my former workplace is now a smoking ruin?”
A few beats of silence passed before T-Bone answered. “He’ll never let you leave.”
“Yes, exactly. So, please, if you care about me at all—” T-Bone inhaled sharply “—you won’t take me back there.” Her gaze fluttered back down to the table, her insecurity showing once again. “That—that doesn’t mean I’ll overstay my welcome here. I’ll figure something out. I can—“
