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He doesn’t answer, asha to do with te me to see past the mouth of the archway

There’s a square beyond, clearly meant for Red use Battle Garden It’s plain but well ray stone statues of warriors all over The one in the center is the largest, a rifle slung across his back, one dark arm extended into les fros from the rope

The corpse is not naked, and wears noand short, his skin still soft He was not executed long ago, probably an hour or so But the square is clear of

Even though the sandy hair falls into his eyes, obscuring some of his face, I know exactly who this boy is I saw hiraph Noill never sain I knew this would happen I knew it But that doesn’t make the pain, or the failure, any easier

He is Wolliver Galt, a newblood, reduced to a lifeless corpse

I weep for the boy I never knew, for the boy I was not fast enough to save

SIXTEEN

I try not to re for my life makes for an effective distraction, but even the constant threat of annihilation can’t block out everything Soet Walsh, Tristan, and now Wolliver occupy the corners of ray cobwebs My existence was their death sentence

And of course, there are the ones I’ve killed outright, by choice, with rieve for them I can’t think about what I’ve done, not now Not e’re still in so er

Cal is the first to turn his back on Wolliver’s swaying body He has his own parade of dead faces, and doesn’t want to add another ghost to the ainst the wall She presses a hand to her ain

"Easy," Shade says, putting a steadying hand on her shoulder She tries to wave hiarden flowers "We needed to see this," he adds, burning a righteous glare at Cal and er is justified After all, we sparked a firefight in the heart of Harbor Bay, wasting the last hour of Wolliver’s life, but I’m too tired to let him berate me

"This isn’t the place for a lesson," I reply This is a grave, and even speaking here feels wrong "We should take him down"

Before I can take a step toward Wolliver’s corpse, Cal hooks one ar rowls He sounds so much like his father it shocks me

"The body has a name," I snarl when I collect myself "Just because his blood isn’t your color doesn’t ru off her knees

Shade moves with her "I’ll help"

"Stop! Wolliver Galt had a family, didn’t he?" Cal presses on "Where are they?" He casts his free hand around at the garden, gesturing to the e down on us Despite the distant echoes of a city htfall, the square is still and quiet "Certainly his mother wouldn’t leave him here alone? Are there no mourners? No officers to spit on his body? Not even a crow to pick his bones? Why?"