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A part of Astrid felt sorry for Sa over the beating he had taken fro small and scared, was proof of that

But he wasn’t the only one to be terrorized by Drake Drake had coht about it, she could still al of his slap on her face

He’dLittle Pete a retard He’d terrorized her into betraying the person she loved ed to put it out of her hed "Sa the ‘Z’ word"

"The what?" Astrid snapped

"Zoa face and stretched his hands out like a sleepwalker

"Taylor, get out of here," Astrid said

"Hey, I--"

"This is council business now," Astrid said, putting all the frost she could couidance He didn’t look up or stir Taylor took a second to give Astrid a er salute and then popped out of the room

"Sam, I know you’re upset over what happened with you and Drake," Astrid began

"Upset?" Sam echoed the ith an ironic s secrets from us"

"Yeah," Howard said, "Don’t you know only Astrid is allowed to keep secrets?"

"Shut up, Howard," Astrid snapped

"Yeah, we get to lie because we’re the smart ones," Howard said "Not like all those idiots out there"

Astrid turned her attention back to Sam "This is not okay, Sam The council has the responsibility Not you alone"

Sa He looked al on around hi to you"

That did it His jaw clenched His head snapped up His eyes blazed "Don’t push me That wasn’t you with your skin whipped off and covered in blood That was me That was aiaphage"

Astrid blinked "No one iswhat you’ve done, Sam You’re a hero But at the same time--"

Sam was on his feet "At the same time? At the same time you were here in town Edilio had a bullet in his chest Dekka was torn to pieces I was trying not to scream from the…You and Albert and Howard, you weren’t there, were you?"

"I was busy standing up to Zil, trying to save Hunter’s life," Astrid yelled

"But it wasn’t you and your big words, was it? It was Orc who stopped Zil And he was there because I sent hier at his own chest, actuallywhat looked like painful impact "Me! Me and Brianna and Dekka and Edilio! And poor Duck"

Suddenly, there was Taylor again "Hey! One of Edilio’s soldiers just caas station He says souirlfriend and said, "You want to go deal with it, Astrid?"