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Hanging her head in her hands, Wren took an unsteady breath The pain in her body was nothing, her tattered pride unimportant All that oing to be soherself out to an evil man and his pack

It was going to cost Wren her life

This was debt she could never pay When it came time to collect, she would be tossed in debtor’s prison to work the quarries until her final breath

Scrubbing silent tears from her cheeks, she went back to the pen and frantically scratched out: Mikael is a good boy, very smart Get to know hi He could help you fetching things you need Clean Maybe you could find a safe place for him? Give him work? Please

Stricken, the doctor looked up from her messy words “I can’t keep the boy”

Her heart sank, but she nodded that she understood Ten years old fully young to be alone and Alec was not as reliable these days as Wrenwould have to be sorted out before she was taken away Even this hoer before it slipped under the mud

“You’re upsetting her” Kieran was pissed

The physician could tell his ti, anti-infla in his case, the doctor produced a hypo-spray “She’ll be right in no time”

Wren tried to hand back his precious paper and pen, but the old man waved them off “I have dozens back in the office Keep it”

Dozens… of course he did He wasn’t forced to live in the Warrens where everything rotted

She wrote him two final words Thank you

He didn’t spare the paper a glance With an injector placed against her jugular, he fired thecertain doo in the sea of happy drugs, the world was suddenly a h her veinsokay

Toby, sounding far away, snapped his fingers in her face “What the fuck did you give her?”