chapter ³⁸

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❝ I smiled

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I smiled.
We were under the same sky
at least

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE, I DIDN'T come all this way just to die," I blurted and everyone turned their heads to stare at me

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"FOR FUCK'S SAKE, I DIDN'T come all this way just to die," I blurted and everyone turned their heads to stare at me.

"Char," Cade started.

"This isn't fair. Don't we at least get a trial or something? You said it yourselves, the Gods made a mistake, not us, so why are we being punished?"

"So the Gods made you break your vow to your matches?" Oracle North wasn't having any of it.

"This is a very serious offense," Oracle South said, "And the verdict is capital punishment."

"Char," Cade started again and it was the same voice I used when I talked to animals. . . right before delivering the final shot.

"No," I objected, "There has to be another way." Why was he giving up? I still had so much fight left.

He grabbed my hand and squeezed.

"There's no other way. We took the risk and we got caught. We knew what we were getting into."

He was right.

We knew the consequences were death.

I looked over at Cade's dad, who was standing off to the side with the other eleven Selects. So far he'd been suspiciously quiet even though they were talking about his son's somber future.

"Aren't you going to say something?"

"It's the law. No amount of arguing will change it." He said stiffly. It was like he'd slapped us. There was no emotion in his voice, no reaction on his face, no sign of empathy. But even worse, it was as if Cade was just another criminal.

It was a hard pill to swallow.

"Then it is decided," Oracle North concluded, "Cascade of House Pisces and Charlize of House Sagittarius are both sentenced to death."

Death. . .

It didn't seem real until someone said it out loud.

"When do we—when do you—?" I was so shocked that I stumbled over my own words.

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