Harwal, book 3

Chapter 15

My breath catches onto my throat as I keep staring at the photos. Grandma holds tightly against her chest, so I can't see them. There isn't even a peep of the contents. My hands tremble, and I stuff them under my thighs to hide it. I don't think I'm ready to face that monster.

Not yet.

Grandma's expression softens as I take a deep breath, and she sits on the armchair. She tucks the pile to the side of the chair and leans over to me. "Honey, just look at the papers for now," she says.

I force myself to nod. I close my eyes to calm my breathing, slowly counting each breath, doing what Harwal taught me. It really calms me. He's quite amazing for knowing such a trick.

As I am calm enough, I grab one pile of the papers, smack half of it on Harwal's lap, and start reading.

It takes a long time to shift through all the papers. It disgusts me. Everything does. Every single thing Kor has been doing is revolting and horrendous. If there ever was a thought that 'what if he has a bit of good inside', then that is gone with the wind.

I wasn't the only one who he had taken. I knew that — I saw some of the women, but he has dozens of human women as slaves. No, not just slaves. They are imprisoned cattle. They aren't allowed to leave their lockers unless it's for his entertainment.

He has been going around with multiple criminal organisations and hurt so many people. Murdering, raping, and kidnapping, all a part of his forte. He is the scum of scum.

I finish reading the list of slaves he has purchased and the ones who have deceased. There are many who have met the unfortunate or fortunate end of death.

I sigh and thank Grandma as she brings me a refill of coffee. "I'm all done," I say.

"It's silly that you have to read all of this again," she reminds me of my memory loss again.

I ignore her and watch as Harwal picks up the paper I just read. His expressions have been neutral, as expected, but he has been grunting and grumbling every now and then.

He flicks the paper back on the table and lifts his lip. "This is not allowed."

"What isn't?" I ask, unsure of what of the plethora of shit is specifically not allowed in his opinion.

Harwal looks at me and waves his hand towards the table as a whole. "This. It's disgusting that these records even exist."

"The records are one thing," I mumble and cross my legs. "Another is that they are actually real people that are still suffering. All over the planet, to be honest. Joddel is the biggest outlaw city we know, but there are other smaller ones. And this is just one guy."

Harwal closes his eyes and sighs. "There's so much work yet to do."

"You didn't know?" I snort and grab a cookie grandma baked while we read.

"Slavery is prohibited. I didn't know it would be this bad, I thought everyone was making it seem bigger than it is. I suppose we all thought so."

"I thought Jas told you guys," I say, ignoring the rude remark. "At least she's your Empress now, so she can show the way if you're really trying to get rid of all this. Good luck with that."

"It's not my business anymore," he says and leans back. "The Karshok's and the Shurak are the ones who deal with it. I'm only assisting in Miravaan and with this mission."

I shrug, not really understanding what he's talking about. Their ranks and obligations are a mystery to me. "Sure, but now that you are here… you can't attack the baddies. If you see something in the lab, you can't intervene. I'm sure Greece told you, right? It's dangerous to get caught snooping."