Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 64357 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64357 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“You won’t be able to tell your bride any of this,” Shinji clarifies. “You can tell her that the rebels were destroyed and the Artifice spared you, but no more than that.”
“And then I just go back to life as I knew it before?”
“Of course. You go back with a new conquest under your belt. This is not the first time you have come back from the dead, as it were. This is just the first time you’ve understood what is happening. You have been a loyal tool, Arthur. You have helped us slice several more heads off the hydra of the rebellion. It will be several generations before anybody dares stand against us again.”
There is a question in my mind, a terrible question that demands I ask it though I know I will not like the answer.
“Is the Artifice real? Or are the decisions it makes yours?”
All three men exchange looks.
“That’s a philosophical question, Arthur,” Shinji says.
“It’s not not real,” Wallace replies. “It’s not a part fridge fortune teller. It is part of a program we’ve co-written, but of course we intervene regularly. Think of it like a self-driving car. Most of the time we just let it run. But we decide the destination.”
I am supposed to be happy about all of this, but the slow horror that has been creeping over me this entire time now consumes me completely. I feel my identity turn to dust beneath the weight of this crushing revelation.
I have protected my family, but at what cost? I now know something no other living person alive does, that the Artifice is both real and not real, that its power is in fact nothing more than hidden tyranny, and that there will always be those willing to serve it. Like myself. I am as deeply indebted to this as I can be.
“Go forth and multiply, Archon-General Darken,” Patel says. “Enjoy your bride, and the baby to come. Breed us another generation of faithful servants.”
Have a nice day!
The slogan mocks me from a half-crumpled bag of what used to be called fast food as I step out of the home of the Artifice, my illusions shattered, my life in ruins, the world itself a different place than it was before I walked into the remains of that cursed restaurant.
CHAPTER 12
Mila
Everything has gone quiet. All the rebels rushed off at once when the fighting started, leaving me with the terrible memories of what they did when they came to take me. They did not bother leaving a guard, because I appear too weak and pathetic to need one. Also they likely do not care if I escape. This was never about me. I was a pawn to be taken and then sacrificed. I was nothing. I only had meaning because I mattered to Arthur.
Now I sit and I realize that I may never feel safe again. I wasn’t safe inside that big fortress. I wasn’t safe as the Archon-General’s wife. I never imagined anything bad would ever happen to me. I imagined that my life would be charmed as it always had been.
I have faith that I will be saved. I know Arthur will not allow me to remain in rebel custody. I know he will move heaven and earth to come for me. I know all of these things, but they bring me little joy because the foundations of my reality have been absolutely destroyed.
When I came to The State, I was innocent. I thought life was pleasant and easy. If it was not pleasant, then it was only faintly uncomfortable.
Now I have seen things I will never be able to unsee. I have been frightened in ways I never knew I had the capacity to fear. Before this moment, the worst thing that had ever happened to me was experiencing the scorn of my sister. Now I know that the illusion of safety that surrounded me is just that—an illusion.
My position makes me a target. Being pregnant might even make me more of a target. Soon I will have a baby, and I have to acknowledge that the baby will also be a target. There are people in the world who want to destroy peace simply because they don’t also get to do whatever they want whenever they want. They will burn the world simply to get their own way.
There is a noise outside that makes my thought process stop. I freeze, wide-eyed, wondering who is coming for me. Are the rebels back? Or is it…
“Mila?”
I hear Arthur call my name, and a feeling of intense relief washes over me. I may no longer feel safe in the world, but I feel safe with him.
“I’m here!” I call out.
The door swings open and he is standing there. I thought for certain they would have killed him once they got what they wanted. If he is alive, then they are all dead. I know that instantly. Looking into his face, I see that he has experienced terrible things. It is an expression we now share, in a way we never could before. I used to not understand what it was to see someone die violently. I still have Lydia’s blood on the hem of my dress.