Just when I thought I was free to leave, I found myself back at the hospital, sitting with Richard Price. The doctors said his body was showing strong vital signstely and that he might wake up soon.


    They suggested Ie and talk to him more often.


    So, while I thought I could leave Max and get far away, I was still stuck in Crestview Metropolis, telling stories and talking to Richard every day. I could feel his fingers twitch asionally.


    The doctor said he wasn''t in a vegetative state, just that his injuries were so severe he didn''t want to wake up.


    "Richard, why won''t you wake up? I feel so alone and awkward. I don''t even know how to love someone properly."


    "Richard, I broke up with Max. I need some time to think. His status is just too high. Every time I feel like I''m getting close to him, something happens to tear us apart.”


    "I know Max is good to me, but I''m just so tired. Every time I go through pain, torment, and near-death experiences, someone tells me not to worry, that Mr. Hilton has it all under control and won''t let anything happen to me.”


    "It feels like I''m a vessel for everyone else''s ns. I want to be on my own for a while, to figure out what I really want and how I want to live this life. But I don''t know where to go. I just kept walking and ended up here with you."


    "And why didn''t you tell me about your n? Weren''t you afraid of dying? Were you really willing to leave this world and never see me again?"


    I said a great deal. When I finally looked up, I saw a tear slide from the corner of Richard''s eye.


    But what good was a tear?


    I finally stood up. Maybe this country wasn''t right for me. I could go back to Bravend. Lily Williams was there, shouldering the whole burden by herself.


    And the people on the other side of the Saltmere River were still living in squalor.


    I''m a doctor. I should do what little I can to help, right?


    "Richard, I''m leaving now. If you wake up, tell Lily for me. Maybe one day I''ll hear the news that you''re awake."


    I didn''t n on telling Richard where I was going.


    I didn''t want to tell Lily, either.


    I grabbed my surgical tools and some money and boarded a flight to Bravend.


    My movements were hardly a secret, but Max never appeared.


    As soon as I arrived in Bravend + saw the farge screens in the airport ying an ad on a loop. It showed Lily and Max arm in arm, in their official engagement photos.


    The headline read: “A Union of Power: Serythia and Bravend Forge a Brilliant Future."


    So that''s why he didn''te after me. That''s why he was willing to break up. He was getting engaged to my sister.


    And had he and my sister nned this marriage all along?


    Did he think not telling me would make it easier on me?


    Or maybe they never thought I would


    find


    to keep me in to keep


    the They nne stillin


    C Metropolicin


    thinking I was


    Crestview Metropolis, oblivious to it all.


    I pulled the ck silk scarf over my head and walked quickly, getting on a small


    wooden raft to cross to the other side of the Saltmere River.


    The gleaming metropolis on one bank stood in stark contrast to the ramshackle,


    dpidated huts on the other.


    I had chosen to wear a ck veil and ck clothes, but the people here were dressed in coarse, patched-up fabrics, They stopped to stare at me, their eyes filled with a mixture of innocent curiosity and fear


    Some children clung to their mothers. "Mommy, is she here to collect taxes again?


    We don''t have anything left to give."


    I had learned a little of theirnguage, just enough to understand them.