Page 13 of The Flame

They took your hope.

They took your victories.

They took your celebrations.

Why?

That’s a good question, and the answer is control. They were afraid to lose their grip on you. They were afraid that without fear, they could not control you.

But now we know the truth and the truth is liberating.

The Sisters of Capra pledge to move our society forward, towards the brighter future that the council hid with false promises.

We refuse to hide.

We will no longer remain stagnant in the past.

The time has come for change.

The time has come to embrace hope.

So far as propaganda machines went, it was good. It even had the power to jolt my recently jaded views.

I shouldn’t forget what the Sisters of Capra stood for.

I wasn’t happy with some of their methods or decisions. But it wasn’t all bad. Geneva’s newsletter was an apt reminder of what I’d originally signed up for.

As I reached the front door to exit Berkley House, I spotted Bev moving around inside what appeared to be an office.

Another apt reminder.

Bev was an elderly woman, grandmotherly, with a permanent scowl in her eyes. She didn’t talk much. Actually, I wasn’tentirely sure she ever talked. According to Geneva, she’d served a six-year stint in rehab. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what they’d done to her.

This was why I couldn’t truly regret anything I’d done. If Roman couldn’t ever forgive me, well…my heart ached, and those stupid tears brimmed just below the surface again, but this was bigger than me and Roman.

There was always a price for progress, wasn’t there? Sacrifice. I didn’t want it to be me, orus, but I wasn’t special,weweren’t special…we weren’t any more special than Bev, and Beth, and countless other women who’d been paying the price of Capra for generations.

I didn’t want to lose Roman.

I didn’t want to lose Jessie.

I’d fight for them, I hadn’t given up, but most importantly, right now, I didn’t want to lose Daniel.

Not because he was more important, but because this wasn’t just about losing Daniel, or Daniel losing his freedom.

This was about right and wrong.

We were supposed to be better than the council.

We weren’t supposed to randomly dictate who was a threat and indiscriminately eliminate them.

I wouldn’t stop until Daniel was safe, and I knew Roman felt the same. That’s one thing I could still count on. One thing that still bonded us tighter than our marriage vows.

I used the iComm to place a call to Roman. “Call RW3Z.”

There were three abrupt beeps, then he answered. “Hello?”

“Hi, it’s Georga.” My hand tightened around the device. “Um, I just wanted to let you know that they’ve given me an iComm.”

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