Page 67 of The Champion
“Go, Freya!” The sadness in Victor’s eyes made it hard for me to breathe.
“No!”
“What if the police arrive and they decide to keep you here?”
“They couldn’t. I’m not a French citizen.”
“Right now, I don’t trust any of them. Your safety comes first.”
“I’m not leaving you behind, Victor.”
“They would offer you a chance to stay, but you would have to submit to French laws and that means we couldn’t live together or be a couple. What if they required you to get pregnant by insemination and give up your child? Our best chance is for you to get your family and the Motherland Council to put pressure on our government. At least they don’t know that we…”
The awful realization that I had to leave him behind made me interrupt Victor by grabbing onto him and kissing him with a feeling of desperation.
Victor closed his eyes. “I was going to say that they don’t know we’re in love, but this area is under surveillance, so now they’ll find out.”
“I could knock over the robot,” I whispered in his ear.
“You would get tased as well. Freya. Go before the police arrive. They’ll be here any second.”
My eyes were welling up with tears and the pressure on my chest affected my voice as I pleaded. “I don’t want to leave you.”
Victor’s voice cracked a little. “You have to. Our best chance is outside pressure. Tell Indiana he owes me a favor. I want his support with Wisdomia. That man has more money than anyone.”
Sounds from approaching hoverboards made me look up to see three police officers arrive in the distance. It would take them less than a minute to reach us. Drying my tears away, I kissed Victor again and looked into his eyes. “I’ll get you out and we’ll live together, I promise.”
Holding onto my arm just above my elbow, he breathed, “I’ll count the hours.”
With a last quick hug, I fled into my father’s drone, giving the order for a fast exit.
The doors closed as I sat down and ordered the drone to pause and hover ten feet above the ground.
Tears were running down my cheeks when I sat powerless, staring at the tragic scene outside where police officers arrived and took Victor away. He was taller than the two officers walking on each side of him and twisted his neck to look back at me.
Leaning forward, I placed my palm on the window of the drone unsure if he could see me through the tinted glass.
Victor’s life had taken a tumultuous turn because of me, and I needed to make things right.
It pained me that I would have to fly back to ask my father for his help just a few days after our confrontation at Thor’s wedding. I wasn’t sure that he would help me or that he held any influence with the French government. One thing was for sure: I would ask every person on this planet for help until I found someone with the power to help Victor and me be together.
CHAPTER 18
Victor’s Fall
Victor
After two days in custody for attempted escape, I was taken to a disgusting apartment in the Berlin district on the third subterranean level. The rumors of the devastating condition of these apartments had reached me years ago, but never had I thought I would set foot in one of them or live in a neighborhood as sketchy as this one. The entire third level had problems with poor air quality, but due to several floodings, these buildings also suffered from mold issues. No one wanted to live here. If rumors were true, the residents here were all drug addicts and criminals who were a short step from being homeless.
Stripping me of all privileges was an obvious attempt to make me comply. I knew Joseph Faubert was behind this. He had used the same strategy back in thirty-two when our schoolteachers had gone on strike, demanding better pay. Overnight, they had all been given due notice that unless they went back to work, they would be reassigned to live in the Berlin neighborhood.
Back then, his strategy worked.
With me, it wouldn’t!
My time with Freya had made me stronger than ever before and my determination to be with her again carried me through the first days of intense desperation.
I wanted to spend as little time underground as possible but walking the streets or sitting in the park was ten times as stressful as it used to be when I was admired and loved. It was now publicly known that I had fallen in love with a Northlander and tried to leave France.
