Page 52 of Lay It Bare

“Even if I believed you, you can’t make me forget,” Lisa whispered.

“No, I can’t.” Sevastyan picked the knife off the floor.

Lisa looked up towards Sevastyan. “Can there be freedom, at all, after a life like this?”

“Not until you end them,” Sevastyan said.

Lisa held Sevastyan’s eyes for a long time. “When you reset the chip, you’ll be just like them.”

“And if I don’t, you’ll die.”

Lisa closed his eyes. He squeezed Rei’s hand again. “Are you going to tell Master Alexi?”

“No.” Sevastyan’s voice was thick. “You didn’t do anything.”

“Then what happens now?”

Rei looked over his shoulder to his master. Sevastyan looked down at the knife and back to Rei. Lisa was carefully not looking at either of them, but his hand still gripped Rei’s.

“We bought food from the market. Cheese, breads, jam. Rei wants to watch a movie. We’re making a night of it.”

“And me?”

Rei squeezed Lisa’s hand again. He couldn’t speak, not without breaking his role. This was between Lisa and Sevastyan. Except that it wasn’t. Words swelled in his throat and died.

Training. So much training.

“I planned for you to be with us.” Sevastyan hesitated. “Rei’s earned a night off. I know he would like to spend it relaxing with you.”

Rei let out a small breath. If Sevastyan hadn’t included that last sentence, Lisa would have interpreted it as Sevastyan meaning for him to take Rei’s place. But Sevastyan knew how slaves thought.

He was one himself.

Tears burned behind Rei’s eyes. He was going to make them free. Somehow. Enduring wasn’t enough. They were all going to burn together if they waited. Anton had wasted years, but Anton was nothing more than an obstacle now. Something to be removed if it came to it.

Rei waited for the horror of that thought to fill him. But there was nothing. Anton might have not done the heinous things. But he’d stood by, he’d held his silence, he’d ordered others to do the same. He’d protected the semblance of it all.

Lisa at his worst was braver than Anton at his best.