“He needs to be removed from power,” Justin stated.
“Really? It’s not like it hasn’t been mentioned before.” I found satisfaction in Justin’s wince.
“The problem is he covers his tracks.” Oss folded his arms. “And the people in power look the other way because they don’t like to be bothered.”
“Okay, I get it. We’ve all been blind. My eyes are open now, and as the senior Lock Lord, I will bring our concerns to the council. I will work to get rid of him, but it won’t be easy.”
I didn’t argue about how much I doubted that would do anything. Even though the others were new Lock Lords, it didn’t mean the corruption hadn’t carried down from their fathers.
Oss inserted his suggestion. “I think his death would be easier than to get all the corrupt judges to convict him.”
Justin rolled his eyes. “Murder might get you arrested.”
“Not if I bribe the judge,” Oss said practically.
It was hard to argue with Oss’s logic sometimes.
“I thought we were trying to get away from corruption.” Justin puffed out his chest.
“You can’t clear out all criminals,” Oss replied. “The city would collapse.”
“Let’s focus on what we can do. There are slavery laws, so if we can get the mechanicals to be fully human, they will be safe from legal captivity.” Justin laid it all out logically.
“I can try, but I’m not sure if I can convert them before the magistrate or Vahagn comes. They will not come alone.” Anxiety sat heavy on my chest, pressing on my lungs and making it hard to breathe. I missed those days where I worked on my toys in lovely isolation, not worrying about them coming to life.
I don’t know what sound I made, but it had Justin wrapping me in his arms and crooning. “Easy, baby. It will be fine. We will save them if we can.”
“I’ll start with the youngest.” I would take care of Marcus first. I couldn’t let my namesake fall into unscrupulous hands.
“You don’t have to do that.” Justin’s voice held no conviction. A worried father wishing the best for his son.
We headed for the Tower. The ex-slaves had gathered in the courtyard, circling Thorne. Loud voices met our ears when we arrived. Oss waded into the group before shouting. “Be quiet!”
The group hushed right away, staring at him with big eyes.
“What is going on here?” Justin asked in what I called his lordly voice.
“These two want to return.” A blond woman with gears forming her throat pointed a metallic finger at a man and woman standing on the opposite side of the courtyard. The pair had superior expressions on their faces as if they thought they were better than the rest of the riffraff and didn’t want anyone to forget it.
“Return to what?”
“They were some of the favored. A few in every group were given special rights if they did their tasks well.”
“They want to return to being the favored dog of a cowering pack?” Oss asked, his voice cut through woman’s soft words. “Kept in cages until their master whistles?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t say they were intelligent.”
I moved to intercede. “They can return if they’d like. We are not keeping people here as punishment. We were freeing you from being kept as slaves. If they want to go back, we won’t stop them.”
Oss folded his arms over his chest and gave me a disapproving look. I ignored him. Part of freewill was allowing people to make poor choices.
“They will be caged!” the blonde protested.
I wasn’t quite sure what she expected of us. We had rescued them from hell and brought them to a new location where Oss was willing to provide housing and find them jobs. We had done more than anyone else had done for them, and still they watched us like feral cats, wary of accepting the scraps from our table.
“Like I said. It might not be the healthy choice for them, however, we have no right to stop them. If we held them back, we would be just as bad as the others who locked them up.”
“They’ve been conditioned, don’t you see that!” she shouted.
