WEBVTT

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Speaker 1: [gentle music]

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Speaker 1: Volaxis. Chapter One: False Flag.

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Speaker 1: Reese Greystone strolled through the
ration house, pretending to look at the food on

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Speaker 1: the shelves. He waved at an elderly
woman. He helped a lost child find their parent.

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Speaker 1: He was a model citizen, greeting
everyone at the door and making a show of being

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Speaker 1: seen. And if he had to stay in this
pigsty a moment longer, he was

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Speaker 1: going to rob the place himself.
Seriously, how long did it take to rob a store?

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Speaker 1: Reese walked up to the counter. The
middle-aged man shook visibly when he

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Speaker 1: approached. Reese took a step back,
and the man calmed. Then he took another step

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Speaker 1: closer. He began shaking. They even
behaved like livestock.

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Speaker 1: Reese looked for a house pin on the
man's clothes out of habit. He shouldn't have

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Speaker 1: bothered. He wouldn't find a house
pin within 10 square blocks of this place. The

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Speaker 1: man was houseless, so he couldn't own
property. Perhaps they'd gone too deep into

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Speaker 1: the commonery for this one. Did they
even know who he was? There wasn't

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Speaker 1: much point if they didn't. His role
today was to play hero. These people were to

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Speaker 1: play the bystanders assaulted by the
FMR terrorists in a robbery gone wrong, but

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Speaker 1: ultimately saved by the legitimate
Twinestone mage who happened to be in the area,

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Speaker 1: Reese. He looked up and down at the
man behind the counter.

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Speaker 1: "Are you the tenant of this shop?" "I
am, my lord." "I'm not your lord."

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Speaker 1: The man grimaced as if in actual
pain. He was well-trained, at least.

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Speaker 1: "I beg pardon, but you are. T-This is
a Greystone

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Speaker 1: tower, sir. Your tower." Ah. See, now
that didn't fit the

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Speaker 1: storyline. Saving his own profit was
something a noble would do, but it wasn't

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Speaker 1: a noble thing to do. Couldn't they
have robbed a commonery tower instead? There
were

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Speaker 1: some of those left, right? He
couldn't remember.

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Speaker 1: By then, Reese had been there long
enough to attract a few dozen gawking commonery.

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Speaker 1: As he surveyed them, they looked
away, each pretending to be busy, like

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Speaker 1: livestock. A small crowd of people
who idled around the shop, never quite able to

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Speaker 1: decide which of the identical bags of
bread flour they wanted. Basically, people who

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Speaker 1: were doing exactly what he was doing.
Were they the robbers, perhaps? He

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Speaker 1: hadn't been told this part of the
plan, at his own insistence. It was hard to act

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Speaker 1: when you knew what was coming, after
all.

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Speaker 1: So Reese leaned on the counter and
continued to play his part. The flowing sleeves

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Speaker 1: of his robe spilled onto the rough
wooden countertop. It looked like the grime had

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Speaker 1: sunk an inch deep into the wood. This
was the kinda place that never got clean

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Speaker 1: again, no matter how much you
scrubbed. A little fire might do some good,
actually,

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Speaker 1: especially now that he knew it was
his property. He motioned for the shopkeeper to

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Speaker 1: lean in with two fingers. Somehow,
the shaking man quivered even more as he drew

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Speaker 1: closer. Did he have some kinda
condition? Nihlus would be interested in that.

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Speaker 1: "Have you been robbed already

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Speaker 1: today?" "No. No, sir." "Are you
sure?" The shopkeeper nodded

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Speaker 1: enthusiastically. If this man shook
any harder, something was going to fall off. He

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Speaker 1: hooked a thumb at the door behind
him. "My sons are working in the storeroom, sir.

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Speaker 1: They have clubs." As if on cue, four
men filed out of the wooden door behind the

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Speaker 1: counter. Their laughter stopped as
they took in the scene before them, their

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Speaker 1: quivering elderly father looking up
at Reese in his imposing duelist robes as he

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Speaker 1: leaned over the counter. The largest
of them, the oldest brother perhaps, made a

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Speaker 1: show of adjusting his belt. They were
indeed armed with clubs.

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Speaker 1: Reese spread his hands in a show of
peace. "Hold on, fellas. I'm not the one

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Speaker 1: robbing you."

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Speaker 1: He was still thinking about how
stupid that sounded when he heard a single
footstep

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Speaker 1: behind him. Someone slipped their
thin arm casually around his torso, almost like
a

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Speaker 1: lover embracing him from behind, and
then he felt a sharp object press into his skin

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Speaker 1: above his right kidney. He gritted
his teeth and fought the urge to defend himself.

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Speaker 1: This was all part of the plan. Just
part of the plan. "Don't move, Noble."

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Speaker 1: "Took you long enough." "You're gonna
walk nice and

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Speaker 1: slow into that back room. Don't make
trouble. I know what primed magic looks like."

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Speaker 1: "Ha. I don't think so. If you think
you can threaten these people

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Speaker 1: while I stand by and do nothing..."

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Speaker 1: The knife plunged into Reese's side,
and his world shattered with pain. He gasped

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Speaker 1: and threw himself forward and felt
the knife slide back out of him. In an instant,

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Speaker 1: the attacker was on top of him again.
The knife flashed toward his throat. Reese

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Speaker 1: threw up his green glowing right
hand. He caught the knife in the metal that had

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Speaker 1: grown like webbing between his
fingers. The tip of the blade punched through
the

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Speaker 1: iron, stopping inches from his
throat. He held it there, struggling between his

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Speaker 1: fingers. His attacker leaned on the
knife with her entire body weight. It was a

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Speaker 1: silent struggle. Real fights were
like that, a quiet fight for control, marked

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Speaker 1: only by the sounds of effort, and
then the final dying sounds of the defeated.

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Speaker 1: But that would not be him. His mind
raced. This wasn't a farce like they'd

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Speaker 1: planned. This person was trying to
kill him. They were trying to kill him. Reese

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Speaker 1: used his right hand, now covered in
an inch of fresh iron, to wrench the knife from

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Speaker 1: his attacker by twisting it out of
her hands. She had dark hair and tired eyes.

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Speaker 1: Her yellowed teeth were locked in a
grimace of rage and determination.

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Speaker 1: Unexpectedly, she shifted her weight
and let the knife be taken from her, then faked

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Speaker 1: a jab at his face with the other
hand. He flinched to block, and she used her
knife

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Speaker 1: hand, now empty, to punch him in the
throat with quick, efficient blows. One, two,

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Speaker 1: three. The room began to go black as
Reese coughed. His vision was red at the

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Speaker 1: edges. He tried to push away, but he
was up against the counter. He tried to throw

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Speaker 1: her off as she hit him again and
again, but she moved with his weight. Reese

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Speaker 1: Greystone refused to be a victim. He
refused to die on the floor. He was

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Speaker 1: a twin stone mage, not some common
street urchin. He roared

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Speaker 1: in pain and defiance, spraying blood
in her face. Then Reese's hands glowed blue

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Speaker 1: this time. He slapped the ground to
the left and right of them, and the stone simply

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Speaker 1: fell away as if made of sand. He saw
her eyes go wide for only an instant, and

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Speaker 1: then they were both falling through
the hole he'd punched in the ground. They

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Speaker 1: smashed onto the stone floor one
level down. Reese heard an awful popping sound
as

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Speaker 1: they hit, unable to determine whether
it was from his own body or from his enemy. He

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Speaker 1: tried to sit up, but his body
screamed in protest. The attacker was getting up
next

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Speaker 1: to him, so he prepared himself to
defend. But instead, she started limping away.

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Speaker 1: By the time he forced his own body
up, she had already disappeared down the flight

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Speaker 1: of stairs. That was when he heard the
sound of zip lines through the hole in

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Speaker 1: the ceiling. He saw flashes of people
in black outfits and masks. Everyone get

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Speaker 1: on the ground. This is the FMR. We'll
be relieving you of your personal belongings.

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Speaker 1: Lay nice and still while we collect
them now. That's right. Nope. Stay

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Speaker 1: behind the counter. And you, empty
that register. Of course.

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Speaker 1: Now they come. A few seconds later,
someone poked their head through the hole in the

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Speaker 1: ceiling and lifted their mask to look
down at him. Reese? What are you doing down

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Speaker 1: there?

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Speaker 1: Someone stabbed me. I'm taking a
shortcut. Meet me on the ground. What about the

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Speaker 1: But Reese wasn't listening anymore.
This was so much bigger than another false flag

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Speaker 1: operation. He glanced at the
stairwell. He'd never be able to catch her that
way.

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Speaker 1: Something warm was running down his
side, and his mind was getting fuzzy. Every step

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Speaker 1: was agony. So he stumbled into the
closest stone wall before he could think better

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Speaker 1: of it. His hands glowed blue, and a
section of the wall disintegrated. Reese

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Speaker 1: let himself tumble through the hole
into the early morning air. The street,

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Speaker 1: six floors below, rapidly grew
closer. Wind roared in his ears.

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Speaker 1: As he fell, he wondered if he would
pass out and fall to his death. A stupid

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Speaker 1: thought. He'd practiced this a
hundred times. But as the ground flew up at him,
just

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Speaker 1: like a hundred times before, he was
certain he would die. With a force of will, his

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Speaker 1: fingers, and only his fingers, glowed
blue. He thrust his fingers into the side of

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Speaker 1: the stone tower racing past him. They
sunk into the stone as if it were made of

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Speaker 1: water. But in his stupor, he'd waited
too long to slow his fall. His

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Speaker 1: left arm ripped him upward violently,
and he heard and felt an awful

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Speaker 1: tearing sound in his shoulder. Reese
screamed, but kept channeling his stone

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Speaker 1: absorption. If he stopped, he would
be hanging from the side of a building with a

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Speaker 1: dislocated shoulder three stories up.
He rode the side of the building down,

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Speaker 1: dragging one hand through the stone
to slow his fall. The pain was

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Speaker 1: unbearable. He clenched his teeth so
hard he was worried they would break next.

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Speaker 1: Reese fell in a sad, boneless pile to
the street at the ground level. It

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Speaker 1: was hardly heroic. Fire ran through
his shoulder. Lava boiled on the other

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Speaker 1: side of his body where the knife
wound was. He looked up at the pale blue morning

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Speaker 1: sky through the gaps in the stone
towers. Little black silhouettes moving on thin

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Speaker 1: black lines that ran between the
buildings like a black spider's web. Even though
it

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Speaker 1: was early, people still used the zip
lines. Traffic never truly stopped in Valaxis.

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Speaker 1: He just stared upward. There was no
way he was getting up. He couldn't.

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Speaker 1: So he just lay there in pain,
waiting, knowing how stupid he'd been. How

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Speaker 1: impulsive and reckless he'd been with
his own life. And two of House Greystone's

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Speaker 1: greatest treasures. Not that his
father needed two more stones of power, but if
his

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Speaker 1: attacker collected them off his dead
body No, no, that was unacceptable. He would

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Speaker 1: not arm the underground mages. So he
had to stay alive.

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Speaker 1: Some eternity later, a young woman
burst through the street door at the base of the

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Speaker 1: tower. Stop.

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Speaker 1: She heard him, of course, stopped,
and turned to look back at him.

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Speaker 1: That was when he realized he was in
no condition to fight her again. She looked

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Speaker 1: around in confusion, probably
wondering why her victim had gone to such great

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Speaker 1: lengths to lay prostrate at her feet.
Surely it must be a trap. No,

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Speaker 1: not a trap. I'm just an idiot. She
stood over him,

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Speaker 1: but just far enough out of reach to
dodge. It was dark down there on the ground.

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Speaker 1: If she was from the Free Magic
Resistance, the real Free Magic Resistance, not
his

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Speaker 1: team dressed like them six floors up,
this would be familiar territory to her. They

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Speaker 1: loved dark, tight, filthy places like
this. Not unlike other vermin, really.

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Speaker 1: When no one sprung out of the alleys
to get her, the woman brought her foot back for

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Speaker 1: a swift kick to his temple. And
though he tried to dull the blow with a quick
layer

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Speaker 1: of iron plating on his head, the boot
struck and Rhys started falling again,

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Speaker 1: this time into complete darkness.

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Speaker 1: Chapter Two South Bloom Towers

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Speaker 1: Tessa watched the noble sleeping in
her bed, and somehow it felt wrong. He

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Speaker 1: shouldn't get the bed. She would have
put him on the floor, but he might do that

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Speaker 1: stone-melting magic thing again and
get away. More likely, given his injuries,

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Speaker 1: ruin her floor and hurt himself. He
seemed prone to that kind of

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Speaker 1: thing. Maybe she should have just
killed him and taken the stones for herself. It

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Speaker 1: was an unbelievable fortune. If she
could sell them without being killed in the

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Speaker 1: process, no guarantees there. Too
late for all that anyway. Things were already in

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Speaker 1: motion. A safer deal, hopefully. It
was always smart to take the safer deal, even if

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Speaker 1: you got paid a little less. Tessa was
happy to let someone else take the heat from

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Speaker 1: this one. She looked out the window
again. If she stuck her head out the window

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Speaker 1: and angled it just right, she could
still see a sliver of blue sky. It wasn't a good

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Speaker 1: idea to make a habit of that, though.
Besides the eternal rain of pigeon droppings,

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Speaker 1: she might get a face full of human
droppings. People usually threw their waste down

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Speaker 1: the chutes in the center of the
tower. But it was a long walk for some, and the

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Speaker 1: window was right there. Tessa looked
down the rows of identical stone towers

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Speaker 1: outside. A few wretched souls
stumbled around through the alleyways below, but
most

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Speaker 1: of the traffic was on the zip lines
far above. She got up and paced around the room,

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Speaker 1: stealing occasional glances at the
door. Dawn, Frisk, and the others should have

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Speaker 1: been back by now. Didn't they know
how big this was? Everyone in the FMR

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Speaker 1: would know soon. And that's what she
was afraid of. Two stones of power.

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Speaker 1: And a noble hostage to sweeten the
deal. I shouldn't have told Dawn.

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Speaker 1: There was a rustling sound behind
her. Tessa spun around, heart pounding, and

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Speaker 1: reached for the knife in her belt.
The movement made her arm roar in pain. She

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Speaker 1: winced and awkwardly used the other
hand instead. It wasn't there. Her knife wasn't

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Speaker 1: there. A glance to the side. She'd
left it on the desk. The pale man looked at

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Speaker 1: her sleepily from her bed, unmoving.
He'd lost a lot of blood on the way

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Speaker 1: here. He looked so much different
than the furious warrior who had jumped off a

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Speaker 1: building to chase her. Who did stuff
like that? Even if you were a mage, you were

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Speaker 1: still human.

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Speaker 1: It smells like feet.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, welcome to South Bloom.
The smell grows on you. Who's Dawn?

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Speaker 1: Your boss.

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Speaker 1: I'll kill him first, saving you for
last. Tessa walked over to

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Speaker 1: the desk and slipped her knife back
into her belt, then sat down, propping her chin

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Speaker 1: up on the uninjured arm. This man
wasn't a threat anymore. Real life wasn't like

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Speaker 1: those rooftop plays. Your enemies
didn't get back up after wounds like this. They

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Speaker 1: just laid there, waiting for the
mercy of death. Your killing days are over. Look

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00:17:24.216 --> 00:17:29.716
Speaker 1: at yourself. The noble just grimaced.
A feral, bloody grimace.

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Speaker 1: His body was falling apart, but his
spirit just didn't know when to quit. So

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Speaker 1: who are you? FMR? No. And it was the

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Speaker 1: truth. That was her brother's thing.
Freedom fighter. Revolutionary.

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Speaker 1: It was gonna get him killed. He was
the idealist. Tessa's vendetta was

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00:17:55.216 --> 00:18:00.556
Speaker 1: much more personal than that. Yeah,
well, we'll see when my

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Speaker 1: erasers get to work on you.

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Speaker 1: It's funny you should mention that.
And then the noble spirit was finally

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Speaker 1: cowed. The grimace turned ugly.
Fearful. Apparently there were

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Speaker 1: things that scared him. You're lying.
You don't have an eraser.

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Speaker 1: Tessa leaned back in her chair,
trying to look relaxed, trying not to mess up
her

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Speaker 1: throbbing arm any further. It was
definitely broken. When she didn't answer,

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00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:42.400
Speaker 1: he tried a different tactic instead.
You got a name? Doesn't matter.

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Speaker 1: Why?

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Speaker 1: Because in just a little bit, you
won't remember my name, your name, or anything

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Speaker 1: really. Just, uh, what's the word?
She knew the word.

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Speaker 1: Everyone knew the word. It was the
Magisterium's favorite weapon.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, blank. The noble winced, and
again with that look of

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Speaker 1: fear. It surprised her. This guy had
been willing to chase her

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Speaker 1: off a building, but he was afraid of
losing his memories? How was death not

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Speaker 1: worse? He swallowed audibly, but
continued speaking, also

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Speaker 1: feigning confidence. Humory, what's
your name?

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Speaker 1: She thought about giving him a fake
name. It was the smart thing to do. But really,

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00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:45.660
Speaker 1: what did it matter? This catch was so
big she was either going straight to the top

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Speaker 1: or going right down with him. It was
almost enough to make her regret sticking him

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Speaker 1: up. Almost. But her temper did what
her temper did.

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Speaker 1: Tessa. Nice to meet you, Tessa. I'm
going to kill you

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Speaker 1: last.

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00:20:06.260 --> 00:20:11.140
Speaker 1: She rolled her eyes, and for the ten
thousandth time, she looked at the door to her

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Speaker 1: squat little apartment and wondered
when the cavalry would finally get here. Best to

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00:20:17.220 --> 00:20:22.320
Speaker 1: just keep him talking if he was going
to be awake. He might not survive another blow

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Speaker 1: to the head.

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Speaker 1: And you are? Rhys Greystone. A

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00:20:29.940 --> 00:20:35.800
Speaker 1: slow, knowing smile spread across his
face. She stared flatly at him.

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00:20:37.040 --> 00:20:41.920
Speaker 1: Am I supposed to know who that is?
Greystone? Like,

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00:20:43.640 --> 00:20:45.120
Speaker 1: the name on the barrels?

220
00:20:47.060 --> 00:20:47.740
Speaker 1: The what?

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00:20:49.400 --> 00:20:53.720
Speaker 1: Greystone. It's on all the barrels of
grain that come in from the south.

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Speaker 1: Yes, that Greystone. The barrels, the
grain, the horses, the

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00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:05.560
Speaker 1: people. It's all ours. That and a
thousand more things.

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Speaker 1: So, I'm supposed to be impressed
because you make barrels?

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Speaker 1: Rhys looked around as if searching
for someone else to explain this to.

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00:21:19.120 --> 00:21:23.880
Speaker 1: One, I'm wasting my time. We can
agree on that.

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00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:30.400
Speaker 1: Two, I changed my mind. What? And
then

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Speaker 1: Rhys raised a glowing green hand four
feet from her face.

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Speaker 1: I'm killing you first. Goodbye.

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00:21:41.640 --> 00:21:47.620
Speaker 1: Then his glowing green hand flickered
and died. He looked at his hand in alarm

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00:21:47.660 --> 00:21:52.460
Speaker 1: and confusion, as if it were a
misbehaving machine he could shake back into
working

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Speaker 1: order. Tessa leaned back in her chair
again. I force-fed you a null

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Speaker 1: stone while you were sleeping. Small
one, but it'll do the trick eventually, I

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00:22:03.080 --> 00:22:08.620
Speaker 1: think. You, you Tessa raised an
eyebrow,

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00:22:09.380 --> 00:22:13.120
Speaker 1: waiting. Commonry trash!

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00:22:13.780 --> 00:22:18.840
Speaker 1: Basement-dwelling, waste-bathing,
tunnel-crawling.

237
00:22:19.800 --> 00:22:25.800
Speaker 1: That was when the apartment door
finally opened. Two men she didn't recognize
stood

238
00:22:25.860 --> 00:22:31.820
Speaker 1: there. Tessa rose from her chair.
Dawn? Donnie? Where? Right here.

239
00:22:32.900 --> 00:22:38.460
Speaker 1: Dawn stepped out from behind the
other men. It's okay. They're with me. Tessa let

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00:22:38.520 --> 00:22:44.360
Speaker 1: her hand slide off the knife hilt and
moved back out of their way. The two burly men

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00:22:44.459 --> 00:22:50.240
Speaker 1: came in. They wore all black,
unadorned uniforms. They looked

242
00:22:50.760 --> 00:22:55.760
Speaker 1: surprised, for some reason. The one
without facial hair shot a glance at the other.

243
00:22:56.420 --> 00:23:01.260
Speaker 1: What, did they think she'd been lying
about this? We'd better put a hood over him.

244
00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:08.740
Speaker 1: Lord above, girl. You said you found
him in a ration house? Yes.

245
00:23:09.360 --> 00:23:14.940
Speaker 1: Then he jumped off a building, and we
dragged him here. The two men exchanged

246
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:20.700
Speaker 1: another look. The same look,
actually, just played again. Is he disarmed?

247
00:23:21.740 --> 00:23:22.900
Speaker 1: I fed him a null stone.

248
00:23:26.080 --> 00:23:30.960
Speaker 1: One of the uniforms gave her a sharp
nod, and then they wrapped up Rhys Greystone in

249
00:23:31.020 --> 00:23:36.160
Speaker 1: a few blankets and lifted him as
gently as they could. It was done quickly and

250
00:23:36.220 --> 00:23:40.680
Speaker 1: professionally. I want it when it
comes back out, too.

251
00:23:42.120 --> 00:23:47.300
Speaker 1: Tessa just managed to catch Rhys'
disgusted reaction before they left the room.

252
00:23:48.020 --> 00:23:53.260
Speaker 1: She was certainly playing into his
fiction of the commonry. Well, he might be able

253
00:23:53.300 --> 00:23:58.840
Speaker 1: to let a null stone sliver go, but
this was a fortune to her. Dawn

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00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:03.800
Speaker 1: idled in giddy anticipation out in
the hallway, watching the two men carry the

255
00:24:03.840 --> 00:24:09.760
Speaker 1: concealed Rhys away. This is big.
Tessa, do you understand

256
00:24:09.840 --> 00:24:15.780
Speaker 1: how big this is? Nope. She tried to
put both hands in

257
00:24:15.820 --> 00:24:21.460
Speaker 1: her pockets, winced, then put only
one hand in her pocket. That's the

258
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Speaker 1: son of one of the most powerful
houses in Velaxis, and he fell right into our
laps.

259
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Speaker 1: Really now, is that what you told
them? Well, no. Don't

260
00:24:34.296 --> 00:24:40.016
Speaker 1: worry. I told them you helped. You
told them I helped?

261
00:24:41.176 --> 00:24:47.176
Speaker 1: I seem to remember doing a lot more
than just helping, Don. Don turned to

262
00:24:47.236 --> 00:24:52.996
Speaker 1: her and placed his hands on her
shoulders. Then he lifted them off her

263
00:24:53.076 --> 00:24:58.556
Speaker 1: shoulders and grasped at the air as
if trying to crush two invisible rocks

264
00:24:58.596 --> 00:25:04.576
Speaker 1: suspended there. You don't get it.
That's okay. You don't need

265
00:25:04.636 --> 00:25:09.916
Speaker 1: to get it. Just, I love you. I love
you, I love you, love you, love you, love you.

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00:25:11.016 --> 00:25:15.756
Speaker 1: Tessa gave him a faint smile. This
was next level, even for Don.

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Speaker 1: We getting drinks later then? Drinks?
Tessa, I'm gonna buy you a

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00:25:22.556 --> 00:25:27.916
Speaker 1: tavern. I'd like to buy my own
tavern, if that's all right.

269
00:25:28.796 --> 00:25:34.716
Speaker 1: He pointed a finger at her and
flashed a brilliant smile. Ten taverns. You can

270
00:25:34.776 --> 00:25:38.016
Speaker 1: have your own damn tower once we
topple the Magisterium.

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00:25:39.636 --> 00:25:45.316
Speaker 1: Hold on, Donnie. I'm not waiting that
long. I want to get paid, like, right the

272
00:25:45.376 --> 00:25:50.936
Speaker 1: hell now. They know that, right? Of
course, sis. Of course. He

273
00:25:51.036 --> 00:25:55.176
Speaker 1: started to spin away from her, but
she grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him

274
00:25:55.236 --> 00:26:01.036
Speaker 1: back, gently. Donnie, tell me I'm
gonna get paid for

275
00:26:01.096 --> 00:26:06.676
Speaker 1: this. He grimaced, and Tessa knew
things were about to get

276
00:26:06.816 --> 00:26:12.796
Speaker 1: ugly. Control, control, control the
anger.

277
00:26:14.956 --> 00:26:20.096
Speaker 1: Listen, if you get paid, then there's
proof you were involved.

278
00:26:20.956 --> 00:26:24.656
Speaker 1: Honestly, Tess, we're lucky you're
not going to the Eraser, too.

279
00:26:26.176 --> 00:26:31.776
Speaker 1: The world started to boil and close
in on her all at once. Her

280
00:26:31.996 --> 00:26:37.656
Speaker 1: vision narrowed to a point. I'm
getting paid.

281
00:26:38.956 --> 00:26:44.696
Speaker 1: Tessa, please don't make this a
thing. She fired a simmering look at him, and
Don

282
00:26:44.756 --> 00:26:49.976
Speaker 1: took a step back, hands raised. He
was not ruining this for her.

283
00:26:50.636 --> 00:26:56.456
Speaker 1: Payday didn't matter. She wasn't
going to buy a tavern. She wasn't

284
00:26:56.516 --> 00:27:01.436
Speaker 1: going to buy drinks. She was going to
buy something far,

285
00:27:02.256 --> 00:27:08.136
Speaker 1: far more important. Don knew that,
and that made it hurt even worse.

286
00:27:08.876 --> 00:27:14.716
Speaker 1: He knew what he was withholding from
her. I want to talk to them, your

287
00:27:14.816 --> 00:27:20.676
Speaker 1: goons at the FMR. Tessa, it's not
going to bring her back. You

288
00:27:20.776 --> 00:27:26.216
Speaker 1: can't buy something like that. You
can, actually. There's a price.

289
00:27:27.616 --> 00:27:33.056
Speaker 1: Don started to speak again, but
stopped as Tessa brought her hands very

290
00:27:33.316 --> 00:27:38.936
Speaker 1: slowly to his shirt collar and
grabbed it tightly. She ignored the

291
00:27:38.996 --> 00:27:44.196
Speaker 1: blaring alarm of pain in her right
arm as she pulled his face toward her.

292
00:27:45.096 --> 00:27:50.116
Speaker 1: Even though she was a full six inches
shorter than him, he recoiled from her.

293
00:27:51.036 --> 00:27:55.956
Speaker 1: Take me to them. I can't. I can't.

294
00:27:56.796 --> 00:27:59.256
Speaker 1: Listen, they're taking him to To

295
00:28:00.896 --> 00:28:06.076
Speaker 1: And then she released his shirt and
walked right past him, because she knew where

296
00:28:06.116 --> 00:28:11.216
Speaker 1: they were taking Rhys now. It was
almost too easy to get information out of her

297
00:28:11.256 --> 00:28:16.516
Speaker 1: brother. He might be the
revolutionary, but he was a coward, in his own
way.

298
00:28:17.736 --> 00:28:23.516
Speaker 1: Tessa, don't Don't go. They'll kill

299
00:28:23.596 --> 00:28:29.596
Speaker 1: you. She didn't look back. No. They

300
00:28:29.656 --> 00:28:30.196
Speaker 1: won't.