Chapter 30
Clover
The last time a crowd cheered for me, it was because they’d just found out they were bidding on a virgin.
The sound still makes my stomach twist as I step onto the ramp beside King Lix’tuk. My king. Thousands of voices crash over me, shouting my name, chanting the words President Highton tried to use against us. No more sons. No more daughters. No more Clovers.
Maybe I should feel powerful. Maybe a part of me does. But another part of me is still standing on that auction stage in a dress I didn’t choose, with strange men staring at me like I’m just a thing they can purchase, take home and use. My hands start to tremble, but I ball them into fists.
“You’re safe, my love,” King Lix’tuk growls, low enough that only I can hear. “These people are looking at you the way orcs used to look at me when I walked through the streets of Uzrirgard,”
I stare at him. I don’t know how people look at a king or queen, but maybe he’s right. All I really heard, though, was that he called me his love.
“Clover!” a voice rises above the crowd, redirecting my attention, and I recognize it instantly.
“Mom!” I scream back, waving at her.
My mother comes running down the steps of the Presidential Palace and I start moving toward her as fast as I can. Even an angry mob knows not to stand between a mother and the daughter she thought she’d never see again. They part on both sides and we meet in the middle of them.
“I can’t believe you’re here!” I cry, glancing at the top of the steps where my father is still holding President Highton on his knees.
“You can’t believe I’m here!?” she screams, hugging me. “We were already angry at President Highton for using your name like that. When we heard your speech… we knew we had to do something.”
“I think you did a little more than something, Mom,” I say, hugging her tighter than I’ve ever hugged her before, her arms squeezing me so tight I’m worried she’ll break a rib. “Are Beverly and Abigail okay?”
“Yes, they’re fine,” she reassures, finally releasing me from her embrace. “As soon as we realized there would be trouble, we sent them back to Troona to stay with the neighbors. Not my first choice, but at least I know they’re safe.”
“Good,” I say, then I remember I have a hulking orc standing beside me. “Mom, this is King Lix’tuk. King Lix’tuk… this is my mom.”
“It’s an honor to meet you, ma’am,” King Lix’tuk says respectfully, then he points at President Highton. “As much as I hate to interrupt this reunion, I believe there’s business we should attend to first.”
The three of us turn our attention to President Highton and start walking up the steps. He looks at us with a bitter expression on his face and an angry look in his eyes.
“You fucking bitch!” President Highton snarls, spitting at me. “This is treason!”
“That’s my daughter you’re talking about,” my father says angrily, twisting President Highton’s arm until he howls in pain.
“You’ll all be executed for treason! Every single one of you!” President Highton yells. “The senate will never stand for this!”
“There’s not much left of your senate,” my mother sneers. “Half of the senators are already dead. The rest are in hiding, hoping they’re not next.”
“My army is on the way! Just wait! They’re coming!” President Highton screams, looking past the protestors.
“Those who didn’t remove their uniforms in disgust have already been dealt with, former President Highton,” King Lix’tuk growls.
“I bet you love this don’t you? Filthy fucking orcs,” President Highton snarls. “These people are fools. Why don’t you tell them what happens next, huh? How you plan to burn this city with your troops surrounding it, so nobody can escape!”
“There was a time when that’s exactly what I would have done,” King Lix’tuk intones. “I would have stood outside Concord City and smiled while I listened to the screams.”
The crowd seems uneasy with that declaration. I’m not, because I know he’s not that kind of orc anymore. He may not love all humans, but he loves me, and he’s seen what generations of hatred brings.
“Hear that!? That’s what happens when you commit treason!” President Highton yells. “All of you are going to be killed by orcs!”
“No,” King Lix’tuk roars, turning to the crowd.
His deep, resonant voice carries over the crowd.
“We are not here to fight you. We are here to help. I’ve set up a Mobile Command Center outside Concord City.
We’ll treat your wounded. We’ll give you all the supplies you need until Concord City is finally serving the people, instead of a president who sells your children to the highest bidder. ”
“When I said the orcs are here to help, I meant it. They’re not the monsters you should fear,” I call out. Pointing at President Highton, I shout, “He is.”
The crowd breaks out in cheers and shouts, calling for the former President to be executed. Hopefully, he’ll be whipped first.
“What should we do with him?” my father asks.
“You don’t get to decide what happens to me!” President Highton snaps, groaning when my father twists his arm again. “We have laws! I’m supposed to get a fair trial!”
I look out at the crowd then back at him. “I don’t think these people will be following your laws anymore, Highton. You’ve spent your presidency choosing our futures. I think it’s only fair that they get to choose yours.”
I nod to my father and King Lix’tuk. My father releases President Highton and King Lix’tuk grabs the president by the back of the neck, tossing him down the marble steps.
He hits a few of them but catches himself before he faceplants into the ground.
He scrambles to his feet and tries to run, but a protester kicks his feet out from under him.
“Hang him!” someone shouts.
“Whip him first! That’s what they did to us!” another voice yells out.
The words tear through the crowd, sharper and louder with every voice that joins in. “Whip him! Hang him! Whip him! Hang him! Whip him! Hang him!”
President Highton’s face goes pale as the chant grows louder.
For the first time, he looks like what he really is.
Not a president. Not a symbol. Not a man protected by podiums, soldiers, and laws he only believed in when they served him.
Just a man on his knees, surrounded by the people he betrayed.
I thought seeing him afraid would feel better. It does. But it also feels dangerous.
“Please!” President Highton screams, desperation cracking his voice. “It’s a trick! The orcs would never treat a human girl this well! That’s not the real Clover! She wasn’t even whipped!”
“A father knows his daughter,” my dad says, putting an arm around me.
“So does a mother,” my mom says, squeezing my hand.
“Hey, President Highton!” I yell, silencing some of the crowd. He turns to look at me, still shouting lies, still clawing for a way to save himself. “They didn’t turn me into a symbol that started a revolution. You did.”
“No! No! You can’t do this!” President Highton screams as the crowd drags him away.
“You could stop this if you wanted,” King Lix’tuk rumbles. “They’ll listen to you.”
“Is it wrong if I don’t want to stop them?” I ask apprehensively. “Does that make me a monster?”
“No,” he growls. “It just makes you human.”
I let out a shaky breath, almost laughing because I don’t know what else to do. “That isn’t very comforting.”
“It shouldn’t be,” he says, his gaze fixed on Highton as the crowd drags him to the twisted steel at the palace entrance. “Humans and orcs have both done terrible things while believing we were owed blood. Sometimes we were. Sometimes we weren’t.”
The former President looks back at me, eyes wide and pleading. For one terrible second, I see myself on the auction stage. Terrified. Powerless. Waiting for someone else to decide what would happen to me.
“He deserves what he gets,” my father says, patting my shoulder.
“I agree,” my mother says, squeezing my hand harder. “This won’t end if he’s sitting in a jail cell awaiting trial.”
As much as I hate it, my parents are right. This revolution was sparked by a symbol, and it needs another one if it’s going to end.
I watch as President Highton is tied to the jagged steel, kicking and screaming until his legs are secured with rope.
Then he just screams as the angry protestors tear off his clothes, whips cracking as soon as bare flesh is exposed.
I have to look away, but the sounds of justice split the air until his screams die out.
I don’t shed any tears when the noose goes around President Highton’s neck. Nor do I shed any when he’s hoisted, no longer kicking and screaming, until he’s hanging from the twisted remains of the gates he tried to hide behind.
I wince and look away once he goes limp. The crowd cheers, but I don’t. Neither do my parents or King Lix’tuk.
I thought justice would feel like an ending. It doesn’t. It feels like standing in the ashes, trying to decide what should be rebuilt first.
“The revolution is over,” King Lix’tuk declares in a loud voice. “Now the real work begins.”
“We should go to the Mobile Command Center,” I say, shuddering a little at the sight of President Highton in my peripheral vision. “I can do another broadcast to make sure the wounded know it’s safe to come to us for help.”
“Let’s go,” King Lix’tuk says, walking toward his ship. He pauses and turns back. “I meant all three of you, if that wasn’t clear.”
My heart skips a beat. I’m definitely not ready to say goodbye to my parents again yet, so I’m grateful they’re coming with us. Eventually, I will return to Uzrirgard. I’m sure that won’t be easy for any of us, but this is no longer where I belong.