Page 129 of Gunslinger Girl

“The bad news,” he continued, “is that while I’ve done what I can, a fragment of bullet lodged near his spine. If I try to operate, there’s a good chance he’ll lose the use of his legs, assuming he makes it through the surgery at all. I’m sorry. Even if I had the experience for the procedure, I don’t have the right equipment or resources here.”

Pity catapulted to her feet. “So you’re going to do nothing?”

“I didn’t say that.” Starr crossed his arms. “What I’m going to do is put him in a stasis container and let Ms. Bond take it from there.”

She felt the blood drain from her face. She turned to Siena. “You told Selene.”

“Didn’t have much choice. She overheard enough to start putting it together anyway.” Siena put a hand on her shoulder. “You knew it was going to end like this anyway, kid. If he stays here now, he’s dead. But back east—well, if there’s something Drakos-Pryce has, it’s resources.”

Pity shrugged away. “But if she knows who he is—”

“He’s no good to her in the condition he’s in.”

“Not to mention she’s already given her blessing for Ms. Bond to take him,” Starr added.

“But… he…” Pity searched for another argument but found nothing. If he stays, he’s dead. If he goes, he’ll live. “Fine. But I’m coming with you.”

“Dammit, Jones, that’s—”

“I’m not leaving his side until he’s where he needs to be. And if you try to leave me behind, I’m gonna follow you all the way to Columbia.” She stared down the bounty hunter, her jaw set.

Siena sniffed and shook her head. “Somewhere your mother is laughing her ass off.”

She strode out of the room.

“Can I see him?” Pity said to Starr.

He shook his head. “I’ve already induced stasis—couldn’t risk the fragment moving around. However,” he said with a note of annoyance, “if you’re keen to talk to someone else who should be resting and recovering, stay put.” He held the door as he departed.

Selene entered. Her neck and shoulder were bandaged, and she walked with a cane, but a stately air still clung to her like a warning. She sat down gingerly, regarding Pity much like she had at their first meeting.

A minute of sharp-edged silence passed.

“I’m sorry about Max,” she said finally.

That she sounded sincere didn’t dampen the fury that blazed within Pity, a pyre for the trust she had once put in the woman. “You would have done it, wouldn’t you? You would have put him in a Finale, just to make a point—to show how much control you have.”

“I don’t make empty threats,” said Selene. “You know that. I did what I believed needed to be done.” She paused. “You really love him, don’t you? Sometimes I forget what it’s like to love like that, thinking of only one and not a thousand.”

“You would have tried to make me kill him.”

“For the benefit of that thousand, yes.” Selene sighed. “But that would have been my sin to carry, not yours.”

Something in Pity’s chest tightened. “Sheridan…”

“Speaking of sins? What were you thinking about when you killed him? Max… or Cessation?”

“I was thinking about both.” She felt the quake of the shot again, saw the blood spread. “Sheridan wasn’t going to give up. If he couldn’t control Cessation the way he wanted, he would have seen it destroyed.” A wave of exhaustion crested over her. “I didn’t want to kill him. But I didn’t want him to have the chance to hurt anyone else, or for you to have a chance to…”

“Put him in a Finale?” Selene finished.

“Yes.”

She smiled humorlessly. “Right and wrong isn’t so easy, is it? Sometimes the choices we make are a little bit of both.” Selene sighed again. “It’s been a while since I felt like a fool. I saw Sheridan only as an ally, not as a threat. But I made my choices, and you made yours. And we both paid the price.”

Genuine sadness filled Selene’s face, unlike anything Pity had seen in the woman before. Her anger receded slightly. “Adora. I’m sorry. Who knew?”

“That she was my daughter?” Selene closed her eyes, mouth thinning. “Only Beau, though I think Flossie had her suspicions. I thought if I kept her a secret I wouldn’t have to be afraid for her in the way you were afraid for Max. That I could keep her from ever being a target or a pawn.” A tear rolled down her round cheek, there and gone in moments. “If only she had said yes to Sheridan. I could have died content with that.”