Page 169 - DivineSparkRisingFinal

Nicholas Boothman
“We underestimated what happens when people
write their own story,” Serpa said.
The floor seemed to tilt under her.
Every conversation, every memory, even his
death, all a fracture in his design.
“You used me,” she said.
“I needed someone the world would believe.
Who better than Henry Talbot, your star pupil with
his unshakable reputation. But I underestimated
him.”
“Why, Joaquim?
“Why build Chorus at all? You, of all people,
know what choice means.”
“Choice?” He almost laughed. “I was six when
the revolution came to Mozambique…”
When he reached “Chorus is not tyranny. It is
mercy,” Carolina’s stomach turned. Mercy, the word
every tyrant hides behind.
“No,” she said, “that was fear. Don’t dress it up
as proof that people can’t choose.”
“Don’t you dare speak to me of fear,” he
snapped. “You didn’t stand barefoot in the dirt as
men tore your father’s shop apart with rifle butts.
You didn’t hear your mother sob while strangers
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