The Blushing Bounder (An Iron Seas Short Novella)
“Tomorrow morning, you will be there with your wife. My father will infect you both.”
Dear God, he wished it could be so. “I’m sorry, sir, but I cannot. Not unless she agrees, and I won’t do it unless she does.”
She stopped and gave him a hard look. “Do you realize that your wife is dying, Newberry?”
Just hearing the words made it impossible to breathe, as if an iron fist grabbed his heart, pulped it into nothing.
The inspector must have seen. Her face softened. “She must be infected, constable. And you as well. The black lung kills more New Worlders in London than any other cause, and it would be easily preventable if they weren’t so damned afraid of the bugs.”
“I would, sir. But she’s afraid. Terrified. I can’t force her into it. I have already forced too much.”
But he would if it came to the end, Newberry knew. If her condition continued to worsen, he’d force her to take the injection. It would be an unforgivable trespass, but if she lived, he would never regret it.
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