leaned over and read the headline. “King Elijah Makes Royal Decree— Universal Healthcare in Malovia Abolished. Medical Care Will Become Owned by the Private Sector.”
Odette’s mouth dropped open. “He can’t do that! Can he do that?”
Ethan shrugged. Kiara picked up the paper and began to read aloud. “In a speech delivered Tuesday evening, the king declared that healthcare would primarily come from employers. ‘Those who work will have their needs provided for— those who choose to be a drag on the system will pay the price,’ the king was quoted. ‘There will be no more free rides in Malovia. From today on, we work to build a better future for all fae kind.’ The excess funds that are now free from going into the previous healthcare system will be put into growing Malovia’s military. The self-employed, the elderly, and the disabled will be reliant on family connections or paying out-of-pocket in order to obtain healthcare.”
This was one of my worst fears. Elijah was already cutting social programs in order to put the tax dollars into bulking up his army… so he could attack other supernatural races. What a right bastard.
“This new plan leaves out thousands,” Alexei argued. “Most disabled people can’t work. And the elderly don’t have jobs. How are they supposed to get care if they can’t get it from their employers?”
“It says in the article these dependent groups will have to rely on charitable organizations to obtain what they need.” Kiara frowned as she speed-read through the article. “But that clearly won’t fill the gap. Those services are about to become very strained, with all the people who will need help. Those who don’t get there first will miss out.”
“That’s bullshit!” Delmare smacked a fist against the table, and her drink went spilling everywhere. Stefan hurried to clean it up.
I hated Elijah. It’d hardly taken him long to start abolishing programs people depended on. All so he could go on a power trip.
Ethan caught the desperate look on my face. “You don’t have to worry, Emma. I’ll take care of you. I have more than enough in my royal treasury to pay for your treatments. I’ve already made arrangements with your doctor for your shipments to continue, even after I’m…”
Ethan cleared his throat, and my stomach soured. Stefan rushed to fill the silence.
“Yeah, my mom’s not letting you go without,” Stefan said. “Doctor Miroslava Slasky is on the case.”
“Thank you,” I whispered quietly, and Ethan inclined his head. I really did owe him one. Despite the distance between us, he wouldn’t let anything happen to me. He wanted to take care of me even after he was dead from this demon’s torture.
I was so in love with him. And right now, that love felt so painful, because I couldn’t express it in the way I wanted to. Gods, I just wanted things to be different between us.
“But what about my people?” I sat back against the booth, stunned. “The disabled population in Malovia is totally fucked.”
“You can’t tell me this wasn’t Elijah’s plan,” Alexei said in a disgusted way as he looked at Ethan.
Ethan’s voice was half-hearted. “Eli’s trying to cull society. If he kills off all the elderly— and all the sick— Malovia’s taxes won’t be burdened by taking care of them. Only the self-reliant will continue to survive… and that’s if they contribute to his twisted idea of building a fae empire. Things are going exactly how I suspected they would.”
“People are going to die from this,” Delmare protested. “The Circle can’t just—”
“The Circle doesn’t care.” Ethan put his face in his hands. “They want their revenge on the other magical races for us losing the Great Supernatural War. They don’t care how many bodies pile up because of it. In their eyes, it’s all for the greater good.”
We stared at the newspaper. Tygrys noticed I was upset— he padded over and rubbed his head against my hand. I scratched his antennae with my fingernail and tried not to let the horror creep in.
Ethan was right. People were going to die, and the government didn’t give two shits. The people in power wanted what they wanted, and damn the peasants trying to get in their way.
We had to find those crystals and put an end to this. Fast.
I was curling my hair in my dorm room on Friday evening for a night out. After two days of extreme fatigue, I was finally feeling better after my infusion, and I wanted to make the most of it