The Divinity Bureau by Tessa Clare - Book Tour + Giveaway
Date Published: September 21st, 2017
Publisher: Asset Creative House
The Hunger Games meets Romeo and Juliet in a stunning debut about a forbidden romance between a young activist and a government employee for a corrupt bureau that controls the population by deciding who lives and who dies.
Roman Irvine is a disgruntled IT Technician for the Divinity Bureau, a government agency that uses random selection to decide who lives and who dies. In a world where overpopulation has lead to pollution, a crippled economy, and a world in crisis, he’s accepted the bureau’s activities as a necessity… until he meets April McIntyre.
April has every reason to be suspicious of Roman. He works for the Divinity Bureau, which sent her father to an early grave. But he’s also sweet and loyal, and unbeknownst to her, he saved her life. As Roman and April fall deeper in love, the deeper they’re thrust into the politics of deciding who lives and who dies. Someone wants April dead. And the bureau’s process of random selection may not be so random after all…
Excerpt
Excerpt
I mute the television,
positive that my ears are playing tricks on me. Two months ago, Roman was
certain that my mother hated him; yet here they are, standing in my hallway and
joking around like old friends. Have I missed something?
“I appreciate your
presence at the extension hearing,” my mother continues. “It’s nice to know
that someone understands how the bureau works from the inside.”
“It’s not a big deal,
honestly,” Roman says, his voice sincere. “Anyways, I didn’t really come with,
since I can’t be seen with any of the elects.”
“It’s the same
principle,” my mother dismisses. “The fact that you’re risking your job means
the world to me. I’m sure it’ll mean a lot to April, too.”
Is he risking his job? His job is the reason that we’re in this
mess! I’ll have to talk to my mom as soon as Roman leaves. In the meantime, I
realize that I’m not past the resentment towards Roman for not telling me that
the Divinity Bureau sentenced my mother to die, and I’m not willing to talk it
out with him yet.
I turn the television
off and grab my bowl of cereal from the coffee table. As quietly as I can
muster, I tip-toe away from the living room. I don’t want to take the elevator,
in fear that it’ll make lots of noise. Instead, I walk up four flights of
stairs, silently fuming. I’m only feet away from my bedroom when I hear the
elevator ding.
I freeze. It’s
probably my sister, I tell myself. It could also be my mother. Just as long as
it isn’t Roman – please don’t be Roman.
But when I glance towards the elevator, the one person that I don’t want to see
is staring back at me. His mouth hangs open, looking just as shocked to see me
as I am to see him.
“Hi,” he says
breathlessly.
“Hello,” I say,
swallowing the lump in my throat. “What are you doing here?”
“What I wanted to do
the last time I was here,” Roman says, avoiding my eyes. “Are you mad at me?”
Yes.
“I don’t know,” I
admit, my words betraying my mind. “On one hand, I know that what happened
wasn’t your fault; but I just can’t get past the fact that you knew.” My
eyebrows furrow. I take a step closer to him and wag an accusing finger at him.
“You knew! And you didn’t tell me!”
Roman hangs his head
down. “I’m sorry. I just… couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’d lose my
job,” Roman says, and at that moment, it all makes sense. He avoided me because
he didn’t trust himself to keep his mouth shut. And for a guy that’s already
living paycheck to paycheck, losing his job would mean losing everything.
He sighs. “Do you hate
me?”
“I don’t know,” I say,
unable to find the words to describe my emotions. “I just… I’m having a hard
time differentiating between you and them right now.” By ‘them,’ we both know
that I’m talking about the Divinity Bureau. “Logically, I know we need them. We're
already in the middle of an overpopulation crisis – and I can't imagine what
life would be like if we didn't have anyone around to decide who lived and who
dies. I'm glad that I don't have to live through that, but it's different when
it's someone that you care about. You can relate to that, right?”
“I can’t,” Roman says,
flushing as though embarrassed by the truth. “Growing up, I wasn’t a social
person. We couldn’t – not when there was work to be done. I’m still not, even
to this day. I haven’t been able to fathom the idea of loss because I didn’t
have anyone to lose - at least until I
met you.”
I offer a smile,
trying to make light of such a big confession. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing
that you don’t have to worry about losing me.”
Roman hesitates on his
next words. “That’s where you’re wrong.”
“What do you mean?” I
ask. The concept is silly to me. I’m young and healthy, even if I haven’t been
injected with BIONs yet. But something
isn’t right. Roman’s face is scrunched together, as though he’s in pain.
“Roman, is there
something you’re not telling me?”
It’s my mother’s
election all over again.
“Roman!”
I can see that he’s
struggling to make a choice between telling me the truth and continuing to keep
secrets from me.
“Is it about the
bureau?” I press.
“Isn’t it always about
the bureau?” Roman asks sadly. “That’s what it always comes down to.”
“But…” I can’t even
think. “Why would you worry about losing me?”
“Because I already
almost did.”
My knees buckle at
that moment. I hold my weight against the wall.
“Did you ever ask why
I was in that coffee shop the day before the report was released?” Roman asks.
“I work on the other side of town. It’s well out of the way home for me. Why
else do you think I’d be in the coffee shop on that day – one day before the
election report was scheduled to be released?”
How close had I been
to death without even realizing it?
“I was asked to run
the election report for my boss, Finn,” Roman explains. He blinks rapidly, the
memories coming back to him. “The crazy thing is that I wasn’t even thinking
about the names on the list. Instead, I just kept thinking that this was my
shot to prove that I could be more than just an IT Technician.”
My name.
One out of ten
thousand.
It was like finding a
drop of iodine in an ocean.
“But then I stumbled
on your name,” Roman continues. He looks at his hands, as though they might
have the answers. “Right next to it was your date of birth. I thought, ‘That’s
weird. How does a nineteen-year-old girl end up on the election report?’ I thought
it was a glitch – a broken filter, perhaps. But just in case, I went to your
workplace to get a gauge on who you were – and I knew the second that I saw you
that you didn’t deserve to be on that list, so I took your name out.”
“I can’t believe it,”
I breathe, my mind still in shock. Roman had saved my life, and all these
months, I had never known.
“I don’t know much,”
he admits. “But from what I’ve heard, your family messed with some very
dangerous people.”
I shake my head,
unable and unwilling to believe that anyone in my family would do anything to
put me in this situation. My relationship with my father was complicated, but
he loved me. During the few times that he did visit us, he had spoiled me
rotten. There’s no way he’d sell me out.
My thoughts are
interrupted by Roman grabbing my hands. “I know you don’t believe me.”
“I don’t. I can’t.”
“It’ll sink in.”
“Will it?” I ask.
“Even if it does, will it even matter? How long will it be before the Bureau
realizes what you’ve done?”
“I don’t know,” Roman
admits. “I’m doing everything I can, though.” He looks away. “Some of it is
outright illegal.” I laugh at that. “But no matter what happens, I need you to
trust me.”
“I trust you.”
Roman raises an
eyebrow. “Do you? Because not too long ago, you were telling me that you
couldn’t differentiate between the Bureau and me.”
I look away, realizing
that he has a point. Despite my newly gained knowledge, there’s still a part of
me that may never trust Roman simply for his association with the Divinity
Bureau. “I want to,” I admit. “I just wish I could understand why you didn’t
tell me all of this sooner.”
Roman sighs. “I know.
I shouldn’t have kept it from you – but our relationship was going so well that
I was afraid that it’d scare you off. Saying that I broke a few laws to save
your life isn’t exactly an ideal first date topic.”
I laugh. “That is a
little scary.”
“Then I would’ve never
had the chance to kiss you,” Roman says, his voice cracking. “Or hold you. Or
be with you.” He looks away. “The last few months have been the happiest of my
life. I wouldn’t do anything differently.”
With those words, I’ve
forgiven Roman. I get on my toes to kiss him gently – but, starved of my
affection, he wraps his arms around me and pulls me close. At that moment, I
realize that I can trust him. There’s no safer place for me than right here.
He pulls away, taking
a deep breath. His expression turns grim. “There’s one more thing that you
should know.”
“What’s that?”
“You once asked me if
I ever counted how many people have died since I started working for the
Bureau.”
My breath catches in
my throat. I’ve been so cruel to him. “Roman, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said
that.”
“It’s okay,” he says,
which makes me feel even worse. “I never counted how many people have died
since I started working for the bureau. But I know how many people were on the
list that I met you: ten thousand, four hundred and twenty-one.”
I inhale a breath, the
number incomprehensible to me.
“I managed to save
one,” he whispers. “I know that doesn’t seem like a lot; but to me, it counts
for something.”
I pull him in for
another kiss, light and chaste. As I pull away, I whisper, “Thank you.”
About the Author
Tessa Clare is the author of The Divinity Bureau. When she’s not writing, she’s an entrepreneur, an activist, a speaker, and the Managing Director of Asset Creative House. Throughout her early career, she was a concession stand attendant, a busgirl, a barista, a player’s club representative for a casino, and an administrative assistant. She also spent years working as a manager for Vacasa, whose business model and revolutionary marketing strategies would later inspire the groundwork for Asset Creative House. The Divinity Bureau is Tessa’s debut novel about a forbidden love between a young activist and a government employee working for a corrupt bureau, set in a dystopian world.
Contact Links
Purchase Links
1 Comments
Thank you for posting
ReplyDeletePlease try not to spam posts with the same comments over and over again. Authors like seeing thoughtful comments about their books, not the same old, "I like the cover" or "sounds good" comments. While that is nice, putting some real thought and effort in is appreciated. Thank you.