Maris dropped his gaze to the mobile, then showed her the burn scars on Darling’s nipples and groin where he’d been electrocuted… and that done while he wore a muzzle…

She flinched at the sight of such wanton brutality.

“What would you have done?” he asked her.

The same. If not worse. There was no doubt whatsoever. In fact, she wanted to kill them herself for what they’d done to him.

It was so wrong. The Resistance hadn’t been founded on cruelty. They were supposed to be a humanitarian organization that protected people from those who wrongfully hurt others.

How had the oppressed become the oppressor?

But she knew that answer, too. Like Maris said, they’d felt justified in their violence. Arturo had hurt them and their families. Why not hurt his?

They hadn’t bothered to find out that Darling was innocent. That he was one of them.

They hadn’t cared. In war, the innocent died and were punished along with the guilty. That was the one thing her father had drilled into her most.

In a fight, no one walked away unscathed.

Zarya drew a ragged breath and asked the most important question of all, even though she dreaded the answer. “What about my sister, Sorche? What has become of her?”

Had Darling killed her, too? If he had…

That she would never forgive. And she would kill Darling herself if he’d hurt Sorche.

Maris paused until she thought she’d be sick again. How bad was the news that he couldn’t even speak of it?

“Sorche Starska?”

She nodded as the knot in her stomach tightened with dread.

Please, don’t be dead. She could handle and maybe forgive anything, except that.

Maris sat back in thought. “So that’s who that was… Weird.”

“What?” Why wouldn’t he answer her already?

“Nothing bad,” Maris said quickly, as if he’d finally realized he was being cruel. “Darling has her enrolled in the same academy his sister attends.”

It took several seconds for that to fully register over the wave of disbelief that crashed through her. “I don’t understand.”

Why would Darling have helped her sister after he sent her here to this hell?

Maris pulled up her sister’s private transcript. “I’ve been wondering who she was and why he cared what happened to her. Der to me, I should have paid attention to the last name. But what can I say? I have great moments of epic stupid like everyone else.” He bit his lip. “No wonder Darling had such a strange reaction.”

“To what?”

“Well, I saw the bill for her tuition a few weeks ago in his office and when I asked him about it, he got highly testy at me and refused to answer. He actually tossed me out of his office and told me to quit snooping through his things. I thought for the merest instant, she might be his mistress or something. I knew it was an odd reaction to something that didn’t require that degree of hostility. But you can see for yourself that she’s in the best classes and has a private tutor three times a week… All paid for by Darling.”