Sasha’s gaze left Jeanne’s face and went to the girl chained to the post next to Jeanne’s who had just spoken to her. Natasia Petrov. She was pretty, older than Sasha, with her pale-blond hair in a single braid down her back. Natasia was one of the most popular girls in the school. Probably because Sasha had heard she was the great-granddaughter of one of the Romanov princes, and also the daughter of some cyber executive who was rumored to be on the road to becoming the next Russian president. She had never had much to do with her except for the few times that Boujois had told her to take Natasia out on the trail for a riding lesson. She had found her a little arrogant, but that hadn’t mattered as long as she was fairly intelligent and kind to the horses. “I didn’t lie. I’ll find a way to keep my promise.” She looked at her coolly. “But you’re not helping her by telling her that this is going to be all she has to look forward to. She’s gone through hell. We all saw that.”

“And she’ll go through it again,” Natasia said fiercely. “We all will, whenever one of those pigs decides to hurt or rape us. Like that asshole, Baldwin, did me. You shouldn’t comfort her, you should tell her to be strong, to be patient.” Her lips twisted. “And then when she has her chance, she should cut his heart out. That’s what I’ll do if Baldwin comes back.” Her gaze was suddenly narrowed on Sasha’s face. “And that’s what you’d do. Some of the other girls think that you slept with Masenak to get him to treat you decently, but I’ve heard he took a whip to you.”

Sasha stared thoughtfully at her. This might be the person she’d been looking for when she’d decided she might need help last night. Since she’d gone back to the prisoner tent this morning, she’d been searching, trying to unobtrusively locate someone, anyone, she might count on. But most of those poor girls were so frightened and beaten down that they appeared numb. Natasia might not be right, either, but she wasn’t beaten down and there was nothing numb about her.

“No, I didn’t sleep with Masenak,” Sasha said. “But I would have probably been as helpless as you if he’d decided to rape me. Yes, he did take a whip to me.” She met her gaze. “And I believe your ideas about how to handle those sons of bitches who did that to you and Jeanne are excellent.” She paused. “As far as they go. But the odds are against you, and you’d end up dead. It would be much more efficient to find a way to even those odds and then make a move.”