“Please don’t, Twelve,” she said. “I know it’s a shock—we changed the course of your life that day, but undoubtedly for the better. You must see that. Do you think you’d be happier wasting your life away in a little nothing-place like that, learning how to grow crops?” Victory snorted derisively. “We saved you from mediocrity.”

“You killed everyone!” Twelve screamed, feeling tears streaming down her face as she fought her bonds with all her strength. “Everyone I loved! Everyone I ever knew! My sister was only seven years old. And then you hide behind prejudices. Pin your crimes on the cave clan! Is that why you trained for so many years? Is that why you think you deserve respect?” Twelve spat the word. “You—you disgust me. You’re a monster!”

Victory pressed her lips together.

“Well,” Morgren drawled, appearing behind the weaponsmaster, “it doesn’t seem like she’s joined our cause.”

“She will,” Victory said darkly.

“The Croke will determine that, not you,” Morgren reminded her.

Victory gave a low grunt. “If your idiot soldiers hadn’t dropped those arrows all over the place, it would have been much easier. She knows about Poa.”

“Why?” Twelve cried, her voice a strangled croak. “Why did you do it?”

Morgren’s violet eyes raked over her impatiently, barely seeming to see her. “Our master required it of us,” he said. “Anyway, your village wasn’t the only one.”

The shock was a physical blow to Twelve. Poa hadn’t been the only one?

Morgren was still speaking. “The more violence, the more chaos and destruction, the stronger he grows.” A crooked smile flashed over his face. “He chose well when he favored us, Victory.” His eyes settled on Twelve again and this time she saw disapproval there. “I think you might be deluding yourself over this one though.”

The Hunter shrugged, her eyes still fixed on Twelve. Her expression was hard to read.

“We’re collapsing the tunnels,” he went on. “The next phase of our plan begins with the Croke’s arrival.”

Victory shook herself and rose from her seat. A fierce, ugly excitement flashed across her face. “Let it start with Seven and Twelve,” she said, her voice hard. “Then it can work through the Hunters at its leisure.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Morgren agreed.

Behind him, two figures pushed through the doorway, dragging a third between them. The slim, slumped form was topped by a mass of vibrantly red hair. Even before the other girl lifted her head, Twelve knew it was Seven. The two girls’ eyes met and, despite the pain in her head and heart, Twelve felt a surge of emotion. Everything she’d endured with the others over the last few days had been for her. For this small, deathly pale girl who had been kind to Twelve when she didn’t need to be. It shouldn’t have been worth it, but somehow it was.