Maris looked up at the sound of her voice, and Serina was shocked at her haggard appearance. Dark half moons sat beneath her eyes, and her hair hung dirty and tangled around her face. If Serina hadn’t known, she never would have guessed Maris had once been a Grace.

“Are you well?” Serina asked again.

Maris dropped her head into her hands. “I just keep hearing it,” she mumbled. “The gunshot… it echoes and echoes without end. And the blood…”

“She’s been having nightmares,” Helena said softly. “Ever since that night in the cave. She’s scared to fall asleep now.…” She rubbed Maris’s back, over and over.

Serina sank to the cracked marble floor before the two girls and reached for Maris’s hands. “You saved our lives. Your quick thinking saved Helena.”

Maris looked up. Serina’s heart clenched at her haunted expression.

“Hector wasn’t going to stop,” Serina continued, pitching her voice low and soothing. “He wanted to hurt us. He would have killed us without a thought. If you hadn’t shot him, he could have ripped the firearm from your hands. He could have shot you and Helena and all of us in that cave. You did what you had to do, Maris. Helena is here now—she’s safe, because of what you did. So if you’re going to carry the memory of his death, make sure you’re carrying joy that she’s alive too.”

“I didn’t want to kill anyone,” Maris whispered.

Helena put an arm around her and drew her close. “None of us ever did.” She looked up, meeting Serina’s eyes. “I wish I’d had the firearm. It would have made me happy to kill him. What does that say about me?”

Tears spilled down Helena’s cheeks.

“It says you want to survive. We all do.” Serina stood up. “It won’t always be this way. Soon, we’ll leave Mount Ruin—all of this—behind.”

Helena ran her hand over Maris’s hair and cradled the girl against her shoulder. “Will we?”

“You saved Helena’s life, Maris,” Serina said firmly. She remembered the shock of watching her first fight, of knowing she’d have to fight one day herself. She knew how horrifying it was, coming from the palazzo. “Try to focus on that.”

With a last look at the two women, Serina turned and made her way to Val. He’d collected Ember from the women caring for the injured.

“I want to relieve the watch at the prison,” Serina said to Ember. “Are you up for it?”

Ember nodded. “Of course.”

They snagged Cliff from a quiet spot near the hotel, where she was whittling branches into spears. “Bring your knife,” Serina said.

They hiked to the prison compound in silence, searching every shadow.