“I wanted to give them a chance at survival,” Val said softly.

She remembered Diego grabbing her hair, Carlo and Hector gleefully threatening to kill her. The guards sitting above the fights, betting on which girls would die. Bruno trying to violate her and, later, trying to kill her.

She remembered the boat Nomi had arrived on, with only two guards and how Val had chosen not to kill them and take the boat.

Anika had wanted to kill the guards from the beginning, but Serina had stopped her. She’d said it was because they might need them for leverage or information. But how much had been because of Val?

Had Serina failed the women of Mount Ruin because Val was her blind spot? Doll and a handful of other women were dead. If Serina had allowed the guards to be executed right away, those women would still be alive. There would have been no threat, no fear on the island while they waited for the ship.

Now Nero and Diego were out there stalking them.

“Mirror was right,” she said slowly. “The guards hurt so many of the women here. And Anika was right too. They were your blind spot, so they were mine as well. Nero and Diego have killed so many girls.…” She trailed off. “Their blood is on our hands.”

“I’m so tired of all the blood” was all Val said. And then he went to help with the bodies.

Now Serina stood watch as dawn bled up from the horizon.

“The ship could come as early as today,” she said to Ember, trying to shift her thoughts to a more productive task. Reliving last night wouldn’t help anyone. “Are we ready?”

Ember cracked her knuckles as she mentally took stock. “Don’t know about the girls with firearms, but physical training has been going well. Shouldn’t be much of a fight, I hope.”

“If it’s a normal prison boat with the normal number of sailors and guards, it should be easy.” Serina glanced down the path. In the morning, she’d send lookouts to keep watch for the boat. She’d send many. Not so much for the boat, but to protect themselves from Nero and Diego.

If the guards killed their lookouts, they wouldn’t know when a boat was on its way.

“We should practice at the pier. We need to figure out how to get everyone in position fast enough.” Today, maybe tomorrow. This nightmare will be over soon.

Unless Asa had changed the whole system somehow. Unless he’d stopped sending women to Mount Ruin. It was a possibility Serina had never entertained.

When dawn had broken fully over the island, Serina and Ember left the prison compound and gathered everyone not on watch in the run-down lobby of Hotel Misery.