“Then you’re going to die.”

“What if . . . what’s the third choice? I ‘find myself’ isn’t that it?”

“You’re so fucking lost the only thing you’ve got is what your family back in Taglioni Tower told you. You’re a made-up person. Sort of like a kit that’s put together with parts according to a set of directions. And what did they make? A tool. And that’s how they use you.”

“That’s a death sentence, you know. Saying that about a Taglioni.”

“Fine, step down here and kill me.” Kylee beckoned with her fingers in a “Come on, I dare you” gesture.

Falise blinked, struggled with her rage, then shook her head. The child was serious! “What is wrong with you?”

“Maybe I’m not the problem.” Kylee glanced up, measuring. “You ever noticed that about yourself? It’s always someone else who’s got something wrong with them? Who the hell are you, Falise? Sometimes I think you’re just a more sophisticated version of fuck-stick Soukup’s robot people. The way Dek tells it, like them, you just do what you’re told. You say trained? I say programmed.”

Falise snorted her derision. Idiocy like that didn’t deserve a response. No way this wild forest child could ever comprehend being Taglioni.

Kylee made a face. Shrugged. “Okay. Tool then. Assuming that’s all you need to have a purpose in life. But, like, wow! You’d sort of expect better from a high-born Taglioni. Like, they have everything. Except, it turns out, a purpose in life.”

“Lectured on family, by a child who won’t even visit hers? You’re no better than an orphan.”

“Pretty much,” Kylee agreed. “Given that Dya and Mark are dead. And I stood by and watched while Rebecca and Shantaya were eaten by quetzals. For a long time, all I had was rage. Then I got a glimpse of Talina’s maturity.” She gestured around. “Living out here? It teaches you about life. That everything comes at a price. Grief cost me one of my mothers and a sister. Exile is the price I paid for my rage and hatred. Being part quetzal means people see me as a monster. The only place I belong is with my lineage. That’s the price of my life. What’s yours?”

“Taglionis don’t pay a price for being who we are.”

Kylee nodded. “The stupid never do.”

“Who,” she snapped, “are you calling stupid?”

“Falise, my advice is that when we get back to PA, you step on the first shuttle up to that ship in orbit. Go home.”

“That’s not an option.”

“So, you won’t leave. You don’t have a chance at finding yourself. And—when it comes to Donovan—that only leaves one other option.”