Chapter 122 What I deserve – Faith

  Faith had always known that she was an unwanted child, a disappointment.

  Her mother hadn’t wanted to be with her and died soon after her birth, while her father rarely visited her. And when he did, she felt scared. As a child, she hadn’t really understood why. Now, almost thirty years later, she knew.

  But Faith hadn’t grown up unloved.

  The father of her heart, the one she called dad only in her thoughts, had always been by her side. He was only twenty years older than her, and outside her mind she was only allowed to call him uncle. The one time she had called him dad, he had hugged her tightly, shaking and crying, and then asked her never to do that again.

  She had been sad back then, but soon she understood.

  The man she had to call father didn’t like it. And he would hurt her dad if she didn’t behave.

  So Faith had started calling her dad Uncle Dan.

  The older she grew, the more she understood that her father by blood wasn’t a good person, but still a very important one. Many people followed him. He commanded respect. Often, she had to play family with him for the outside world, only for him to dump her back at the villa afterwards and disappear for long stretches of time.

  Those were her favourite times.

  Uncle Dan played with her, taught her, and made her feel at peace. Only when the man called father returned did the villa turn into a cold prison.

  As Faith grew older still, father began giving her orders and punishing her when she failed to accomplish his goals. Orders like becoming friends with certain children, coaxing other uncles or aunts into doing business with him, excelling at school and in sports.

  The punishments varied. Sometimes her privileges were taken away. Sometimes it was physical punishment. Sometimes she was forced to go without food for days. Everything was possible.

  But the worst punishment of all was when father hurt Uncle Dan because of something Faith had done.

  Those were the ones she feared most.

  Faith learned early that obedience was the only kind of love father expected from her.

  If she did what father wanted, the villa stayed quiet. Uncle Dan stayed unharmed. The air remained breathable. That was how the world worked. Cause and effect. Action and consequence. Faith became very good at understanding consequences.

  She stopped crying when she was still small. Crying never helped. It only annoyed father. Silence, on the other hand, was praised. Endurance was praised. Endurance was useful.

  Uncle Dan noticed.

  He never told her to disobey. He never spoke against father out loud. But when Faith came to him with scraped knees or empty eyes, he would sit with her for hours, teaching her things that had nothing to do with orders. How to care for small animals. How to read people’s expressions. How to breathe slowly when panic clawed at her chest. How to disappear inside herself when things became unbearable.

  “You’re strong,” he would tell her quietly, as if it were a secret. “Stronger than you think.”

  Faith believed him. She had to.

  When Faith was fifteen, something unexpected happened.

  Father began to ignore her completely. He stopped coming to the villa and had no orders for her at all. It was the happiest time of her life.

  Uncle Dan was still with her, and they lived quietly for the next two years. During that time, Faith made a plan. Once she turned eighteen, she would be able to move out of father’s house legally. She and Uncle Dan could live somewhere else. Somewhere free.

  For two years, she planned.

  And then… father returned.

  He brought back a toddler, barely two years old. He dumped the child into Faith’s arms and said, “Take care of her. She’s another daughter of mine.”

  Faith knew father hated daughters. She had always known. He had wanted her to be a son. But this, this was an innocent little child. How could he speak about her with such open disgust?

  Faith couldn’t imagine how he couldn’t love this small creature. Because from the moment Faith held her little sister, Shari, she loved her fiercely and completely.

  So, she abandoned her plans. For Shari, she stayed.

  And Uncle Dan stayed, too. For her.

  Now, ten years later, watching Shari sit quietly in her room with a book, Faith felt that same fierce love rise in her chest. She had tried to protect Shari from their father’s machinations, had taken on far more than before, just so her sister could grow up as normally as possible.

  Her father had taken her obedience, her willingness, and used it well. As if Shari were nothing more than a shackle to bind her.

  Sometimes Faith wondered if Uncle Dan had felt the same way about her that she now felt about Shari.

  Her gaze flicked to the two guards stationed just inside the room. Shari was never unwatched. As if her father knew that Faith would take her away the first chance she got.

  But the naive Faith of ten years ago no longer existed.

  She had become a tool for her father’s schemes. She had manipulated, spied, betrayed, had even killed on his orders.

  All of it for this small, fragile pocket of peace.

  When the first wave came, Faith was at a park with Shari and Uncle Dan.

  And a dozen bodyguards.

  Her father had allowed one of these rare outings, letting Shari see the outside world, letting her play with other children for once. Well, at least it seemed like the outside world. Faith knew they were at Nursery and School, two branches of the Shadows of Avaria, where they were already training children to take on the mantle of killers.

  Keith had brought them with him for one of his inspections. Right now he was talking with the leaders of these branches, doing those administrative but doubtlessly evil things.

  Shari was on the swing beside another little girl, laughing, her legs kicking through the air. At least the children could still play a bit, but Faith saw the bruises on them, the careful way they sometimes moved. It spoke of hidden injuries.

  Then the sky darkened.

  The air grew heavy, something pressing down on Faith’s chest. She and Uncle Dan stood up from the bench at the same time.

  Something was wrong.

  “Shari!” Faith called sharply.

  Shari ran to her at once, obedient as always, her big eyes wide with unease. The bodyguards closed ranks around them, forming a protective circle.

  Then the screaming started.

  At first, Faith couldn’t see what was happening, since the guards were all taller than she was, but she drew her gun instinctively. Uncle Dan did the same. The bodyguards had already raised theirs.

  They fired.

  Or tried to.

  Nothing happened.

  The guns didn’t work.

  One of the guards was suddenly tackled to the ground by something large and fast.

  A dog, no, not a dog. It looked more like a hyena.

  Faith pulled the trigger.

  Nothing.

  Her gun didn’t work either. Neither did Uncle Dan’s.

  “What—” she started, but there was no time.

  Uncle Dan dropped his gun and drew his military knife. Faith followed suit, her own blade already in her hand. The bodyguards switched to batons and knives as well.

  They weren’t helpless.

  They killed the hyena-like creature quickly, but the guard it had tackled was already dead.

  More screams rang out. Children’s screams.

  More of those creatures came rushing in.

  What was happening?

  For a moment, Faith thought this was an attack aimed at them, at Keith Morgan’s daughters. Her father had enemies. The Shadows of Avaria had enemies. Leading one of the world’s most powerful intelligence and assassination networks came with a long list of people who wanted you dead.

  Faith was used to being a target.

  But this, this was different.

  Innocent bystanders were being slaughtered.

  More creatures appeared: small, green, humanoid figures, fast and armed.

  What were they?

  This wasn’t an assassination. It was chaos.

  A loud, deep sound echoed across the park, almost like the bellow of a cow.

  The guards were already struggling, fighting off the small green humanoids, who were far stronger and faster than they looked. The hyena-creatures attacked alongside them, moving as if they belonged together.

  Faith tightened her grip on her knife.

  Uncle Dan moved like lightning when one of the humanoids broke through the circle. He was fast. Precisely killing the creature in no time. No surprise, he had once been one of the finest assassins the Shadows of Avaria had ever produced.

  Faith wasn’t weak either.

  She positioned herself in front of Shari, eyes scanning for another breach.

  To her left, a hyena-creature sprinted toward her.

  Faith raised her knife.

  Uncle Dan was already back at Shari’s side.

  Faith ran toward the creature instead of away from it.

  It leapt for her chest.

  Faith dropped to her knees and, in the same motion, drove her knife upward into the exposed belly of the beast.

  Blood sprayed over her hands.

  The creature screamed as it collapsed.

  Then, suddenly, a blue screen appeared in front of her eyes.

  [Congratulations! You have awakened.]

  Five days later, Faith sat in her room at the villa, speaking quietly with Uncle Dan.

  That blue screen had nearly gotten her killed. The moment it appeared, another goblin had been right behind the hyena, she hadn’t seen it. Uncle Dan had stepped in without hesitation, blade flashing, saving her life.

  They had both awakened. Along with countless Shadows, and her father, of course.

  Shari hadn’t fought. She was only twelve. Faith and Uncle Dan had been strong enough to protect her.

  Shari should never have to fight.

  Now Faith sat in this new world, trying to make sense of it.

  When she had first understood the System, how it worked, how she could grow stronger, maybe strong enough to finally escape Keith, she had been overjoyed. The old world was gone. Maybe this was her chance. Maybe freedom was finally possible.

  Then she watched her father.

  Keith grew stronger at an alarming rate.

  The more powerful their group, the stronger the monsters they encountered. And Keith, surrounded by elite Shadows, had been thrown against far deadlier enemies than Faith and Uncle Dan. While she and Dan had faced a single minotaur, alongside five remaining bodyguards, Keith had fought multiple E-rank monsters.

  The minotaur had nearly killed them. They had survived by the skin of their teeth. Only two of the guards made it out alive.

  Keith, though, Keith had been in even greater danger.

  And yet, somehow, he emerged from the ruins and reached them just as they finished the fight.

  Faith had thought, just for a moment, that she could use the chaos to escape.

  But he didn’t let them. He’d never let them go.

  An army of Shadows surrounded him. In front of them stood the trainees, young, unawakened, terrified.

  They were dying.

  Killed one after another because they weren’t strong enough yet.

  The Shadows didn’t hesitate. They used the children as shields, pushing forward, fighting efficiently.

  Faith felt sick watching it.

  But she was too injured to run. Uncle Dan was, too. And Shari…

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  She would never risk Shari.

  They retreated to one of the bunkers. Few trainees survived. The adults remained a powerful force.

  Faith hated it.

  But she endured it.

  Then, the next day, another System message appeared.

  A protection for children.

  Too late Faith had thought bitterly.

  But at least Shari was safe now.

  Of course, Keith immediately sent teams of Shadows and trainees to test it.

  Faith knew what he was thinking.

  Child soldiers.

  But the System did something unexpected.

  The children couldn’t be touched by monsters, and they couldn’t touch them either. It was as if they existed on different planes entirely. No interaction. No loophole.

  Faith felt a small, vicious satisfaction when she saw the fury in Keith’s eyes.

  One of his tools had just become useless.

  He adapted quickly, of course. Sent out teams to level. Learned about classes, skills, growth.

  And then the wave ended.

  Keith emerged stronger than ever.

  Now Faith sat watching the Hall of Fame videos again.

  Cassis and Arianna.

  They were incredible.

  Cassis… Faith wondered about him. The way he fought wasn’t ordinary. It was disciplined, lethal, refined. He had to be from the underground. Someone like him didn’t grow up untouched by violence.

  And Arianna…

  Arianna was lucky.

  Talented, yes, but reckless, naive. With no real sense of survival. Without Cassis, she would have died countless times already.

  At least she had taken on the role of healer. That suited her. Made her useful. Kept her alive.

  Together, they were formidable.

  Faith felt a flicker of gratitude toward them for securing protection for Shari, but that wasn’t why she was watching.

  She was analysing them.

  Keith had ordered her to get close. To bring them under his control.

  He was right about one thing: Cassis would never come willingly. A strong player in this game of power never did.

  Faith also knew she had no chance with him.

  But Arianna—

  Arianna was warm. Open. Trusting.

  Approachable.

  Faith analysed her interactions with Arianna again.

  A week ago, she had first met the woman at Fort Vale, where Arianna had been staying to help train some of their soldiers. She was warm, friendly, and helped others simply because she could.

  In other words, she was stupid.

  And yet… warm.

  That was what confused Faith.

  To get close to her, Faith had revealed more about herself and Uncle Dan than she was comfortable with. It had been calculated, deliberate. Necessary. Cassis had been exactly as expected, guarded, observant, always watching, always measuring.

  But Arianna…

  Arianna had drawn closer without hesitation.

  The strange warmth that bloomed in Faith’s chest whenever they laughed together was dangerous. When she had started this mission, she had never considered Arianna a threat. Now she knew better.

  Arianna could become another weakness.

  Faith couldn’t allow that. She already had Shari. She already had Dan. She could barely protect them as it was. She couldn’t afford to care about anyone else.

  At least in that regard, Cassis was useful.

  He never let Arianna out of his sight. He hovered, guarded, defended, like Arianna was something precious, something irreplaceable. Faith approved of that. With him around, Arianna wouldn’t be used by Keith.

  …or by her.

  Still, Faith kept in contact. She reported everything to Keith. Every detail she learned, every observation, every impression.

  There just wasn’t much to report.

  Arianna was astonishingly reckless with her strength. She openly shared her knowledge with the world, online lessons, advice, strategies on how to grow stronger.

  Stupid.

  Faith watched the videos too.

  So did the Shadows. So did Keith.

  Faith’s own abilities improved rapidly as she studied them, and she knew the same was true for the Shadows. They analysed Arianna and Cassis relentlessly. Their fighting styles, their growth patterns, their choices.

  And yet—

  Nothing.

  Their backgrounds were clean. Too clean.

  No underground ties. No criminal records. No hidden organizations. No shadow networks pulling strings behind them. Everything that should have left traces… hadn’t.

  That alone was suspicious.

  Someone like Cassis didn’t grow that strong without backing. Or if he had, then he was an anomaly that shouldn’t exist.

  The Shadows were experts at finding dirt. At uncovering secrets. And they had found nothing.

  Neither Keith nor Faith knew how Cassis had grown so powerful. They didn’t know who, if anyone, stood behind him. They didn’t even know if he was the head of something larger.

  And Arianna was surprisingly tight-lipped about it.

  She claimed she had met Cassis on the very day the first wave began. That, before that, they had only chatted via messenger.

  Normally, Faith would have dismissed that as an obvious lie.

  But Arianna was so open about everything else. So guileless. So earnest.

  Faith found herself believing her.

  Still—

  Even she sensed it.

  Arianna was hiding something. And whatever it was, it wasn’t born of malice. Which somehow made it far more dangerous.

  “Faith, come with me. Dan Bryce, you too.”

  Faith’s unease flared instantly. Keith never summoned Uncle Dan unless something bad was about to happen.

  Without a word, they followed him down into the secret laboratory hidden beneath the villa. The air there was cold and sterile, humming faintly with machinery. Dr. Giles greeted them with a fake affectionate smile before stepping aside to reveal the object resting on a metal tray.

  A black choker.

  “It’s finally finished, sir,” Dr. Giles said.

  Keith nodded, his gaze fixed on the choker with naked greed. Even at a glance, the item felt wrong. The air around it seemed heavier, distorted somehow. Faith couldn’t explain it, but her instincts recoiled.

  Keith picked it up and turned to her. “Put this on Dan Bryce.”

  Her breath caught.

  “What does it do?” she wanted to ask, but she already knew better than to question him.

  Unease crawled up her spine as she took the collar from his hand. Uncle Dan met her eyes, calm and steady. He gave her the smallest nod, a silent reassurance that everything would be all right.

  Her hands trembled as she pulled the choker apart. It split smoothly, widening enough to fit around a neck. With shaking fingers, she fastened it around Uncle Dan’s throat.

  The moment it clicked shut, he froze.

  No movement. No blinking.

  Faith’s heart slammed painfully against her ribs, and then a blue screen appeared before her eyes.

  [You have successfully enslaved Dan Bryce.]

  [Please set your orders.]

  Her blood ran cold.

  She spun toward Keith, horror choking her voice. “What… what is this?” she whispered.

  Keith’s smile was sharp, ravenous. “Report,” he said calmly. “What happened?”

  Faith swallowed hard. “It said… it said I enslaved Uncle Dan.”

  Keith’s grin widened. “Good. It works.” He turned toward the scientist. “Excellent work, Dr. Giles.”

  Dr. Giles beamed, pride shining in his eyes. “This is still a replica, of course. We’ll need to study its long-term effects. Miss Faith, please remain here with Mr. Bryce so we can continue our research.”

  Keith nodded in approval.

  Faith stood frozen, staring at Uncle Dan’s unmoving form, the words you have successfully enslaved echoing in her mind.

  Faith lay in bed, utterly unable to move.

  Several of her ribs were broken. Her foot, too. She had rebelled, and this was the price.

  Uncle Dan sat beside her, carefully changing the bandages, his movements gentle and precise. The black collar still encircled his neck, its surface dull and unforgiving. Keith hadn’t allowed her to remove it.

  And then she had made the mistake of demanding it.

  Keith had only smiled, cold and amused, before turning to her. He had made her give the order. Had forced her to command Dan to obey his next instructions.

  He had ordered Uncle Dan to hurt her.

  Faith’s heart clenched painfully at the memory. It must have been agony for him, to be compelled to raise his hands against her. Her own injuries meant nothing. She felt nothing at all.

  “You shouldn’t have angered him,” Uncle Dan said quietly, as if he were the one at fault.

  “I’m sorry,” he then whispered.

  And now he was apologising to her.

  She was the one who had enslaved him. He had never had a choice. At first, she had merely been a shackle, a conduit for Keith’s control. But now… now she had truly bound him.

  How could he still look at her like that?

  How could there still be love in his eyes?

  For the first time in two decades, tears burned behind her eyes. She blinked them away. They would accomplish nothing.

  “It doesn’t hurt,” she said suddenly.

  And it was true.

  She hadn’t felt the blows, not when her ribs cracked, not when her foot broke beneath the force. Even now, lying still and broken, there was no pain at all.

  Uncle Dan looked at her, sorrow etched deeply into his face. “Don’t say that. You’re badly injured. Thankfully, the System will help your body heal faster now.”

  Faith met his gaze, unwavering. “No. It doesn’t hurt. I… I can’t feel the pain.”

  The absence was wrong.

  Pain had been her constant companion for years. It grounded her. Endured pain made everything else survivable.

  This emptiness, this numbness, was something else entirely.

  What kind of monster was she becoming?

  Did you do it? Faith asked with her eyes.

  Uncle Dan’s response was almost imperceptible, a slight nod, nothing more.

  They didn’t dare speak. Not here. Not about this. The walls had ears, and Keith always seemed to know more than he should. The planning had been done in fragments, through written messages passed only once. Faith had already burned every single one of them.

  Relief bloomed in her chest, sharp and fragile.

  Dr. Giles was dead.

  And with him gone, the plans for producing more slave collars would, hopefully, be stopped, if only temporarily. His research, too, should have been destroyed. At least, that was the hope.

  Now all that remained was to act normal.

  Keith could never find out what they had done. If he did, there would be no punishment severe enough to satisfy him. But they had needed Giles gone. There had been no other option. The collars could not be allowed to enter mass production. If they did, Keith would become untouchable.

  Invincible.

  This wasn’t a victory. Faith knew that. It was a delay at best, a crude stopgap measure meant to buy time. Still, for now, it was the only move available to them.

  “Dan Bryce, you are to enter the E-rank dungeon and stop it from breaking. Gather your team. You go in one week.”

  Faith trembled at Keith’s order.

  It was a death sentence.

  She didn’t dare say anything, not then, not in front of him. Only after they were back in Uncle Dan’s room did she reach for his hand, gripping it tightly. She still didn’t speak. She could order him not to go. He would have to obey her without hesitation, but the consequences ...

  The thought made her feel sick.

  She hated giving him orders. It made her feel dirty inside. And Uncle Dan, he did everything in his power to make sure she never had to. Even now, he was protecting her.

  He smiled at her, gentle and steady. “I’ll train and fight as much as I can this week. I’ll rank up. Then the chances of survival will be better. The same goes for the rest of the team.”

  It wasn’t reassuring. Not at all.

  Faith returned to her room with a knot in her chest. What could she do to ensure his safety? No one would protect him the way she would. No one else cared enough.

  And then an idea took shape.

  That was exactly it.

  Nobody but her would protect him, so she had to be there. She had to find a way into that dungeon raid team.

  The next day, Keith summoned her.

  “We’ll ask Cassis and Arianna for support,” he said calmly. “Those two are still disturbingly strong. They’ll be part of the dungeon raid. Maybe they’ll conveniently die there, too. At least Cassis. Arianna could still be useful.”

  Faith shuddered inwardly, but she saw her chance.

  “I could go as well,” she said carefully. “To make sure something happens.”

  Keith studied her, calculation sharp in his eyes. Then he nodded. “If you manage to reach E-rank, you have a spot. Finally, you’re using your head.” His tone was almost proud.

  Faith hated it.

  Still, she had achieved her goal. Now she just needed to grow stronger, fast.

  Back in her room, she stared at her phone for a long time. Right now, there was only one person who could help her.

  Arianna.

  She would help. Faith was sure of it.

  Taking a slow breath, Faith picked up her phone and made the call.

  Faith had watched how Arianna led her team through the dungeons.

  Like Keith, she stayed near the back most of the time, her role as a healer demanded it. But unlike him, she gave no barked orders. She protected without commanding, stepping forward into the worst of the fighting whenever it was necessary. She never hesitated.

  Somehow, she wrapped the entire team in a sense of warmth. Safety. Trust.

  And most of them were dangerously underlevelled.

  Level ones, fighting monsters that could kill them with a single mistake. One wrong step, one delayed reaction, and they would die. The fact that they had entered the dungeon at all showed how little they understood about this new world.

  But the fact that they stayed, fought, endured, showed how much they trusted Arianna.

  A leader who protected. A leader who cared.

  Faith felt that spark of warmth in her chest again. She shouldn’t. She knew better. And yet… maybe if Arianna grew stronger, Faith could stay close to her. Close to that warmth. Just a little longer.

  Arianna really was a genius with mana. Nothing seemed impossible for her. Still, she was too open. Too soft. Even in an E-rank dungeon.

  She healed. She supported. She protected. She shared her knowledge freely, without asking for anything in return. Everyone liked her.

  Faith’s thoughts turned dark.

  How could she possibly arrange for Cassis, whom Arianna so clearly loved, to have an “accident”?

  She couldn’t.

  She would have to fail this task. There was no other way. Keith would punish her for it, of course, but she couldn’t do this to Arianna. She just couldn’t.

  At least the numbness helped. Since becoming the master of the slave collar, she no longer felt pain. That, at least, made punishment bearable.

  While exploring the dragonling’s tunnels for additional loot, Faith noticed something strange.

  Arianna and Cassis were acting differently.

  There was a rift between them, almost physically visible. Tension in every glance, every movement. Faith frowned. What had happened?

  When they emerged from the dungeon, Keith questioned her immediately.

  She lied. Said they were too strong, too careful, there had been no opportunity for an “accident.”

  But Keith had noticed the rift, too.

  Faith had seen the way his eyes lingered on Arianna. Greedy. Possessive. It made her stomach twist. Arianna was the same age as Faith, but she was being looked at that way by Faith’s own father.

  Then Keith gave her an order that shattered what little hope she had left.

  “We have a second collar now,” he said calmly. “If she’s fallen out with Cassis, we can take her. Make it look like she broke up with him. Faith, you’ll collar her.”

  Faith’s breath caught.

  Keith leaned closer, his voice dropping to a whisper.

  “That is… if you ever want to see Shari again.”

  Despair settled deep in Faith’s chest, cold and absolute.

  The cold never left.

  It settled into Faith’s bones after she successfully lured Arianna out and collared her. There was no warmth anymore, no spark, no flicker. Everyone Faith loved, she hurt. Inevitably.

  Her only solace was Shari. And Faith knew, she couldn’t protect her forever.

  When Faith brought Arianna into the villa, she thought she would break. She had betrayed people before. She had killed, followed orders, done things she never let herself dwell on. But Arianna was different. Arianna was too good for this.

  Something like this should never have happened to her.

  And still, Faith had done it.

  She had lost her only friend. Arianna would never forgive her. She would never laugh with her again, never look at her with trust or warmth. That future was gone.

  Faith watched, hollow and distant, as her father drew closer to Arianna. He spoke to her softly, made plans aloud, plans that turned Faith’s stomach. He told Arianna of his intention to have a child with her. He forced her to break ties with Cassis. He tried to seduce her, smiling as if this were all perfectly natural.

  Right now, Faith could do nothing.

  All she could do was apologise. Again and again. Words that meant nothing anymore.

  She imagined that if she were still capable of feeling, the pain would have paralysed her. But neither pain nor warmth ever returned. There was only emptiness.

  When the researchers examined her, they told her it was likely a side effect of becoming the master of the slave collar. Emotional numbness. Sensory suppression. A price paid for control.

  Faith stared at the knife in her hand.

  If she died, wouldn’t that be better for everyone?

  Uncle Dan would take Shari far away. Arianna would be free. Keith would lose his most useful tool.

  For the first time in a long while, Faith wondered whether disappearing might be the only thing she could do that wouldn’t hurt anyone else.

  Faith was crying.

  Heavy, heaving sobs tore out of her, pressed into Uncle Dan’s shoulder. This was the first time since she had decided, at nine years old, that crying didn’t solve anything. And it didn’t now either.

  But what else could she do?

  Keith had punished her. She was bound to be broken for the foreseeable future because she had dared to speak up against him at breakfast. Still, she would do it again if it meant protecting Arianna, even in this one small way.

  And then, after Dan had been forced to beat her bloody, Arianna had taken the initiative to heal her.

  To heal her.

  Faith couldn’t understand it. Why would she do that? Faith had betrayed her. She had enslaved her, handed her over to a monster. And yet Arianna had knelt beside her, hands glowing, mending broken bones as if Faith were worth saving.

  Worse still, Arianna had held out her hand again.

  She had trusted Faith. Trusted her to be a good person in spite of everything she had done. She had spoken of escape, of leaving together, of a future beyond Keith’s reach.

  Faith couldn’t do it.

  Nobody escaped Keith. He knew everything. He always found out. And when he did, he made sure the punishment was worse than obedience ever had been.

  They would suffer. Arianna would suffer. Shari would suffer.

  And yet…

  If anyone could do it, maybe Arianna could.

  That fragile hope, dangerous and reckless, slipped into Faith’s chest and refused to die.

  They had failed.

  Somewhere deep down, Faith had always known they would. And now, once again, she had to choose between the people she loved.

  She chose to betray Arianna again to keep Uncle Dan alive.

  And then she chose to kill Cassis, for Shari.

  This time, nobody would save her, nobody would hold out their hand to her again.

  The first time had already been a miracle, one she would never forget. And now she had destroyed it with her own choices, just as she always did.

  She watched as Cassis died by Uncle Dan’s sword.

  She couldn’t save him. She couldn’t save Arianna. She couldn’t save anyone. But she could at least witness what she had done.

  Then Keith said something impossible.

  How could Cassis revive?

  And yet, they waited for him to do exactly that, only to kill him again. Only to hurt Arianna. To teach her a lesson. To break her completely.

  Then, suddenly, Faith felt pressure at her throat.

  Her legs gave out, and she crumpled to the floor. Arianna was beside her, trembling, curled into herself in a fetal position.

  Faith weakly raised a hand to her neck. It came away wet, and red.

  Her gaze drifted downward, and she saw the bloody knife lying between her and Arianna.

  When she looked at Arianna through the creeping gray, she saw her pain. Her horror.

  Faith wanted to reach out.

  She wanted to tell her it was all right.

  But she couldn’t speak.

  Instead, she thought toward Arianna.

  It’s okay.

  It’s what I deserve.

  Don’t feel bad.

  And then eternal darkness came for her.

  At least, that was what should have happened.

  But Faith opened her eyes again.

  There was no weakness. No wound at her throat.

  She was still on the lawn in front of the villa, but everything else was wrong. The villa lay in ruins, its walls shattered, smoke still rising. Bodies were strewn across the ground, the aftermath of destruction frozen in place.

  “Faith!”

  Shari was shaking her, crying openly. When Faith pushed herself upright, Shari threw herself into her arms.

  “Faith! You’re not dead!”

  Uncle Dan was sitting on the ground a short distance away, staring at her as if he didn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

  Before Faith could even begin to understand what had happened, a towering red giant appeared in front of her.

  He grinned.

  “Wish granted.”

  Then he turned toward Uncle Dan. “Now she can live freely.”

  With that, he vanished. In his place lay a broken wishing lamp, cracked and empty.

  Faith looked at Uncle Dan, confusion still clouding her mind. He stood slowly and spoke in a quiet, stunned voice.

  “It was Zaman. A genie.”

  He swallowed. “My wish came true.”

  Then he pulled her into his arms.

  “You’re alive.”

  Faith clung to him, and to Shari, her fingers brushing over Dan’s neck again and again. The ugly black collar was gone.

  They were free.

  And then it all came crashing back.

  Every betrayal.

  Every choice she had made.

  Every life she had destroyed.

  How could she be free after everything she had done?

  This wasn’t right.

  She deserved to suffer. To be punished. To never escape what she was.

  Faith broke, sobbing against Dan’s chest. “No, I should be dead. I don’t deserve to live.”

  Dan grabbed her shoulders, gently but firmly pushing her back until she had to look at him.

  “That’s why it’s called mercy,” he said softly.

  “It’s given, not deserved.”