Deception

Maybe that's what love is. Giving others the power to hurt you and trusting that they'll use it to heal you instead.

Let Ian laugh. Let him believe pain will ruin me. I know better. I've already been ruined once, and I know how to rise from the ashes. I know how to find my broken pieces.

And for me, it means honoring those who've loved me and sacrificed for me by choosing to be the kind of warrior who delivers justice even when it threatens to hurt me.

Sometimes the right thing costs us the biggest piece of ourselves, but it still has to be done.

Sylph and Jodi return to my side, each carrying a cloth sack full of chickweed. I wrap my arm around Sylph's waist and give her a quick squeeze. "Lesson's over for today. I have something to discuss with Logan." "Sounds serious." Jodi wiggles her brows at me. "I think that's just Rachel for 'I need to go kiss my boy.'" Sylph laughs when I glare at her.

I reach up and pat them both on the head. "Poor things. If you had a boy that looked like Logan, you'd be kissing him every chance you had, too.

Rachel's voice is fierce. The Commander will send out scouts. We should-" "Oh, he sent out scouts," Willow says. "Five of them. And they were doing a good job of searching the city. Unfortunately for them, all they managed to find was me." "You killed them?" Ian asks. "No. I invited them over for dinner." She smacks his shoulder. "the sun is almost down. By the time the Commander realizes his scouts aren't coming back, it will be too dark to send more. He can't risk us seeing torchlight, and they can't search these ruins without light." "You scare me a little," Ian says, but his voice is full of admiration. Adam steps closer to Willow. "She's good at everything she does." Quinn clears his throat." Maybe we should get back to the problem?" "We can't travel at night," I say. "We need light as well. But we can leave at dawn, and-" "They'll leave at dawn, too," Adam says. "And if they're that close already, there's no way we can outrun them. Not with children and elderly and the wagons." "Which is why we're going to create a barrier between us," I say. "Something they can't cross." Rachel meets my eyes, and her smile is cold and bright. "Fire." I match her smile with one of my own. "Fire. And when the army finally gets past the blaze, we won't be where they expect, because we're leaving the main road behind." "What are we waiting for?" Willow asks. "Let's go burn something down.

Pain is such a useful thing. It corrects us when we're wrong. It shapes our character. It teaches us that we're alive.

I will carefully stand guard and if anyone tries to hurt someone in the camp again, I will carefully spill their guts across the wasteland floor and carefully wait for the vultures to feast on the remains.

Answering a question with a question is simply a way to gain enough time to think of a plausible lie.