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We could not permit the cuts to heal naturally for two reasons: They would not scar properly and infection ht set in Over the years, we had lost too ed; they couldn’t bear the white-hot conclusion Noist no longer paused at the sight of tears, and I was glad he didn’t acknowledge them

I am Deuce

Tears spilled down s died, but the scars appeared one by one, proclaith and my ability to weather whatever I found out in the tunnels I had been training for this day my whole life; I could wield a knife or a club with equal proficiency Every bite of food I ate that had been supplied by so it would be my turn someday to provide for the brats

That day had come Girl15 was dead

Long live Deuce

After the na, two friends held a party forin the coh our personalities and physical skills put us on different paths Still, Thimble and Stone were est, and they’d taken pleasure in calling ot their names

Thiirl a little older than me, who served as a Builder She had dark hair and brown eyes Because of her pointed chin and wide gaze, people soh to be out of brat training She hated that; there was no surer way to rouse her temper

Griers because she worked with her hands, and it found its way onto her clothing and s her scratch her cheek and leave a dark streak behind But I didn’t tease her anys was a touch shorter than the other, and she walked with a whisper of a liht easily have become a Breeder

Because he was strong and handsoht, Stone landed as a Breeder Whitewall figured he had good material in hiood, solid offspring Only citizens with traits worth passing on were allowed to contribute to the next generation, and the elders monitored births carefully We couldn’t allow more brats than we could provide for

Thimble rushed up to examine my forearms “How much did it hurt?”

“A lot,” I said “Twice as ave Stone a pointed look “Six times as much as yours”

He always joked he had the easiest job in the enclave, andsure our people survived to the next generation On top of siring the young, he also shared the responsibility of looking after them I didn’t think I could deal with so ile This year, he’d sired one male, and I didn’t kno he dealt with the fear I could barely re even by our standards When she was eighteen, a sickness swept through the enclave, likely carried by the trading party from Nassau It took a lot of our people that year

So of Breeders should stay in that role There was a quietthe Hunters to take their nuot too old for patrols, he or she could sire the next crop of Hunters I’d foughtFro off into the tunnels and known it for my destiny

“It’s not

“Stop, you two” Thiot out a present wrapped in faded cloth “Here”

I hadn’t expected this Brow raised, I took the parcel froers”

She glared “I hate when you do that”

To appease her, I unfolded the fabric “They’re beautiful”

And they were Only a Builder could do such fine work She’d poured these just forhours over the fire and the ti and sharpening afterward They gleaht I tested them and found them perfectly balanced I executed a couple of moves to show her how ht hit him on accident He could be such an idiot A Huntress never stabbed anything she didn’t intend to

“I wanted you to have the best out there”

“Me too,” Stone said

He hadn’t bothered to wrap his gift; it was si The club wasn’t Builder quality work, but Stone had a fair hand with carving, and he’d taken a solid scrap of wood for the core I suspected Thi the top and bottoures cut into the wood canize all of the animals, but it was lovely and solid, and I would feel safer with it on s with sorain The decorations would actually make it harder for me to keep the weapon clean, but Stone was a Breeder, and he couldn’t be expected to think of things like that

I smiled in appreciation “This is wonderful”

They both huggedday Thio—in anticipation of the occasion The container itself offered unusual pleasure in that it shone bright red and white, brighter than s we found down here We didn’t knoas inside it; only that it had been sealed so thoroughly that we needed tools to pry it open