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“But it is reater good You were right, my dear There will be no amnesty for you or for ine”

Clarissa stood Cortez’s gaze was on her like a weight The intirief carried with such dignity h she’d never particularly liked hireat To think that we could harness them or treat them as equals was hubris, and the deaths we have seen already will be like a raindrop in the ocean We’ve delivered ourselves into the hands of the devil Not everyone understands that, but I think perhaps you do”

To her surprise, she felt dread welling up in her throat At the far end of the hall, uards said so, but Cortez’s full attention was on her and it felt like pouring cool water on a burn

“I think I do,” she said softly

“Captain Ashford’s freedo of the e with the present captain When they began to bring the crews of the various ships together here, they did it in part by creating a weapon”

“Weapons don’t work here”

“Light does, and they have made a weapon out of it The coh hulls And it can be h so, we believe, that it will destroy the Ring and close the gate”

“We’ll be on the wrong side of it,” Clarissa said

“Yes But if ait, others will coates,’ they’ll say, ‘what glories would co that You were one of them”

“I was, and I’ve learned a terrible lesson And you were driven here by hatred Have you?”

Ashford laughed One of the guards said, “Welcoainst the bars, and they chi,” Cortez said “But noe have a chance tothe mistakes we’ve made We can protect them But there will be a sacrifice”

“Us All of us”

“Yes We will die here in the darkness, cut off fro those who are with us here, ill be reviled We may be punished Even put to death” He shifted his hand to touch hers The contact, skin to skin, was electric “I’ of you will have no reward in this life”

“What are you asking?” she said “What do you want me to do about any of this?”

“People will try to stop us They may try to kill the captain I understand that the modifications made to your body have the potential to elevate your natural abilities to so exceptional Come with us See to it that the captain isn’t hurt, and that he isn’t stopped Itbut stand witness Or you may be the difference between success and failure”

“Either way, I’m dead”

“Yes But one will only be a death The other will havetoward theainst the deck was like the soft sounds of a mechanical clock The moment dreard its end, and resentment burned a little She didn’t want Ashford to co with the reverend about sacrifice and death About the burden of having done so the scales couldn’t be balanced while she lived