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"What does that ree with the steps taken when the retreats were formed They didn’t believe that women and children should be isolated or that Irina should withdraw fro attacked by the huic Wasn’t it wiser to protect the the painful history lesson he’d been forced to sit through As always, once he’d been told, he could reh they s Horror over the Rending, pain froer toward an enemy he couldn’t re

"True, they were being attacked," Max said "But the dissenters didn’t believe in turning from the old ways Didn’t believe in separation They were proponents of the Irina being trained inon only creative and healing work Sari’s parents were so half our population was never a smart idea," Leo said "It left them too vulnerable"

"Be careful," Rhys said in a low voice "You and Max were both children during the Rending You don’t reree, but there were reasons the retreats were formed"

Max frowned "I know--"

"No," Rhys continued in a quiet voice "You think you know, but you don’t Not really Try to inorant huht she was a witch sent by the devil and your child the devil’s spawn Ie you’d feel, then multiply that by the Inquisition It wasn’t only the Irin males who proposed the retreats, many Irina did, too They didn’t want to worry about their safety or the safety of their children Didn’t want to live as we do now, constantly battling against the Grigori and looking over their shoulder for humans, too The retreats were not concentration camps; they were communities There is no black and white here"

"The Irina left their protection in the hands of others," Max said "Hoas that wise?"

"They left their protection in the hands of their mates" Rhys said "Their fathers and brothers Hoe to foresee the Rending? Yes, there was fault, but our race’s tragedy wasn’t born fro e loved"

"But now our race is dying because of it," Leo said "And the council does nothing Younger Irin want change--we kno much we need the Irina back--but no one will listen to us Damien wouldn’t listen to us"

"Maybe not as much as you’d wish, but he did listen To me To Malachi He wasn’t some puppet of Vienna, so don’t make hi with proposals to get the Irina back You have to ree comes slowly, Leo"

"Who did Damien trust?" Malachi asked, uninterested in the politics they were caught up in "That’s the real question, isn’t it? Who else would knohere his ed a look Malachi couldn’t decipher, then Max said, "I’ve heard Sari has a haven soroup of Irina, but no one knows for sure Her family was very secretive about their land after the retreats were formed, so only other members of the family knew about it"

"But Damien would have known?"