"Given?" she laughs a little, despite herself. "You should know this, Tirzah. There's only one gift you gave me that I care about - and that's the chance to keep fighting. I left a much nicer home than [i]this[/i] to become a hero, and for me, the stakes haven't changed at all."

It seems like nothing's changed. There are still those nails against her throat, marking the passage of every breath. There are still the bruises from a fight with Asterion and the exhaustion from a day of peril. There are still night-time confessions with Tirzah. There's still no guarantee there'll be a dawn tomorrow.

"But you know why I'll never stop. You are the expert, after all," she said. "You know I'll never stop until you're free."