Xavier Valerie was right. I had chosen her from the beginning, not only because of her birthmark, but because she was from Westshield. I knew of my father’s sins in Westshield. How he destroyed everything the night of the raid. I remembered that night clearly, because it was the night mother died. But I did not know that her family was caught in the crossfire. That it was Caeser’s plight on Westshield that had turned her into a slave. That had put her in that damned shop. That had stolen away her innocence. I knew only that she was a Westshield survivor. I knew how rare survivors were. And when I saw Valerie in the shop, I just…couldn’t leave her behind. She represented everything that was wrong with this world, and all my father had done. And freeing her from that place felt like…rede

