Alice

  Alice stared at the man in golden shackles sitting on the narrow bunk in the corner.

  She had spoken with Riven after breakfast. He had asked her what she wanted done with the prisoner. For months she had imagined what she would do if she ever had the chance.

  Now the moment had finally come.

  The decision was hers. The time to act was now.

  And yet she hesitated.

  Kaye stood in the corner, watching the man closely in case he tried anything. Liz was upstairs with the boys so Alice could move and speak freely.

  She sat on a small stool in front of the bars. A tray of breakfast sat on the floor inside the cell, still untouched.

  Alice let out a slow, steadying breath. Then she forced herself to ask the question she had come down here for.

  “In all the months I was your prisoner, you never checked on Liz in person. Not once. Do you not care about your daughter at all?”

  She held his gaze, her voice tightening slightly.

  “I know I was just a pawn in all of this. But do you care so little about her that you only see her as one too?”

  He turned his head toward her, then slowly turned back to stare at the wall.

  Alice waited a full minute. When no answer came, she inclined her head, accepting his silence as answer enough. She stood, offering a tight smile as she turned toward her grandmother to leave.

  A raspy voice stopped her.

  “More like a queen than a pawn. I intended to raise her to be strong… strong enough to serve as the Faction’s shield against people like your brother and the other Factions that would see the Shattered Blades destroyed.”

  He shifted slightly to face her. The movement made the chains clink softly against the floor.

  “Instead, I’ve done the opposite. I’ve doomed my Faction, myself, and everyone I’ve ever known to death. Your grandmother and your brother will open another floor eventually, and the tide of monster elites will rain down on us like a thunderstorm.”

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  Alice raised her chin in defiance of his words, “My brother would never put innocents in danger. Before anything is opened, he will have the power and a plan to defend this world. I have no doubt.”

  Carson gave her a weary, skeptical look, and it immediately pissed her off.

  “So let me make sure I understand your plan,” she said, heat creeping into her voice. “You seduce someone who might give you a System Champion of your own. Then you raise that child to be nothing more than a shield for your Faction to hide behind.”

  Her eyes hardened.

  “And when the Dungeon world finally breaks and unleashes all those monsters on the rest of the world… you just let it happen.”

  She tilted her head slightly. “That about sum it up?”

  He didn’t answer. He just gave a noncommittal shrug.

  She let out a short, humorless laugh. “You and your entire Faction are fucking idiots.”

  Her voice hardened. “The floor locks will deteriorate, eventually. They’ll break. When that happens, the monsters get out and you all die, anyway.”

  She leaned forward slightly.

  “So what exactly is the advantage of sitting back and doing nothing? Why not fight? Why not clear the Dungeon and end the threat to this world once and for all?”

  Disgust twisted her expression.

  “I honestly can’t believe I fell for you during those weeks. There’s no way I would have let someone that shortsighted and stupid share my bed.”

  She started to walk away again when the chains suddenly clinked loudly behind her.

  Carson had surged to his feet and pressed himself against the bars, his eyes wild.

  “You have no idea how many we lost when the last floor broke,” he said hoarsely. “Almost everyone died.”

  He gripped the bars tightly.

  “Maybe if we had a hundred people as strong as your grandmother, we could fight back. But we don’t. It’s a hopeless fight.”

  His voice dropped, rough with frustration.

  “We should enjoy the time we have left and protect what we still have. The floor might not break for another thousand years.”

  He shook his head.

  “And I don’t believe your grandmother for a second when she says it’s about to collapse after all this time. That’s just what Outliers say so they can trick us into fighting with them, so they can conquer the floors, earn rewards from the System, and go back to their own worlds rich and powerful.”

  Bitterness crept into his expression.

  “While the few of us who survive are left here to pick up the broken pieces.”

  Alice stared at him, stunned. He actually believed this. Someone had fed him this garbage for years.

  Alice turned to face him.

  “If you could see the weakness in the floor lock, if you could see that it was about to collapse and unleash a horde of creatures on this world and its people, would you accept the truth?” she asked.

  Her eyes hardened. “Or are you the kind of person who keeps believing a lie even after the truth is right in front of you?”

  Carson sneered. “I see well enough when I need to.”

  That was enough.

  Alice looked toward Kaye. “Then I would like you to take him with you when you leave for Floor Seven and show this fool the truth.”

  Kaye sighed deeply. “He’s only completed the first four floor instances. I can’t take him directly to the seventh floor.”

  Carson started to chuckle. “See? I told you. There’s always some kind of excuse with Outliers.”

  Kaye raised a hand, and Carson immediately fell silent.

  She stepped forward. Alice saw Carson’s face go pale as her grandmother approached.

  Kaye grinned, a wolfish flash of teeth.

  “I said I couldn’t take you to Floor Seven,” she said calmly. I didn’t say I couldn’t show you the truth.”