Chapter 378

XENOIS "I tried to make it right," she continued. "Samuel and I found Sophia. We tortured her for information about Riley, about the facility, about everything she'd done. And then we burned her alive. We told ourselves it was justice, that Xena deserved that revenge. But really, it was just more violence. More pain. More proof that we'd learned nothing from the wars except how to hurt people efficiently." "That's not—" I started, but she cut me off. "When Jerome captured us, when I was chained in that cell waiting to die, part of me thought it was karma," she admitted. "That the universe was finally making me pay for all the terrible things I'd done. To enemies during the wars, to Lumina after Xena died, to all the people I'd hurt because I was too angry to see clearly. I thought I was going to die there, and I'd have to face Xena and explain why I'd become such a monster after losing her." Her voice broke completely now, tears streaming down her face unchecked. "But then you rescued