Binding Ties The Sentinel Wars - Shannon K. Butcher Page 0,11

I’m not going to fuck you.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t stay, does it? You are capable of sharing a meal, knowing that’s all it will be, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then sit and eat. Tell me about your work with the kids. I don’t get to spend as much time as I’d like with them these days. It would be nice to hear how they’re doing from someone who is pathologically incapable of sucking up to me.”

She stared at him for a moment, considering his request. Slowly she set her plate down and lowered herself into her chair. “You want the truth?”

“Absolutely.”

She gave him a nod. “Okay. You got it.” She went on for an hour, giving him a detailed report about the strengths, weaknesses and progress of every child that had crossed her path. She outlined which ones she thought were emotionally stable and healthy, and which ones were on the verge of collapse or explosion. She explained her strategy for helping each one of them grow stronger and more confident.

By the time she was done talking, he was impressed by how much thought and care she’d put into her teaching. She wasn’t just using her class to pass the time. She really wanted to help these kids. Her methods were different from what he was used to, but maybe there was some value in her way of doing things, however violent.

“What about the injuries?” he asked. “Isn’t there some way of teaching them without damaging them?”

“They need to learn to deal with pain. They need to know they can push though it and keep functioning even after they’re hurt. It might make the difference in a life-or-death situation.”

“I hate knowing that they’re in pain.”

“So do I, but we have to face facts. These kids are never going to lead normal human lives. They’ll always be one step away from being some demon’s snack. And they know it. Every injury they get and work through teaches them that they can take more. Be tougher. Keep going. If you start adding in pads and helmets, they’ll always think they need them to fight and freeze up if they’re not available.”

“But they’re so young. If you were only teaching the teens, it wouldn’t be as hard to swallow.”

“And waste all those years helping them learn what they’re capable of?” She shook her head. “By the time they’re teens, it’s too late. Their hormones are raging. They either think they’re immortal or wish they were dead. Teaching them is like trying to teach a crazy person with no ears and genitals for brains.”

They’d had more than one teen kill himself inside these walls—the ones who couldn’t deal with the terror of what was done to them. Poor little Tori had been half-mad—violent and deranged—from what she’d suffered. And she’d had the benefit of being a Theronai—stronger than a human child would have been—but even she’d had to be sent away in the hopes that beings more powerful than the Sentinels could purge the demon blood from her veins and heal her.

“I’m not reinventing the wheel here, Joseph. This is how I was taught. We were forced to push our limits, take the pain, grow stronger. All the Slayers learn the same way.”

“But these kids are human.”

“So? If you stop telling them that’s a limitation, maybe it will stop being one. I know you’ve taken a vow to protect humans, but if you just stop and think about it, you’ll see that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

“Your ways are violent.”

“But they work. Generations of Slayers have been raised exactly like this. And we’re survivors. Fighters. Just like those kids need to be.”

“What would your brother say?” asked Joseph.

She rolled her eyes. “Who cares? I stopped worrying about his opinion the minute he dropped me off on your doorstep.”

“I care. He’s the leader of your people. He was the one with the guts to walk into the home of his enemy, completely unarmed and naked, asking for a truce.”

“With me draped over his shoulder,” she added. “Don’t forget that part. The bastard.”

No chance of that. She’d been naked, too, though Andreas had gone to the trouble of wrapping her up in a sheet. To this day, Joseph still regretted not insisting that they unroll her and check for weapons.

“The point is,” said Joseph, “that your brother is not the kind of man I want to piss off. I don’t know a lot about him, but I’m fairly certain that if anything happened to you, it would be my