"That girl was not a weakling."

Her tone became clipped when she said it, more precise, and she put the cup aside on the table with the other tea things. She folded her hands into her lap as if she were praying to keep them from fidgeting. "As you said, she passed your tests, lived up to the expectation that she was ready to be active in the field. To follow the path of her destiny."

Outside, a bird had landed on the lowest branch of the tree just outside the window. Julianna watched the way it preened its feathers, the glossy black stark against the green leaves. She forced her fingers to relax their grip on each other.

"All of our...assets...have strength and courage. They have to. Without the raw materials to work with, training would be useless."

She wondered if she was scandalizing him. The philosophy of the Council was a simple one; that if the girls didn't survive, it was because it was their time to die. Julianna knew Mother had subscribed to that belief. She wasn't sure she believed it anymore.

"There is a failure here, Cyrus, but it's not the Council's. It's a personal one. My failure."