“We couldn’t meet one! They’re murderous-” Janice said, but once again I cut her off.

“Oh, they are not any such thing. They may defend themselves, but they don’t go out of their way to harm people. You guys have given them such a bad rap over the years that I don’t think any of you really knows what they’re like. Yes, it’s regrettable that they’ve had to defend themselves, and that may result in some deaths, but if you people wouldn’t attack them, there wouldn’t be any deaths!”

“Amen,” Magda said, nodding brusquely.

Janice’s spine stiffened. “Oh, there wouldn’t be any deaths? Those . . . monsters that you insist on defending attacked and killed several members of the Brotherhood in Iceland. Without cause they attacked them, so you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t believe what you’re saying.”

“Are you calling me a liar?” I crossed my arms, holding firm to my temper.

Janice cast another nervous glance toward her husband. I’m not normally the type of person who gets her jollies out of intimidating someone else, but I was beginning to see the attraction of doing so with someone so misguided, so intent on refusing to face the truth. If letting her see that I didn’t believe in what the Brotherhood stood for would help her understand the truth, then by heavens, I would become the scariest person around.

“No, I would never so insult a Zorya. I am certain that you have been misled-”

I took a step toward her, narrowing my eyes as I did so. “Good, because unlike you, I was present in Iceland, and I can assure you that the only reapers who were killed were a couple of guys who tried to slaughter a Dark One named Kristoff and me in cold blood. They attacked us without warning or cause and told him flat out they were going to kill us both. He simply defended us, and quite frankly, if Kristoff hadn’t been there to protect me, I wouldn’t be alive now.”