Page 70 of A Monsoon Rising

After we win.

What was it about this optimism that carried some presentiment of doom? Perhaps her unease stemmed from not being able to see a clear way forward just yet.

“That’s not all,” said Vela. “Ornang has agreed to be a staging point. They are a tiny nation and can’t offer ships or warriors, but our allies coming from the west may recharge aether cores and resupply there. As for what the benefit is to them … well, Kesath is too close for comfort. The Sardovian remnant is all that stands between them and a possible invasion.”

Surakwel rolled his eyes. “More probable than possible, Amirante. The Night Emperor won’t be satisfied with only Sardovia for long. He’ll continue sending his stormships outward, occupying more lands, stealing more resources—”

“He wants to keep his people safe.”

Both Vela and Surakwel turned sharply to Talasyn.

“He believes that the only way to do that is to wage war,”she continued, remembering the wild look on Alaric’s face and the barely concealed panic in his voice, his fear that the amplifiers had weakened his magic. She remembered a room in a black city, hot water and valerian, her wounded husband pleading,Who am I if I’m not a weapon? What have you done to me?“He sees Sardovia as a threat because of the Cataclysm and the Hurricane Wars. And the Nenavar Dominion sent ships to help the Lightweavers a long time ago. But a country like Ornang, which never did anything to Kesath, he wouldn’t …”

Talasyn trailed off, the rest of the sentence dying in her throat when she registered Vela’s expression. Even when she learned of Darius’s betrayal, the Amirante hadn’t looked like this.

“You’re—you’re defending him,” Surakwel sputtered. “Lachis’ka, you’re actually—”

“I’mnot,” Talasyn insisted, her heart dropping, her stomach hollowing out. “I’m just trying to explain that this is how Alaric thinks.”

“Well, then, shall I have my envoy tell Ornang ‘Never mind’?” Vela asked. Her tone was low, veering into scorn. It made Talasyn want to sink into the ground.

Talasyn shook her head. “No, of course not. I was only—”

Trying to convince Vela and Surakwel that Alaric wasn’t like his father?

Trying to lay the groundwork for sparing his life?

She blinked rapidly at the mud-stained toes of her boots. She felt doomed. She couldn’t see the way forward.

“I told you to be careful,” Vela spat. “I told you not to have sympathy for him.”

The Amirante sounded bitter and disgusted. She sounded like Urduja.

That was when understanding clicked into place for Talasyn. Her superiors saw her as a Lightweaver, as the Lachis’ka. As a means to win the war and secure the throne. They didn’t trusther to make her own decisions. Whenever she showed the slightest sign of going against their wishes, they treated her like a child.

She had to do this on her own.

“Iambeing careful.” Talasyn lifted her chin, meeting the Amirante’s gaze squarely. “I haven’t told Alaric anything. But how do you think it’s going to look when our rebellion kills the man who saved Nenavar and the Continent from the Voidfell?”

“It is my personal opinion that there will be dancing in the streets,” Surakwel said wryly. “Why should Sardovians mourn the Night Emperor who terrorized them?”

“After the Moonless Dark, he will be a hero in the eyes of the people,” said Talasyn. “There’s Kesath to consider as well. They’re almost as insular a nation as Nenavar. All of their younger generation—every single one—grew up believing the rest of the Continent was out to get them. They look to Alaric for protection. If we kill him, the Kesathese will want vengeance, and a lasting peace will never be achieved. Somewhere down the line, yet another warwillstart.”

Vela was looking at her strangely. She opened her mouth, as though to say something, then hesitated. “Is that one of your conditions, then, Talasyn?” she finally asked. “That Alaric Ossinast lives?”

Talasyn’s nape prickled with a sense of wrongness. With the feeling thatthathadn’t been what Vela initially wanted to say.

But a question had been asked, and so she answered it. “Yes, Amirante.”

“You do realize that he will never forgive you?” Vela pressed. “Even if we spare his life? I warned you about that before.”

Even if he hates me in the end.

Even if they hang me for it.

“It doesn’t matter whether he forgives me or not.” Hearing herself say that out loud, Talasyn felt as though her heart had cracked in two. “This is the best course of action.”

Vela nodded. “Then—I’ll see what can be done.”

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