Page 89 of What Fury Brings
Olerra’s heart sank. “So soon?” Barely over a month from now.
“Shaelwyn has been pushing for it to happen sooner rather than later, what with Glen having the most support currently. It seems most everyone is in agreement.”
Olerra looked down. She felt shame. Not because of what she’d done for her prince but because she was losing a campaign shehadto win.
“I had to save him, Auntie. It was the honorable thing to do. My recovery took longer than expected. I knew Glen would take advantage of me being gone. I don’t know how to fix this. I don’t know how to win them back.”
“You should have let him die. You like him perhaps too much. But what’s done is done. So here is what is going to happen. Glen has just announced she will be hosting a party to celebrate her relationship with that new soldier boy. You and that man of yours need to steal the spotlight. The whole of Amarra depends on it.”
“When is the party?”
“One week’s time.”
“We’ll be ready.”
“I expect nothing less.”
Toria offered a sympathetic wave as Olerra left, and Olerra returnedit. She didn’t know how she was going to do this. She enjoyed parties, but only when she was free to spend them with the people she liked. Competing with Glen didn’t sound like a good time. And Andrastus? What would she have to do to get him to cooperate? Should she prepare him for the party or spring it on him?
She kept it to herself for now.
She needed time to think.
For four days now, Sanos had joined Olerra at work, training and getting to know some of her troops. Olerra’s captains had especially taken to him. Among them were Meyla and Riakah, who were together. Sirem, they called it. When women liked women. And then there was Lumen, whom Sanos learned was not a he or a she but a them. The Amarran term was madereo. He liked talking with Lumen best because they always had new things to teach him.
“You’re strong for a man,” Meyla said to him.
“Is that a compliment?” Sanos asked.
“Obviously.”
“Then thank you.”
“It’s too bad you’re to be a husband,” Riakah said. “You would be a boon to the army.”
“Husbands can’t be soldiers?” Sanos asked.
The two women shared a look.
“Technically, there’s nothing in the rules that says you can’t,” Lumen explained, joining the conversation. “It would just be… highly unusual.”
“Why?”
“Well, most palace husbands prefer a life of luxury. Everything youneed is already provided for you, and in your case, you’re not even Amarran. Why should you wish to fight for our country?”
Sanos said, “For purpose. Shouldn’t all lives have meaning?”
The two women laughed at him, but Lumen leaned forward.
“Spoken like someone who has never had to work a day in their life just for food and shelter.”
He fired back with “Some people need to have their basic needs met so they can rule and make changes for all the others.”
Riakah scoffed. “What changes have you made for the poor Brutes?”
Well, none, yet. But when he was back home, that would change.
“That’s what I thought,” Riakah said.
