I remembered so little of it. Eight was not so young that the memories were obscured by time, but I was grateful for this neural trick.

“We lived in a village that was not a village,” I said. “It was a kasbah, abandoned by whatever makhzen had held it before the conquest. Nineteen families made their home there. Shortly before we left, the Vath attacked.”

“What?” Her voice was hoarse with shock.

“We were defenseless. Most villages have a magistrate, or a surveillance force. We were in truth homeless and trying to eke out an existence. They were slaughtered, looking for someone.”

I turned to look at her. Her face was drawn and colorless, as if I’d truly shocked her.

“Do you not know what the Vath are capable of?”

“I do.”

“Then don’t look so upset,” I said. “The dead are gone, and we survived.”

She swallowed hard. Her hand gripped the armrest, her back was straight and held away from the chair.

“Everyone imagines that a poor villager has no understanding of the operations of cruelty. That because she is removed from the center of power, she does not experience the way it is used. I know the Vath, Rabi’a, perhaps better than even you. I know what they will do in wartime. There is no survival to be had in this world.”

She looked away from me, as if she were embarrassed.

“You are talking about war,” she said, voice clipped. “A war we can’t possibly win.”

The problem, I thought, was that each of us had experienced our own particular hurt and thought the other would not understand its consequences. Rabi’a understood the violence she’d been saved from by her mother’s duplicity, and yet somehow believed I’d escaped that violence or did not understand its scope. It enraged me—my world until now had been small, and in a way I’d been lucky. Furat and Idris had never underestimated me or my experience.

“I’m talking about the line of succession,” I replied. “But she needs the support of an army that will not pledge itself to her without the support of a greater house.”

“So, at last we come to it,” she said.

Arinaas was coming to the continent—it was the right time, the best time, for Rabi’a and Arinaas to meet. For Rabi’a to see how serious I was, how serious the rebellion was. It wasn’t just a ragtag group of hungry citizens, but a cause and an army with a chance.

“A high-ranking member of the alliance will be here in two days—meet her, and then make your choice.”

“And what would they ask of me?”

“The army will not pledge itself to Maram without the support of a greater house.”

She laughed humorlessly. “So without me everything falls apart.”

“And the world slides into ruin.”