“You know what I would do,” I said. “I would expel the Vath.”

Her mouth ticked up into a cynical smile. “And how do we decide who is Vathek enough to be expelled? What if I looked like Mathis instead of Najat? What then?”

I opened and then closed my mouth.

“We must face reality,” she said.

“And what is the reality?”

“After thirty years, the world is more complicated because of the conquest. Children cannot be held accountable for the sins of their parents.”

“Is it so complicated that we must tolerate an occupational government bleeding the planet dry?”

Maram stilled at that. “You of all people understand the cost of dissent against the Vath. I know that. What I don’t understand is why you persist in this belief that they can be excised.”

“I cannot accept any other world,” I said. “You don’t understand why I can’t give up. I don’t understand how you can watch and do nothing.”

Her eyes searched my face as if she could divine some secret from my expression. “Amani, listen to me and listen well: whatever conflict with the Vath you choose to enter will never be equal or just. They are not idealists. Their expulsion will be long and difficult, and they will do things you cannot imagine.

“The consequences will rest on your shoulders. And then what will you do with the common Vath who have made their home here? Will they too be punished for their leaders’ mistakes?”

I lowered my gaze. I knew what she needed to do; but I knew, too, that to suggest it to her when it had been the thing that nearly broke us apart would do little good.

“How can I be a good queen when I cannot even lead?” You must engage the Vath, I wanted to say. But her expression, though calm, was also dangerously still. I could sense the turmoil inside her and I understood that if I pushed too hard too soon she would withdraw. We had come to a point where she would have to decide—I had done all I could to convince her of what was both necessary and just.

“You are leading already,” I told her. “And it is early days yet—the problems will not solve themselves overnight.”

“They have solved themselves,” she said. “It is only that I fear the solution.”

23