“I never sought his death.”

“You took away his power,” said Suri. “He tried to stop you from doing this and you plotted against your own husband. He was a better friend to India than you ever were.” His voice cracked with passion.

“You cannot say anything to me that’s crueller than what I am now saying to myself.”

“The girl Virlomi, so brave, so wise,” said Suri. “Does she still exist? Or has the goddess destroyed her too?”

“The goddess is gone,” said Virlomi. “Only the fool, only the murderer remains.”

A field radio crackled at his waist. Something was said in Thai.

“Please come with me now, Virlomi. One army is surrendering, but the other shot the officer you telephoned when he tried to give the order.”

A chopper approached them. Landed. They got on.

In the air, Suriyawong asked her, “What will you do now?”

“I’m your prisoner. What will you do?”

“You’re Peter Wiggin’s prisoner. Thailand has joined the Free People.”

She knew what that would mean to Suriyawong. Thailand—even the name meant “land of the free.” Peter’s new “nation” had coopted the name of Suriyawong’s homeland. And now, his homeland would no longer be sovereign. They had given up their independence. Peter Wiggin would be master of all.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Sorry? Because my people will be free within their borders, and there’ll be no more wars?”

“What about my people?” she asked.

“You’re not going back to them,” said Suri.

“How could I, even if you let me? How could I possibly face them?”

“I was hoping that you would face them. By vid. To help undo some of the damage you’ve done today.”

“What could I possibly say or do?”

“They still worship you. If you disappear now, if they never hear of you again, India will be ungovernable for a hundred years.”

Virlomi answered truthfully: “India has always been ungovernable.”

“Less governable than ever,” said Suri. “But if you speak to them. If you tell them—”

“I will not tell them to surrender to yet another foreign power, not after they’ve been conquered and occupied by Chinese and then Muslims!”

“If you ask them to vote. To freely decide whether to live in peace, within the Free People—”

“And give Peter Wiggin the victory?”

“Why are you angry with Peter? What did he ever do but help you win your nation’s freedom in every way that was possible to him?”

It was true. Why was she so angry?

Because he had beaten her.

“Peter Wiggin,” said Suriyawong, “has the right of conquest. His troops destroyed your army in combat. He showed mercy he didn’t have to show.”

“You showed mercy.”

“I followed Peter’s instructions,” said Suriyawong. “He does not want any foreign occupiers in India. He wants the Muslims out. He wants only Indians to govern Indians. Joining the FPE means exactly that. A free India. But an India that doesn’t need, and therefore doesn’t have, a military.”

“A nation without an army is nothing,” said Virlomi. “Any enemy can destroy them.”