“No caro nut oil means people will die from bog cough. And it won’t be the wealthy who will suffer. They’ll find a way to get their medicine, one way or another. It will be the poor. The people who are already scraping by.”

Gio let out a soft snort. “Is that what she told you?”

Phalue frowned. “Who?”

“The Emperor. I warned you about meeting her. If she’s anything like her father, she knows the right things to say – but that doesn’t mean she is right. You say you won’t be blind to suffering. What about her? All she has to do is abdicate and this suffering will end.”

Ranami’s anger was like a living flame next to Phalue; she could feel the heat of it. “So we should set our ships to collide and shout, ‘No, you turn your prow first’?”

Gio’s scar pulsed with the beat of his heart. “Someone is always caught in the crush. You can’t save everyone. But we can save more by making sure the Sukais are deposed. For ever! You would rather wait? Wait until she’s gathered strength, until she erases her vulnerabilities? And then, when she chooses to use bone shard magic again or to enact some other harsh new laws, what then? We have no way to fight back. You have to harden yourself to fight against a hard enemy. It’s the only way to win.”

She’d been set on this path by Ranami, but now she’d claimed it fully as her own. And if Phalue followed it to the end, to the very heart of the matter, she found a truth she believed – that there had to be other ways. How could she condone the deaths of these people just because they were not her people? Happenstance had placed them elsewhere. It was easier to think of people she did not know or see as less significant, but that didn’t make it right. “And what of Gaelung?”

His expression shifted. “Gaelung?”

“If you know about the caro nuts, surely you know about Gaelung. Or do you just not care about the plight of people far enough away? They’ve asked for aid. The construct army is headed to their shores and they mean to take the island.”

Gio waved a hand. “Let the Emperor deal with it. That’s her responsibility.”

“She disbanded the war constructs and hasn’t created any new ones. Her army is small, and though she’s been recruiting, there just aren’t enough soldiers yet. She’s been asking the islands for their guards but everyone has been reluctant to commit. Now Gaelung is asking for aid too. They say the construct force has grown.”

“Good. Let them fight among themselves. It’ll weaken the Emperor if not take care of her completely.”