“I expect so, Juan-Carlos,” Elisa says. “Thank you. It’s safer for her if everyone believes her dishonored.” The empress shakes her head ruefully. “The first woman in the Royal Guard! I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Of course women should be in my Guard. And if you’re sure you can do this, Red, I’ll sponsor your petition for recruitment myself. That guarantees a spot in the sand.”

“This is what you want?” Mara asks me.

“I’m sure I want to try.” And I am. I’ve never been more convinced of the rightness of anything, not since that day eight years ago when Elisa bought me and took me away.

The empress smiles. “Then we have a plan.”

“We have a plan,” Hector echoes.

“Red, be careful,” Mara warns. “We did have the votes for your adoption, less than a week ago. This was a major coup, to spread those rumors so quickly and convince everyone to change their votes. Whoever did it is still out there, Bolivar is still missing, and the empress’s entourage won’t be around to investigate.”

“I understand.”

We all mill about for a short while as I endure half-hearted congratulations, a kiss on the cheek from Mara, hugs from Tristán and Elisa. No one does a good job masking their disappointment at my failed adoption, or their desire to leave the hot Quorum chamber, but at the last second, Hector yanks me aside.

“Red,” he says. “You might be the most qualified candidate in the sand this year.”

He’s so solemn that I’m not sure it’s a compliment. “Er . . . thank you?”

“Some recruits, those from especially privileged families, delay revealing the full extent of their skills and training.”

I chew on this a moment. “To keep from showing off, you mean. To keep from making early enemies.”

He nods. “Others go in hard and fast to establish a pecking order as quickly as possible. I’ve seen both strategies succeed and fail.”

“So your advice is . . . ?”

“No advice. Just information. I trust you to make the right decision for yourself.”

Something about that chokes me up a little, and I find myself swallowing hard.

“And one more thing. The Royal Guard may be the most elite fighting force in the empire, filled with the best men I’ve ever known. But it’s still a large group of men, with all the bad tendencies that large groups of men seem to develop. Especially the new, untried recruits. I made several reforms when I was in charge, work that Lord Dante has continued. But neither of us will be there to reinforce those changes.”

“You’re saying it will be a dangerous place for me because I’m a woman.”

“Yes. But I hope not too dangerous for you to handle, so long as you remain alert.”

“I’m always alert.”

His weathered face is handsome and hard, but once in a while a softness overtakes it. When he looks at his wife and daughter, for instance. And sometimes, when he looks at me.