LITMIR.BIZ

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      She took the bait. “What did you find?”

      “Just a few fringe islands. Of course, they had no clue of your whereabouts, but we stayed a week or so to make sure. People will say anything under torture.”

      Her fingers tightened into fists. “They’re still alive?”

      She felt like someone had taken a bar to her rib cage. She knew Federation soldiers remained on the mainland, but not that civilians were still alive. She’d thought she had put a permanent end to the country.

      What if she hadn’t? The great strategist Sunzi cautioned to always finish off an enemy in case they came back stronger. What would happen when Federation civilians regrouped? What if she still had a war to fight?

      “Their invasion is over,” Vaisra reassured her. “You made certain of that. The main islands have been destroyed. Emperor Ryohai and his advisers are dead. A few cities on the edges of the archipelago remain standing, but the Federation has erupted into frothy madness, like ants pouring out of a hill once you’ve killed the queen. Some of them are sailing off the islands in droves, seeking refuge on Nikara shores, but … well. We’re getting rid of them as they come.”

      “How?”

      “The usual way.” His lips twitched into a smile. “Why don’t you sit?”

      Reluctantly, she drew the chair out as far from the table as she could and sat at the very edge, knees locked together.

      “There,” Vaisra said. “Now we’re friends.”

      Rin decided to be blunt. “Are you here to take me back to the capital?”

      “Don’t be stupid.”

      “Then what do you want from me?”

      “Your services.”

      “I’m not murdering anyone for you.”

      “Dream a little bigger, my dear.” Vaisra leaned forward. “I want to overthrow the Empire. I’d like you to help.”

      The room fell silent. Rin studied Vaisra’s face, waiting for him to burst into laughter. But he looked so terribly sincere—and so did Nezha—that she couldn’t help but cackle.

      “Is something funny?” Vaisra asked.

      “Are you mad?”

      “‘Visionary,’ I think, is the word you want. The Empire is on the verge of falling apart. A revolution is the only alternative to decades of civil warfare, and someone has to start the ball rolling.”

      “And you’d bet on your odds against the Militia?” Rin laughed again. “You’re one province against eleven. It’ll be a massacre.”

      “Don’t be so certain,” Vaisra said. “The provinces are angry. They’re hurting. And for the first time since any of the Warlords can remember, the specter of the Federation has disappeared. Fear used to be a unifying force. Now the cracks in the foundation grow day by day. Do you know how many local insurrections have erupted in the past month? Daji is doing everything she can to keep the Empire united, but the institution is a sinking ship that’s rotted at the core. It may drift for a while, but eventually it will be dashed to pieces against the rocks.”

      “And you think you can destroy it and build a new one.”

      “Isn’t that precisely what you want?”

      “Killing one woman is not the same thing as overthrowing a regime.”

      “But you can’t evaluate those events in a vacuum,” said Vaisra. “What do you think happens if you succeed? Who steps into Daji’s shoes? And whoever that person is, do you trust them to rule the Twelve Provinces? To be any kinder to people like you than Daji was?”

      Rin hadn’t thought that far. She had never bothered to think much about life after she’d killed Daji. Once she’d gotten Altan’s revenge, she wasn’t sure that she even wanted to keep living.

      “It doesn’t matter to me,” she said.

      “Then think of it this way,” Vaisra said. “I can give you a chance to take your revenge with the full support of an army of thousands.”

      “Would I have to take orders?” she asked.

      “Rin—” Nezha started.

       “Would I have to take orders?”

      “Yes,” Vaisra said. “Of course.”

      “Then you can fuck off.”

      Vaisra looked confused. “All soldiers take orders.”

      “I’m not a soldier anymore,” she said. “I put in my time, I gave the Empire my loyalty, and that got me strapped to a table in a Mugenese research lab. I’m done taking orders.”

      “We are not the Empire.”

      She shrugged. “You want to be.”

      “You little fool.” Vaisra slammed his hand against the table. Rin flinched. “Look outside yourself for a moment. This isn’t just about you, it’s about the future of our people.”

      “Your people,” she said. “I’m a Speerly.”

      “You are a scared little girl reacting from anger and loss in the most shortsighted way possible. All you want is to get your revenge. But you could be so much more. Do so much more. Listen to me. You could change history.”

      “Haven’t I changed history enough?” Rin whispered.

      She didn’t care about anyone’s visions for the future. She’d stopped wanting to be great, to carve out her place in history, a long time ago. She’d since learned the cost.

      And she didn’t know how to say that she was just so tired.

      All she wanted was to get Altan’s revenge. She wanted to put a blade in Daji’s heart.

      And then she wanted to disappear.

      “Your people died not because of Daji but because of this Empire,” Vaisra said. “The provinces have become weak, isolated, technologically inept. Compared to the Federation, compared to Hesperia, we are not just decades but centuries behind. And the problem isn’t our people, it’s their rulers. The twelve-province system is an antiquated, inefficient yoke dragging the Nikara behind. Imagine a country that was truly united. Imagine an army whose factions weren’t constantly at war with one another. Who could possibly defeat us?”

      Vaisra’s eyes glimmered as he spread his hands across the table. “I am going to transform the Empire into a republic—a great republic, founded on the individual freedom of men. Instead of Warlords, we would have elected officials. Instead of an Empress, we would have a parliament, overseen by an elected president. I would make it impossible for a single person like Su Daji to bring ruin upon this realm. What do you think of that?”

      A lovely speech, Rin thought, if Vaisra had been talking to someone more gullible.

      Maybe the Empire did need a new government. Maybe a democracy would usher in peace and stability. But Vaisra had failed to realize that she simply did not care.

      “I just finished fighting one war,” she said. “I’m not terribly interested in fighting another.”

      “So what is your strategy? To roam up and down the coastline, killing off the only officials who have been brave enough to keep opium outside their borders?” Vaisra made a noise of disgust. “If that’s your goal, you’re just as bad as the Mugenese.”

      She bristled. “I’ll kill Daji eventually.”

      “And how, pray tell?”

      “I don’t have to tell you—”

      “By renting a pirate ship?” he mocked. “By entering into

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