Page 81 of A Dance of Shadows

Why don’t you get on with getting rid of him then?I want to shout, but revealing my impatience will only work against my goals. It has to be Marc’s initiative, Marc’s choice. Not the slightest indication that his twin’s fears about my loyalties are correct.

And maybe Marc can’t help harboring a little loyalty toward his brother still, despite all his complaints. He shakes his head. “I suppose I should be glad he didn’t make as awful a hash of our arrival here as he could have. Conscribing the city’s children the way he did was a sort of brilliance, really.”

I’m still dazed enough from the pain and the sleepless night that his words take a moment to sink in. Any warmth Marcprovoked in me freezes. “Youlikethe spectacle he made with them?”

Some of the chill crept into my voice unintentionally. Marc blinks at me. “It was an effective strategy for recruiting locals who’ll be on the alert for signs of dissent. Give them a taste of victory, make them feel important, and dangle more rewards to come. It’s easier to mold a child’s mind than that of an adult set in their ways.”

All of those things are true, but each remark he adds sickens me more. I struggle to tamp down my revulsion. “He had those children fighting each other to earn the victory. Some of the kids were injured worse than I just was—and theyareonly kids.”

Marc’s eyes narrow, his own tone cooling. “I’m not saying I appreciate everything about my brother’s approach. All I can do is make the best of the groundwork he’s laid. Unless you think we should toss the whole country back to the insurgents.”

A clang of warning in the back of my head moderates my anger, but I can’t bring myself to back down completely.

It’s good that I see this—good that I get the reminder of how much of a monster even the kinder twin can be. Let’s determine exactly how far that kindness extends to anyone beyond the woman carrying his heir.

“Of course I don’t want the country thrown into war,” I say. “But I don’t see how manipulating the Lavirians’ own children against them is going to do anything but fan the flames that provoked the treason in the first place.”

“The ones who hate us will keep hating us anyway. Now we have a better chance of finding out who they are ahead of time. I’m not disbanding his little alliance, if that’s what you were hoping for.”

I was, but I don’t dare say that. “I’m not telling you what to do. I’m merely expressing my opinion on the subject.”

Marc’s angular face hardens even more. “Then you forget that your opinion doesn’t really matter. I’m the emperor; I’m the one who bears the real burden. The one bit of help I’ve actually asked you for, you’ve refused.”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t have asked for something so against my nature, then.”

“Enough!” Marc snaps, with a sweep of his arm through the air.

The gesture doesn’t come anywhere close to touching me, but I flinch all the same. The tensing of my body sends a spike of pain through my healing shoulder. My breath hitches.

Marc goes still. His hand drops to his side, the fingers splaying. He stares at me through a few thuds of my heart.

The edge has faded from his voice. “Iwouldn’t have hurt you.”

A scoffing laugh clogs my throat. Is he really so unaware of all the times he’s already hurt me? Does he think nothing counts from before he revealed himself to me as Marc?

I gaze steadily back at him. “You were speaking approvingly of children attacking each other for a bag of gold and shouting me down for disagreeing. Forgive me if it’s difficult to know where you’d draw the line.”

Marc’s jaw works. “I’m not used to having every statement I make questioned. You can’t expect me to have perfect patience.”

“And you can’t expect me to keep quiet on the subjects that most disturb me.”

He exhales in a sigh. “Why are you so concerned about a few Lavirian children?”

My good hand moves to my belly, resting on the modest curve. “Children are on my mind rather a lot these days, as I think should be understandable. Would you put our son or daughter through that kind of torment for the sake of strategy?”

This time, it’s Marc who flinches. “Of course not.”

He sounds horrified enough that I believe him, but he doesn’t recognize the contradiction in his response.

My mouth twists with a pained smile. “You say that so easily. Don’t you think every parent who watched their child caught up in the fray two days ago cares about them just as much? Wants to protect them from harm just as much? How must they have felt standing by, knowing that defying Linus to protect their sons and daughters could have been a death sentence?”

Marc opens his mouth and then closes it again. He swipes his hand over his face. “Fuck.”

For a second I think he’s frustrated with me again. Then he offers a tentative smile of his own, crooked but warm. “No wonder the gods answer your call. You stand by so quiet and unassuming, but when you need to, you cut straight through to the heart of the matter.”

My wariness hasn’t left. “I try to acknowledge what I see as I see it.”

“Indeed.” He pauses. “You thought it was possible I’d strike you as my brother did, but you argued with me regardless. Is there nothing that truly shakes you?”

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