Page 122 of In Her Own Rite

“Weneed to be protected fromthem. I’m raising it to a vote. We’ll decide for each group. First, the others. We cannot afford to sustain the prisoners on our islands indefinitely, and we don’t have a proper place to keep them. I propose we send all thosebutthe Nayakka sisters back to the southern isles, and I’ll bring a proposal for heightened defenses next week. All those in favor, raise your hands.”

I glance around the room. Slowly I see hands begin to raise, including those of Seb and Kieran. I raise my own hand, still half-uncertain. But we can’t keep them here, right?

Saga counts, and I see Wim checking the count behind her. Once she’s done, she nods.

“And against?”

A trickle of hands comes up, but clearly fewer than before. Saga and Wim conduct the count, and she clears her throat.

“68 to 18. It’s decided—we send the rebels back to the south. I’ll inform the marshals and we’ll see that it happens this week.”

“And the Nayakka sisters?” Gabe asks, his voice growing louder. “We can’t treat them the same. They asked for our asylum again and again, and were denied. They came here with the rebels as a last resort, and Thalia traded her security for Em’s life without even knowing her. We have to treat it differently.”

Saga bristles, about to speak.

“Ama,” Gabe snaps.

I look over, surprised. I never see him angry—Gabe and Seb have an argument every few years, and honestly, it’s always Seb at fault. But this is personal for him, clearly, and I think maybe I know what’s pushing him.

I swallow, thinking about the little girl with the big dark eyes from his memory. If Gabe is right and this is about Ben for Saga, then maybe for him, it’s about Ilse, the girl I saw in his memories.

“What’s the alternative, then?” Saga asks. “We let themlivehere, among us?”

“Yes. We give them shelter, which they asked for in the first place.”

“Or just freedom,” Kier says beside me. “We don’t need to house and feed them. Thalia says she wants to work for herself. We can just allow them to live here.”

“I raise it to a vote,” Saga says, her voice cold. “All those in favor of letting these two women—who razed a field of sheep, attacked the harbor, and hurt an innocent man in this very room—live among us in peace?”

“Ama,” Gabe says, his voice withering, and I find myself growing similarly frustrated. Isn’t the idea behind the rite that it helps you see past your own interests? It feels like Saga can’t treat this like a normal vote.

Beside me, Kieran and Seb raise their hands, and I do, too. I haven’t met Thalia, but after what Kieran has told me, I know enough. I watch as a ring of hands goes up—fewer than for the first vote, clearly, but still a significant part of the room. I feel a patter of anxiety begin in my chest as Saga and Wim do the count.

“42. All those in favor of sending them back home with the other terrorists?”

“—knowing that they may bekilledfor the information they gave us to help Emerson,” Gabe interjects.

A ring of hands slowly goes up, Saga and Viggo among them. I look at Aunt Dagmar, silently willing her to keep her hand lowered and abstain. But she glances at Viggo and then slowly raises her hand, too.

Saga counts, then looks at Wim to confirm. After a moment, she turns back to the group.

“42 to 42—an even split. If we cannot decide in favor of keeping them here, precedent says we send them away.”

“No, stop,” says Gabe. “What about the family exception?”

“What?”

“The family exception.” He rises to his feet, struggling slightly to get up on his weaker leg. “When Maren wanted to come here, the decision to let her onto the islands was a tie. The tie-breaker was that you, as her family, agreed to take her in as your ward. We make exceptions for family.”

“That’s irrelevant,” Saga says, waving a hand. “The Nayakkas have no family on the Fakaris.”

“But they could,” he says.

I feel a shiver go through me as I realize what he’s implying.

“Tekanni,” Saga says, her brow furrowing.My son. “What are you saying?”

“If she were to find a mate on the islands—someone to marry her—both she and her sister would become family, and they would be able to stay.”

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