Waiting for torture, actually, Stephania said. But thats just you. You deserve everything you get after all you tried to take from me. Thanos was mine.
Perhaps she really believed that. Perhaps she honestly felt that it was normal to try to murder your rivals in relationships and life.
And the rest of it? Ceres said. Are you going to try to convince me that youre basically a nice person, Stephania? Because Im pretty sure that ship sailed the moment you tried to send me to the Isle of Prisoners.
Perhaps she shouldnt have made fun of her like that, because Stephania hefted a third bucket of water. She appeared to consider it for a moment, shrugged, and dumped it over Ceres in a wash of freezing cold.
Im saying that nice doesnt come into it, you stupid peasant, she snapped as Ceres shivered. We live in a world that will try to take all you have from you without asking. Particularly if youre a woman. There are always thugs like Lucious. There are always those who want to take and take.
So we fight them, Ceres said. We set people free! We protect them.
She heard Stephania laugh at that.
You actually believe that foolishness works, dont you? Stephania said. You think that people are basically good, and all will be well if you just give them a chance.
She said it as though it were something to mock, rather than a good philosophy for a life.
That is not life, Stephania continued. Life is a war, fought any way you can find to fight it. You give no one power over you, and you take all the power you can, because that way you have the strength to crush them when they try to betray you.
Im not feeling very crushed, Ceres retorted. She wasnt going to let Stephania see how weak she felt in that moment, or how empty. She was going to create the pretense of strength, in the hope that she might find a way for reality to follow.
She saw Stephania shrug.
You will. Your rebellion is currently fighting a battle with the army of Felldust. It might win, and then I will trade you for a path out of the city with all the wealth I can take. My guess, though, is that Felldust will wash through the city like a wave. I will let them break against the walls of this castle, until they are ready to talk.
You think men like that will just talk to you? Ceres demanded. Theyll kill you.
Ceres wasnt sure why she gave Stephania that much of a warning. The world would be a better place if someone killed her, even if it was the armies of Felldust.
You think I havent thought it through? Stephania countered. Felldust is fractious. It cannot afford to have its soldiers sitting, laying siege to a castle it cannot take. They would fight amongst themselves in weeks, if not before. They will have to talk.
And you think theyll play fair with you? Ceres asked.
Sometimes, she could barely believe the arrogance Stephania showed.
I am not a fool, Stephania said. I have one of my handmaidens preparing to play the part of me for the first meeting, so that if they try to betray us, I have time to flee the city through the tunnels. After that, I will present you, kneeling and in chains, to First Stone Irrien. An offering with which to begin peace negotiations. And who knows? Perhaps First Stone Irrien will find himself amenable to joining our two nations together. I feel I could do a lot alongside someone like that.
Ceres shook her head at that thought. She would no more kneel on Stephanias command than on that of any other noble. You think Im going to give you the satisfaction
I think that I dont have to wait for you to give anything, Stephania snapped back. I can take anything I want from you, including your life. Remember that, in what follows: if it werent for this war, I would have shown you mercy, and just killed you.
It sounded as though Stephania had as strange an idea about mercy as about everything else in the world.
What happened to you? Ceres asked her. What made you into this?
Stephania smiled at that. I saw the world as it was. And now, I think, the world will see you as you are. I cant kill you, so Ill destroy the symbol you made yourself into. Youre going to fight for me, Ceres. Again and again, without the strength that made people think you were so special. In between, well find ways to make it worse.
That didnt sound so different from anything Lucious or the royals had tried to do.
Youre not going to break me, Ceres promised her. Im not going to collapse and beg just for your entertainment, or your petty revenge, or whatever else you want to call it.
You will, Stephania promised her in return. Youre going to kneel before the First Stone of Felldust and beg to be his slave. Ill make sure of it.
CHAPTER SIX
Felene had stolen plenty of boats in her time, and she was pleased to find this one was one of the better ones. It wasnt much more than a skiff, but it sailed beautifully, seeming to respond as quick as thought, feeling like an extension of herself.
It would need more holes in it for that, Felene said, moving to bail out water that had washed over the side. Even doing that hurt, and as for the times when she had to row because the wind had dropped
Felene winced just thinking about that.
She tested the wound gingerly, moving her arm in every direction to stretch the muscles of her back. There were some movements where it almost seemed as though she could ignore its presence, but there were others
Depths take you! Felene swore as pain flashed through her, white hot.
The worst part was that every flash of pain brought with it memories of being stabbed. Of looking into Elethes eyes while Stephania stabbed her from behind. Every physical pain brought with it the agony of betrayal as well. Shed dared to think
What, Felene demanded. That you might finally end up happy? That youd float off with a princess and some lovely girl, and the world would just leave you alone?
It was stupid thinking. The world didnt offer the happy endings you got in singers tales. Certainly not for a thief like her. No matter what happened, there would always be something else to steal, whether it was a jewel, or a slice of the map, or the heart of some girl who would then turn out to
Stop it, Felene told herself, but that was harder than it looked. Some wounds didnt just heal over.
Not that her physical one had, yet. Shed stitched it as best she could on the beach, but Felene was starting to worry about the puncture Stephanias knife had left in her back. She lifted her shirt high enough to douse it with sea water, gritting her teeth against the pain as she washed it clean.
Felene had been wounded before, and this felt like a bad one. Shed seen wounds like this among others, and generally it hadnt ended well. There had been that climbing guide who had found himself mauled by an ice leopards claws when Felene had been trying to steal from one of the dead temples. There had been the slave girl Felene had rescued on a whim after her master had whipped her bloody, only to watch her waste and die. There had been that gambler who had insisted on staying at the table, even after hed gashed his hand on a broken shard of glass.
The sensible thing to do right now, Felene knew, was to head back the way she had come, seek out a healer, and rest for as long as it took to get back to everything she had been. Of course, by that point, the invasion would probably be over, and everyone involved would be scattered to the wind, but Felene would be all right again, free to go off wherever she wanted.