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"A proposal for repairs to an aqueduct outside of Chernitsyn"

"All this for an aqueduct?"

"Don’t worry," said Nikolai "I’ll have the rest delivered to your room"

"There’s more? Can’t one of the ministers--"

"You sahat happened when our father let others take over the business of ruling Ravka We ilant"

Warily, Vasily lifted the top It took everything in

"Vasily thinks he can lead as our father did," Nikolai confided tothe occasional speech I’ to make sure he knows just what itor the Apparat there to take the reins"

It see both princes beneath s ran twice as long He postured and preened, weighed in on every issue, held forth at length on patriotisy, and the finer points of diplomacy

"I’ve neverat all," I fumed as Nikolai walked me back to the Little Palace after a particularly wretched session "There’s got to be so you can do"

"Like what?"

"Get one of his prize ponies to kick him in the head"

"I’m sure they’re frequently tempted," Nikolai said "Vasily’s lazy and vain, and he likes to take shortcuts, but there’s no easy way to govern a country Trust h"

"Maybe," I said "But I’ll probably die of boredo a flask Every tiroaned "I’d be passed out on the floor before the hour was up"

WITH NIKOLAI’S HELP, I’d brought in armaments experts from Poliznaya to help faive theh the sessions had started out tensely, they see ht be for between the First and Second Armies The units of Grisha and soldiers who had been asse when he approached Os Altamissions full of private jokes and new ca each other nolniki, zeroes, because they were no longer strictly First or Second Arht respond to all the changes But the , no hted in any excuse to spend ti weaponry with Tolya and Ta a scalpel to their Grisha, few survived toable to speak in his native tongue, but he also loved the twins’ ferocity They didn’t rely only on their Corporalki abilities the way Grisha raised at the Little Palace tended to Instead, Heartrending was just one erous boy Dangerous girl," Botkin coroup of Corporalki onewhile a clutch of nervous Suei were there, Nadia trailing behind theei Ta "I feel forry for her hufband"

"Will not round

"Why not?" I asked, surprised

"Not her Not brother either," said the mercenary "They are like Botkin Born for battle Made for war"

Three Corporalki hurled the on the floor I thought of what Tolya had said in the library, that he wasn’t born to serve the Darkling Like so many Shu, he’d taken the path of the soldier for hire, traveling the world as a mercenary and a privateer But he’d ended up at the Little Palace anyway How long would he and his sister stay?

"I like her," said Nadia, looking wistfully at Tahed "Fearless is other word for stupid"

"I wouldn’t fay that to her fafe," gruei as Marie dabbed his lip with a da to sotten the way the three of them had welcomed me to the Little Palace They hadn’t been the ones to call me a whore or try to throw me out, but they certainly hadn’t spoken up to defendfriendship was just a little too much Besides, I didn’t quite kno to behave around them We’d never been truly close, and now our difference in status felt like an unbridgeable gap

Genya wouldn’t care, I thought suddenly Genya had known hed with me and confided in me, and no shiny kefta or title would have kept her fro her arossip Despite the lies she’d told, Ion my sleeve, and a tre from foot to foot "I hoped…"

"What is it?"

She turned to aboy in Etherealki blue whoun to trickle in after we’d sent out the pardon, but this boy looked too young to have served in the field He approached nervously, fingers twisting in his kefta

"This is Adrik," Nadia said, placing her arh you had to look for it "We heard that you plan to evacuate the school"

"That’s right" I was sending the students to the one place I kneith dorh to house theo with them, too I hated to lose such a capable soldier, but this way the younger Grisha would still be able to learn frohra wouldn’t see me, I’d sent a servant to her with the sanore her slights, the repeated rejections still stung

"You’re a student?" I asked Adrik, pushing thoughts of Baghra from my mind He nodded once, and I noted the deter … ondering if--"