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His face fell "But she stayed?"

"I don’t think she felt like she had a choice," I said I couldn’t believe I wasexcuses for Genya, but I didn’t like the idea of David thinking less of her

"I should have…" He didn’t see co But there were sothat wouldn’t ring false

"We do the best we can," I offered laret plain on his face No matter what I said, we both knew the hard truth We do our best We try And usually, it makes no difference at all

I CARRIED MY BLACK MOOD withat the Grand Palace Nikolai’s plan seeed his with the ht hi off The one time he failed to appear, Nikolai hauled hiet dressed and that we siover Vasily hadat the head of the table, before he bolted into the hallway to vo trouble staying awake Any bit of breeze had vanished, and despite the open s, the crowded council cha plodded on until one of the generals announced the dwindling numbers from the First Army’s troop rolls The ranks had been thinned by death, desertion, and years of brutal war, and given that Ravka was about to be fighting on at least one front again, the situation was dire

Vasily waved a lazy hand and said, "Why all the gnashing of teeth? Just lower the draft age"

I sat up straighter "To what?" I asked

"Fourteen? Fifteen?" Vasily offered "What is it now?"

I thought of all the villages Nikolai and I had passed through, the cemeteries that stretched for miles "Why not just drop it to twelve?" I snapped

"One is never too young to serve one’s country," Vasily declared

I don’t know if it was exhaustion or anger, but the words were out of ht better of them "In that case, why stop at twelve? I hear babies’s advisers Beneath the table, Nikolai reached over and gave er won’t stop the," he said to Vasily

"Then we find some deserters and make an example of them"

Nikolai raised a brow "Are you sure that death by firing squad istorn apart by nichevo’ya?"

"If they even exist," Vasily scoffed

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing

But Nikolai just smiled pleasantly "I saw thethat treason is preferable to honest service in the King’s Ar that maybe these people are just as fond of life as you are They’re ill-equipped, undersupplied, and short on hope If you’d read the reports, you’d know that officers are having trouble keeping order in the ranks"

"Then they should institute harsher punishments," said Vasily "It’s what peasants understand"

I’d already punched one prince What was one more? I was halfway out of my seat before Nikolai yanked me back down

"They understand full bellies and clear directives," he said "If you would let ested and open the coffers for--"

"You cannot always have your way, little brother"

Tension crackled through the rooe ee with it, or there will be nothing left to rehed "I can’t decide if you’re a fearer or a coward"

"And I can’t decide if you’re an idiot or an idiot"