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Because he’s your father, she silently chided herself Of course she’d wanted his approval; she’d been a little girl without a mother and he was all she’d had
Maybe if he’d spent more time with her after herother than a housekeeper, she wouldn’t have found a home with Xander’s rebel army Maybe she wouldn’t be a commander in the queen’s ar," she spat back at hilaise--the voice of the people--and knowing that it galled him that she did so He preferred the old ways: a class system in which he was better, by birth, than nearly half the country But what he conveniently forgot was that, by that same system, he was classified as a Vendor, and there’d been those who’d looked down on him, in the same way he looked down on Anson
Brook, however, would never forget what the class system had meant: a lack of free will "How many supporters can you possibly have? Three, ood Queen Charlaina is trying to do? To give up the freedoive their lives for your cause?" She gave hiht of his cause: nota hangnail "Besides," she explained, "we’d crush you in a rin as she glanced up again It was daring, filled with intentional defiance as she baited theas the color rose in his face
His lips tightened and his jaw flexed Not a flattering look for him, she noted
"You don’t know the half of whose support we have What would you say if I told you that you’re outnuave the order? That nificant band of protesters have the queen’s best friend at theirof his words was crystal clear He would sacrifice his own daughter to send a e to the queen
Fortunately for her, Brooklynn didn’t back down that easily "What if I reminded you that you don’t have the queen’s best friend at your mercy, but rather the commander of the First Division of the Royal Armed Forces? What if I were to tell you that to harm me would be considered treason, and that the mere threat that just passed your vile lips could send you to stand in front of a firing squad? Or worse, get you sent to the Scablands?" She took a step toward hiap that rehter--nose to nose
"You don’t have the authority," he challenged in Parshon
There wasn’t a trace of tolerance in her hardened expression "Try me"
He studied her for a long ht sound Brook could taste the foul flavor of tobacco on his breath, lingering with the rancor inside him The skin around his eyes wrinkled, like crumpled paper, but the eyes the, dear daughter You know I’d never hared of Brooklynn’s wood-carving skills The same man who’d held her up on his shoulders to watch street perforar-covered fruits and sweets when herHe reached out to stroke her cheek Brook jerked ahen his fingers--so cold they felt as if they belonged on a corpse--grazed her "We’re flesh and blood, you and I," he cooed "If we can’t depend on each other, who can we count on?"
ii
I crept as silently as I could into the kitchens, which weren’t nearly as quiet as I’d hoped they’d be It was hard enough to sneak around with a giant bytosome more when I passed Gossip et used to: people noticing o unobserved
Funny, though, how convention tried to dictate my actions nohen once it was si available to any girl of ht to complain Now that I could hatever I wanted, now that class was no longer an issue, I hated being told as--and wasn’t--proper for someone of my stature
And pants nored the strange looks I received for apes and stares whenever I donned trousers But it aina skirt would never allowlessons I couldn’t possibly fight in a dress, could I? Not with any amount of decorum, anyway
Of course,anything that put me in harm’s wayand hand-to-hand coory, lessons or not
The rest of it, taking ined I’d adjusted quickly, or at least I’d adjusted quickly bythat I hadn’t wanted the position in the first place, I thought I was doing pretty well
In fact, there were things I actually liked aboutmy country released from the tyrannical rule of an oppressive queen and her antiquated notions Hearing the words of Englaise spoken everywhere I went, while never having to pretend I couldn’t understand as being said And the fact that er had to work from sunup to sundown to provide for us