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"You’ll have your vengeance, Princess," Denth whispered

She looked at him "I want the a rebellious element The Hallandren sent those soldiers in to kill Kill the poor that they created We’re going to stop thes like that I don’t care what it takes I’ ostentation I want to do soht We’ll change course, startour attacks a little more painful"

"Good," she said She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling frustrated, wishing that she was strong enough to keep all of these e That was the problem

"This was never about your sister, was it?" Denth asked "Co here?"

She shook her head, eyes still shut

"Why, then?"

"I had trained all of my life," she whispered "I was the one ould sacrifice herself When Siri left in et it back"

"But you just said that you’ve always hated Hallandren," he said, sounding confused

"I have And I do That’s why I had to come"

He was silent for a few uess"

She opened her eyes She wasn’t sure if she understood, either She’d always kept a fir it manifest in disdain for Hallandren and its ways She confronted the hatred now Acknowledged it So at the same time It was as ifshe knew that until she came and saw the place for herself, she wouldn’t have a real focus--a real understanding, a real ie--of what it was that had destroyed her life

Now she understood If her Breaths would help, then she would use them Just like Lemex Just like those slumlords She wasn’t above that She never had been

She doubted Denth would understand Instead, Vivenna nodded toward Jewels "What is she doing?"

Denth turned "Attaching a new ot cut, sheared right through Muscles won’t work right if you just sew the"

"With screws?"

Denth nodded "Right into the bone It works all right Not perfectly, but all right No wound can ever be perfectly fixed on a Lifeless, though he will heal some You just sew them up and puh tiht and you’ll have to spend another Breath to keep the By then, it’s usually just best to buy another body"

Saved by a monster Perhaps that hat made her so determined to use her Breath She should be dead, but Clod had saved her A Lifeless She owed her life to so that should not exist Even worse, if she looked deep within herself, she found herself feeling a traitorous pity for the thing Even an affection Considering that, she figured that she was already da her Breaths wouldn’t ht well," she whispered "Better than the Lifeless that the city guard was using"

Denth glanced at Clod "They’re not all equal Most Lifeless, they’re just ood et one as very skillful in life"

She felt a chill, re then that moment of humanity she’d seen on Clod’s face as he defended her If an undead monstrosity could be a hero, then a pious princess could blasphe to justify her actions?

"Skill," she whispered "They keep it?"

Denth nodded "So e paid for this guy, he’d must have been quite the soldier And that’s why it’s worth the money, time, and trouble to repair him, rather than buy a new Lifeless"

They treat hiht Just as she should And yet, ht of Clod as a "he" He had saved her life Not Denth, not Tonk Fah Clod It seemed to her that they should show more respect for him

Jewels finished with the

"Though he’ll kind of heal," Denth said, "it’s best to use so in the repair, so the wound doesn’t rip apart again"

Vivenna nodded "And thejuice"

"Ichor-alcohol," Denth said "Discovered by the Five Scholars Wonderful stuff Keeps a Lifeless going really well"

"That’s what let the Manywar occur?" she whispered "Getting the ht?"

"That’s part of it That and the discovery--again by one of the Five Scholars, I forget which one--of some new Commands If you really want to be an Awakener, Princess, that’s what you have to learn The Commands"