Chapter 10: Terms

I threw the parchment at his chest.

He caught it in one hand.

"You answered in one minute," I said. "I have never made a decision in my life that was mine for one whole day."

"Nessa."

"Nobody asked me to move seats. Nobody asked which dish I liked. Nobody asked my rank."

"The first real thing I ever chose for myself, I sent in a roll of wax."

"And you took it out of my hands before it was cold."

He did not say a word.

He stood with the parchment in his fist, and his scar stood out white on his forearm.

"That is the part I can't forgive yet," I said. "Not the law. You."

"You stood at that gate and let me think I'd come here on my own merit."

"You did," he said.

His voice was rough.

"I was wrong not to tell you at the gate. I should have told you at the plane."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because I thought..." He stopped.

"Say it."

"I thought you knew," he said. "That you read the law and used it. Silver wolves have been known to bargain."

I stared at him.

"I was eighteen hours out of a house that sold my savings for a bracelet," I said. "I didn't know there was a law."

His eyes went to my face, and stayed there a long time.

I watched him look for the lie.

He didn't find one.

"No," he said at last, very quietly. "You did not."

"I wrote my name on a form so I could leave. That's all it was."

"I see that now."

"Good."

I crossed my arms.

"Here are my terms."

He set the parchment down.

"Name them."

"I stay a cadet," I said. "A normal one. No special room, no special rank. If I win, I win it."

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