Page 101 of Rule of Wolves

“I don’t think the Darkling will join the Apparat,” Genya said.

It was the first time she’d spoken. The room felt suddenly still, as if encased in glass.

Nikolai turned to her. “You knew him better than any of us, longer than any of us. Why?”

She set down her teacup. “Pride. The Darkling doesn’t forgive. He punishes. He punished you for betraying him as Sturmhond. He punished me for choosing Alina. When the Darkling staged his coup, he trusted the Apparat with the capital. The priest was meant to lend his authority to the Darkling’s cause. Instead he marshaled the people’s faith for Alina Starkov.”

“Because he believed she could be more easily controlled,” said Nikolai.

“More fool him. But that’s something the Darkling and the Apparat had in common,” she said, her voice hardening. “They underestimated her. They underestimated every one of us. All the Darkling ever wanted was to be loved by this country, adored. He won’t side with the Apparat because the priest did the unforgivable: He turned the people against him.”

“Then what will he do?”

Genya’s fists crushed the material of her kefta. “The question is, what will we do?”

“Is there anything we can do?” asked Adrik, and for once his miserable tone was completely appropriate. “Even with support from the Shu and the Zemeni, do we have enough flyers or missiles to face Fjerda in the field?”

Nadia and Leoni exchanged a glance, and Leoni bit her lip. “If we had a new source of titanium, we’re ready to move into production immediately.”

Tolya took a deep breath. “I know we’re all angry and grieving. What the Fjerdans did is unforgivable, but—”

“But?” said Zoya.

He held her gaze. “What we do next will determine not only what kind of war this is, but what every war will look like after. Launching a rocket without ever needing to put a soldier or a pilot in harm’s way? War is meant to have costs. At what point are we as bad as the Fjerdans?”

“Maybe that’s what we need to be,” said Zoya. “This is a world where villains thrive.” Where men like David died buried beneath a heap of stone in their wedding clothes while the Darkling and the Apparat somehow still drew breath.

“Does that mean we become villains too?” Tolya asked, and Zoya could hear the pleading in his voice.

“You’ve never been the weakest person in the room, Tolya. Mercy means nothing if we can’t protect our own.”

“But where does it end?”

Zoya didn’t have an answer to that. Nikolai had said it enough times: Once the river was loosed, it could not be called back.

Genya touched her hand gently to Tolya’s arm. “David hated making war. He was an inventor, a creator. He dreamed of a time when he could build wonders instead of weapons.” She reached out to Zoya, and reluctantly Zoya took her hand, feeling an unwelcome ache in her throat. “But he also knew that we couldn’t forge peace alone. The Fjerdans have shown us who they are. It’s up to us to decide who we want to become.”

“And who is that?” Zoya asked, because she truly didn’t know. All she’d ever had was anger.

“We build the rockets,” said Genya. “We make them understand what we can do. We give them a choice.”

Zoya wondered who would get to make that choice. Parents who didn’t wish to send their children off to die? Jarl Brum and his hateful drüskelle? Royals eager to keep their position at any cost?

“This has always been about stopping a war,” said Nikolai. “If the Fjerdans don’t think we can hold back the tide, they’ll roll right over us.”

Nadia shifted in her chair. “But without titanium—”

“We’ll have the titanium,” said Nikolai.

Zoya couldn’t hide her surprise. “The Zemeni have agreed to provide it?”

“No,” he said. “They don’t have it to sell, not processed. But the Kerch do.”

Adrik snorted. “There’s no way they’ll sell it to us, not at any kind of price we can afford.”

“That’s why I don’t intend to ask. I happen to know someone who can help with this particular kind of negotiation.”

Tolya frowned. “Negotiation?”