Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 441
two, three seconds Megan had thought nothing, merely tasted
and enjoyed. And it came to Armiger that it had been seven
hundred years since he had experienced such a moment.
"It’s something that connects me to all these people," he
said, gesturing to include both the palace and the besieging
army. "Before, they were counters on a board. Now,
somehow, they’ve become like me. I know it can’t make any
sense to you."
"Ai," she snapped, yanking on his hair so that he laughed.
"Of course it makes sense, silly. You were a child, and now
you’re growing up. All those years you were one of them, you
were like an infant, all want. So now you’re surprised when
you start to become like the rest of us? You are sometimes a
very, very silly man."
For a while he was completely flummoxed, and just
stared at her while she laughed. Then he caught her around the
waist. "Maybe I am. You made me care about you, and now
I’ve come to care about these people too. And I can help
them."
She sobered. "Help? How?"
"I was a general once. I can be again." He kissed her
forehead and stood back. "It’s time to abandon the plans of the
entity that enslaved me all these centuries," he said. "And time
to start making my own."
Megan stepped back. "Armiger--"
"Galas is the most deserving ruler on this world," he said.
"I can’t let her be destroyed. Nor her people."
Megan turned and went to the crenel, where she looked
out over the sea of tents for some time. Then she looked back,
her face a play of rose-lit arcs in the sunset. "You must be
careful," she said. "You may come to care too much, you
know. And that could cost us more than all your uncaring ever