Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 461
at her.
"You could have misled the army, Lavin. You could
have fought badly." She smiled sadly. "You could have let me
beat you."
"Not a single day’s gone by when I didn’t think of doing
that," he said. "Your generals never provided me the
opportunity. Your nobility just weren’t a match for the
Academy. But no, wait, it’s more than that. Listen, I’ve stood
on a hillside, and watched ten thousand men fight in terror and
rage in the valley below me. I’ve had men on horseback,
waiting for my orders, and there was a moment when I could
have failed to give an order to let the cavalry flank your men.
The order was crucial. If I gave it, thousands would live on
both side. If I didn’t, I would stand on this hillside, and watch
while men who trusted me were put to the sword." He faced
her grimly, hands gripping the table in front of him. "Perhaps
every day before that, and every day since, I’ve thought that I
could deliberately send men out to fail and die. I’m a man
capable of hard decisions, Galas. But at that moment, I wasn’t
able to do it. And however much I might lie to myself every
day, in the end I would act the same way again. Everyone has
a moral line they can’t cross. For me, that was it."
She stared at him in silence. Lavin loosened his grip on
the tabletop, and numbly turned back to his food.
"So what are your terms?" she whispered.
"More people don’t need to die. At this moment you’ve
got Parliament in a position where, if you don’t surrender,
there’ll be a bloodbath. That will not be popular. Neither is
regicide. With no one on the throne, the state will be in chaos.
However hopeless things look, they still need you." He looked
straight at her. "I can guarantee your safety. You’ll be placed
under arrest by Parliament, but it will be my men who guard