So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole

Author:Kamilah Cole [COLE, KAMILAH]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2024-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

“Please tell me you have found something,” Aveline said from the fireplace. “Something. Anything.”

“You’ll get gray hairs before you’re even twenty-five if you don’t calm down,” said Faron. She was curled up in Reeve’s favorite armchair, her legs thrown over one side, her skirts an added cushion bunched beneath them. The chair sank under her, already accustomed to the weight of Reeve and the ten or more books he tried to read at once, all day, every day. Faron’s decision to call Aveline was partially to get him out of the library. “Isn’t the Summit over with?”

“Somehow word has spread that your sister is in Langley.”

Faron sat up. “What?”

“It is impossible to know who could have leaked—”

“You had representatives from all our enemy countries in the palace, and you don’t know who could have leaked it?”

“—but I suspected it might be someone with an interest in sowing civil unrest.” Aveline sighed, and the flames flickered in response. “Protests in the capital are at an all-time high, and it is spreading to the surrounding towns. So I ask again: Please tell me you have found something that will allow us to bring Elara home.”

“I wish I could. Really, I wish I could.” Faron toyed with her skirts, feeling an uncommon flash of guilt. But she didn’t think that telling Aveline of her deal with Gael Soto would do anything but worry her. Besides, she hadn’t yet told Elara. “Reeve is still researching. The gods have given me no further guidance. I hate waiting as much as you do, but that’s all we can do right now.”

“Right. Okay.”

But the call didn’t end. Faron watched the flames dance, the wood crackle. Finally, the queen spoke. “I didn’t think they would react this poorly.”

Faron was surprised more by the vulnerability than she was by the words. Gone was Aveline’s clipped, sanctimonious accent; instead, she sounded young. Too young.

“I expected some backlash, of course. We’ve received a number of complaints since the first Summit announcement and throughout the planning. But the protests. The signs. The anger. I just—did I do the right thing?” Faron couldn’t see Aveline, but she was sure the queen was pacing the length of the room. Her voice sounded close and then far away, over and over again. “We cannot survive on trade with the other islands alone; our imports and exports are largely the same. The rest of the continents are too far away for meaningful engagement. We needed these trade agreements with Nova. Didn’t we?”

The questions seemed rhetorical, but Faron answered anyway. “I think you’re doing the best you can, and that’s all anyone can ask of you, Your Majesty.”

Aveline inhaled sharply. Faron had never called the queen by her title before, not unless under duress, not without being forced. But even on their worst days, when it felt as if Aveline blamed her for everything wrong with her life and ignored Faron’s own struggles, Faron had never doubted one simple truth: Aveline loved her country. She wanted to do right by it.

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