An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1)

by Sabaa Tahir

Sana. A Scholar name, short and simple. If she were Martial, her name would have been Agrippina Cassius or Chrysilla Aroman or something equally long and pompous.

“You’ll never forget them, not even after years. But one day, you’ll go a whole minute without feeling the pain. Then an hour. A day. That’s all you can ask for, really.”

In the end, I don’t answer her question. She doesn’t answer mine. Instead, we sit without words, watching the city, the river, the desert beyond, our secrets heavy between us.

Which voice do I listen to? The spy or the slave? The fighter or the coward?

Again, the stutter. Again, when she’s speaking of the Resistance.