The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency, #1)

by John Scalzi

“I don’t follow.” “I know you don’t. I didn’t intend for you to.”

The door was ornate, like everything in the palace, and Cardenia realized that “ornate” was a design motif she was probably stuck with now; she couldn’t just burn everything down and start with clean lines and spaces, tempting as it might be. She was emperox but even they had their limits.

“I’m doing a really good job of not panicking right now,” Marce said. “I noticed that,” said Vrenna. “I mean, I wasn’t going to mention it. But I noticed it.” “We can’t all have ice water in our veins.”

“You mean the sister who had years of training to murder people for the state, and then became a cop? Yes, that would be my logical guess too.”

“You don’t get a vote. And you also told Pinton you were willing to help. Stop whining like a fucking child.” “You could have just said, ‘I need your help.’” “All right. I need your help. Stop whining like a fucking child.” “That’s not better.”

“When did you want me to tell you?” Marce asked. “Give me just a minute,” Kiva said.

“I’m continually confronted with the human tendency to ignore or deny facts until the last possible instant. And then for several days after that, too.”

But regardless of what either of us wanted there is the fact of what is.