A Desolation Called Peace (Teixcalaan, #2)

by Arkady Martine

To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles—this they name empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.

She’d said, When you know why I had to come with you, then we can talk. And she hadn’t meant, When you figure out the political situation on Lsel Station, she’d meant— She’d meant, When you understand that when the Empire commands, I can’t say no. She’d meant, When you understand that there’s no room for me to mean yes, even if I want to. She’d meant, You don’t understand that there’s no such thing as being free. Free to choose, or free otherwise.