The Fires of Vengeance (The Burning, #2)

by Evan Winter

no matter the frequency with which she encountered it, the effortless idiocy of men always surprised her.

“Because the limits to which we’ve been yoked were never ours, and the stories we’ve been told about our nature, our insignificance, and our lack, they were never true.” When Themba spoke, he did it quietly. “That’s why, then? You think we can be Noble too?” Tau’s leg felt like it was being scourged, but he increased his pace, daring the pain to stop him. “That’s not it,” he said. “The lie isn’t that we can’t be their equals. The lie is that they were ever anything but our equals.”

Yes, if the measure of a man was height, then Nobles were taller. If the measure of a man was physical strength, then Nobles were stronger. But Tau knew who decided what needed to be measured, and they’d chosen things in which they already had an advantage. They said, “This matters more than that,” making it seem as if their edicts sprang from natural law when they were little more than self-serving choices. They wrote the rules in their favor, succeeded more often than others, and pointed to that as proof of their superiority. It was all a lie.

“You misjudge me,” Hadith said. “I value nothing more than the safety and lives of the people I love. It is because I value them that I do not invite more Greater Nobles to my first meeting with the queen. They will seek argument with me, not because of my ideas, but because of my person.” Nyah waved away his objection. “If your ideas hold merit, they’ll win out in spite of your person.” “Yes, that’s the lie everyone unaffected by hidden hardships believes.”

I think the world is too complex for most things to be purely right or wrong. Given that, the way words, actions, or even intent is viewed depends on who is doing the viewing and on who is being viewed.”

And Tau had no intention of remaining a victim like the ones who closed their eyes to the whippings of their peers, thinking that because they were not yet the targets of the powerful, they would never be. The problem with feeling safe in a tent is that though it may hide the dangers outside, its canvas is no protection from them.