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problem with putting me
behind a desk is that it gives me access to my own file. And to the letter,
signed by you and countersigned by Commander Bergsen, that requested this
assignment for me. What happened to assignments in the Guard being decided at
random?”
    The initial outburst had calmed, but her voice was
more compelling for it, her righteous anger giving it weight. Wilhelm had never
seen her like this. He had seen her afraid, distressed, pouting, even happy,
but never truly angry, and she seemed like an entirely different person in
front of him. It made him realize that, even though he had kept a close eye on
her over the years, making sure she was safe, then following her progress when
she had joined the Cadets, he had no idea who the young woman in front of him
was. All he knew was that her name was Ariadne, and he had pledged to himself
to do his best to keep her alive.
    “Come in,” he said, shaking himself out of his torpor,
and stepped back to give her room to do so.
    She frowned at him but walked in, taking a few steps
inside the small apartment and looking around her with undisguised curiosity.
Wilhelm wondered briefly what she thought, whether she had expected grander
accommodations than what she saw, but she didn’t say anything and her face,
when she turned to look at him, showed nothing but impatience.
    Walking past her, he went to the kitchenette and
picked up one of the reports he had been looking at earlier.
    “Here,” he said, giving her the paper. “Look at
those.”
    She took the sheet, and Wilhelm watched as she scanned
it. Her eyes tightened ever so slightly, even as she pinched her lips into a
tight line.
    “Some of these people were my friends,” she said, her
voice raspy, when she looked up at him again. “But it doesn’t explain why you
confined me to an office when I’ve trained for two years to be on the
battlefront.”
    “You’re stuck in an office so you won’t end up on this
list. That’s all there is to it.”
    She blinked once, and her eyes widened in incredulity
that soon transformed into indignation and anger.
    “How dare you! You have no right… I can’t believe
you’d even think you can play with my life like that!”
    “I’m not playing, Ariadne. I couldn’t be more serious.
I told you before that I didn’t want you to join the Cadets, and I feel the
same about the Guard.”
    Her hand was shaking when she thrust the sheet of
paper back at him.
    “Too late for that. I’m in. And I’m not going
anywhere, except to the front. And how well do you think I’ll fight when we
have a big attack and they call everyone to help? Do you think I’ll still be
able to fight, after spending my time seated behind a desk?”
    For a moment, Wilhelm faltered; he had not thought of
that possibility. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it.
    “I’ll leak the papers to the entire Guard,” Ariadne
continued when he didn’t answer. “If you don’t change my assignment, I’ll let
everyone know, and no one will ever obey your orders again without thinking
twice about the way you show favoritism. Because you know that’s how they’ll
interpret it.”
    Wilhelm’s resolution hardened again. Couldn’t she see
he was trying to save her life?
    “Threatening a superior is hardly the right way to
have a long career in the Guard, child.”
    The edge of her smile could have sliced his throat.
“You’re not my superior. You don’t even have a rank. You’re just a man who
thinks he knows better than the rest of us, and who ignores anyone he doesn’t
have a use for. But I am part of the Guard, I earned my rank and the right to
fight, and while you can ignore me all you want, you can’t take that away from
me.”
    There was a final challenge in her wavering voice and
eyes—a final reproach—and then she saluted him, her posture perfect, before she
turned on her heel and walked out of the apartment. The door banged shut behind
her.
    After her parting words, Wilhelm was