"If you want to take me," she said quietly, "then take me."
Nathan looked at her in silence after she said it.
"You have the strength to take me," Ayame continued, her voice unchanged, neither defiant nor conceding — simply stating the mechanics of the situation with the clarity of a woman who had spent years thinking clearly in circumstances that invited panic. "I understand that. But once I am in the capital, placed on the regent's throne by force rather than by choice, what you will have is a woman sitting in a seat with no will behind it. A throne held by obligation rather than intent is not held at all. The capital will drift without direction for whatever years remain before my nephew is old enough to rule."
Nathan's eyes had narrowed during this.
