Naeshan favored keeping them here; I could say that her honest conviction that they would be safest and most able to form the connections they would need later in life convinced me, but that would be a lie. I do not believe that the Realm will last another five years. I do not believe that the servants of the Maidens will be able to resist manipulating them in an effort to leash me. I do not believe that the Iselsi, or Mnemon, or any of the nobles of any of the Houses will scruple to avoid hurting them if it would win them even momentary advantage. I am, to the best of my knowledge, placing my own children in the maw of a raging river-dragon. Why am I doing this? Because removing them will damage Naeshan's bid to become Empress. I am sacrificing my children in order to further a likely-nonexistant good; out of misguided pity for the poor citizens of the Realm; sacrificing them to a deranged sense of duty. I claim walk the left-hand path and style myself heresiarch and oathbreaker. But what I really am is a fool! An idiot! A witless thug!
I do not know, now, whether I will even bother seeing them before I leave. I suppose I should tell Natanya to warn the Sidereals that I will shatter the world if their intrigues bring Nual and Tiaa to harm, but I feel no passion in the threat. It is simply a matter of cause and effect they should be made aware of, rather than a demonstration of how much I love my children.
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