Then again, perhaps I should wait until this crazy thing with the converts blew over. Although that could take a while.
"Come and get it." Morek put the pot on the table. "Self-service, people. Grab your plates."
I pushed to my feet and offered Shovia a hand up. "Let's go before Alar and Kailin finish everything."
She chuckled. "I doubt that. No one can eat like you." She glanced at my stomach and shook her head. "I have no idea how you stay this skinny."
"I'm not." I grinned and patted my belly. "It's all muscle under this shirt, and muscle needs to be fed."
Her eyes blazed in that special way that was a prelude to fun, and for a moment, I forgot all about food. "Do you want me to show you?"
"Oh, I've seen your abs." She put her hand on my chest. "But I can check them out again after we eat."
Morek cleared his throat. "Can you two save it for later? We are trying to eat."
I smiled, took Shovia's hand, and led her to the table.
When we were all seated with the fragrant stew on our plates, Kailin fussed with her napkin, folding and unfolding it. "I spoke with Commander Ravel during flight training. He told me that there was a briefing this morning for all the commanders. General Zorian told them that there were forty-seven arrests across six provinces, and they think it's just the tip of the iceberg. The network is much bigger than anyone could have imagined."
Shovia paused with the fork midway to her mouth. "All that just from the camps?"
"Connected to them, yes. Either recruited at the camps or recruited by someone who had been there." Kailin's fingers traced the fading bruises on her throat. "General Bardaky has suspended all civilian summer training camps. Permanently."
Shovia gasped, and I exchanged a glance with Alar, whose expression mirrored my own confusion.
"I don't understand why that's such a big deal," I said. "We don't have anything like that in Eluria. If someone wants to learn combat skills, they enroll in a military academy. Basic training or advanced, depending on their goals."
Kailin shook her head. "It's different here. In Elucia, training isn't optional. Everyone needs to know how to defend themselves and their community. The summer camps prepare teenagers to assist in the civilian guard if needed."
In Eluria, military service was a choice, an honored one, but for most optional. Alar and I had been expected to attend the Vedona academy, but we could have declined. Well, maybe I could, but Alar not so much. As the king's son, he had to attend.
"Everyone over twelve trains," Kailin said. "Unless they have a disability that prevents it. We're a small nation surrounded by enemies who want us extinct. We can't afford to have untrained civilians."
"So, now all that training moves to military installations." Shovia got up and walked into the kitchen. "It's going to be hard on the remote villages."
"They'll adapt," Kailin said. "It's better than having Sitorian agents corrupting our children right under our noses."
Morek grunted. "Might actually be an improvement. Professional instructors instead of whoever volunteers for the summer. Remember Robdart? He was a disaster."
Shovia returned with a tray, carrying five glasses filled with water. "He should never have been put in charge of training kids.I almost shot myself in the foot the first time I held a rifle with live ammunition."
I couldn't imagine twelve-year-olds handling rifles, but life was harsh in Elucia.
"The Sitorians will find another way to convert your people," I said. "Close one door, and they'll find a window."
Shovia handed me one of the glasses. "You're such an optimist, Codric."
"I'm a realist. For years, they've been operating under your noses and probably couldn't believe how lucky they were. I bet they had contingency plans."
"Don't worry." Shovia's jaw set in a familiar stubborn line. "We'll close those windows too. We will find every single one until there's nowhere left for them to hide."
I admired her certainty, even if I didn't share it. The Sitorians were patient, and the Elucians had grown too confident, allowing gaps in their defense systems.
"What I don't understand," Alar said, "is how they convince anyone. Elusitor worship is fundamentally incompatible with everything Elucians believe in."
I leaned forward, my mind latching onto the puzzle. This was the part that fascinated me—not the horror of betrayal, but the mechanics of it. How did they take a child raised on the Precepts of Truth and the sanctity of life and twist them into a death-obsessed servant of the Deceiver?
Shovia finished chewing and put her fork down. "Elu teaches Truth and balance, harmony between the light and dark aspects of existence. Elusitor is just pure darkness. It's all about death, destruction, and domination."
