"Yes," she says, her composure restored. "I was ten."

She hesitates. "I seek to restore the Ninth, as I have all my life. Gideon and I left behind no one under sixty years of age."

"The trial to become a Lyctor was an order from the Emperor, and a tremendous opportunity, and I would've obeyed either way--but I would be a fool not to see that it is perhaps the one chance I have to gain the influence I would need, as well."