Free Fires of the Faithful by Naomi Kritzer

needed to discuss—but there was no help for it. “Meet in my room,” I whispered. “As soon as you can get there.”
    Mira joined me first. She wrapped herself up in her cloak and sat down on her bed. “Have you ever encountered the Fedeli before?” she asked me.
    “No. They usually leave Verdia alone. I’ve heard stories about them, of course, but that’s all.” The moral of the stories was always the same: stay on their good side, and ifyou can’t, stay out of their way. “You have, though, haven’t you?”
    “They’re all over, in Cuore. Like cockroaches, but with black silk robes.”
    I smothered my giggle in my cloak. “Be careful, they might hear you.”
    “They’re not in the dorm,” Mira said. “They’re in the Dean’s study right now, sitting by a warm fire and drinking hot wine.”
    “Are you afraid of them?” I asked.
    Mira was silent for a long time. “Of course I’m afraid,” she said. “If the Fedeli find out that I recruited students and taught them an Old Way song—
that’s
what they’re here to find, Eliana. I could be executed. Of course I’m afraid.”
    There was a knock at the door—Flavia. She came in and sat down, and Mira fell silent. Flavia tapped her hand lightly against the edge of my bed, drumming out a rhythm as she waited. She gave me a wry smile when she saw me watching. “I’m afraid I’ll tap out an Old Way song without even realizing it,” she said. “I could be betrayed by my own hands.”
    “Be careful,” Mira said. “Don’t think they wouldn’t notice.”
    Bella arrived next, then Giula, and finally Celia. The room was very crowded, with so many people. I sat beside Mira; Flavia and Bella sat on my bed. Giula and Celia pulled out our work-stools to sit on.
    “We have to turn ourselves in,” Celia said as soon as the door was closed. “They’ll go easy on us if we confess, if we’re penitent.”
    I looked at Mira. “What will they do if we all turn ourselves in?”
    “If you seemed sorry, and did whatever penance theyassigned, you would almost certainly be pardoned,” Mira said.
    “What about you?” I asked.
    “It’s hard to say. Since I was the instigator, they would probably go harder on me. They would assume that I had been a member of a secret Redentore group before coming here. They would want names.” Mira was next to me, and I could feel the shudder that went through her body. “If I was cooperative, they might choose to show me mercy.”
    “What are Redentori?” Flavia asked.
    “It’s what the people who practice the Old Way call themselves,” Mira said. She shook her head. “If you think it’s best to turn yourselves in, do it. Don’t worry about me. I’ll run.”
    “In winter?” Flavia said. “In weather like this? Even if they don’t catch you, you’ll freeze to death.”
    “And if you run, they’ll know you have something to hide,” I said.
    “I’ll be all right,” Mira said. She had stopped shaking, and I found myself certain that she was right, that she could run and survive—
but I’d never see you again
, I thought, and found myself desperate to think of another way.
    “Then are we agreed?” Celia said. “We turn ourselves in?”
    “No,” I snapped. “We aren’t.”
    Bella hadn’t said a word, and I turned to her. “What do you think, Bella?”
    Very deliberately, Bella said, “I’m not saying anything that
she
can use to curry favor with the Fedeli.” She jerked her head toward Celia. “But I’m not turning myself in. The Fedeli would not find me as repentant as I imagine they would require. And while dying for your faith is an honor, it’s an honor that I would rather forgo.”
    “Are you saying I’d turn you in to the Fedeli to makemyself
look
good?” Celia said. Her cheeks flushed as red as if she’d been slapped.
    Bella didn’t answer.
    Celia’s lips tightened. “If that’s what you think of me, why did you even get me into this?”
    “Keep your voices down,” I