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"Sending Vivenna is a poor plan, but it’s our only plan," Yarda said "Withthe Tedradel to our cause--they’ve hated Hallandren since the Manywar And perhaps I can find a way to rile Vahr’s broken rebel faction in Hallandren itself At the very least, we can build, gather supplies, live another year" Yarda turned to him "If we don’t send the Hallandren their princess, the ill be seen as our fault Who will support us? They will de wrote!"

"And if we do send them Vivenna, it will introduce the royal blood into their itihlands!"

"Perhaps," Yarda said "But if we both know they’re going to attack anyway, then what do we care about their claim? At least this way, perhaps they ait until an heir is born before the assault coeneral always asked for more time But what about when that time came at the cost of Dedelin’s own child?

Yarda wouldn’t hesitate to send one soldier to die if it would et the rest of his troops into better position to attack, Dedelin thought We are Idris How can I ask anything less of hter than I’d demand of one ofof Vivenna in the God King’s ar forced to bear that creature’s childit nearly made his hair bleach with concern That child would becood of the Hallandren

There is another way, a part of his mind whispered You don’t have to send Vivenna

A knock came at his door Both he and Yarda turned, and Dedelin called for the visitor to enter He should have been able to guess whorey dress, looking so young to hie of an Idris woman--hair kept in a modest knot, no makeup to draw attention to the face She was not tidoms She was just composed Composed, simple, hard, and capable Idrian

"You have been in here for several hours, Father," Vivenna said, bowing her head respectfully to Yarda "The servants speak of a colorful envelope carried by the general when he entered I believe I knohat it contained"

Dedelin met her eyes, then waved for her to seat herself She softly closed the door, then took one of the wooden chairs fro, after theon the desk She was calm, her hair controlled and kept a respectful black She ice as devout as Dedelin, and--unlike her youngest sister--she never drew attention to herself with fits of emotion

"I assume that I should prepare myself for departure, then," Vivenna said, hands in her lap

Dedelin opened his lanced at Yarda, who just shook his head, resigned

"I have prepared my entire life for this, Father," Vivenna said "I am ready Siri, however, will not take this well She left on a ride an hour ago I should depart the city before she gets back That will avoid any potential scene sheand nodding toward theJust outside, people scattered in the courtyard as a figure galloped through the gates She wore a deep brown cloak that bordered on being too colorful, and--of course--she had her hair down

The hair was yellow

Dedelin felt his rage and frustration growing Only Siri could make him lose control, and--as if in ironic counterpoint to the source of his anger--he felt his hair change To those watching, a few locks of hair on his head would have bled fro hlands at the climax of the Manywar Others could hide their emotions The royals, however, manifested what they felt in the very hair on their heads

Vivenna watched hith as he forced his hair to turn black again It took more willpower than any common man could understand to control the treasonous Royal Locks Dedelin wasn’t sure how Vivenna irl never even had a childhood, he thought Frole event His firstborn child, the girl who had always seeirl who had always made him proud; the woman who had already earned the love and respect of her people In his er even than he Soh the dark days ahead

But only if she survived that long

"I will prepare

"No," Dedelin said

Yarda and Vivenna both turned

"Father," Vivenna said "If we break this treaty, it will ht o," Dedelin said firhing with one of the stablemen Dedelin could hear her outburst even from a distance; her hair had turned a flaive ht What a terrible choice for a father to make The treaty is specific: I hter when Vivenna reaches her twenty-second birthday But it doesn’t actually say which daughter I am required to send

If he didn’t send Hallandren one of his daughters, they would attack iered, but he knew they wouldn’t attack They would wait until they had an heir That would gain Idris at least nine ht, If they were to try to use Vivenna againstin It was shameful to admit that fact, but in the end, it hat made the decision for him

Dedelin turned back toward the roood of our ene Siri in your place"

2

Siri sat, stunned, in a rattling carriage, her ho more and more distant with each bump and shake

Two days had passed, and she still didn’t understand This was supposed to be Vivenna’s task Everybody understood that Idris had thrown a celebration on the day of Vivenna’s birth The king had started her classes fro her in the ways of court life and politics Fafen, the second daughter, had also taken the lessons in case Vivenna died before the day of the wedding But not Siri She’d been redundant Unilanced out theHer father had sent the kingdouard of twenty soldiers--to bear her southward That, co boys, rand as Siri had ever seen It bordered on ostentation, whichher away from Idris