Page 64 (1/2)

She’d learn That was her punishment

Inside her roo the bolt Then she walked over to pull the drapes closed

A figure stood on her balcony, resting easily against the railing He wore several days’ worth of stubble on his face and his dark clothing orn, almost tattered He carried a deep black sword

Vivenna jury voice, "are causing a lot of trouble"

She opened herher neck andher They wrapped around her entire body, pinning her arht I survive the attack and the Lifeless, and then fall inso and come for her But nobody did At least, not before she fell unconscious

34

Lightsong watched the young queen dart away frouilt How very uncharacteristic of rapes, it tasted a little sour

Maybe the sourness was fro’s death in his usual flippant way In his opinion, it was usually best for people to hear the truth bluntly--and, if possible, aly

He hadn’t expected such a reaction fro to her? She’d been sent to be his bride, probably against her will Yet she seerief He eyed her appraisingly as she fled

Such a sold and blue Young? he thought Yet she’s been alive longer than I have

He retained sos froe He didn’t feel like he was five He felt far older That age should have taught hi s out of young wo?

She’d been in the city for only a couple of h rumors--what her life must be like Forced to perform her duty as a wife for a man to whom she could not speak and whos that her culture taught were profane The only thing Lightsong could suppose, then, was that she orried about what itimate worry The queen would lose htsong nodded to hi priests They were done with sewage and guard patrols and had moved on to other topics "We"Recent events make it clear that we cannot coexist with the Idrians with any assurance of peace or security This conflict will co sat listening, tapping one finger against the arm rest of his chair

For five years, I’ve been irrelevant, he thought I didn’t have a vote on any of the important court councils, I simply held the codes to a division of the Lifeless I’ve crafted a divine reputation of being useless

The tone beloas even s That wasn’t orried hi the h priest of Still wouldn’t have bothered paying attention Yet Nanrovah had always been the ainst war

What hadbefore Blushweaver ’s taste for the wine had returned, and he was sipping thoughtfully The voices against war from beloere soft and infrequent

Blushweaver sat beside hi didn’t look toward her

"How did you get to Nanrovah?" he finally asked

"I didn’t," Blushweaver said "I don’t knohy he changed his mind I wish he hadn’t done it so quickly--it seems suspicious and makes people think I manipulated him Either way, I’ll take the support"

"You wish for war so much?"

"I wish for our people to be aware of the threat," Blushweaver said "You think I want this to happen? You think I want to send our people to die and to kill?"

Lightsong looked at her, judging her sincerity She had such beautiful eyes One rarely noticed that, considering how she proffered the rest of her assets so blatantly "No," he said "I don’t think you want a war"

She nodded sharply Her dress was sleek and tri up top, where her breasts were pressed up and forward, de looked away

"You’re boring today," Blushweaver said

"I’m distracted"

"We should be happy," Blushweaver said "The priests have almost all come around Soon there will be a call for attacknodded The ods was called to deliberate only in the most important of situations In that case, they all had a vote If the vote was for war, the gods with Lifeless Co--would be called upon to aded the Co asked

She nodded "They’re ht Between the two of us,control three-quarters of the kingdom’s armies

What in the na myself into?