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“You alht, so open, stirring an old, fauarded, severe girl he hadwoman But the core of her remained, he had seen in it the way she laid her hand on Alucius’s forehead and her frantic pleading behind the gag when she thought he was giving up his life for her Compassion, it burned in her

“We always seem to be at different ends of the Realm,” she went on “I had the fortune to meet Princess Lyrna last year She said you were friends, I asked her to send ards”

Friends The woman lies like others breathe “She did that” It was clear that she didn’t know, Aspect Elera had never told her why they were always so far apart Abruptly he decided she would never know

“Did he hurt you?” he asked “Mustor Did he?”

“A bruise here and there when I was captured” She showed him the marks of the shackles on her wrists “But otherwise I aht weeks ago Maybe longer I’ve lost track of time within the walls of this keep I had finally been called back to the Order House fro upnew curatives It’s a deadly dull task, Vaelin Endless grinding of herbs and ly I even coain a broader grasp of the workings of the Order In any case I was actually glad when a er arrived from my former mission ord of an outbreak of the Red Hand I had been working on a compound which may offer some hope of a cure, or at least relief from the symptoue that had swept through the four fiefs before the king forged the Real the lives of thousands in the two hellish years of its reign No family had escaped untouched and no other sickness was more feared But the sickness had not been seen in the Realm for nearly fifty years

“It was a trap,” he said

She nodded “I went alone for fear the sickness had taken hold But there was no sickness, only death The ht Inside there were only corpses, but not taken by the Red Hand Hacked and slashed, even the sick in their beds Mustor’s folloaiting, and they had spared no one I tried to run but they caught me of course I was shackled and taken here”

“I’m sorry”

“There is no blaht so”

Their eyes ain and the ache in his chest lurched once ht explain his actions?”

“He would come to my cellsure I had sufficient food and water, even bringing me books and parchment when I asked But always he would talk, as if driven to it, but his words rarely es froht at first he was trying to converttofor my opinion He merely needed to speak words he couldn’t speak to his followers”

“What words?”

“Words of doubt Hentes Mustor doubted his god Not its existence but its reasoning, its intention I didn’t know then that he had od’s behest Perhaps the guilt had driven hiht he could use me to kill you then he was truly mad I told hi” She looked at him intently “Was heelse? I sense you know more than you tell”

He wanted to tell her, the compulsion burned in his breast, the need to share it all with so with Nersus Sil Nin, the one aits, and the voice, the same voice he had heard fro held it back It wasn’t the blood-song this tie is dangerous And she has seen enough danger on my account

“I am but a brother with a sword, sister,” he told her “As the years pass I realise I know very little”

“You knew enough to saveI was so sure you would cut him dohen you saw he had me… I was proud of you, proud you didn’t Mad or not, rief, and guilt”

Frolanced down to see Fief Lord Mustor upbraiding Caenis, the bottle in his hand sloshing wine onto the cobbled courtyard The Fief Lord was dishevelled, unshaven and, judging from the slur of his words, considerably more drunk than usual “Let them rot! You hear me, brother! Sinnersh are not buried in Cumbrael, oh no! Hack off their heads and leave theered onto a patch of still slick blood and slipped heavily to the cobbles, dousing hi Caenis’s helping hands away “Let those sinners rot, I say! This is my keep Prince Malsiush? Lord Vaelin? This is my keep!”