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“Not a woman to be easily dissuaded, the queen” Merial took a bite of stew and favoured Thirty-Four with an appreciative grin “Better ’n that slop the pirates dish out, when they’re not bein’ overly free with their hands”
“When do we sail?” Illian asked Frentis, a keen eagerness shining in her eyes
Will she ever grow tired of it? he wondered “At the discretion of the Fleet Lord He holds rank here”
“Fuck his rank,” Lekranin his laboured Realue “Don’t know him”
Frentis turned back to Merial “You say the queen believes Lady Reva dead?”
She nodded “Gone to the botto with half her heretic followers”
“No, she lives In Volar” He shuddered at thejoy as she drank in the sight of Lady Reva battling the dagger-toothed cats “Though for how er I can’t say”
Merial frowned at hi on her brow “You know this, brother?”
“I do Beyond doubt”
Her frown deepened as she angled her head, eyes tracking over his face “I sense no gift in you”
“I know it,” he said, an edge colouring his voice “And the queen should know it too”
She gave a cautious nod and returned to her irl to fill her belly first, then I’ll have a ith my darlin’ husband”
“What husband?” Draker asked with a be
Later she sat apart fro on a concentrated stillness, eyes close and face devoid of expression “Don’t like this, brother,” Drakerthe sister with obvious distrust “Dark ain’t s’posed to be seen”
“The world changed when Varinshold fell,” Frentis told hiave a sudden jerk, her back arching and eyes flying open, a s her lips She slu her face, sli sobs
“Don’t like this,” Drakerback to the fire
Frentis went to Merial, now hugging herself, face set in forlorn lanced up at hi over her tear-streaked face as she rose, walking from the courtyard without a word He waited a while before following, finding her perched atop a podiuardens The statue it once held had been torn down and hauled off during the riots, no doubt destined for the s a valuableover the edge of the podium as she raised her still-dalance before returning her gaze to the stars
“They’re different,” she said “Not all, just some”
“The Maiden’s araze “Aspect Caenis is dead”
He winced as the pain hit ho a little, he went to the podiue “Your husband told you this?”
“Brother Lernial, whom you’ve met I believe”
“I didn’t know the Seventh Order were permitted to marry”
“’Course we are Where d’you think all the little brothers and sisters come from? We’ve always been more a fah”
He sighed a weary laugh “How did it happen?”
“A battle The details are vague, ift is a tad erratic, ’specially when coloured by so ather Your red hastly lot indeed It seems the queen secured victory in the end, so I doubt they nuer”
CaenisHe had seen hiates of the Blackhold “Many trials await us, brother,” he had said “I can only wish you well”
Caenis, who had laboured to tutor hiinal success in the end but still he cherished the lessons During his ordeal in the pits he had occupied the ti to recall Caenis’sthey somehow kept him anchored in the Order, kept him a brother and not a slave