Page 176 of The Priory of the Orange Tree

Somewhere nearby, the Prioress, or one of the Red Damsels, would be watching. They needed to see that she was still worthy of this rank. Only the tree could decide who was worthy.

Ead turned up her palms and waited, as the crop waits for rain.

Fill me with your fire again.She held the prayer in her heart.Let me serve you.

The night grew too still. And then—slowly, as if it were sinking through water—a golden fruit dropped from on high.

She caught it in both hands. With a gasping sob, she sank her teeth into the flesh.

A feeling like dying and coming to life. The blood of the tree spreading over her tongue, soothing the blaze in her throat. Veins turning to gold. As quickly as it quenched one fire, it sparked another, a fire that torched through her whole being. And the heat cracked her open, like the clay she was, and made her body cry out to the world.

All around her, the world answered.

40

East

Rain sheeted over the Sundance Sea. It was forenoon, but the Fleet of the Tiger Eye kept its lanterns burning.

Laya Yidagé strode across thePursuit. As he followed her, shivering in his sodden cloak, Niclays could not help but glance toward the contused sky, as he had every day for weeks.

Valeysa the Harrower was awake. The sight of her above the ships, crowing and infernal, was seared into his mind forever.

He had seen enough paintings to know her. With scales of burnt orange and golden spines, she was a living ember, as bright as if she had just been retched from the Dreadmount.

Now she was back, and at any moment, she could reappear and reduce thePursuitto cinders. It might, at least, be quicker than whatever gruesome death the pirates would invent for him if he had the misfortune to vex them. He had been on the treasure ship for weeks and had so far managed not to have his tongue cut out or a hand lopped off, but he lived in expectation of it.

His gaze darted to the horizon. Three Seiikinese iron ships had tailed them for days, but just as the Golden Empress had predicted, they had not drawn close enough to engage. Now thePursuitwas moving east again, heading for Kawontay, where the pirates would sell the Lacustrine dragon. Niclays wished he knew what they would do to him.

Rain speckled his eyeglasses. He rubbed at them fruitlessly and hurried after Laya.

The Golden Empress had summoned them both to her cabin, where a stove offset the chill. She stood at the head of the table, wearing a padded coat and a hat of otter fur.

“Sea-Moon,” she said, “do sit down.”

Niclays had scarcely opened his mouth since Valeysa had terrified the wits out of him, but now he found himself blurting out, “You speak Seiikinese, all-honored Captain?”

“Of course I speak fucking Seiikinese.” Her gaze was on the table, where a detailed map of the East was painted. “Did you think me a fool?”

“Well, ah, no. But the presence of your interpreter led me to believe—”

“I have an interpreter so my hostages will think me a fool. Did Yidagé do a poor job?”

“No, no,” Niclays said, aghast. “No, all-honored Golden Empress. She did excellently.”

“So you do think me a fool.”

Lost for words, he shut up. She finally looked up at him.

“Sit.”

He sat. Eyeing him, the Golden Empress took an eating knife from her belt and ran its tip under her inch-long fingernails, each of which was painted black.

“I have spent thirty years on the high seas,” she said. “I have dealt with many manner of people, from fisherfolk to viceroys. I have learned who I need to torture, who I need to kill, and who will tell their secrets, or share their riches, with no bloodshed at all.” She spun the knife in her hand. “Before I was taken hostage by pirates, I owned a brothel in Xothu. I know more about people than they know themselves. I know women. I know men, too, from their minds to their cocks. And I know how to judge them almost on sight.”

Niclays swallowed.

“If we could leave the cocks out of this.” He offered a strained grin. “Old as it is, I am still attached to mine.”

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