Page 198 of The Priory of the Orange Tree

The realization of what she had to do carved pieces from her soul. She tasted salt on her lips. Tears ran down to her chin and fell in fat drops.

This place was where she had been born. It was where she belonged. All she had ever wanted, all her life, was a red cloak. The cloak she would have to leave behind.

She would continue the work of the Mother. In Inys, she could end what Jondu had started.

Ascalon. Without the sword, there was no chance of defeating the Nameless One. The Red Damsels had searched for it. Kalyba had searched for it. To no avail.

None of them had possessed the waning jewel.

Both forms of magic are drawn to themselves most of all, but also to the other.

The jewel had to be sterren. Ascalon might answer to it, and it, in turn, would answer only to her.

Ead gazed out at the tree, throat aching. She sank to her knees, and she prayed that this was the right decision.

Aralaq found her there in the morning, when the sun burned in the pearl-blue sky.

“Eadaz.”

She turned her head to look at him, raw and sleepless. His tongue sanded her cheek. “My friend,” she said, “I need your help.” She took his face between her hands. “Do you remember how I fed you, when you were a pup? How I cared for you?”

His amber eyes seemed to catch the sunlight.

“Yes,” he said.

Of course he remembered. Ichneumons did not forget the first hand to feed them.

“There is a man here, among the Sons of Siyati. His name is Arteloth.”

“Yes. I brought him here.”

“You were right to save him.” She swallowed the thickness in her throat. “I need you to get him out of the Priory, to the mouth of the cave in the forest, after sundown.”

He studied her. “You are leaving.”

“I must.”

His slit nostrils flared. “They will follow.”

“Which is why I need your help.” She stroked his ears. “You must discover where the Prioress keeps the white jewel from my chamber.”

“You are a fool.” He nudged her brow with his nose. “Without the tree, you will wither. All sisters do.”

“Then wither I will. Better to do that than to do nothing.”

A huff escaped him. “Mita has the jewel on her person,” he rumbled. “She smells of it. Of the sea.”

Ead closed her eyes.

“I will find a way,” she said.

45

East

The beaches of Feather Island were overrun by seawater. Tané had spent hours with Elder Vara while the island shivered, making it impossible to read.

Elder Vara had managed, of course. The world could end and he would find a way to keep on reading.

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