Page 259 of The Priory of the Orange Tree

“I am sorry, Your Majesty,” he said. “We will do our best for her.”

He retreated from the chamber. When the door closed, Sabran began to shiver.

“I was cursed in my cradle. The Lady of the Woods laid a hex upon my head.” She never took her eyes from Ead. “Not only is my crown lost, but my loved ones fall like roses in winter. Always before my eyes.”

Margret, who had been keeping watch on the other side of the bed, now went to sit beside her.

“Don’t think these things. You are not cursed, Sab,” she said gently, but firmly. “Ead is not dead, and we will not mourn her. We will fight for her, and for everything she believes in.” She looked at Ead. “But I tell you this—I will not marry Tharian until she wakes. If she thinks this foolishness will get her out of giving me away, she is sorely mistaken.”

Loth took the seat that Margret had left. He lifted his clasped hands to his lips.

Even when she had been bleeding in Lasia, Ead had never looked this vulnerable. All life and warmth had fled from her.

“I will go to the East.” His voice was hoarse. “No matter what the Virtues Council decides, I must go across the Abyss as your representative, Sabran. To broker an alliance. To seek out the other jewel.”

Sabran was silent for a very long time. Outside, Aralaq let out a chilling howl.

“I want you to go first to the Unceasing Emperor, Dranghien Lakseng,” Sabran said. “He is unwed, and consequently we have more to offer him. If he is convinced to join us, he may persuade the Warlord of Seiiki.”

Loth watched her, heartsore.

“I will send with you an entourage of two hundred persons. If you are to reach the Unceasing Emperor, you must display the might of the Queendom of Inys.” She met his gaze. “You will bid him meet us on the Abyss with his dragons on the third day of spring. There will not be time for you to come back, or to debate the terms in Inys. I trust that you will seal this alliance with our interests at heart, to achieve the outcome we desire.”

“I will, I swear it.”

It seemed to Loth that this room was already like a crypt. Shaking off the thought, he went to Ead and brushed a spiral of hair behind her ear. He would not permit himself to think that this was a farewell.

With dignity, Sabran rose from her chair.

“You promised you would return to me,” she said to Ead. “Queens do not forget promises made, Eadaz uq-Nara.”

Her stance was rigid. Loth took her by the arm and guided her tenderly from the chamber, leaving Margret to her vigil.

He walked beside his queen. When they reached the end of the corridor, Sabran buckled at last. Loth wrapped her in his arms as she sank to the floor and sobbed as if her soul had been ripped out.

V

Here Be Dragons

Whose word did he fondly follow

That he dared this perilous voyage,

These raging seas?

—Anonymous, fromThe Man’yoshu

58

West

TheEleganthad been sailing for days, but it felt like centuries. Loth had lost count of exactly how long it had been. All he knew was that he wanted to be off this ship and on dry land.

Sabran had argued with great spirit for the so-called Eastern Proposal. During that time, the Virtues Council had not slept. Their chief worry was how the Inysh people might respond to an alliance with heretics and wyrms, which went against everything they knew.

After hours of debate on how it could be justified from a religious perspective, several consultations with the College of Sanctarians, and fierce arguments for and against, Sabran had moved the vote in her favor. The embassy had been on its way within a day.

The plan, desperate as it was, began to take shape. To raise their chances of victory on the Abyss, they would have to divide the Draconic Army. Sabran had invoked the holy call to arms and written to the sovereigns of both Virtudom and the South, asking them to assist Inys in besieging and reclaiming Cárscaro on the second day of spring. An attack on the sole Draconic stronghold might compel Fýredel and his underlings to remain in Yscalin to defend it.

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