| "I have made certain choices in a dozen years since we came back from QuileiaI am willing to accept that others may disagree with those choices His eyes flicked to ErleinI promise not to let this unbalance me, even without you thereDevin will help if I need help
Baerd grimaced behind his beard and looked as if he would pursue the matter further, but when he spoke again it was in a different voice"You think this is it, then? You think it truly might happen now?"
"I think it has to happen this summer or it never willUnless, I suppose, someone does kill Marius in Quileia and we go back to stasis here, with nothing at all to work withWhich would mean that my mother and a great many other people were rightIn which case you and I will simply have to sail into Chiara harbor and storm the palace rolex air king walls alone and kill Brandin of Ygrath and watch the Palm become an outpost of Barbadior's EmpireAnd what price Tigana then?"
He checked himselfThen continued in a lower voice: "Marius is the one wild card we have ever had, the one thing I've been waiting for and working for all these yearsAnd he's just agreed to let us play him as we needIt may not hurt to do some praying, all of us, in the days to comeThis has been long enough in arriving
Baerd was very still"Long enough," he echoed finally, and something in his voice sent a chill into Devin"Eanna light your path through the Ember Days and beyond He paused, glanced at Erlein
Alessan's expression spoke a world of things"And yours, the three of you," was all he said though, before he turned his horse and started away to the west
Following him, fake fendi bag Devin glanced back once and saw that Baerd had not movedHe sat astride his horse watching them, and the sunlight fell on his hair and beard burnishing them back toward the golden color Devin remembered from their first meetingHe was too far away for his expression to be discerned
Devin raised a hand in farewell, palm spread wide and then, surprised and gladdened, saw Erlein abruptly do the same
Baerd lifted one arm high in salute to them, then twitched his horse's reins and turned north to ride away
Alessan, setting a steady pace into the setting sun, did not look back at all
PART FOUR - THE PRICE OF BLOOD
Chapter 13
TIME BEFORE DAWN, SHE WASN'T SURE WHAT HOUR IT was, Dianora rose from bed and walked to the windows overlooking her balconyIn the end, she had not slept all nightNeither, white chanel purse as it happened, had her brother, a very long way to the south, fighting in the Ember war and then sharing the beginning of spring on a hilltop won from the Darkness
She herself had shared nothing with anyone that night, lying alone in her bed, visited by ghosts and memoriesNow she looked out upon a cold darkness that had little in it of springtime or the promise of growth to comeThe late stars still shone though the moon had long since setA wind blew in from off the seaShe could just make out the banners flapping from the masts of the ships in the harbor beyond the Ring Dive pier
One of those ships was newly in from YgrathIt had carried Isolla the singer hereIt would not carry her back
"Khav, my lady?" Scelto said quietly from behind her
She nodded without turningAnd then come sit with me, we cartier watches women have something to talk about If she moved quickly enough, she thought, if she set it all in motion without giving herself time for hesitation or fear, she might possibly do this thingOtherwise she was lost
She could hear Scelto bustling efficiently in the small kitchen that was a part of her suite of roomsThe fire had been kept going all nightYgrath might not observe the same spring and autumn rituals as the Palm, but Brandin had seldom interfered with local customs or religion, and Dianora never lit a new flame on any of the Ember DaysNeither did most of the women in the saishan, if it came to thatThe eastern wing of the palace would be a dark place after sunset for two more nights
She thought about stepping out on the balcony, but it looked much too coldThere were no signs of life yet down cheap louis vuitton bel |