Total pages in book: 222
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
With or without Everard, I would change the future of this kingdom.
The carriage rocked slightly, rolling through the streets soaked in afternoon light. Solentine sat on the bench across from me, wrapped in a nondescript cloak.
“I didn’t tell you that Ramond survived because I didn’t think about it,” he said. “I should have realized how worried you would be, but it didn’t occur to me.”
“It’s for the best,” I told him. “Now he and I both know where we stand.”
“I doubt that.” Solentine frowned. “I should’ve taken your feelings into consideration.”
“We’ve only been relatives for less than a month.”
“And we were doing so well, but now there is a coldness between us.”
I gave him a look.
“Maggie, I would rather have honesty than politeness.”
“Of course there is a coldness, you ass. You have a hundred people at your disposal, and you couldn’t send one to notify me. If only I had repeatedly asked your agents if there was any news about Everard—oh wait, I did.”
He blinked. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“No need. I no longer care. Besides, you arranged this audience on very short notice. That’s enough. I’m surprised you pulled it off.”
The frown got deeper. “I’m equally surprised. I don’t have influence over the Sun Margrave. Even my father would have to wait at least a few days for a meeting.”
“Maybe the stars aligned.”
I looked down at the floor of the carriage, where a large chest waited, filled with scrolls and papers. I didn’t care how we’d gotten the audience, as long as we got it.
The carriage stopped. Lute knocked on the front wall. We’d reached our destination.
Solentine picked up the wooden chest with all of our papers and stepped out. I climbed out after him without waiting for Will to help me out of the carriage. I didn’t have time for all the proprieties.
A large square building rose in front of us, a small fortress in the middle of the city, complete with two knights protecting the door. A woman stood between them, dressed in the black and purple colors of the Justice Chamber.
We approached the guards.
“Lord Dagarra and Lady Demarr,” Solentine said.
“You are expected. The lady only.”
“That’s fine.”
I took the chest from Solentine before he could open his mouth.
“Follow me,” the woman said.
We walked through a long, well-lit hallway into a large, three-story tower. Shelves ringed the walls, filled to the brim with books, odd objects, and scrolls and interrupted by arched windows letting in the afternoon light. A wide balcony with a blocky wooden rail traced the walls about fifteen feet up, offering access to the higher shelves.
In the middle of the tower stood a massive wooden desk, heavy and ornate. The man behind it was in his early sixties. He wore a black tabard with a stylized gold sun embroidered upon it. The symbol of his rank for, like the sun, he was meant to see all and purge the darkness. His hair, very curly and cropped short, had gone almost completely white. His face was long, made longer by a short graying beard in stark contrast to his deep brown skin. His cheekbones were prominent, his nose broad and flared. His eyes under sparse eyebrows were smart and watchful.
Colart Jenicor, the Sun Margrave.
“Here she is,” he said. “You can stop haunting me now.”
Someone moved on the balcony. A man in black and green stood up from a chair.
Everard.
Damn it.
“Lady Demarr, I presume,” the Sun Margrave said. “The Lord of Selva tells me you have something vital for me. Something so important that he showed up at my office with the first rays of the sun and refused to leave. I’m eager to hear what it is.”
What was it he had said to me when we were trying to figure out what to do with the Yolentas’ salt? I have a friend who works for the Justice Chamber . . .
I set my chest on the floor, took out the first scroll case, and offered it to him. Colart Jenicor pried the case open, extracted the scroll, and unrolled it.
His face changed. He looked at me, his expression unreadable. The magic pulsing over the signature line was obvious even from this distance.
I plucked out the second scroll and handed it over. He put the first one down as if it were a snake, took the second scroll, glanced at it, and put that one atop the first.
I reached into the chest and began stacking the scroll cases on his desk. He watched me without a word. I placed the sixteen remaining scroll cases into a neat little pile and passed him a piece of paper with a list on it. Eighteen names, everyone who was bound to Hreban by a life chain and still alive. Two clerks in the Chamber of Ceremonies, a woman very high up in the Treasury, a knight of the Silver Eagles, one Defender, two Redeemers, a royal cook, two royal guards, a City Guard Knight Captain, a sprinkling of officials, and a prosecutor from the Justice Chamber. That last one had to hurt. He worked directly under the Sun Margrave.