Successor's Promise by Trudi Canavan

Author:Trudi Canavan
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Tags: Fiction / Fantasy / Epic, Fiction / Action & Adventure
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2017-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

PART THREE

TYEN

CHAPTER 11

By now I ought to be used to regretting making alliances and ending up on the wrong side, Tyen mused. Looking down on the ruins of Glaemar’s palace, he watched the minds of both conqueror and conquered. The gentle Doumians, unused to subjugating others, feared those they now ruled and so kept order with an edge of wary cruelty. The Muraians, familiar with an unfair social hierarchy, were adapting to their circumstances with a remarkable acceptance.

He’d checked on his former employees before coming here. Fortunately, none of them had suffered for their association with him. Some had set themselves up as makers of magic-driven wheels, which he was happy to see. They’d told him the Claymars were insisting no acknowledgement be made of the source of the invention, claiming instead that it had been a rediscovered secret of a long-dead potter, but assured him they were recording the truth in other ways.

What did I do to the Claymars to deserve that? he wondered. Was negotiating peace with Murai on their behalf, even when they never intended to honour any agreement, really such a great crime?

At last, he found the mind he sought. Claymar Fursa now lived in one of the grander Glaemar homes, taken from one of the merchants who had attacked Alba’s market. Tyen smiled. Despite the wrong the Claymars had done to him, he could not help enjoying a little satisfaction at that.

He pushed out of the world a little and skimmed down to the city, through walls and into the passageway Fursa was striding down. She jolted to a stop, catching sight of his form, and backed away as he arrived.

“It wasn’t my idea,” she blurted out.

He nodded as he read from her mind the names of the Claymars who had hatched and proposed the plan to invade Murai. But I agreed with them, she thought. I guess that’s just as bad.

It was, but Tyen wasn’t here for revenge, or to punish anyone. “I was honest and did everything for the benefit of Doum,” he said. “In return you deceived me and robbed me of my home. So why pretend the wheels are a Doumian invention?”

Her lips pressed tightly together, but her mind answered clearly.

So nobody would have cause to respect you, she thought. You were meant to have failed. We told the people that the Emperor did not sign the treaty, and it was your fault. She shivered, knowing that he was reading these thoughts but unable to stop them. What now? Will he punish me? Will he kill all of us?

“Are you enjoying your new role in Murai?” he asked.

She stared at him, wondering at the change of subject. As she considered the question, the self-loathing and homesickness that assailed her when she first woke up every day returned.

He shook his head. “I don’t need to punish you.”

Relief was etched in deep lines on her face. Lines he didn’t recall seeing when they’d last met. He pushed out of the world, and as

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