The Empirium Trilogy Ebook Bundle by Legrand Claire;

Author:Legrand, Claire;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Incorporated
Published: 2021-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

35

Rielle

“Feel the wind slide round the trees,

Listen to the waves eat at the shore,

Watch the sun climb up the sky,

See the shadows reach always for more.

Listen! The old world speaks to you.

Wait! The old magic lives in you.

Breathe, and do not be afraid!”

—“Prayer to the Old World,” traditional

With Princess Kamayin’s blade pressed against her throat, Rielle began to laugh.

“I told you not to make a sound,” Kamayin hissed.

“What are you hoping to accomplish here, Your Highness?” Rielle asked. “If I wanted to, I could burn you to ashes.”

“Not before I slit your throat. Not even you can conduct magic while bleeding out on the floor.”

It was then that Rielle noticed how Kamayin’s words trembled with tears. Quickly she clamped down on her furious instincts—Kill this girl, burn her, punish her for daring to threaten you—and smoothed the anger out of her voice.

“Why are you doing this?” She waited, listening to Kamayin’s tight, shallow breathing. “Someone’s put you up to it. Why?”

For a long moment, there was only silence and a distant rumbling—the arrival of a storm.

Then Kamayin’s blade began to shake.

“They have him, Lady Rielle,” Kamayin whispered at last. “They have my Zuka, and they told me if I kill you, they won’t kill him.”

“I assure you, if you kill me, or even if you try, nothing good will come of it. My country will wage war on yours, as will Borsvall, and possibly others, and then whatever has happened to your friend will be the least of your many problems.”

After a tense pause, Kamayin whispered, “If I release you, will you kill me?”

“The thought has crossed my mind,” Rielle admitted, “as it does anytime someone attacks me in my room in the middle of the night and holds me at knifepoint. But, no, I won’t kill you. Then your country would wage war on mine, and I have quite enough to worry about at the moment.”

At last, Kamayin relaxed and lowered her knife. Rielle stepped away, rubbing her throat, and watched as Kamayin sank onto a low cushioned stool, burying her face in her hands. She looked her age again, a frightened girl.

“How did you get past my guards?” Rielle demanded. And how, she thought, did you get past Ludivine?

“There’s a secret passage that leads into this room,” Kamayin mumbled. “Behind the mirror on the wall.”

Rielle inspected the enormous mirror in question, pulling it carefully away from the wall, and discovered that, indeed, it masked a narrow doorway and a dark stone passage. She turned back at the sound of Kamayin’s quiet sobs.

The girl sat hunched on the stool, her mouth screwed up with the effort of containing her tears. Beyond her, the wide square windows revealed a storm approaching across the Sea of Silarra. Lightning danced atop the waves, striking with an alarming ferocity and frequency. A low rumble shook the floor, the walls, the ceiling overhead.

Rielle tensed, listening. Was that thunder shaking the queens’ palace? Or was it something else? She recalled Jodoc’s report in the Sunderlands—the earthquakes in Astavar, the blizzard in southern Mazabat.

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