The Raven Tower by Leckie Ann

Author:Leckie, Ann [Leckie, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Fantasy, Adult
ISBN: 9780356506999
Google: u0hfDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B07DHJT92Q
Goodreads: 39395857
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2019-02-26T07:00:00+00:00

While you were atop the Raven Tower, Oskel and Okim arrived in Vastai.

They had been sent for. They would not otherwise have left Ard Vusktia. There was no history of twin sacrifice in Ard Vusktia. Though it wasn’t that the gods of Ard Vusktia (or the gods of the north for that matter) had never taken human lives as offerings. On the contrary. But human sacrifice there had never taken that particular form. So I suppose Ard Vusktia was more comfortable for them. But also, no boat would take them across the strait without a token from the Lease authorizing their crossing, despite the fact that any Iradeni might cross without such a token. This sort of thing may be why they grew up to be the sort of people that they were.

You passed them on the stairs as you came down from your audience with Hibal and Radihaw. Do you remember them? Two men, their faces near identical, their beards trimmed close, their hair cut short, each with the same slightly sullen expression, each wearing a new cloak of undyed wool fastened with a bronze pin, one in the shape of a raven, one shaped like an oak leaf. No more gold on them than you wore—Oskel had a cuff of it around one wrist, Okim a heavy gold ring on a finger of his right hand. In fact they were reasonably wealthy—Oskel worked for the official tasked with collecting duties from ships traversing the strait, and it would take a naive man indeed—or a very honest one—to hold such a position without finding some way to enrich himself. His brother Okim had shares in several ships and their cargoes. You can imagine, I’m sure, what an advantage it would be to him to have Oskel as a brother.

They could have well afforded to dress better, on being summoned to Vastai. But I imagine they were both canny enough to see the dangers of looking too well off when appearing before the Raven’s Lease.

As you passed them on the stairs, I think you noticed or at least suspected what they were, by the sudden small twitch of your eyebrow, the tightening of your already-tense shoulders. The almost imperceptible movement of your left hand as you stopped yourself from making that gesture you had made earlier, atop the tower. You hid it well. But Oskel and Okim had seen such looks, and that gesture, all their lives. I am sure they noted your reaction as they continued up the stairs.

You came out of the fortress gate, only glancing over at Mawat—still sitting there, naked and shivering. At least now he sat on the blanket you had brought him and not on the bare stones. It was late enough in the day that the square was full of people coming and going, and I thought you wanted to go over to him and tell him what you had just seen, but you must have had some misgivings about being overheard, and you walked by without speaking to him.

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