tion id="u9d34bd9a-22e1-5591-96cc-68d65fd387bf">
HarperVoyager
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperVoyager 2015
Copyright © Peter V. Brett 2015
Ward artwork designed by Lauren K. Cannon, copyright © Peter V. Brett
Map by Andrew Ashton
Jacket layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015
Jacket illustration by Larry Rostant
Peter V. Brett asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007425686
Ebook Edition © April 2015 ISBN: 9780007425709
Version: 2018-02-16
For Lauren
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Map
Prologue: No Victor
Chapter 1: The Hunt
Chapter 2: Vacuum
Chapter 3: Ashia
Chapter 4: Sharum Blood
Chapter 5: Kajivah
Chapter 6: A Man Is Nothing
Chapter 7: More Sack Than Sense
Chapter 8: The True Warrior
Chapter 9: Anoch Sun
Chapter 10: The Chin Rebellion
Chapter 11: Docktown
Chapter 12: Filling the Hollow
Chapter 13: Foul Meat
Chapter 14: The Prisoner
Chapter 15: The Painted Children
Chapter 16: Demon’s Heir
Chapter 17: Goldentone
Chapter 18: A Whisper of Night
Chapter 19: Tea Politics
Chapter 20: Sibling Rivalry
Chapter 21: The Weed Gatherer
Chapter 22: Bachelor’s Ball
Chapter 23: Inquisition
Chapter 24: Briar
Chapter 25: The Spy
Chapter 26: First Strike
Chapter 27: Dama in the Dark
Chapter 28: Shar’Dama
Chapter 29: Dama Gorja
Chapter 30: The Princess’ Guard
Chapter 31: Whistler
Chapter 32: The Night of Hora
Chapter 33: A Voice in the Dark
Jardir Family Tree
Krasian Dictionary
Acknowledgements
About the Author
By the Same Author
333 AR Autumn
‘No!’ Inevera reached out, clutching empty air as the Par’chin pitched himself and her husband over the cliff.
Taking with them all the hope of the human race.
On the opposite side of the circle of combat, Leesha Paper let out a similar cry. The strict ritual laws of Domin Sharum were forgotten as witnesses from both sides rushed to the precipice, crowding together to peer into the darkness that had swallowed the combatants.
In Everam’s light, Inevera could see as clearly in darkness as brightest day, the world defined by magic’s glow. But magic was drawn to life, and there was little below save barren rock and dirt. The two men, glowing as fiercely as the sun a moment ago, had vanished into the dull gloom of ambient magic as it vented to the surface.
Inevera twisted her earring, the hora stone within attuned to its mate on her husband’s ear, but she heard nothing. It could be out of range, or broken in the fall.
Or there might be nothing to hear. She suppressed a shiver as a chill mountain wind blew over her.
She glanced at the others clustered at the edge, reading their expressions, searching for a hint of betrayal, a sign one of them had known this was coming. She read the magic that emanated from them, as well. The circlet of warded electrum coins she wore did not let her read spirits as fluidly as her husband did with the Crown of Kaji, but she was getting more and more skilled at reading emotions. Shock