The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

I looked back at him over my shoulder. He was not watching me or his children. Instead his gaze had turned upward, toward the top of the spire.

Viraine shook his head, apparently deciding not to protest. He glanced at Scimina, who shrugged; at Relad, who glared at him as if to say Why would I possibly care?

(Our eyes met, mine and Relads. He was pale, sweat beading his upper lip, but he nodded to me just slightly. I returned the nod.)

So be it, Viraine said, and all walked into the solarium, toward that central spire.

27

The Ritual of the Succession

AT THE TOP OF THE SPIRE was a room, if it could be called that.

The space was enclosed in glass, like an oversize bell jar. If not for a faint reflective sheen it would have seemed as though we stood in the open air, atop a spire sheared flat at the tip. The floor of the room was the same white stuff as the rest of Sky, and it was perfectly circular, unlike every other room Id seen in the palace in the past two weeks. That marked the room as a space sacred to Itempas.

We stood high above the great white bulk of the palace. From the odd angle I could just glimpse the forecourt, recognizing it by the green blot of the Garden and the jut of the Pier. I had never realized that Sky itself was circular. Beyond that, the earth was a darkened mass, seeming to curve round us like a great bowl. Circles within circles within circles; a sacred place indeed.

Dekarta stood opposite the rooms floor entrance. He was leaning heavily on his beautiful Darrwood cane, which he had doubtless needed to get up the steep spiral staircase that led into the room. Behind and above him, predawn clouds covered the sky, bunched and rippled like strings of pearls. They were as gray and ugly as my gownexcept in the east, where the clouds had begun to glow yellow-white.

Hurry up, Dekarta said, nodding toward points around the rooms circumference. Relad there. Scimina there, across from him. Viraine, to me. Yeine, here.

I did as I was bidden, moving to stand before a simple white plinth that rose from the floor, about as high as my chest. There was a hole in its surface perhaps a handspan wide; the shaft that led from the oubliette. A few inches above this shaft a tiny dark object floated, unsupported, in the air. It was withered, misshapen, closely resembling a lump of dirt. This was the Stone of Earth? This?

I consoled myself with the fact that at least the poor soul in the oubliette was dead now.

Dekarta paused then, glaring behind me at the Enefadeh. Nahadoth, you may take your customary position. The rest of youI did not command your presence.

To my surprise, Viraine answered. It would serve well to have them here, my Lord. The Skyfather might be pleased to see his children, even these traitors.

No father is pleased to see children who have turned on him. Dekartas gaze drifted to me. I wondered if it was me he saw, or just Kinneths eyes in my face.

I want them here, I said.

There was no visible reaction from him beyond a tightening of his already-thin lips. Such good friends they are, to come and watch you die.

It would be harder to face this without their support, Grandfather. Tell me, did you allow Ygreth any company when you murdered her?

He drew himself straight, which was rare for him. For the first time I saw a shadow of the man he had been, tall and haughty as any Amn, and formidable as my mother; it startled me to see the resemblance at last. He was too thin for the height now, though; it only emphasized his unhealthy gauntness. I will not explain my actions to you, Granddaughter.

I nodded. From the corner of my eye I saw the others watching. Relad looked anxious; Scimina, annoyed. ViraineI could not read him, but he watched me with an intensity that puzzled me. I could not spare thought for it, however. This was perhaps my last chance to find out why my mother had died. I still believed Viraine had done the deed, yet that still made no sense; hed loved her. But if he had been acting on Dekartas orders

You dont need to explain, I replied. I can guess. When you were young, you were like these two I gestured to Relad and Scimina. Self-absorbed, hedonistic, cruel. But not as heartless as they, were you? You married Ygreth, and you must have cared for her, or your mother wouldnt have designated her your sacrifice when the time came. But you loved power more, and so you made the trade. You became clan head. And your daughter became your mortal enemy.

Dekartas lips twitched. I could not tell if this was a sign of emotion, or the palsy that seemed to afflict him now and again. Kinneth loved me.

Yes, she did. Because that was the kind of woman my mother had been. She could hate and love at once; she could use one to conceal and fuel the other. She had been, as Nahadoth said, a true Arameri. Only her goals had been different.

She loved you, I said, and I think you killed her.