It was unmannerly, but I did it anyway. I enfolded her in my arms and held her tightly for a moment. “He loved you so,” I said, and my voice choked on the words I spoke for my lost king.

She rested her forehead on my shoulder. “I know that,” she said quietly. “That love sustains me still. Sometimes I think I can almost feel him still, at my shoulder, offering counsel when times are difficult. May Nighteyes be with you as Verity is with me.”

I held Verity’s woman for a long moment. Things could have been so different. Yet her wish was a good wish, and healing. I released her with a sigh, and the Queen and the serving man parted to their daily tasks.

chapter VI

OBLITERATION

. . . and it is almost certain that the Chalcedeans could have defeated the Bingtown Traders and claimed their territory for their own if only they could have maintained a solid blockade of Bingtown Bay.

Two magics hampered them in this regard, and magic it most certainly was, despite any who would dispute it, for the Bingtown Traders are merchants and not fighters, as all know. The first magic was that the Bingtown Traders possess Liveships, trading vessels that, by some arcane practice involving the sacrifice of three children or elderly family members, are brought to sentient life. Not only can the figureheads of these vessels move and speak, but also they are possessed of prodigious strength, enabling them to crush lesser vessels if once they grip them. Some of them are able to spit fire for a distance equal to three of their vessel’s lengths.

The second magic is as likely to be disputed by the ignorant as the first, but as this traveler witnessed it, I defy those who call this a lie. A dragon, cunningly crafted of blue and silver gemstones and activated by a marvelous combination of magic and . . . [passage obscured by damage to parchment] was hastily created by the Bingtown artisans for the defense of their harbor. This creature, named Tinnitgliat by her creators, rose from the smoking wreckage that the Chalcedeans had made of the Bingtown warehouse district and drove the enemy vessels from the harbor.

— WINFRODA’S “ MY ADVENTURES AS A WORLD TRAVELER”

I threaded my way back through the maze of corridors and emerged once more into my cell. I paused to peer into the darkness before entering it. Once within, I secured the secret door behind me. I then paused, standing perfectly still in the darkness. Through the closed door that led to the Fool’s apartment, voices reached me.