Chapters (95)
- Cover
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Map
- Dramatis Personae
- Fifteen Years Ago
- Endas, 25th day of Wellmarch
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Maladas, 26th day of Wellmarch
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Lumendas, 1st day of Radiance
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Astridas, 2nd day of Radiance
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Jeradas, 3rd day of Radiance
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Endas, 4th day of Radiance
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Maladas, 5th day of Radiance
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Tzadas, 6th day of Radiance
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Lunandas, 7th day of Radiance
- Forty-Four
- Jeradas, 10th day of Radiance
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Endas, 11th day of Radiance
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Maladas, 12th day of Radiance
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Tzadas, 13th day of Radiance
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Lunandas, 14th day of Radiance
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Lumendas, 15th day of Radiance
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Tzadas, 20th day of Radiance
- Sixty-Nine
- Acknowledgements
- Discover More
- Extras
- Meet the Author
Melanna caught her breath. It was fear, and it was pride, but neither of them hers. She’d given the lunassera freedom, and her death threatened to return their shackles.
“What if I head west,” she asked, “and seek the truth of my dream?”
“I beg you not to.” Sera reached out as if to take her hands but thought better of it and withdrew. “Come home to Tregard. If the Dark reaches out for the Empire, confront it from a position of strength.”
“And how many will die in the meantime?” Melanna shouted, her hand flung westward.
“Does it matter? They’re Tressians.”
Melanna scowled. The obvious answer. The easy answer. Had her Tressian opponents lived by such precepts, her father would have died in the stockade. She’d be dead, or else a trophy.
The sun emerged from behind cloud as the last offering was set in place in the courtyard below. Polished steel blazed like fire, and Melanna realised that the Immortals hadn’t crafted a flower, but a sun – a sun with a halo of stylised rays. An acknowledgement that radiant Lumestra had prevailed over her argent sister.
The soldiery had made their tribute, but what of the empress to be?
I owe you for this, Josiri Trelan, she’d said. The house of Saran owes you. Josiri had gone north under guard, at least so Haldrane had reported. Melanna didn’t pretend to understand the politics, but only a child would believe the mercy he’d shown her had not worsened his situation. Who now fought for the land he’d saved? Who’d hold the Dark at bay?
The pressure about her chest dissipated, dispelled by the peace of revelation. In the end, it didn’t matter if she’d imagined Ashana’s command. If she did nothing, she betrayed Josiri’s kindness and thus the only thing that brought beauty out of war.
Glory in victory, fortitude in defeat, and honour always.
Always.
“I will go west, Sera,” Melanna said. “I will see for myself the truth of my dreams. I make no claim on you, or on your sisters, but if you wish to stop me, you’ll have to drag me away in chains.”
Eyelids fluttered closed beneath the mask. Hands pressed together, palm to palm and fingertip to fingertip. “Then I pray Ashana keep you safe.”
“Pray for us all, Sera. For if I’m right, we’re not yet done with sorrow.”
Tzadas, 13th day of Radiance
Tzadas, 13th day of Radiance
Concord decays, riven by selfishness or the mere mundanity of boredom. It is in the nature of ephemeral labours to fall apart, and our duty to gather the pieces and forge them anew.
from the sermons of Konor Belenzo
Sixty-Three
Sixty-Three