BooksBarbecue
Back Limits of Power
Chapters (59)
  1. Cover
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. BY ELIZABETH MOON
  4. Dedication
  5. Dramatis Personae
  6. Map
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  54. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  55. extras
  56. about the author
  57. if you enjoyedLIMITS OF POWER
  58. CHAPTER 1
  59. CHAPTER 2

“Whirlpool,” Burek said with a grin. “Like the ones in the Chaloquay—suck you in, and you go ’round and ’round, hitting the rocks and never getting anywhere.” He poured more water for them both.

“It’s odd, now I think of it,” Arcolin said. “I didn’t before. But the three of us, Kieri and Dorrin and I, were all the same in that way. None of us had a happy situation growing up. Kieri’s was the worst, those years of slavery, but Dorrin’s was bad enough. Mine was easiest, until that final split. More like yours in that, I think.” He shook his head to clear it. “The dragon’s coming back to talk to me sometime, he said. You were right to bring him in, and I’ll tell the others that if they see him, he’s to be guided to me. Though I expect he could find me by himself.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Any new gossip about Vaskronin or Andressat’s missing son?”

“No, sir. Just the speculation we heard before. Gone over to Vaskronin, or captured by Vaskronin, or dead.”

Arcolin set himself to write the letter to his king he felt he must write, this time revealing who he really was and what he had been offered and refused. Would the dragon make the connection between Prince Camwyn and Horngard’s need? Almost certainly, but with dragon wisdom, not a human’s. He phrased very carefully his own thoughts about that.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Image Missing

Vérella, Tsaia

When will she give an answer?” Mikeli, king of Tsaia, glared at Marshal-Judicar Oktar. “We’re almost to Autumn Court. I cannot hide this from the peers forever.”

“Sir king, the Marshal-General is doing her best—she cannot force the Council to come to an answer any faster.”

“If she were more forceful—”

“If she were more forceful, she would have a revolt—and there would be blood in the streets. Is that what you want, sir king?”

“No. But we will have one here, where I would like it even less, if we do not have an answer, a way of reconciling the Girdish—”

“Do you really think a mere change of the Code would solve the problem?” Oktar asked.

Mikeli stared at him. “It’s the Code. The law. Why wouldn’t it?”

“Because the people most opposing a change may not obey a change. If they believe it’s against Gird’s will—” Oktar drew his finger across his throat.

“Then how do we convince them?” Mikeli asked. “Or do you think we should let matters take their course?”