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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

Colivar’s brow elevated slightly as he nodded, acknowledging silently the distance and effort involved in that journey as well.

“Suhr-Halim of Hylis. Fadir of Korgstaat. Tirstan of Gansang.”

The list went on. Names and titles in two dozen languages, from as many nations. Some of them were from places whose names Colivar didn’t even recognize, and he had thought himself well schooled in all the known places of the world.

“Quite a collection of visitors,” he said, when the introductions were done at last. There was no longer humor in his voice; it had given way to something colder. “I have never seen so many of us, from so many places, brought together. We do not tend to trust one another, do we, my brothers? So I assume there must be some pressing business that is truly extreme, for our brother Ramirus to have called us all here.”

“If I said a threat to our very existence,” Ramirus said quietly, “would that suffice?”

Colivar digested the words with the somber care they merited, then nodded.

“Very well,” the Magister Royal said. “Then you shall come with me, and see for yourself.”

And without further word he led his wary guest out of the dark chamber and into the heart of the palace.

CHAPTER 2

ETHANUS REMEMBERS:

Whoever is at the door will not go away. He’s ignored their knocking for some time now, preferring not to be disturbed, but time after time they keep coming back. The knocking is soft but insistent, not harsh enough to anger him outright, and the attempts are spaced far apart, as if their purpose is not to force him to obey so much as to remind him that the visitor has neither left nor forgotten him still.

At last with a sigh he rises from his studies, leaving behind the Chantoni hieroglyphics he has been working so hard to decipher, to confront whoever it is that thinks that he has time to waste on visitors.

It’s a spring day (he recalls), and as he opens the door a gust of pollen-laden air sweeps into his sanctum. Fresh, sweet, and brimming with life. He should have built the place with more windows, he notes mentally, and not been constrained, as he was, by concerns over heating it in the winter.