“I hope they do,” Marie said. “They can’t go on as they are. This gives them the chance to change on their own terms. I’m going to go find Fellhand Vexatious and talk her into advocating the idea.”

“Vexatious?”

“Tall woman. Black skin. Tried to kill me once. We’re not quite friends yet.”

“Sounds like you’re off to a good start,” Jean-Claude said.

“It could’ve been worse,” Marie said. “She could’ve succeeded.”

They came aboard the Veritus and found Capitaine Similce engaged in teaching Malgiers and Rebecca the Skaladin tongue.

Jean-Claude asked, “Is Princess Isabelle on board?”

“In the great cabin with Bitterlich,” Similce said dryly. “Last I checked they had clothes on, but that was twenty minutes ago.”

Jean-Claude trained his clockwork eye on the great cabin. The shadows moving behind the wall suggested that indeed a critical interval had passed and that now might not be the best time to intrude upon the young couple.

Jean-Claude dialed the eye back to normal vision and left them to their fun. He remembered being that young and vigorous, and he wished them the best of it. The intoxication wouldn’t last forever, even if the deeper affection did.

He turned to Rebecca and asked, “Have you thought about how you’re going to handle the immense responsibility of being somebody’s big sister?”

She made a face at him. “Eh. Why?”

“Oh,” Jean-Claude said. “No reason.”

He leaned against the rail and contemplated how much fun it was going to be to be a grandfather.

Acknowledgments

Innumerable thanks go to Susan Smith, Carol Berg, Brian Tobias, Brian Winstead, Courtney Schafer, and Saytchyn-Maddux Creech, without whose good and abundant advice this book would not have become half of what it is. Special thanks to auntie editor Diana Pho, for all her invaluable insight, and Chris Morgan for taking me on. Thanks to Caitlin Blasdell for her skillful work and dedication.

The Risen Kingdoms Series

THE RISEN KINGDOMS SERIES

An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors

A Labyrinth of Scions and Sorcery

The Last Uncharted Sky

About the Author

CURTIS CRADDOCK lives in Aurora, Colorado, where he teaches English to inmates in a state penitentiary. He is the author of the Risen Kingdoms trilogy, starting with An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors.

Visit him online at curtiscraddock.com, or sign up for email updates here.

Twitter: @artfulskeptic

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