"Well done!" he cried. "Ah, well done, Hissune, well done!"

"My lord?"

"And tell me, who is the new Coronal to be?"

"My lord, you must understand that these are only proposals—for the sake of the greater efficiency of the government in this time of crisis—"

"Yes, of course. And who, I ask you again, is to be brought forward in the name of greater efficiency?"

"My lord, the choice of a successor remains always with the former Coronal."

"So it does. But the candidates—are they not proposed by the high counsellors and princes? Elidath was the heir presumptive—but Elidath, as I think you must know, is dead. So, then—who is it to be, Hissune?"

"Several names were discussed," said Hissune softly. He could scarcely bear to look directly at Lord Valentine now. "If this is offensive to you, my lord—"

"Several names, yes. Whose?"

"My lord Stasilaine, for one. But he at once declared that he had no wish to be Coronal. My lord Divvis, for another—"

"Divvis must never be Coronal!" said Lord Valentine sharply, with a glance toward the Lady. "He has all the faults of my brother Voriax, and none of his merits. Except valor, I suppose, and a certain forcefulness.

Which are insufficient."

"There was one other name, my lord."

"Yours, Hissune?"

"Yes, my lord," said Hissune, but he could get the words out only in a choking whisper. "Mine."

Lord Valentine smiled. "And would you serve?"

"If I were asked, my lord, yes. Yes."

The Coronal's eyes bore down intensely on Hissune's, who withstood that fierce inquiry without flinching.

"Well, then, there is no problem, eh? My mother would have me ascend. The Council of Regency would have me ascend. Old Tyeveras surely would have me ascend."

"Valentine—" said the Lady, frowning.

"No, all is well, mother. I understand what must be done. I can hesitate no longer, can I? Therefore I accept my destiny. We will send word to Hornkast that Tyeveras is to be permitted at last to cross the Bridge of Farewells. You, mother, you finally may put down your burden, as I know you wish to do, and retire to the ease of the life of a former Lady. You, Elsinome: your task is only beginning. And yours, Hissune. See, the thing is done. It is as I intended, only sooner, perhaps, than I had expected." Hissune, watching the Coronal in astonishment and perplexity, saw the expression on his face shift: the harshness, the uncharacteristic ferocity, left his features, and into his eyes came the ease and warmth and gentleness of the Valentine he had once been, and that eerie rigid glittering smile, so close almost to a madman's, was replaced by the old Valentine-smile, kind, tender, loving. "It is done," said Valentine quietly. He raised his hands and held them forth in the starburst sign, and cried, "Long life to the Coronal! Long life to Lord Hissune!"

7

Three of the five great ministers of the Pontificate were already in the council-chamber when Hornkast entered. In the center, as usual, sat the Ghayrog Shinaam, minister of external affairs, his forked tongue flickering nervously, as though he believed that a death sentence was about to be passed not on the ancient creature he had served so long, but on himself. Beside him was the empty seat of the physician Sepulthrove, and to the right of that was Dilifon, that shriveled and palsied little man, sitting huddled in his thronelike chair, gripping its armrests for support; but his eyes were alive with a fire Hornkast had not seen in them for years. On the other side of the room was the dream-speaker Narrameer, radiating dark morbidity and terror from behind the absurdly voluptuous sorcery-induced beauty with which she cloaked her century-old body. How long, Hornkast wondered, had each of these three been awaiting this day? And what provision had they made in their souls for the time of its coming?