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Chapters (63)
  1. Dedication
  2. Map
  3. A Note to the Reader
  4. PART ONE
  5. The Keeper
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. PART TWO
  16. The Keeper
  17. Chapter Ten
  18. Chapter Eleven
  19. Chapter Twelve
  20. Chapter Thirteen
  21. Chapter Fourteen
  22. Chapter Fifteen
  23. Chapter Sixteen
  24. Chapter Seventeen
  25. Chapter Eighteen
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-one
  29. PART THREE
  30. The Keeper
  31. Chapter Twenty-two
  32. Chapter Twenty-three
  33. Chapter Twenty-four
  34. Chapter Twenty-five
  35. Chapter Twenty-six
  36. Chapter Twenty-seven
  37. Chapter Twenty-eight
  38. Chapter Twenty-nine
  39. PART FOUR
  40. The Keeper
  41. Chapter Thirty
  42. Chapter Thirty-one
  43. Chapter Thirty-two
  44. Chapter Thirty-three
  45. Chapter Thirty-four
  46. Chapter Thirty-five
  47. Chapter Thirty-six
  48. Chapter Thirty-seven
  49. Chapter Thirty-eight
  50. Chapter Thirty-nine
  51. Chapter Forty
  52. Chapter Forty-one
  53. PART FIVE
  54. The Keeper
  55. Chapter Forty-two
  56. Chapter Forty-three
  57. Chapter Forty-four
  58. Chapter Forty-five
  59. Cast of Characters
  60. Acknowledgments
  61. About the Author
  62. Don’t miss any of THE GRACELING REALM novels
  63. What’s next onyour reading list?

“Oh, the penalty is generally for counterfeiting a pass, not carrying one. The guards never question your business. Most Ledrans carry a pass they picked up somewhere.”

“Do you mean most wealthy Ledrans?” asked Hava.

Arni’s mouth twitched into a smile. “People who live here know the locations of the ambles,” he said. “Those who lack passes know how to navigate around them. Now, have your tea, and once you’re sufficiently warm, I’ll accompany you to the Keep. My son, Mari, is an academy student. It’ll give me an excuse to visit him.”

As they drank, Hava asked Arni so many questions that Giddon was able to retreat into a kind of stupor. Raise cup to face, tip liquid in. Think nothing, feel nothing. Parts of their conversation jabbed him into sudden awareness that Bitterblue would never learn what Hava was learning. The difference between Scholars and Industrialists. Which of the two parties tended to hold more power, win more elections, and influence more policy: the Scholars, though Parliament was evenly split at the moment, which made Arni hopeful. Whether it was unfair to the Industrialists that the Keep sat adjacent to the academy, which was the Scholars’ domain: Yes.

“But Winterkeep had a monarch once too, just like you,” Arni explained, “hundreds of years ago. Our kings and queens established the academy, and lived there, in the Keep. All the nation’s nobility were educated at the academy. Our scholars, with a small s, were the advisers to the monarchs. Winterkeep has a long history of a government run by scholars, which eventually led to the Party of Scholars. The Party of Industry has had to struggle to establish itself from the beginning of the two-party system. Personally, I think our progress has been admirable.”

“Quona Varana told us that the Scholars are the party of the environment,” said Hava. “That’s why they vote against zilfium use.”

Arni’s smile was sunny. When he spoke, it was in a manner Giddon was starting to recognize: the patient, deliberately reasonable tone he used when he was explaining something he thought foolish.