“A Cumbraelin accent,” she said. “You’ve journeyed far for one so young.”
“My uncle needed me,” Ellese replied.
Sherin’s face tilted toward Vaelin, then away again. “Uncle?”
“Well, not in blood. He and Mother won the war together, you see.”
“Not without the help of several thousand others, my dear,” Nortah pointed out.
“Yes.” Sherin’s voice was faint but Vaelin could hear the bitter resignation in it. “I had heard the Realm had suffered another war.”
“This one needed fighting,” Nortah said. “Rest assured of that.”
There was a pause, Sherin’s head lowering a little. “Aspect Elera, is she well?”
“When last I saw her. It has been a good long while now.” Nortah turned to Vaelin. “You would know better than I, brother.”
“I had a letter from her not long before we sailed,” Vaelin said. “She writes every month to advise on my sister’s well-being. Aspect Elera continues to head the Fifth Order, which has grown in size and import under the queen’s patronage. These days there is not a village in the Realm without a healing house.”
“Lyrna.” Vaelin could hear the smile in Sherin’s voice. “They call her the Fire Queen here. The woman I knew wanted little more than to read, write and tend her garden. War transforms us all, it seems.”
She wasn’t transformed, Vaelin thought. When you knew her, she was just waiting. He didn’t bother voicing the notion. Sherin had always been more inclined towards perceiving the best in people. “Caenis died saving her,” he said. “He was Aspect of the Seventh Order by then.”
“Seventh Order? You mean to say it was real?”
“It still is. An entire Order of the Faith dedicated to study of the Dark, now openly acknowledged and recognised by the crown after centuries in the shadows. The Realm is greatly changed.”
“It must be markedly more peaceful at least, for the queen to permit this intrepid quest of yours.”
The sardonic lilt of her voice kindled a small heat in his chest. He had forgotten how easily she could stir his pique. “She didn’t permit anything,” he said. “I am here on my own agency, as are my companions.”
“Apart from Sehmon,” Ellese pointed out, chewing on a mouthful of beef. “He used to be an outlaw but he’s Alum’s servant now,” she explained to Sherin. “Uncle spared him the hanging he gave his relatives. Well, some of them were beheaded actually . . .”
“Ellese,” Vaelin said, bringing her verbal torrent to a halt.
“So.” Sherin’s face turned away from him once more. “The Realm is greatly changed, but you are not.”
“Much has happened,” he said. “And I have much to apologise for . . .”
“I don’t want your apology, Vaelin. I want you to go back to your tower and leave me alone.”
She got to her feet and moved away, a slender shadow in the dark. He watched her walk to where the Jade Princess sat talking quietly with Erlin. There was a brief murmur of conversation before Sherin disappeared fully into the gloom.
“Captain!” the Princess said, tone bright with enthusiasm as she got to her feet, clapping her hands. “Gather your men. In payment for their brave service I would like to sing them a song.”
“A song, lady?” Sho Tsai said, his tone one of utter bafflement. “I don’t think . . .”
“But I do!” she cut in with a laugh. “And I speak with the authority of Heaven, don’t forget.” She clapped her hands again and wagged a finger at him. “Hurry now.”
Sho Tsai hesitated a moment further before calling to his sergeant. The Red Scouts were duly drawn into a yet smaller perimeter. Half were ordered to keep facing the Steppe, whilst the rest all stood staring at the Jade Princess, eyes rapt in expectation of hearing a song blessed by Heaven.
“They look like worshippers in the cathedral,” Ellese whispered.
“That’s because they are,” Vaelin whispered back. “Hush. I suspect you’re about to hear something quite special.”
He watched the Jade Princess run a hand through Erlin’s thinning hair. He couldn’t see her smile in the dark but the fondness and the sadness in her voice were unmistakable. “It was truly wonderful to see you again, young wanderer,” she said, dipping her head to press a kiss to his cheek. Rising, she straightened, drew a breath and sang her first note, and the world turned to utter blackness in an instant.
* * *
◆ ◆ ◆
He awoke with the dawn, finding Sherin looking down at him with an impatient scowl. “She says you’re needed,” she told him in a flat voice, touching