Page 65 (1/2)

Part One

Heir of Ash

1

Gods, it was boiling in this useless excuse for a kingdom

Or maybe it felt that way because Celaena Sardothien had been lounging on the lip of the terra-­cotta roof sincein the sun like the loaves of flatbread the city’s poorest citizens left on their sills because they ­couldn’t afford brick ovens

And gods, she was sick of flatbread—teggya, they called it Sick of the crunchy, oniony taste of it that even mouthfuls of water ­couldn’t wash away If she never ate another bite of teggya again, it would be too soon

Mostly because it was all she’d been able to afford when she landed in Wendlyn teeks ago and made her way to the capital city, Varese, just as she’d been ordered by his Grand I of Adarlan

She’d resorted to swiping teggya and wine off vendors’ carts since herafter she’d taken one look at the heavily fortified liuards, at the cobalt banners flapping so proudly in the dry, hot wind and decided not to kill her assigned targets

So it had been stolen teggyaand wine The sour red wine fro hills around the walled capital—­a taste she’d initially spat out but now very, very much enjoyed Especially since the day when she decided that she didn’t particularly care about anything at all

She reached for the terra-­cotta tiles sloping behind her, groping for the clay jug of wine she’d hauled onto the roof thatfor it, and then—

She swore Where in hell was the wine?

The world tilted and went blindingly bright as she hoisted herself onto her elbows Birds circled above, keeping well away from the white-tailed hawk that had been perched atop a nearby chi to snatch up its next meal Below, the market street was a brilliant loo donkeys, n and faainst pale cobblestones But where in hell was the—

Ah There Tucked beneath one of the heavy red tiles to keep cool Just where she’d stashed it hours before, when she’d climbed onto the roof of the massive indoor market to survey the perimeter of the castle walls two blocks away Or what­ever she’d thought sounded official and useful before she’d realized that she’d rather sprawl in the shadows Shadows that had long since been burned away by that relentless Wendlyn sun

Celaena swigged fro of wine—­or tried to It was eods her head was spinning She needed water, and loriously painful split lip and scraped cheekbone she’d earned last night in one of the city’s tabernas

Groaning, Celaena rolled onto her belly and surveyed the street forty feet below She knew the guards patrolling it by now—­had uards atop the high castle walls She’d memorized their rotations, and how they opened the three ates that led into the castle It seemed that the Ashryvers and their ancestors took safety very, very seriously

It had been ten days since she’d arrived in Varese itself, after hauling ass froer to kill her targets, but because the city was so daration officials, who with their oh-­so-­benevolent work progra to the capital had also provided welcome activity after weeks at sea, where she hadn’t really felt like doing anything other than lying on the narrow bed in her craious zeal

You’re nothing but a coward, Nehemia had said to her

Every slice of the whetting stone had echoed it Coward, coward, coward The word had trailed her each league across the ocean

She had made a vow—­a vow to free Eyllwe So in between hts of Chaol and the Wyrdkeys and all she’d left behind and lost, Celaena had decided on one plan to follohen she reached these shores One plan, however insane and unlikely, to free the enslaved kingdo of Adarlan had used to build his terrible eladly destroy herself to carry it out

Just her, just him Just as it should be; no loss of life beyond their own, no soul stained but hers It would take a monster to destroy a monster

If she had to be ­here thanks to Chaol’s ood intentions, then at least she’d receive the answers she needed There was one person in Erilea who had been present when the Wyrdkeys ­ielded by a conquering dehty power that they’d been hidden for thousands of years and nearly wiped fro—­as was expected when you ­were older than dirt

So

the first step of her stupid, foolish plan had been siet answers about how to destroy the Wyrdkeys, and then return to Adarlan

It was the least she could do For Nehe left in her, not really Only ash and an abyss and the unbreakable vow she’d carved into her flesh, to the friend who had seen her for what she truly was

When they had docked at the largest port city in Wendlyn, she ­couldn’t help but ad until a ee wo the secret channels through the barrier reef It was understandable: the reef was the ions from these shores It was also part of her ’s Champion

That was the other task lingering in the back of herChaol or Nehemia’s family He’d promised to do it should she fail in her mission to retrieve Wendlyn’s naval defense plans and assassinate its king and prince at their annual hts aside when they’d docked and the refugee wo by the port’s officials

Many of the wo with echoes of what­ever horrors had befallen them in Adarlan So even after she’d vanished froered on a nearby rooftop while the wo—to find ho them to a quiet part of the city and do what­ever they wanted Sell theees: unwanted and without any rights Without any voice

But she hadn’t lingered merely from paranoia No—­Nehe that, Celaena had wound up on the road to the capital as soon as she was certain the wo how to infiltrate the castle wasto occupy her time while she decided how to execute the first steps of her plan While she tried to stop thinking about Nehemia