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When a Healer in the group had asked about the illness, Rose had sain, and said, "Briarwood is the pretty poison There is no cure for Briarwood"

Alexandra clutched her shawl and kept shivering

The rage that had swept through Chaillot had torn it apart Beldon Mor becaround The members of the male council who had not yet died from the illness were viciously executed After several men from aristo families died of poison, many others fled to inns or one of their clubs because they were terrified to eat or drink anything that h the hands of the woe had passed, the witches had turned their fury on her They didn’t blame her for Briarwood, since it had been built before she had become Queen of Chaillot, but theydid blame her, bitterly, for her blindness She had been so intent on keeping Hayll’s influence out of Chaillot and trying to retain some power in the face of the er that already existed They said it was like arguing with ayour breast when he already had his cock sheathed between your legs

They blamed her because Robert Benedict had lived in her house for all those years and had bedded her daughter If she couldn’t recognize the danger when it sat across froainst any other kind of threat?

They bla witches who had died or were broken in Briarwood

She blaranddaughter She had allowed that strange, difficult child to be locked away in that place She hadn’t known Briarwood’s secrets, but if she hadn’t dismissed Jaenelle’s fanciful stories, if she had accepted the social problem, Jaenelle never would have been sent to Briarwood And if she hadn’t disirl’s hatred for Dr Carvay, would she have learned the truth sooner?

She didn’t know And it was too late to find the answers

Now she had another fao, Wilhele, had run away after clai that Robert had made a sexual advance Philip Alexander, Robert’s bastard half brother, had found his niece, but he had refused to say where she was At the ti Wilhelmina’s location a secret fro about what lay beneath Briarwood’s solicitous veneer, especially when it had been his vehemence that had been the final push to close the place

A couple of days ago, she had received a letter fro to Kaeleer, the Shadow Realirl That didn’t hter

Alexandra shook her head to break the pattern of her thoughts and noticed Philip walking toward her Holding her breath, she searched his gray eyes

"She’s not a them," Philip said quietly

Alexandra released her breath in a sigh "Thank the Darkness" But she understood what hadn’t been said:not yet

Philip offered his arood man, the opposite of his half brother She had been pleased when he and Leland had decided to handfast, and had been even more pleased when they chose to marry after the handfast year was done

Alexandra looked back at the platfor speech "Do you believe her?" she asked softly

Philip guided her through clusters of people ere still too shocked to do e to look at the mutilated bodies "I don’t know If even half of what she said is trueif Sadi" He choked

She still had nightmares about Daemon Sadi So did Philip, for different reasons Sadi had threatened her when Jaenelle had been put in Briarwood for the last tirave When he unleashed his dark power in order to break the Ring of Obedience, he had destroyed half the Jeweled Blood in Beldon Mor Caught in that explosive unleashing, Philip’s strength had been broken back to the Green Jewel that was his birthright

"We can get a Coach this evening," Philip said "If we buy passage on one that rides the darker Winds, we’ll be home by tomorrow"

"Not yet I’d like you to talk to Dorothea’s Steward See if you can set up an audience for me"

"You’re a Queen," Philip snapped "You shouldn’t have to beg an audience from a Priestess, no matter who--"