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PROLOGUE

Terreille

I am Tersa the Weaver, Tersa the Liar, Tersa the Fool When the Blood-Jeweled Lords and Ladies hold a banquet, I’m the entertainment that coirls and boys have danced and the Lords have drunk too much wine and demand to have their fortunes told "Tell us a story, Weaver," they yell as their hands pass over the serving girls’ ruin the bed that night

I was one of them once, Blood as they are Blood

No, that’s not true I wasn’t Blood as they are Blood That’s why I was broken on a Warlord’s spear and becaht have been

It’s hard to break a Blood-Jeweled s by the hyht determines whether she is whole to practice the Craft or beco for the part of her that’s lost Oh, so and parlor tricks, but not the Craft, not the lifeblood of our kind

But the Craft can be reclai to pay the price

When I was younger, I fought against that final slide into the Twisted Kingdom Better to be broken and sane than broken and mad Better to see the world and know a tree for a tree, a flower for a flower rather than to look through gauze at gray and ghostly shapes and see clearly only the shards of one’s self

So I thought then

As I shuffle to the low stool, I struggle to stay at the edge of the Twisted Kingdom and see the physical world clearly one last tiled web, the web of dreams and visions, on the small table near the stool

The Lords and Ladies expect ic but by keepingtheic to it

But not tonight

For days now I have heard a strange kind of thunder, a distant calling Last night I surrendered to madness in order to reclailass covens Last night I wove a tangled web to see the dreaht there will be no fortunes I have the strength to say this only once I must be sure that those who must hear it are in the room before I speak

I wait They don’t notice Glasses are filled and refilled as I fight to stay on the edge of the Twisted Kingdom

Ah, there he is Daemon Sadi, from the Territory called Hayll He’s beautiful, bitter, cruel He has a seducer’s smile and a body women want to touch and be caressed by, but he’s filled with a cold, unquenchable rage When the Ladies talk about his bedroo pleasure" I don’t doubt he’s enough of a sadist to mix pain and pleasure in equal portions, but he’s always been kind to me, and it’s a sht Still, it’s iven hirow restless I usually don’t take this long to begin itation and annoyance build, but I wait After tonight, it will make no difference

There’s the other one, in the opposite corner of the room Lucivar Yaslana, the Eyrien half-breed from the Territory called Askavi

Hayll has no love for Askavi, nor Askavi for Hayll, but Dae why, so wound into each other’s lives they cannot separate Uneasy friends, they have fought legendary battles, have destroyed so ether for any length of time

I raise my hands, let the about hi And because he’s listening, Lucivar listens too

"She is co"

At first they don’t realize I’ve spoken Then the angry in when the words are understood

"Stupid bitch," soht"

"What does itThe Realreed Those who survive will serve, but feill survive"

I’e Tears of frustration spill down my cheeks Not yet Sweet Darkness, not yet I must say this

Dae h him, to Lucivar

"The Blood in Terreille whore the old ways andwe are" I wave s to suit themselves They dress up and pretend They wear Blood Jewels but don’t understand what itthe Darkness, but it’s a lie They honor nothing but their own ambitions The Blood were created to be the caretakers of the Realiven our power That’s e come from, yet are apart from, the people in every Territory The perversion of e are can’t go on The day is co when the debt will be called in, and the Blood will have to answer for what they’ve become"

"They’re the Blood who rule, Tersa," Daemon says sadly "Who is left to call in this debt? Bastard slaves likeinto his hands, drawing blood, but he doesn’t pull away I lower my voice He strains to hearti It " I point withat the tables "They will be dust by then, but you and the Eyrien will be here to serve"