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‘I am summoned to the throne rooent The Preda would have you present… shortly The First Eunuch enquired after your eldest brother?’

Brys sighed

‘I sur up with a broad smile ‘Your unease tainted your sweat Nifadas is sorely obsessed at the ainst his eyes once , since it had never happened before ‘Who needs spies when one’s nose roots out all truths?’

‘I hope, Ceda, that you do not lose that talent, with this new invention of yours’

‘Ah, see! A swordsman indeed The importance of every sense is not lost on you! What a ht – here, let me show you’ He slid down from the stool and approached a table, where he poured clear liquid into a translucent beaker Crouched low to check its level, then nodded ‘Measurable, as I had suspected’ He plucked the beaker fro his lips when he was done ‘But it is both brothers who haunt you now’

‘I am not immune to uncertainty’

‘One should hope not! An important admission When the Preda is done with you – and it shall not be long – return to me We have a task before us, you and I’

‘Very well, Ceda’

‘Time for some adjustments’ He pulled off the lenses once more ‘For us both,’ he added

Brys considered, then nodded ‘Until later, then, Ceda’

He made his way from the sorceror’s chamber

Nifadas and Kuru Qan, they stand to one side of King Diskanar Would that there was no other side

The throne roo was in the process of shifting the royal seat of power to the Eternal Domicile, now that the leaks in its lofty roof had been corrected A few trappings re the dais, and the stylized gateway arching over the place where the throne had once stood