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Seren Pedac spoke first ‘Is there no rooar?’

And he understood ‘No, Acquitor No room left’

‘I think you would have it otherwise, wouldn’t you?’

The question brushed too close to the wordless recognition they had shared only a few ain in her eyes a flicker of… so He mentally recoiled from an honest reply ‘I serve my emperor’

The flicker vanished, replaced by a cool regard that slipped effortlessly through his defences, driving like a knife into his chest ‘Of course Forgivenow, to escort Buruk the Pale back to Trate’

Each word a twist of that knife, despite their being seely innocuous He did not understand how they – and the look in her eyes – could hurt him so deeply, and he wanted to cry out Denials Confessions Instead he punctuated the break of that e more, and he knew himself for a coward

He watched her walk away Thinking on his life’s journey as much as the Acquitor’s, on the stumbles that occurred, with no awareness of their potential for profundity Balance reacquired, but the path had changed

So many choices proved irrevocable Trull wondered if this one would as well

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Where is the darkness In the days gone past When the sun bathed everything In godling light And ere burnished bright In our youthful ascendancy Delighted shrieks and Distant laughter Carried on the gilden streaht with every shadow Burned through By immortal fire Where then is the darkness Arrived at sun’s death Arrived creeping and low To growl revelations Of the torrid descent That drags us down Onto this moment

Immortal fire Fisher kel Tath

A VOICE SPOKE FROM THE DARKNESS, ‘I WOULDN’T GO DOWN THAT street, old lanced over ‘I thank you for the warning,’ he replied, walking on

Ten paces into the narrow alley he could smell spilled blood Footsteps behind him told him the look-out had moved into his wake, presumably to block his avenue of retreat

‘I warned you’