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‘Well, that would be a relief,’ Trull said ‘What is it you want, then?’

‘I want you to excuse yourself before Canarth delivers his request’

Trull looked away Southward, the sprawl of farms on the other side of Thetil No livestock, no workers in the fields The rains had been kind, and all was a luscious, deep green ‘A Bluerose slave, wasn’t she?

Your mother Which hy you were always apart fro, Trull Sengar If you are seeking to wound aze ‘No, the very opposite I know you do not likebefore I struck… a woth, your determination to rise above your birth-’

‘Rise above?’ Ahlrada’s grin was cold ‘I suffered under no such coar Before she died, my mother told me many secrets The Bluerose are the survivors, from a war in which it was supposed there were no survivors It was believed the Edur had killed them all, you see It was necessary to believe that’

‘You have lostof?’

‘I aht as allies against the K’Chain Che’Malle The Betrayal, which was not as the Edur histories would have it The Andii were the ones betrayed, not the Edur Scabandari Bloodeye stabbed Silchas Ruin In the back All that you learned as a child and hold true to this day, Trull Sengar, was a lie’ His s the liar’

‘The Bluerose are Tiste Andii?’

‘The blood is thinned, but it remains’

Trull looked away once more After a time, he slowly nodded to himself ‘I see no reason, Ahlrada Ahn, to call you a liar Indeed, your version makes more sense After all, had we been the ones betrayed, then we should have been as the Andii today – mere remnants of a broken people-’

‘Not as broken as you think,’ Ahlrada said

‘You do not think Bluerose will capitulate? Is it not already a protectorate of the Letherii? A nation of subjugated people?’

‘They have been waiting for this, Trull Sengar After all, the truth cannot be hidden – once the Edur occupy Bluerose, it will be discovered that its ruling class possess Andii blood’