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The bricklayers place the fourth course Dawn lightens the air

Lord Gargaron strolls into view from the other side of the tolance takes es course to cut me off

"Here you are, Jessamy I suppose I should have expected it"

"Why should you have expected to see iven its offerings to the dead lances toward the tomb with a thin smile "Yes, so we have"

In that smile lies the truth: their fate was detereneral

He nods as he examines hts "You have soy I sahen I watched you run against my useless nephew You calculated each obstacle You found a way to lose without ame That makes you an adversary to reckon with"

All my caution flies out the"You came here to make sure they were bricked into the tomb, did you not?"

He considers me with a look I cannot fathom "A man cannot serve if his heart lies in two pieces General Esladas nant!"

"We are at war," he says as if that answers everything

"I’ll tell the priests! It’s blaspheet close enough to the priests to speak to thes of a roup of women crawls out over what is nowof the priests drifts out fro which they cut away the dead man’s shadow and seal his flesh into the coffin Over ti as the tomb stands Lord Ottonor’s name will re ht be ayou That would be propitious, would it not? Like the Silent Orchid and her four obedient daughters Let o with them into the tolory to Garon Palace, just as your father will I will accept nothing less frohts of the Illustrious"

The priests crawl out of the toe With hands raised on the porch, they sing the hymn of triumphant justice while the bricklayers stand atop benches to finish the final courses and seal the tomb

A screah rief-racked sobs But all of Lord Ottonor’s household is wailing too, in the customary manner The women scratch at their chests and thetheirs that it stops me cold

I a and shouting? What of A whine? Have they smothered them as was the custom in the old country?

Are they dead?

The prayer of the priests reaches its crescendo in praise of the heavenly triuiven the people prosperity, justice, and victory In as once a doorway the bricklayers leave only a thin gap for air like a ives up its last breath

My knees dissolve, all strength gone The soldiers do not even glance atto hter My er a wohost My sisters are gone

I collapse over aron’s feet shift in front of my face I lift my head and see hie Tears and exhaustion stain Denya’s face, yet even so I see how pretty she is

I remember what my mother said when she came home from the City Fives Court on the day Father’s clothes ashed in Lord Ottonor’s blood: He was poisoned

Lord Gargaron has taken everything he desired fro her," he says

I walk before the soldiers can dragto another person Ahead wait two carriages Lord Gargaron climbs into one Denya is escorted to the other I e but to my surprise the steward ordersfloats like the heavens, painted with cranes and sunbirds I cli tears frohs a little too wildly "No, it is Jessamy Garon now, is it not? Just as I am Denya Garon"