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"Come, sit by me, Larkspur"

I made my way up to the dais and sat at his feet as he lowered himself onto his throne "You look like youra hand on the top ofnothing lad it pleases you, Father"

"It does Now, let us see what today’s supplicants bring" He clapped his hands and spoke over the crowd "Come, let those ould be heard step forward"

A s up in a proper fashion

The first was a Tender froe of the forest, far to the east Hein our section of the forest There see one of your healers to us? I fear ill lose too et away froht it over When he opened his eyes, I already knew the answer, could see it easily He shook his head "No, it is the way of the forest, some must die so that others ain and ill revisit this" The supplicant slumped, and nodded What else could he do? It was the word of the king

But I knehat it h to the Planters in their duties Leaving a potential disease to run raht on the seedlings, if left untreated, could spread like a wildfire You could lose not only the crop, but also the fields they lay in if you were not diligent in scourging the blight clean I frowned up at him "Father, may I speak?"

"Of course, that is what you are here for" His tone, though, said otherwise I sed round I traversed

"I think, perhaps, you should reconsider and send a healer Just one, to evaluate the dying trees If there is truly nothing to worry about, then it will not tax you to send a single healer But if there is a cause for this, a need for help, you will be further ahead of what could becohed and the crowd laughed with hihter, the Planter, thinks to advise me Fine, to ease your worries, child, I will send a healer Just one, though"

The supplicant gave a sigh of relief and bowed to us both He scooted forward, took esture "Thank you, Princess"

Heat suffused my cheeks, as much for the bow and the kiss, as the way my father had mocked me In front of everyone, as if he didn’t care that I was sitting right there

And that was the s I wanted his, but I kneould never be strong enough for him to do so Still, I came with hope, and every ti of bodies as a healer caer from the outer reaches They conversed in low tones and then left together

Shouting erupted froray and brown cloth see the two Enders atte to detain him Or as the case turned out to be, her

She stopped, breathless at the foot of the dais where she could look up at the king Which ot an up close and personal look into her face She wasn’t that old, or at least not any older than ed; it was hard to tell The silver strands here and there sparkling in her hair gave the biggest indication Her eyes were tinged with madness The washed out blue, al followed through to even the miniscule parts of her body

"Your Majesty, a storm comes" Her head bowed and her shoulders slumped "A storm, a storm, a storm You will see, you will see Finally, you will see what has been in front of you all this time Your love will know, the Lady Ulani will know, ask her" She raised her head and looked at

At the mention of my mother’s name, the roo stood and then crouched in front of the wos, and teller of tales Madness eats at you This"--he swept a hand toward hter"

Niah looked at me, squinted her eyes, and lowered her voice The acoustics in the room should have picked up her words, but it was if a blanket were thrown over our three heads,the world outside our tiny circle "She has the power of Ulani and the power that comes from your bloodline Yet, she is broken, too"

My father let out a breath "I know She is weak"

I closed my eyes, and a tear slipped down my cheek How much harder was it to hear h that I knew it, that everyone knew it, but to hear it froht ht

"I would hear what the bard e that wanted to takepure and sharp through the rooain The queen wore a ridiculously skin tight, black dress with a slit clear to her hip, easy to see as she stood over us Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun that left the lines of her face as hard and clean as ever To some, she would be beautiful, but not to me Not for the first time I wondered what le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">