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"They used to sit there all winter, half-naked and made up like fertility whores, huddled around the fires and shivering like puppies in the snow," Hopper said "Noe give ’enal when His Holiness is on his way Just wait’ll you see it You’ve never seen anyone move so fast Or if one of them’s called for by name, every last one of the others will descend on her Khali’s blood, you can’t even see her for a good five minutes Then when she cooddess herself Much as they hate each other and sche calls, they help each other It’s one thing to gossip and lie about a woman," Hopper lowered his voice, "but none of thes"

Dorian’s stomach turned So they knew Of course they knew Dorian’s seed class had been taught flaying on a disrespectful concubine Dorian, as the first of the class, had been assigned her face He remembered his pride as he had presented it to his tutor Neph Dada whole, even the eyelids and eyelashes intact The ten-year-old Dorian had worn that face to dinner as ajapes with his seed class while Neph ses

What was he doing here? This place was sick How could a people tolerate this? How could they worship a goddess that delighted in suffering? Dorian sometimes believed that countries had the kind of leaders they deserved What did that say about Khalidor--with its tribalism and endemic corruption held in check only by its deep fear of the s? What did it say about Dorian? This was his people, his country, his culture--and once, his birthright He, Dorian Ursuul, had survived He’d deainst brother until only he survived He’d acco, and shown hi’s son and heir This, all of this, could have been his--and he didn’t s about Khalidor: the music, the dances, the hospitality of its poor, its hed or cried freely, and its women ould wail and keen over their dead where southrons stood silent like they didn’t care Dorian loved their zoomorphic art, the oad tattoos of the lowland tribes, the cool blue-eyed maidens with their s about his people, but sometimes he wondered if the world wouldn’t be a better place if the sea swept in and drowned them all

As sacrifices for abundant livestock, howfirstborn sons on Khali pyres? For abundant crops, how ed fathers in wicker coffins and watched thes? They wept as they did murder--but they did it For honor, when a man died, if his asn’t claimed by the clan chief, she was expected to throw herself on her husband’s pyre Dorian had seen a girl fourteen years old whose courage failed her She’d been married less than aHer father beat her bloody and threw her on the pyre hi hiood here You work hard, you don’t have to think Got it?" Halfether, they strapped the wicker basket to Halfs that wrapped around each shoulder and his hips to help hie Hopper proot back

Halfh the cold basalt hallways It was always dark in the slaves’ passages, with only enough torches burning so the slaves could avoid colliding

"I’ toothless slaves," a voice said around the next intersection of hallways "I hear the new girl’s in the Tygre Tower They say she’s beautiful"

"Tavi! You can’t call it that" Bertold Ursuul was Dorian’s great-grandfather, and thehe could ascend to heaven if he built a tower high enough and decorated it solely with Harani sword-tooth tygres His madness embarrassed Garoth Ursuul, so he’d forbidden the tower to be called anything but Bertold’s Tower

Dorian stopped There was a torch at the intersection and no way he could retreat without being noticed The aethelings--for no one else spoke with such arrogance--were co toward him There was no escape

Then he remembered He was Halfman now, a eunuch slave So he slouched and prayed that he was invisible

"I talk how I please," Tavi said, co into the intersection just as Halfman did Halfman stopped, stepped aside, and averted his eyes Tavi was a classic aetheling: good-looking if with a hawkish nose, well-grooreat power, despite being barely fifteen years old Halfman couldn’t help but size him up instantly--this one would be the first of his seed class This would have been one Dorian would have tried to kill early Too arrogant, though Tavi was the kind who needed to brag He would never h his uurdthan "And I can fuck who I please, too," Tavi said, co to a stop He looked down each of the halls as if lost His indecision froze Half into the aethelings’ path

"Besides," Tavi said, "the hareot two dreads at the bottom, and her deaf- said He didn’t look pleased to be having this conversation in front of Halfirl? So he’ll kill her, too? Fuck! Where are we? We’ve been walking this way for ten minutes All these halls look the saone the other--" the other aetheling began