Page 22 (2/2)

"No," Vi said

Dehvi laughed "Me neither Goodbye, Vi Watch out for that husband of yours; he’ll change you" Then he left

Solonariwan Tofusin stood on deck as the Modaini merchant ship lumbered toward Hokkai Harbor It had been twelve years since he’d been to the Sethi capital, the city he had once called ho the entrance to the harbor, shining white in the autu

As they passed between the towers, as always, his appreciation of the seeht of the Sethi Empire, the chain towers stood on narrow peninsulas The base of each tower abutted the ocean so the chain couldn’t be attacked without taking the tower The chains the reat teams of royal aurochs would winch the chains apart until they were at or barely below the water line at high tide and five to eight feet above it at low tide During a battle, the aurochs would turn the chains A single blade shaped like a shark tooth was attached to each link Because of the half twist in the chain at each axle, a ship pressing against the h his hull in each direction It made the entire chain a saw that had destroyed more than one fleet, and deterred ods, Solon thought, the bay was a color to shame sapphires--Hokkai rose on its three hills Above the ubiquitous docks already filling intering ships, the great city rose in thousands of ashed walls with red tile roofs After the ugly hodgepodge of Cenarian architecture, it was a relief

But the nificent Whitecliff Castle reigning over the highest hill, filled Solon not only with awe but so akin to terror Kaede, my love, do you hate me still?

After Khali and her Soulsworn hadto do His friend Feir had left days before they knew of the danger When the garrison co, Dorian disappeared Solon had been the only man to escape He’d found hi It had been Dorian’s prophecy that had kept hinus Gyre as prophecy dictated--and failed Regnus was dead Solon had served for a decade, only to be disnus was murdered Kaede was the Sethi empress now She wasn’t likely to be happy to see Solon, but if she killed him, so much the better

He labored with the sailors He could have paid for his passage, but no Sethi worth his salt would sit in a cabin while others were hoisting sails, not even on a wide-bellied Modaini ht ships It meant their merchants had to make twice as many trips, but they made them twice as fast A Sethi ship also had to ride a storh it, but the Sethi accepted the ocean’s whims and loved her and feared her equally

As the ship caed from his cabin, his eyes and eyebrows freshly kohled Solon always thought it gave the dark-haired Modaini a sinister aspect, but the captain was an affable man He tossed Solon his pay and welco to speak with the harbore tax and inspect the cargo

The harbor onto deck with the ease of a man who did it a dozen times a day Like most Sethi, he wore no tunic until winter, and the sun had darkened his skin to a deep olive He had a pro of Clan Hobashi, two silver rings on his right cheekbone, and two silver chains strung between the earring and cheek rings--an assistant to the harbormaster, then

The man had barely spoken tords when he saw Solon and broke off in mid-sentence Solon, still bare-chested as he had been for the whole trip, wasn’t as tanned as rowing in to replace the black, he was uns The harbor knife caroups in Seth that wore no rings

"What’s your nahast He had never made a trip to Seth and didn’t know their customs, which hy Solon had chosen his ship

"Solon," Solon said, not giving his clan narabbed Solon’s chin and looked closely at his cheeks and ears, first on one side, and then, frustrated, on the other His eyebrows tightened in confusion Not only were there no scars where the clan rings had been torn out, but there were no scars fros had been put in

"Raesh kodir Sethi?" he demanded Are you not Sethi?