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That deception would destroy Lantano Garuwashi If he ruled, he would rule badly, knowing hi that honor was the only i in his life, but he was sa’ceurai to the roots of his soul The best thing for Garuwashi would be to bury a blade in his own guts

The sun sat low in the sky as Feir ducked to step into the council tent Inside the tent sat King Gyre, Lord General Agon Brant, a wan Vi Sovari, and an olderGyre sat with folded hands to Feir’s right His face was e orried As Feir pulled his chair in, soht aric there, woven san noticed his attention and folded his hands in his lap, under the table Feir dis around the table Vi Sovari had covered herself with a ray-black skin-tight wetboy’s garb was still visible She had dark circles under her eyes and her skin was pale froical exertions at the dam She was four places down the table, alical vision, but he could see she hadn’t overextended her Talent After Solon had used Curoch, he’d looked broken His hair had grown in white, and he’d only escaped perifted Healer With her escapades at the dam, Vi hadn’t hurt herself at all She’d coifts, but hadn’t exceeded it Feir suspected that with a good night’s sleep, she’d be ready to do as e here She ht now at a word froe As a man’s muscles looked most impressive after hard labor, so now did Vi’s Talent feel enormous It made Feir feel small, and he didn’t like it

The tent flap opened suddenly, and every eye turned to it, but the man who stepped in wasn’t Lantano Garuwashi It was a dark-haired, dark-eyed Alitaeran with a waxed il on his cloak pin A Marcus then, from one of Alitaera’s most important families, and certainly the leader of the two thousand Alitaeran lancers who’d arrived with the last of the ae this afternoon

"I didn’t realize this council had anything to do with the Alitaeran on Brant said Clearly there was soot an extra twenty thousand sa’ceurai or if we lose the six thousand we’ve got I’d say that makes it a council of war I’m Tiberius Antonius Marcus, Praetor, Fourth Army, Second Maniple We’re to defend the Chantry Sisters, Your Majesty" He nodded to thean said

Before the ain and Lantano Garuwashi strode in He rested his hand over the pommel of his sword and walked to his seat and sat before acknowledging anyone

"Well, everyone’s here now except the Ceuran Regent hiht Overlord, who I suppose alk in half an hour late and ask that we repeat everything," Lord General Brant said

"I suppose he will," Logan said "Since I told him this council wouldn’t meet for another half an hour"

There were soht overlord would likely have all sorts of ood illusion

What little chatter had been going around the roo feet approached the tent All twenty thousand sa’ceurai were coly

The tent flap opened and a teenage boy and a e of auburn hair around an oiled pate stepped in The ed man had four locks of hair bound to his, all of them Ceuran, all of them old He stood aside to make way for the boy, who couldn’t have been e hair, cropped close to his skull, and a single, very long lock bound into his hair He wore ornately embroidered blue silk robes and a ruby-encrusted sword

Feir had the insane thought of breaking off the biggest ruby and using it for his fraud

"Sisters, Lords, Praetor, Your Majesty," the ed Ceuran said, "ent Hideo, Lord of Mount Tenji, Protector of the Holy Honor, Keeper of the High Seat, Lord General of the Held Aran stood and clasped his forearm The boy was a little overwhelmed, but even as he followed protocol to the best of his ability, he could barely take his eyes off Lantano Garuwashi He ht Of course, Lantano Garuwashi was probably every young sa’ceurai’s hero

Garuwashi eyed the ed urehead? As the boy and his ot closer and took their seats, Feir’s heart dropped The e of soht Feir’s eye and shook his head slightly It was the signal to abandon the fraud